Photo Shoot

Jared's brother Mat is starting up a side business called McInelly Photography. He's a graphic designer and loves photography. Check out his new website if your interested in getting some pictures for the holidays, or anytime. (Mat mentioned that he'd discount friends of the family.) Here is a link to his website.

Mat took some pictures of my family one Sunday afternoon. Here are some of my favorites.

Here are some silly ones that really captured my kids and their personalities.

Thanks Mat!!

ANNOUNCEMENT

We are happy to announce that we are expecting another baby due in May 2009!

Linsey, Hunter, and Emma are all thrilled with the news. When we told them, both of our girls immediately started jumping around, squealing with excitement. Hunter stood on the couch and said, YES.... YES.... YES! He thought for a minute and then went on to say... it HAS to be a BOY!! There are already two girls in this family and just one boy so it HAS to be a BOY... I need a bunkbed!

A couple days later, Hunter and I were chatting about the new baby. I explained to him that around Christmas time we can take a look at our baby using an ultrasound and we will probably be able to tell if it's a girl or a boy. He sat there for a minute and then said,

"Can't we just look on the internet?"

Of course we are thrilled to have a either a girl or a boy, (we have confirmed that it's just one) we're just hoping for a healthy baby!

Our guest!

We've had many wonderful guests come to stay with us over the years and while it's always exciting to have company, Annie may have been our most popular guest ever!

Our kids beg us constantly for a dog and while we are not quite ready to make that kind of commitment, dog sitting for Uncle Zack and Aunt Carrie seemed like the perfect idea. Annie is very well behaved, and thankfully is also good with kids which made my job fairly easy. I don't think Annie had any problems with her end of the deal either. She was constantly showered with attention , love and endless amounts of affection. I could barely get my kids to do their regular chores or even off to school. They loved Annie before, but as they spent endless amounts of time playing, feeding, walking, and cuddling with her, they grew to love her even more.

All of my kids enjoyed Annie, but Emma has a particular fascination with her. She loves that they have the same hair...red and curly. Emma has no fear of dogs and doesn't seem to bat an eye when Annie, who is nearly the same height as her, comes barreling after her at full speed (playing tag) . Hunter is a bit more cautious, but warms up more and more each time he is around Annie. Having her stay with us was great for him. By the time she had to go home, Hunter seemed completely comfortable and begged to have her stay longer.

One morning I found Emma downstairs snuggled up to Annie who was covered in 4 different blankets (Emma thought she was cold). It was so sweet I just had to take a picture.

It was a great week. Our family had a wonderful time with Annie and it was a lot less work than I expected. We may have to schedule another weekend visit with our favorite guest!

Halloween Fun

Halloween is always a lot of fun! Here are a few pictures, mostly of the kids. Jared and I did dress up for a party and although we took pictures of everyone else, we never got one of the two of us. Oops!

Here the kids are trick-or-treating with some friends around all the businesses in our neighborhood shopping center. They made it home with just the right amount of candy. Too bad Halloween night was still on it's way...

Halloween night we had a witch.

A Mean Sleeping Beauty.

(I'm not sure where that came from, but everyone who asked Emma what she was going to be got the answer - mean sleeping beauty.) I think she looks as sweet as ever.

And an army guy... a good one.

Here he is with the war paint, feelin pretty cool.

Our pumpkin carving got a little out of hand. Jared was really proud of this pumpkin that he grew in his garden. It never really got warm enough to turn orange, but we thought it looked pretty cool anyway. Well, I thought it did until it started eating it's child....

Emma went with Uncle Mat and Aunt Bri to a fun pumpkin patch that had rides, animals and all sorts of fun. Here are a few pictures from her trip!


Hunter has a fun new friend from Kindergarten that we went to Remlinger Farms with. Linsey chose to stay home and play with her friend so it was just Hunter, Emma, and I, but we had a blast.

Here's Emma, Drew's sister Taylor, Drew(the Kindergarten friend), and Hunter.

This roller coaster was the hit of the day. I think our kids rode on it 9 times in a row, never even having to wait in line. It was great!

This time of year is so much fun, we look forward to the rest of the holiday season and all the excitement it brings!