Christmas Chaos

We're at Kevin's this week celebrating Ella's birth and the birth of Christ! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Here are some pics from our chaotic afternoon on Sunday... Rachel (age 8), Daniel (3), Sarah and David (both 17 months), Hannah (8 months), and Ella (10 days). We tried getting all of them in a picture together with their matching outfits, but it didn't work out very well. I know, that's terribly surprising that they wouldn't all sit and smile for us, but I thought you might enjoy the results. It was a very funny photo shoot. This first picture is of Sarah "holding" Ella. David is Ella's brother, but he doesn't care about her at all. Sarah, on the other hand, can't stay away from the baby. She even tries to pick her up! This is as close as we let her get to actually holding the baby. Motherly instinct :)

Ella Marie Newell

In case you didn't see her on Facebook, here she is! Ella Marie was born Thursday afternoon in New York. Tara looks just great and Ella is beautiful! We get to see her just after Christmas - we can't wait!

Halloween Pictures... Finally!

Here we have Gabriella, from High School Musical, Tigger and Sarah the Turtle. Tigger demonstrated how he hops on his tail - very cute. Sarah the Turtle crawled around like a perfect, little turtle. It always makes makes me smile to see how fast the kids catch on to the idea of Trick-or-Treat... what could be better than walking up to a house, knocking on the door and having them give you candy??

For Amy

Sarah is modeling one of Sydney's outfits that she hasn't been able to wear for nine years or so. Syd wore it to Jaena's wedding!

Drennen's Pumpkin Kingdom

Today, we went to Drennen's Pumpkin Kingdom - a pumpkin patch just a few minutes away. Brad was sick today, so he didn't go with us, but Grandma and Grandpa did! Since this was for Daniel's birthday, I should refer to them as Ba-ma and Him. Sometimes "Him" is Papa, but lately he's "Him." (After I posted this blog and showed Daniel the pictures, he identified "Him" as "Bampa. That was the clearest he's ever been!) Daniel's 3rd birthday is Monday, but we did our activity today since it was Saturday.



We got to pet baby animals, go through a corn maze, and take a hay ride out to see the pumpkin patch. The kids all picked out their own pumpkins. I handed one to Sarah and discovered that it had a small hole in it, but she refused to let go of it. Daniel picked out a very small one - he didn't want a bigger one because he could pick this one up. Mom thinks he tried to pick up one of the huge ones and couldn't, so he was happy with a very small one. Unfortunately, the battery on my camera ran out before I could get pictures of them with all the pumpkins. :( The spare battery was at home!

Tastefully Simple

I am doing a Tastefully Simple catalog party (minus the catalogs) this month - Amy is the consultant. Check out Tastefully Simple online to see the products that are available, and let me know or let Amy know if you have questions or if you'd like to order anything. I am having a fall Creative Memories event (Croptoberfest) on October 25 at Lakeview Wesleyan Church, and I will be using Tastefully Simple products for my snacks. Feel free to stop by to sample some! It's 9am-5pm in the new Family Life Center Conference Room.

Some of the Tastefully Simple products that are staples in my house are as follows: Oh My! Chai! , beer bread (made with club soda, of course), potato soup mix, Onion Onion, Bacon Bacon, Absolutely Almond Pound Cake Mix (absolutely wonderful!).