Eight IS Great!!

I love this boy.
I love those baby blue eyes.
I love his dimpled smile.
Collin is the bringer of fun, silliness and joking in our family.

November 22nd he turned eight.

New scriptures were in order for this momentous occasion. (Talin has major scripture envy!)
The last thing we need, more Lego's, from Talin and Caleb.
On his actual birthday we were in Mesa preparing for Thanksgiving. But what better way to celebrate than hanging out with cousins and eating eggnog pancakes for breakfast and eggnog bundt cake for dessert?
His life long nemesis ruining the moment once again. These two have a dramatic love/hate relationship.

*
**
***

Collin chose to be baptized.

His baptism was the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

I love this picture.

My camera had been touched by greasy fingers on the lens, so all the baptism pictures have a blurry effect. Not thrilled about that. But it does make Collin look like he's glowing!

Collin and his dad. Or I should say, Tom and his Mini-Me.

The Family.

Little Miss was sleeping and missed out on the picture fun.

After the baptism all the family headed to our house for lunch and cake.

(Wesley, Noah & Collin)

I'm so proud of Collin and his choices. I can't believe how quickly my little boys are turning into little men and taking these momentous steps in their lives. Baptism, Cub Scouts and before I know it he'll be twelve and getting the priesthood and then serving a mission. I see it all coming at us very quickly. And I'm so grateful to have the Gospel in our lives to raise good, kind, hard working children.
Earlier this week Collin was riding to school and got hit by a car while on his bike. He was definitely being watched out for and walked away with no more than a cut/bruised up chin and a sore knee. But it made me stop and appreciate him and hold him and squeeze him and thank Heavenly Father for this little boy in my life.

4 Months

I am backed up on blogging, but we've been busy, between a milestone birthday, Thanksgiving, and a baptism. And now we're slowing down just in time to get geared up for another birthday and Christmas.

And during all this our little girl has been growing like a weed! Or a beautiful flower.

Here are the stats:

Height: 25 1/4 75%

Weight: 14 pounds 12 ounces 75%

Head: 41 1/4 cm. 70%

She is so happy and can make anyone around her smile. She will catch your eye from across the room and burst into giggles. She really is a doll, I love having her as a part of our family.

And I find myself continually blessed and grateful for her healthy little body. It's so amazing to watch her develope so quickly and grow so easily and to smile so spontaneously.

Monet has also received two little teeth on her bottom gum. One has poked through all the way and the other is working it's way out. It makes her a little cranky, but she's been a good sport.

It's so much fun to round out our family with a little girl, she brings out a tenderness in all of us, and we spend most evenings fighting over who gets to hold her, and I mean everyone from Caleb to Talin to Collin are fighting. And she loves every bit of the attention.

Those Be Some Big Eyes

Miniature ruler of my universe.

She decides the schedule, morning, day and night.
Oh horrible nights.

She's quick to smile, quicker to scream and fears her big brother Caleb.

She's likes to make eye contact, and will use her bobble head to get your attention, or just scream.
Look into my eyes!

I'm starting to like her more and more, she is super cute, which helps a lot, and she likes me. Except for last night, when dad was gone all night and she screamed like a Banshee, and would only stop in Talin's skinny arms. That kind of hurt my feelings, but Talin enjoyed it.

Sleeping has been hard for her, especially with three very noisy brothers, and Caleb who yells and screams constantly. She never sleeps for long during the day, it's painful.

She really likes her dad. Like a lot. But who doesn't? Anyone who knows our family usually likes Tom best, I'm getting used to that.

This is her spot. On the kitchen counter presiding over the world.
She really is a special little girl, and I feel more and more blessed to have her as I get to know who she is better. My smiling, Banshee screaming, never sleeping Tatum.

Love Her!

Halloween

The Mad Hatter and a couple of zombies.

They had a great time at the Ward Party and Trick or Treating this year.

Talin as a zombie.

Collin as the Mad Hatter.

Creepy.

Caleb as a zombie.

We had to force his costume onto him, he screamed and cried and wouldn't let me do his makeup either. Halloween is not his thing. He was terrified of the older boys in their makeup.

Tatum as a tiger.

This girl is definitely the fourth child, she might be our only girl, but I only managed one picture of her for her first Halloween.

Tatum & Her People

Grandma Cyndee & Tatum

Grandma Chambers & Tatum

Aunt Elizabeth & Tatum

Cousin Noah & Tatum

Uncle Kevin & Tatum

Cousin Wesley & Tatum

Grandpa Chambers & Tatum

Uncle Tyler & Tatum

Aunt Amy & Tatum

Cedar City Part II

This was our Halloween Party set-up. Nasty jello worms. They looked so gross, I couldn't try them.
Our mummy hot dogs with Halloween shaped mac n' cheese.
Talin enjoying the worms. Gag.
Collin ate them too.
Afterwards we had a Halloween bingo that JoDee and I threw together. We're awesome like that.
One of the evenings Shane and Tom took Talin, Collin, Baylee and Crew camping and hunting with them overnight.
So Jo, Madee, Andee, Caleb, Tatum and I decided to have a campfire of our own in the backyard.
As you can tell, Caleb was not very much fun to control around the fire with marshmallow sticks.
Andee taking care of the babes.
Caleb and Tatum. The smoke was really bothering her.

Our last night in Cedar was Andersyn's birthday, so we celebrated.
I made her a yummy mint cake with layers of chocolate ganache and mint filling. So yummy.
JoDee calmed the kids down with a book on her new nook, and we waited for the babysitter to go party.
I wish I would have taken the camera, although she probably wouldn't have appreciated it, but we took Andee on a treasure hunt around town. It was so much fun making her ask for her clues at the different locations. We had dinner and then went to a haunted house. And I don't know if I'm just getting old and boring, but it was really silly.
Happy 17th birthday Andee!
We miss Cedar City already, especially coming back to the 90's here in Tucson!