Christmas movies!

The kids cuddled up together tonight for a bit of Shrek the Halls and How the Grinch Stole Christmas... They looked so adorable that I had to snap a picture! Love these kids so much! Especially when they are getting along so well! :)

Daddy's big helper...

We are in the process of doing a bunch of shifting in our house - moving Brody upstairs, new bed for Bella, lots of stuff like that. This means that mom needs to get her act together and move all the stuff that I have been storing in the room that Brody is moving in to... Slowly but surely we are getting it done though! Josh was actually home for a bit the other day, so I had him working with the dolly moving the big stuff. Braxton of course had to help also! :)

Cuddle Time

The kids all love Braxton a lot but it seems like he and Beau just have a tight bond... They are so cute together and Beau's name is one of the few words that Braxton has been saying for a while.

Parade of Lights

It was a wee bit chilly, but we made our trek for the second year in a row to the Parade of Lights in Perham. The kids toughed it out, got lots of candy and even saw a few Santas going by. Braxton thought that it was really cool and was so excited that the squeals kept coming and coming! :)

date night!

This year Josh and I decided to get season tickets to a concert series in Park Rapids. We decided on the family passes so that we could take the boys and hopefully expose them to a little bit more of what is out there! :) So far Josh hasn't been able to go with us, STUPID WORK, but the boys and I have had a good time...

Americanism Program

Josh was working from home today so I got a chance to sneak out for an hour and watch the Americanism program at school today. It's been almost 20 years since I have been in our high school gym for that program and it was just as moving today as it was 20 years ago... A little more special though since both of my boys were involved in the program and another handful of nephews and a niece...

Dylan and Brody

Teagen

Eion and Gavin (who wouldn't stop talking even when I was snapping pictures)

Beau's grade led us in the pledge of allegiance...

It's also education week and Reg was presented with a 5 years of service certificate...

The 3rd grade presented about the book "H is for Honor: A military family alphabet"

Eion

Gavin

Trevin

My original picture was of Braxton throwing a huge fit in the corner, but that one turned out all blurry... Trevin is my little ham and as soon as the camera comes out he is center stage! This picture turned out MUCH cuter!

1st snow!

We got a little snow last night - a first for this year, which is crazy since it is the middle of November already and the kids headed outside with much excitement. This is the first time that Braxton has been out in it where he is walking, so I had to snap at least one picture of him all warm and cozy! :)

Tattoo Artist

Beau was digging through one of my junk drawers and found some old tattoos that I had thrown in there. So, he talked Brody into putting one on him - of course right smack dab in the middle of his forehead! :) It looked hilarious while they were doing it so I had to snap a picture...

Halloween

Halloween turned out to be a beautiful night! I don't remember when the weather has been so nice and we took advantage of it... We walked a lot of the blocks instead of driving from house to house and the kids had a blast. Braxton even got the hang of it by the end... Not that he says anything, but he did throw his bucket in the mix when the other kids yelled trick or treat! It was a fabulous night...

Braxton, our itsy bitsy spider

Bella, our ladybug princess... And DON'T you DARE forget the princess part! :)

Brody, our baseball player...

Beau, our oompa loompa... he picked this character all on his own - i was so excited! :) josh ran out of yellow on his makeup the 2nd go round, so he was a little sunburnt oompa loompa for the actual Halloween night! :)

the whole "Kiser" gang

Little Chef

The other night I started making supper and Beau jumped up and asked if he could help me. Well, any time my kiddos want to cook sounds good to me! So Beau helped me make pasta primavera with shrimp and it turned out pretty dang good!

Carve it up!

Pumpkin carving last night! We got a late start at it but the kids did fantastic... Braxton wasn't feeling so hot but he hung out with us and played with the pumpkins and even tried to make one of his own. Brody has gotten to the point that he pretty much carves his on his own and it is so fun to see him working so hard at it. Beau did a good chunk of his too - can't believe how fast they grow up and start to be so independent... It used to be more for Josh and I that we carved pumpkins and now they are all picking their own and doing them!

Brody, Beau and I starting on the pumpkins...

Bella waiting not so patiently for Josh to finish the outline...

Brody

Beau

Braxton creating his masterpiece...

Intense concentration by both of the boys!! Tongues out and all!

Braxton

Brody's

Beau's

Bella's

All of our pumpkins! (You can see Braxton's "op art" in the middle - the one I took of his individually didn't turn out so I will have to retake! :)

Halloween party

Once again we had our annual Halloween party at the school. Another fun event and the kids had a blast going around trying out all the games...

Beau (my oompa loompa)

Bella (my lady bug princess and you better not forget the PRINCESS part! :)

Megan and Bella at the tattoo parlor

Braxton (my spider)

Grandma Cindy helping the kids with the ghost craft...

Braxton and Brody (my baseball player)

Daycare Project

The daycare kids and I headed out to Gordy's greenhouse the other day for a little field trip and we picked up a few pumpkins for them to paint and a big one for them to carve... We busted it out the other day and tried a new technique...

Trev's not too sure about the guts!

Emma

Bella's digging in...

Aubrey

We used an apple corer to punch out the holes...

and then they pushed with all their might to POP out the pumpkin piece... This was definitely the favorite part! :)