Family pictures

This is obviously not the picture we picked out for our family. I had to post this one so everyone can see how much fun it is to try and take pictures with Bruce. I hear the camera guy say "Smile everyone...not that big Bruce!" I had a feeling this is what we would get from him. He was bouncing off the walls while we were there with energy.

Naomi didn't know what to think of the whole experience. She just had her individual pictures taken a few weeks ago and was all smiles. This time was different; she just sat there without emotion for most of it. Bruce made up for her lack of smiles.

Aaron and I

Elizabeth, Madelyn, and Naomi

Justin, Will, and Bruce

Will's cast removal

Sawing away the old cast

I was amazed at the number of stitches Will had. The doctor made it sound like this procedure was very simple so I wasn't expecting quite this many stitches. He had incisions on the front of his leg, two sides of it, two places on the back, and two small holes on the bottom of his foot. What a trooper he has been!

You can barely see that there is something on the bottom of his foot in this picture. One of the things that was done in the procedure was splitting a tendon on the inside of his foot and then moving it to the outside of his foot to give him greater flexibility. In order to anchor the tendon to its new location, they used string to tie it to the bone. There are two little holes on the bottom of his foot that had string coming out and was tied to a button. I didn't realize that the button was actually going to still be there!

Will sporting his new (huge) boot. He only has to wear this for two weeks which is almost over because I'm behind on my post! He is counting down the days until he doesn't have to wear this boot.

Bruce is 5!

Learning to walk - one year old

Bruce's Aunt Janey and kids came to visit us last weekend so we decided to celebrate his birthday while we had some family here. He was very excited to have a few friends over for his birthday this year. It's all he's been able to talk about for the past few weeks. He just loved having everyone here to celebrate with him.

This boy cannot pose for a camera to save his life! This is Bruce in true form!

This remote control car was recommended in Family Fun magazine and did not disappoint. It's pretty cool - does flips, indoor/outdoor, and goes fast!

Here are a few things about Bruce:

• loves his little sisters (usually a little too much for their liking)
• candy, candy, candy
• loves to "help" his Dad when he's outside working
• we like to call him Mr. Destructo because he loves to take things apart and often ends up breaking them
• at a recent dentist visit, the dentist kindly asked me "Is he your active one?" (This is the understatement of the year)
• loves to ride his bike (even though it's pink)
• loves pre-school and writing his letters
  
• loves the outdoors, animals, and often tells us he's going to be a cowboy when he grows up

Happy Birthday, Bruce!

Random pics

My sister-in-law Jenny took these pictures of the kids when they were visiting us a few weeks ago. She just got a new camera and has been taking some great pictures. I think Elizabeth was upstairs playing when Jenny took all of these pictures so there isn't one of her.

Bruce the Moose

Madelyn enjoying a candy necklace from Halloween

Justin

Naomi

One of the missionaries at church gave Will this nametag because Will loves his name and has told me several times he'd like to change his last name to "Master!"

Happy Birthday to me!

My awesome neighbor, Cara, baked a yummy carrot cake for me for my birthday. This made my day...25, huh?

I love this picture because you can see little Naomi in the background trying to climb over my gifts. The night of my birthday was our trunk or treat activity at the church so she was in costume when we celebrated my birthday.

Elizabeth helped Aaron with the birthday shopping this year. Apparently, she also helped with the gift wrapping because I'm sure that's where this box came from.

I've decided that next year I won't be having a birthday. Though I appreciated all of the kind birthday wishes and gifts, I have been to way too many appointments in the two weeks since my birthday. I'm currently going to physical therapy for my shoulder and having dizzy spells. I can only imagine how much worse things are going to get as I continue to age. Yikes! I was able to run a 5k on Halloween and I've been running regularly at the YMCA so I guess my body isn't completely falling apart.

Halloween

I don't think I'm biased or anything - don't you think Naomi makes the cutest little fairy ever? She was adorable. Luckily, the weather was nice for our church trunk or treat party. We had to bundle her up on Halloween night for Trick or Treating because it was much cooler.

Another picture of our little cutie!

Will, Bruce, and Madelyn finishing up trick or treating. Will and Bruce were Ninjas and Madelyn was Cinderella, or "Lella", as she likes to call her.

Wanting to be twins with her little sister, Naomi, Elizabeth also dressed up as a fairy. Justin came up with his own costume this year. He's not really into the dressing up anymore - he's more into the candy!

We had these pumpkin bread bowls with "witches brew" (soup) for dinner on Halloween night. The kids thought it was pretty fun to eat their soup out of a pumpkin!

Here we go again!

Fall is upon us and that means leaves! We will now spend every weekend and probably some nights in between cleaning up leaves until at least Thanksgiving. It's this time of year that makes us question how much we really enjoy all of the shade and beautiful trees on our property.

Having some of the right tools makes the job a whole lot easier. Next year we're hoping to invest in a leaf vacuum: heavenly!

Having a few helpers around makes the job a big easier too, especially when they actually help!