Another try....

Well I am going to give blogging another try.  I have been inspired by so many of my friends who are awesome at this. I would love to be able to use this as a place to record my thoughts, events and feelings as well as keeping family and friends updated on the ongoings of our crazy family.  I have been nothing less than horrible about it in the past and can't promise I will do great now but am going to give it another shot.  If nothing else it will help be the "baby book" for my kids since I have been pretty bad at that as well....

So not knowing where to really begin I thought I would just start with whatever I found in my camera today.  I think I will try and do so flashback posts since I have missed so much but today I would just start here....

We put out tree up on Sunday and I actually had my camera (not just my phone) handy so I caught a couple of snapshots of the kids with their proud accomplishment.  This year I think all but maybe 5 ornaments were put on by them.  So needless to say the bottom half of the tree is much more decorated than the top and only one ornament was broken in the decoration process.  I love watching how excited they all get as I unwrap each ornament from the box....excitedly waiting to see whose ornament it will be.  We have been pretty good about letting them each pick out an ornament each year and marking their name and year on it.  I love seeing what they each pick....they can really surprise me.  This weekend we will go ornament shopping since we haven't done that yet this year.

So a little bit about what is going on here....

We added another family member, Emilia Kate Rairdon.  She was born on August 27th and is nothing less than amazing.  I wasn't so sure I could handle 5 kids (and still not so sure about it) but for now she is definitely not the challenging one.  I could not have asked for a sweeter baby!  She is such a joy!  She smiles all the time....and her smile can truly melt away any stress and worries I might be feeling at that moment.  And she SLEEPS!!!!  I have never had a good sleeping baby....but she sleeps....for long periods of time (I am getting teary eyed just thinking about it!).  Her brothers and sister adore her and are all a wonderful help with her.  I will do more flashback posts on her later as I have taken tons of pictures of her and yet to edit a single one....

Noah is in the 3rd grade and is growing so fast!  He continues to strive to be a miniature Tom..... He loves the Longhorns, skateboarding, football and art.   He is my serious boy...always has been.  Always full of deep thoughts...hopefully I will remember to post them as he tells me them....they both crack me up and make me think.  He is very concerned about the future...what he will be when he grows up, if he will get into UT, where he will live... He is an amazing help to me...more than I can ever explain to him.  He asked to be baptized last year and after talking about it for almost a year was baptized last weekend.  I am so excited for him and his growing relationship with Jesus.

Ben is still my happy go lucky social boy.  He is loving school (started 1st grade)...but hates it when his classmates "waste everyones time by getting in trouble".  He is all about friends....always wanting to be exploring the neighborhood for whoever is home.  He is my computer/video game boy.  And he loves legos!  I love that  he loves legos....I loved them growing up and now love watching his imagination grow wild building whatever fits his story of the day.  Truly a sweet boy...

Annika is still my girly girl all over.  She started kinder this year.  She LOVES school.  She loves playing school...She loves art and drawing and crafts.  I can think of very few mornings that I haven't caught her doing a craft before breakfast and getting dressed.  I love her creativity but really wish she would just get ready for school.  She is all about style...and she has a very interesting one.  She would wear skirts and dresses every single day if she could.  She loves her little sister and can't wait till she is old enough to play with her and share a room with her.  She also loves pestering the heck out of her brothers... and she knows exactly which buttons to press on each one...

Jack....oh, Jack.  I don't know where to begin...  He just keeps me cracking up. He makes my days very interesting.  He loves life!  He is one of the happiest kids ever....unless he is mad.... He loves to fixate on one thing and talk about it over and over....  The entire time he was 2 he was in love with the color green and guitars. He wanted a green guitar for his birthday and he got it.  He is very specific about his likes and dislikes.  This year he decided he changed his favorite color to blue and now wants a blue monkey cake for his birthday....Oh...that is another one of is Jack-isms... He will point to anything he likes and tell you he wants that for his birthday... It doesn't matter that his birthday is almost a year away ... he probably tells me that at least 5 times a day... anything from a cool toy to a fun shirt to a yummy box of cereal.  And he is very picky about his clothes...He is in a stage where there must be a picture on his shirt...preferably a guitar or motorcycle or monkey.  I love that little kid....

Well...I didn't mean to type this much but it is a start.  I hope to update it almost daily... Give me a place to put those random thoughts.

I will finish with the pics....more to follow  (i hope).  They are truly just snapshots.... no one really was in the mood for pictures and refused to let me catch one picture of them all looking...