COUSINS

BROOKLYN (Barry's little girl)


MITCH (Molly's)
SAM (Molly's oldest)
BELLE (Molly's)
JACK (Molly's)

TESS (Molly's)

Barry, Haley, and Brooklyn came in this week for Thanksgiving, so we thought, "Hey, lets get all the cousins together for a picture. -Bad idea- We took Jen with us over to Shady Lane and we told her we just wanted to get one group shot. Well we were all late, it was freezing cold, all the little girls were crying, there was a big chicken chasing the kids around, and by the time we got the individuals done, we decided to bag the group picture. I'll have to remember for next time to do the group shot first. Then we went over to my house and did the best we could inside. Anyway, here they are. What an exhausting morning. It's been so fun to see Barry and Haley again, and cute little Brooklyn. We sure miss having them as our neighbors. We're all hoping that they want to move back to Utah someday. The other kids are all Molly's, she has five now. We love the Stratfords, our kids are together all the time. They all such good kids and so much fun to have around.

HALLOWEEN

Annual pumpkin carving with Grandma Garner
Maria borrowed Halle's witch costume.

I thought I'd better post our halloween pictures before thanksgiving got here. -With a week to spare too- This year surprise surprise, Haden wanted to be a football player, AGAIN! And I know I'm not a very fun mom but Halle reused her dance costume as a penguin, and Bailee reused Halle's old chick costume, and I just bought Avery's costume. I have to say that this was the easiest Halloween I have ever had. Last year I worked really hard to make the costumes so I deserve a year off, right? The kids still loved every minute of Halloween. The candy is all they really care about anyway and they got plenty of it. Haden and Halle's only lasted until the next day and Bailee didn't even bother putting it in her bucket, she would open it up and eat it right when the people gave it to her. She gets that from me.

THE WHOLE FAMILY

We finally got our family pictures taken, I felt guilty when Haden and Halle were supposed to take a picture of their family to school and we didn't have one with Avery in it. Molly is the PTA president and for their fundraiser they did family pictures. She asked Melissa Rackham to take them for her, and since she is our neighbor she took lots of extra shots for us. You're the best Melissa. (you too Molly)

HALLE-b-DALLE

I have been so busy, I never posted pictures for Halle's 5th birthday. My camera's battery went dead right after I took this picture, luckily for me Shane's mom was there with her camera, so she has all the other pictures from the day. Our sweet Halle is now 5 years old (actually she's been five for a few months now) We love having Halle in our family. I can't believe my little girl is in kindergarten now, time flies. She has such a cute personality, I guess I always assumed that she would be really shy like I was when I was her age. I was wrong. She is such a girly-girl. She's always giggling, she loves being silly with her sisters. Her favorite things to do are dancing, tumbling and playing with her friends. Halle is such a help to me around the house, she loves playing mom and pretending Avery is her baby. When she grows up she says she wants to be a cheerleader. Shane and I feel so blessed to have Halle with us, probably because we were so close to losing her when she younger. We had no idea at the time what we would have missed out on. We love you Halle.

CRAZY HAIR

So it was crazy hair day last friday at Haden and Halle's school. I didn't have any colored spray for their hair so I got some toll paint and just painted it in their hair. The last time I did it I mixed the paint with gel and it washed out easy. This time I forgot to mix it and it took forever to get it out. Right when Halle got home from kindergarten we had to run into town and didn't have time to wash it out. She was so embarased to be at the mall with her crazy hair. She made me wash it out as soon as we got home.

AVERY'S BLESSING DAY

Today we blessed our little Avery. It was such a special day for our family. Shane did a great job with her blessing. She wore the same dress that Halle and Bailee wore for their blessings. It's a special dress to me because it is made out of the same material that Shane's mom made my wedding dress out of. She is an umbelievable seamstress. She changed it a bit to make it a little different for each of my girls and she did a great job. Thanks for all your hard work.

KINDERGARTEN FIELD TRIP AT THE ZOO

I needed a little break from feeding Avery so I let her go to town on the gorilla.

FINALLY! UPDATED PICTURES OF AVERY

Avery is now 2 months old. What a good baby. Shane and I got lucky this time around, I am proud to say that she is sleeping all the way through the night, at least for the last 4 nights. Here's hoping it never stops.

ANYONE UP FOR A GAME?

Mitch! You're running the wrong way!


We had our first annual Beus flag football game. All in all it was a good time, but there is no such thing as a Beus competition without a little trash talking. We don't need to mention who won this year (because it wasn't us) but I will say this, the team with Grandma Eve on it did have the unfair advantage. She scored the winning touchdown at the end of the game fulfilling a life long dream for her. Congratulations Mom.