Merry Christmas!

Does this qualify as a talent? :)

Ali came home last week and announced that she had figured out at school that she could do something new.  Then she proceeded to show me this:

Doesn't it look so funny?

And when I asked her what she was doing at school when she figured this out, her reply was "While we were doing math."  Hmmmmm.....maybe THAT has something to do with the struggles she's been having with her math homework.  :)

Happy Halloween

 A panther, a pooh bear and an allosaurus

 Dakota also wore this costume when he was a toddler and it cracks me up every time my kids wear it!  Trae did so well Trick-or-Treating.  He left his costume on and carried his own bucket the whole time!

Needles in a Haystack?

Have you ever searched for a needle in a haystack? How about legos in a leaf pile?

As we were raking leaves Friday night, Trae had the bright idea to dump the entire container of legos (See exhibit A below) into our leaf pile. Needless to say, we spent the next several hours picking legos out of the leaves. Hope that you found a more productive way to spend your Friday evening!

Exhibit A

The legos were almost completely buried!

Happy Birthday Trae!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my sweet little man!

A little bit of catch up

A few things I meant to post about but didn't get around to and since they all involve Dakota, I am lumping them together! :)

He lost his first tooth!!  Which I just realized that I didn't take a picture of!

He had an allergic reaction to something.  We still don't know what it was but it started on his leg, spread to beside his mouth and then from there ended up covering almost all of his body.  At one point his face was so swollen, Ali refused to be in the same room with him.  (Which was a great opportunity to teach her about not making others feel bad or teasing them :))  Dakota missed 2 days of school and ended up taking an antihistamine for a month.

 You might not be able to tell just how swollen he was in these pictures, but trust me, it was bad!

And this I just thought was cute.  He is in no way, shape or form a morning person.  However, he LOVES school.  So, he pretty much sleepwalks through the morning until I say it's time to leave for the bus and then his eyes pretty much pop open and he's ready to go!  Hilarious!  The above is him taking a small snooze before eating his cereal.

More Sweetness

I cannot seem to get a picture that adequately portrays his cuteness!  Here are some of my attempts at it!

The boys finally got to meet Austin last night!

I'm pretty sure they think he's a keeper! :)

And Ali is still loving him!  She sang and sang and sang to him.



Austin Keith

He has arrived!! :)

Austin Keith Kilgus

September 24th

7 lbs 6 oz

 Ali was a little disappointed that he wasn't the girl cousin she had requested, but I think she'll get over it pretty quickly! :)

 The sweet nurse was letting Ali listen to his heartbeat and then her own to see how much faster his was.  So cute!

 Not a very good picture of him.  I'm sure I'll have a better one to show you soon!

Family picture

I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself!!!!! :)



Dinosaurs Alive!

Kings Island opened a new exhibit this summer, Dinosaurs Alive, featuring full scale, animatronic dinosaurs. We took the kids on a mini vacation to Kings Island, in order to check out this new exhibit. It was quite impressive as it included over 50 dinosaurs, and some of them stood as tall as 35 feet and stretched approx. 75 feet long. The kids thoroughly enjoy it, as you can probably tell from their reactions in the video below. I've included a few of our favorite dinosaurs in the video.

Hard Work

Obviously, this Kindergarten stuff is hard work!

This kid usually needs such a little amount of sleep that it's almost unbelievable. Yet, here he was at 6:30 this evening, sacked out on the couch! It was too cute!

Ready or not....

.............It's the first day of school!!

I had one very excited child...

Summer Fun

We've been busy having fun this summer!

Celebrating Father's Day!



Getting Mule driving lessons from Grandpa






Enjoying "the world" sprinkler, as Ali calls it! As you will see in these pictures everyone has their own "form" when jumping over it. :) The above picture is Jesse.


Dani



Paul


and Ali, who just goes around it! :)



We love the fresh summer fruit!




Celebrating the 4th with friends and family at Mom and Dad Wuethrich's.




Backyard camping


We had our annual get-together with my dad's family and it was a great time, as usual! The pool was much appreciated since the weather was so hot!

A few more details

Just a few of the details!


My bridesmaid accessories.


The finished cake


The buffet centerpiece


Some of the chocolates Dani made


Just one of the many varied centerpieces for the tables.

Wedding: Part 4

The new Mr. and Mrs.


My "little" brother and I





Luke said that if I had to have a picture with Danielle, then he needed one with Paul.


Love this man!!


One last hug for mom...


A kiss from Dakota....


And they're off to the Cayman Islands!!