Skyler's Baptism

This has been the year of losing my photos.  I've lost my photos several times in different ways, but the memory card I had all of Skyler's baptism photos on literally snapped in half and is completely ruined.  So I had to gather photos from family members (and what I had posted on facebook).  Thanks, Mum, for sharing these.

Skyler was baptized on August 12th, 2017.  We were so proud of him!

Skyler was baptized with two of his friends.  Ben gave the the talk on baptism.  After Skyler came out of the water and throughout the rest of the day, I'll never forget how he was all smiles.  When he walked back into the chapel right after getting changed out of his wet clothes, he said, "Mom, I just feel so warm inside."  It was such a special day.  We are so grateful to have Skyler in our lives.  He truly is such a great kid and I don't say that as a biased mom.  We are so proud of his choices and are thankful that he looks to Christ as a perfect example.

Ballet Observation Week

Twice a year our dance academy allows the parents to actually come in and watch.  It's a good thing they don't let parents come in regularly because whenever we do the girls are always so distracted.  Here are some pics of my adorable girls.

Ella is OBSESSED with tap.  She loves her shoes so much that she wears them home from dance each week and stomps her whole way inside.

Already getting measured for her recital costume that she'll wear in June.  I can tell you this much:  Lily has put on about 3 pounds in the last 3 years but has grown tall.  This 9 year-old is 63 pounds!  I can still carry her everywhere!

Stretching into a split

Hill Ridge Farms

Becca and Preston were in town for a few days and so we decided to visit Hill Ridge Farms since that sounded fun for all five kids ages 2-9.  

They loved this maze!  I'm pretty sure Ella would have been happy to do this the entire 3 hours we were there.  It was hard to get her to leave and see the other attractions.

Beautiful child.  His eyes match his shirt and hat.  

There was about a 10 minute wait to go down the giant slide and Colby is two which is self-explanatory.  So we took pictures to keep him happy.  I love this one.  He also took an up-close picture of my eye that completely creeps me out, so it's not on the blog.  You're welcome.

Skyler kept stealing the corn kernels from the corn pit to feed to the farm animals.  This was by far his favorite part of the day.  

Ella climbed on this pig and then realized she couldn't sit up and she was stuck in that position.  We had a good laugh about it.  Sorry, Ella!

Being the awesome uncle that he is, Preston put Skyler on his shoulders so that he could hand-feed the goats.  It was awesome!

We went on a hay ride to go and choose our pumpkins.  The kids noticed that there were 5 kids and 5 adults and so Lily suggested that we partner up.  My four were quick to choose between Becca, Preston, and my parents, and Colby, being two and not picking up on this stuff quickly, was stuck with me.  Poor little guy.

He was very particular about choosing his pumpkin.  He didn't want "a Daddy pumpkin or a Mommy pumpkin but a Baby pumpkin."  So after about 20 pumpkins he found the perfect one.

Thad's 4th Birthday

I gave Thad a lot of options for his birthday party this year.  It's his first birthday party ever and he was so excited.  I may have tried to convince him that we should just go out to see the Lego Ninjago movie with his buddies, but after Ella's Build-a-Bear party, he insisted on having his own.  And honestly, these parties are great.  I don't have to do anything, and I spend basically the same amount of money as when I come up with a party at home.  It's a win-win.

But we told the kids that next year, no one's getting a party.  Ha!  Just family celebrations.

I am greatly looking forward to the day when I tell Thad to smile and I get a natural smile in return.  But until then, I will just laugh at these crazy smiles I get instead.

Eli named his bear "Thad."  Awwww!

Cute little Colby.

Lily and Skyler knew they were the old kids and that they would have to wait and stuff their bears last.  They are so used to being patient.

:

Thaddeo received some pretty sweet gifts this year.  He finally got his own Lego's (he dies whenever the older kids get them).  He got some sweet cars, and we gave him his dream: a Chewbacca Nerf crossbow.

Because I spaced it and never got a picture of Ben's amazing R2-D2 cake and only have this video of its proof.  Ben is such an amazing dad.