The LOOK

We see a pattern in our kids...at about 6 months each of our kiddos has a "look"!  and it usually disappears at about a year.  I had to search for the photos of each of the kids with their look.  What made me think of it was that Ella's "look" just arrived.  It's so funny and the boys love it!

this is Ella's "look".  In the pic it looks like she is upset but she isn't.  She scrunches up her nose and breaths really heavy through her nose.  So so cute!  We are lovin it.

Here is Miles' look:

His look was a glare kind of look.  Like in this photo, he is not happy about having his picture taken.  There was a sound that went with it....uuuuuuuuuu under his breath! the chin also had to be tucked to his chest!

Here is Quincy's look:

It was a scrunchy nose action like Ella's.  He would use it to show us when he was proud and happy about something.

Here is Porter's look:

His was also a proud affirmation and a sound went with it.  I think with this shot I asked him if he wanted the ball.  ooooooooooo!! :)

Thanks Ella for reminding me how fun the baby stage is!

Quincy turns 7

I can't believe my Kiki is 7 years old!  Let's take a look at the past 7 years...

my all time favorite of Quincy

The boys all time favorite of Quincy...LOL

still see that one sometimes...

Quincy was my "mamas boy" for sure.  He was not too sure of daddy until Porter came along.  He was by FAR my easiest baby.  What an ANGEL he was....was is the key word right? :)

7 things I LOVE about my Quincy

1. His passion....he is passionate about everything he is involved in.

2. His smile....watch out ladies!! :)

3. He is so creative.  He can make pretty much anything out of a cardboard box!

4. He is very aware of right and wrong.  (a good start to making good choices)

5. He is very tender, but you have to get through that "rough" tough boy exterior.

6. He collects everything that is important to him (and prefers to keep it all in his bed)

7. He is quick to say sorry and you can tell he really means it!

Quincy and his presents...

He wanted to go bowling for his birthday...
we had lots of fun!

Quincy and his "Phillies" cake

he wanted to add some blue...so we did! and sparkler candles!

Happy happy day to my Quincy!!!

Being Thankful

November:

It's always time to be thankful but we have been talking about it during FHE this month.  We've talked about saying prayers where we ONLY say "thank you" and not ask for anything...something that is hard to do!  We also made a Thankful Tree...

here's how it looks before we started...

 and here is how it looked in progress...we still add leaves!

 Let's take a closer look...

I think Ella wins with the most leaves dedicated to her.  Her family is sure thankful for her!

OTHER THINGS WE ARE THANKFUL FOR...

The right to vote...

 fingers...and big girl food

 12 inches of SNOW!!

Ella was very content to have brother home sick one day!

We are so thankful for all of our blessings.  It makes us happy to remember all of them!

Happy Thanksgiving week!

Music Lessons

Not sure if music lessons is more of a learning experience for the boys or a trial of patience for mom.  But for grandparents, here is a sample of the boys' music lessons.

Miles practicing:

Quincy practicing:

Porter practicing:

I love to listen to them practicing.  Porter has very very good pitch.  Miles memorizes quickly and once he's got it down, he never looks at the book...working on that!  Quincy is memorizing the keyboard and where the notes are...tricky!  It's hard to keep up with it but rewarding when Miles and Quincy know what notes are in the hymns we are singing at church.  Or Miles will say"hey that song is in the key of F".  Hope they will always love/hate music! LOL  Miles is super fun to listen to when he is rocking out on his iPod!...we can count that as music lessons right?

Avengers Halloween 2012

LOVE it when a theme works and everyone is happy.  The boys are big into the Avengers this year.  And they each chose who they wanted to be...well, except for our Black Widow spy.  She didn't get a choice! :)

We had a Hulk, Ironman, Captain America, and Black Widow

Here's a closer look at our Black Widow

And our Captain America

Here is Q at school with some Avengers buddies

Porter had a parade as well with his preschool.  He was so excited to finally do a Halloween parade and trunk or treat.  Mom had a wild time going from school party to 2 different parades.  

Halloween is always fun, and always nice to have over!  That's a mom talking for you! :) The boys are already thinking of ideas for next year!

Check this out...

yeah, i'm BIG!!

Come see me Grandpas and Grandmas....I am not staying little like mommy wants!  I am a big girl!

OUR FAMILY 2012

We haven't had a family picture taken since 2010...

So the grandparents can enjoy these...

And what happens when brothers aren't there to help Ella smile?

IF you are lucky you get this...

What do you get if you aren't lucky?  Actually we were laughing so hard during this set of pictures.  This one is one of our favorites...

Actually the reason we wanted family pictures taken...we wanted to get a family picture of us holding to the "Iron Rod".  Can't wait to blow this one up BIG!!  Good reminder to make good choices.

And no photo shoot would be complete without our boys wrestling!

We love our family!!!