Picture....not so perfect!

Kara and I had a "Girl's Day" and went to the Fantasy of Trees with our daughters. We had a good time and I got to use a "normal" stroller for once. Rick's dad was in town for Thanksgiving, so they stayed home and bonded with the boys. Jill and Kate traded the pink dog back and forth all day. They are leaning to share :)

Jill was actually VERY good while having a reindeer painted on her face.

Mom and Jill

Jill loves to walk around the house with articles of clothing wrapped around her neck, so of course we had to get her a cape. Actually, I bought 3 (Halloween clearance). She also has a new "face" where she opens her mouth as wide as it will go and just looks at you really excited. Below we have her "face" while wearing one of the new capes.

Rick's Mom, Dad and brother all came up for Thanksgiving. Rick was completely in charge of everything related to food and I was a dishwasher/cleaner. We make a great team. He brined/roasted our turkey, made cookies, a pumpkin cheesecake, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, squash and onions, stuffing and pineapple casserole (this was store bought by me-I love that stuff).

Here is Chef Rick wearing the apron he got this past Father's Day

My dining room table looked nice before I added all the kid chairs. It was great having them at the table with us though.

Drew and Zack "helping" us clean up.

Jill and Drew "helping" Dad hang the star on our tree.

The Not so Perfect Christmas Pictures

I wish I could say this was an enjoyable event!

286 pictures later, none of them are what I was going for, but that is OK.

Last year, they were not mobile and all we had to deal with was crying (mostly from Drew). Crazy how much things change in a year!

Christmas 2006 to.....

To this in 2007......

and babies with minds of their own......

and babies that don't yet know you should NOT eat a Christmas light.....

or pick up a giant candy cane with your teeth from the floor....

of the 286 pictures, 280 of them were blurry.....

Drew looks like he is playing peek-a-boo in this one....

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But we also managed to get pictures like this...

and this.....

and this....

and this....

If I would just resign myself to not getting a group shot, things would be much easier!

And finally, here are the kids being "Elfed"!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9557365054

Halloween, MOD auction, closet destruction, Z's 1st steps, etc.

I'm finally posting more pictures, 1 video and some updates.

The first 2 pictures are from The Foothills Fall Festival we went to in October with Rick's mom, Patty. The kids were really too young to partake in all the activities offered, but they were happy just being pushed around. We went to lunch at a sushi place and Zack made sure everyone knew he was there by screaming every few minutes. Patty and I had some homemade ice cream and I got a candied apple as well. Seems my memory of candy apples being good was very wrong. I thought it was gross....should of gotten the cotton candy!

Drew, Jill and Zack with Dad and Mom.

Jill, Drew and Zack with Dad and Patty (aka Nana)

I guess Halloween 1st started with going to Boo at the Zoo with The Glad's. The Glads are our across the door neighbors. Kara and I have really hit it off. Their daughter, Kate, is only 2 months older than DJZ, so we have an instant play date when we get together. Kate was a flower for Halloween. Ryan and Kara are expecting again this April.

Here is the Jill-Bug grinning about something. It seems I have very toothy 15 month olds. They are all working on several molars right now.

Here we all are. I have no idea what I am doing in this picture.

Since monogramming is so "in", I decided to monogram the kids pumpkins. Rick carved a really good ghost as well. We toasted all the seeds and Rick has been snacking on them ever since.

For Halloween, Rick came home early and we trick or treated from 5 til 6:30! The kids were fine the whole time and just enjoyed riding around in their choo choo wagon. Kara and Ryan were away for Halloween, so Ryan's parents kept Kate and went trick or treating with us.

Jill officially dressed for Halloween. Black whiskers and noses are much harder to put on than you would think with a squiggly 15 month old.

Zack officially dressed for Halloween. Such a happy lion.

Drew officially dressed for Halloween. A black nose and whiskers are especially hard to draw on a squiggly 15 month old named Drew!

Naked Lions with only smudged black noses and whiskers left.

Kara, Ryan, Rick and I went to the March of Dimes Chef Auction last weekend. Kara and Ryan lost their first child, Ryan, when he was born premature at 24 weeks. He only survived 4 days. Kara has been really active with the March of Dimes and actually wrote a book in honor of little Ryan called "Heaven's Brightest Star". You can learn more about her experience with premature birth by checking out her website http://www.heavensbrighteststar.org/

Kate and Rick at the MOD Chef Auction

Kate and Kara at the MOD Chef Auction

Baby jail in our driveway with some lovely outdoor carpet to keep their knees skinned free.

Abby seeing just how comfy the kids chairs are.

Our closet BEFORE Hurricane Drew.....

Our closet AFTER Hurricane Drew with a little help from Tropical Storm Jill!

And finally, a video of Zack taking his first steps. He is so proud of himself!

Oh, and Drew has all of the sudden decided to crawl on all fours most of the time instead of the army crawl. Go figure!