One Single(ton) Family

Our Fall so far...

2010-10-19T20:03:00.000-07:00

Snaps

2010-10-19T19:41:00.000-07:00

Ashford rarely likes Lexi. It's sad, but true. She is rough with him and they don't speak the same language most of the time. However, she offered him an opportunity to bake with her, and he was all hers!
September ushered in the first days of school for my oldest three. Graham just melts me. His cute little kindergarten smiles in front of school.
First day of school outfits. Ahh, I love them.

When mom is a photographer.....

2010-04-03T14:15:00.001-07:00

Then everything gets documented in photos. Here's a look at our first egg hunt this weekend with friends. Fun fun, except that it was pouring down rain!

Spring means playtime!

2010-03-23T16:31:00.000-07:00

When it starts getting nice outdoors, we enjoy it a lot! Especially when it comes to these two rascally boys....being cooped up all winter really messes up the house! So, spring is definitely playtime around here!
Graham was showing me all of his most awesome tricks on the playset...i.e. hanging like a monkey.
and this picture (above) totally cracks me up as I was trying to take a picture of Ashford but Graham just HAD to stick his cute little face in there!
Ashford is THE most difficult child to photograph. He just refuses to look into the camera! But, here is he, going down the 'big slide' as opposed to his little tykes slide...he is so big!

Outtakes from family pictures

2009-12-21T06:41:00.000-08:00

Haley's #10 birthday...

2009-12-17T07:21:00.000-08:00

Graham's faux hawk!

2009-12-10T07:03:00.000-08:00

Halloween 09

2009-11-02T07:32:00.000-08:00

Back to school!

2009-08-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

School preview night was on Monday and the girls were able to see their classrooms and meet their teachers. Lexi has Mrs. Apple, above, who she really wanted!

Haley has Mrs. Baughman, who is sweet and I'm sure Haley will get along with very well.

Here's the girls on their very first day; Wednesday, with all of their bags of school supplies!

Lexi in her first day of school outfit.

Haley in her first day of school outfit.

Bye bye girls! Have a great day! (I know, I posted this one twice, oops!)

Here are their outfits from today, the second day of school. Obviously I'm not going to take pictures of them every single day, but they were pretty proud of themselves to have picked out the rest of the week's worth of clothes!

Today was also the "go cubs go" game for Graham and Jason. It's been so quiet around the house, I hardly knew what to do with myself!

This morning I took pictures of my boys. Here's Graham with his tickets to the game.

Here he is, showing off his "pipes" with the cubs tatoo on them!

Both of the boys showing off their pipes! Ha!

Holiday

2009-07-31T06:16:00.000-07:00

The 4th of July was fun for all, the kids had a blast playing with all of their red,white, & blue friends. Graham was the only boy (besides Ash) and I think he was a little overcome with all the girlies around him!

Why can't they just pose normal? My cheesy, cheesy, cutie pie

Guitar Hero was played by all....Jason was trying, anyway

Graham, too, strummin' away to some relatively easy song

Jason and Ash in their Cubs gear. Yes, even his bib is cubs.

Earlier in the day we had taken our littlest man to get his first haircut. Now, I personally did not have a problem with his extra long, extra curly hair. In fact, I loved it! But, boring Jason insisted that his boy look more like an Ashford and less like an Ashley, which his sisters had started calling him often.

It was very difficult to get any photos of him because he was moving constantly. He was so interested in the lady above him and why she had these shiny silver things in her hand and why those shiny silver things kept touching his hair.

It's still a little mullet-like in the back, but when he first comes out of the bath he is sooooo cute and the curls are so curly and as his mom, I would just DIE if anyone tried to cut his hair shorter. Kiss kiss.

Investing in their future........teeth

2009-06-30T06:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took Lexi in to get braces. Baaaa!!! A $5,000 investment in her TEETH. Holy cow. And, for those of us who do not have dental insurance, writing this check really hurt! Above is her "before" picture, see how happy she looks?

Poor girl, putting that huge plastic mouth-opener in. Step one, putting on the glue...

And then, wowsers! Now, come the brackets themselves.

And, voila! Lexi's top braces are ON! In a few months she will get the bottom ones, and now we have over two years of pain, pain, pain.....

Summer, day one

2009-06-09T07:40:00.000-07:00

I really do dread the summertime. Last year it was worse, with just having a baby and trying to get used to having four kids at home, everyday, in the heat, the humidity...the complete torture of summer with children. This year we have a puppy chore chart where the girls are doing 646 chores to earn a puppy by the end of the summer. We frequently go to the animal shelter to inspire the girls to work harder and more often. As I type, they are mopping the kitchen floor. Yippee! Anyway, besides the puppy chores, we have a summer schedule as well that makes it clear what the expectations are for each of us. Mom works in the morning, kids do chores and/or summer schoolwork, and then we all have lunch together. After lunch is errand time including the library, groceries, blah blah blah. The kids can play with their friends now if they want. Then we go to the pool together. Yep, gotta love those season passes. Yesterday, however, it was just too rainy and cool for the pool so we went to our local zoo. When I say local, I mean down the road, no exotic animals, and free admission. Really, I just HAD to get out of the house. Yesterday was the first official day with all four kids and they were driving me insane.

We saw a lot of peacocks. See what I mean, nothing too fantastic. They were quite pretty, however and the zoo featured a great deal of variety.

Here are the three oldest looking at the bull elk from the binoculars. Their were ten elk and they were very happy!

The park next to the zoo features a huge ongoing playground and the kids had a blast climbing around.

Also, next to the zoo is the local Sunken Garden. It is very pretty, and suprisingly, the kids wanted to check it out, too.

There is a WWII memorial that Graham tried to read the names of:

And Haley was in a very, very very bad mood, so here she is trying to hide from the camera:

All in all, day one of summer could have been better. Truly, I don't understand why the kids must fight with each other so much and make trouble with each other. Hopefully today will be better!!!

The Un-edited life

2009-04-27T06:39:00.000-07:00

Our life; unedited, as in, I don't spend hours on photoshop with my family pictures like I do all the other ones in my life. Life is good around here. My poor kids put up with me (or do I put up with them?) and we've had a good month. April has been full of fun.

Ashford and him always taking off the hats I try to put on his head. I give up. The boy does not cooperate with me.

Lexi, on the other hand has become my hat-girl and I love it.

Haley's personality really shines through in this picture. She just really enjoys being busy and having fun.

Lexi and the coolio scarf she picked out herself. I am really enjoying the little fashion bug in the family.

I've been braiding Haley's hair each night so she can have waves. I like it.

Easter morning. Oh, it was a very pretty day out for sure. Lexi and a resentful Ashford.

Happy Haley pulling some of her stash out of her eco-friendly re-usable Easter "bag".

Is he a little bit happier with Haley holding him? Hmmm, I don't really think so.

My sweetie pies. Graham was still upstairs doing his hair, so he isn't in most of these shots.

Oops. Lexi and her closed eyes half the time. The sound the camera makes must scare her, because I don't use flash.

There's my handsome Graham and his oh-so-gorgeous spiked hair. Actually, I can't tell you how much I love his hair spiked and all crazy. He just loads it up with gel and goes crazy!

And my curly-headed dude, Ash, is just so darling with his crazy hair, too....no gel needed!

The drunken look. Ashford getting out his Easter bag stash. Mostly snacks. What does a baby need?

My cute four. Oh how I love them to pieces. I didn't buy them Easter clothes this year, but I think they look just fine.

Umm, hello! Close-up shot of Mr. Ashford. This is a typical look for him, though.

Haley outside during the Easter Egg hunt at our friends; The Porters.

Ashford hunting the big egg. Gotta love his determination. Now if he would only finally learn to get up on all fours!! Hello, dude, you would stay a lot cleaner!

And here's that blank Ashford stare again, you see his face? That's not oreo or chocolate, that's mud.

Just one last pic of my cutie pie Lexi. I told her I needed to start taking pics of her before school because she was coming up with the cutest outfits. Oh, to be young and skinny and cute.....

2009-04-01T05:39:00.000-07:00

And this is why I color my hair so much

2009-02-22T05:30:00.000-08:00

See all that gray? Well, my hair grows exceedingly fast and with it being I'd say about 50% gray, I have to have it colored often to keep up.
Saturday. I got up early, packed three of the four kids in the car (after cleaning the snow off my car because alas, the garage has too much stuff in it for both of our cars...why does Jason get the garage and the biggest closet? anyway) and went to the church primary activity. I put on my fake smile, cheesed it up for the kids and did my duty....no shirking here! Then on the way home, waited 25 minutes for gasoline and finally made it home. This is Saturday, right? Fed the baby, changed the baby. Fed the other kids lunch.....where is my husband? Oh, he's at the library now, by himself. Listened to the girls play their soprano recorders five hundred times until "hot cross buns" was successful. I'll tell you about some hot cross buns....I'm tired! Listened to Haley invite a friend over, it's ok, it's Abbey and I like her, listened to the baby whine, whine, whine.....listened to the girls torture Graham like any big sisters should do. Finally, at 3:00 in the afternoon, the hubs comes home and I say, I'm taking a nap. I put the baby down for a nap, the other kids are playing in the basement: Do not disturb. I can barely keep my eyes open and my head hurts. This is Saturday?

Well, all curled up in my warm nap ball, I sleep. Now, below is a list of things that could happen to disturb my oh-so-needed nap:
1. Hubs comes in to go number two potty. As if there aren't any other bathrooms in the house. As if whoever designed the "master suite" forgot that the bathroom is a stinky place, so why is it connected to the bedroom again?
2. Child one comes in to ask mom if she can go somewhere with friend. Hello! My eyes are closed--why aren't you asking your dad?
3. Child two comes in to tattle on child number three. Hello! My eyes are freakin' closed, go tell your DAD!
4. Child one comes in to ask again about the friend thing because apparently dad said go ask your mother. Hello!!!! I'm trying to take a nap!!!!!
5. Hubs comes in with baby, barely napped, and gives baby a bath. At four in the afternoon! Who bathes the baby in the middle of the afternoon? You have got to be kidding me!
6. Hubs tells me to get up and come help with the kids while he makes dinner. Ha! Like anyone is ever there to help ME while I manage the four kids and make dinner. And yes, I do make dinner....it's not like it just magically appears like Jason likes to tell everyone...that I never cook.

All of the above happened. Is this really Saturday? Did I get my oh, so needed nap? No.

Whew, it is February already?

2009-02-09T05:27:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that this weekend is Valentine's Day! Not that WE do anything around here for that holiday, but it has been a while since my December post.Well, my little guy Graham turned four last Sunday and I just cannot believe it!!!

He is very much into the Superheros right now and so that is what he got for his birthday, a lot of Superhero toys, fruit snacks (don't ask) and homemade cards from his sisters (so thoughtful!)

He had a lot of birthday phone calls and tried to tell every single person that called what he had been opening so far.

Jason says every time he takes Graham out that Graham asks for peanut butter cups. We have no idea where this came from, but for his birthday we decided to indulge this peanut butter fantasy of his and let me tell you, it was almost better than getting superheroes!

My other sweet little guy Ashford is an absolute delight to have around. He is so much fun and such an easy baby. He just wants to eat, poop, and play.

I took my little guys in for pictures together, without the girls, since they both had birthdays together. I found these cute shirts that say "I'm the big brother" and "I'm the little brother". Graham was so excited to spike his hair before the pictures.

He is such a little ham.

The girls and I were just playing around, trying to take some fun photos. Target had these great heart shaped lollipops (did you know that the lollipop was named after Lolly, the favorite racehorse of the guy who invented the candy on a stick?).

My sweet Lexi girl. I just hate how fast they grow up!

Lexi loves to bake and cook, which I am sooooooooooo very happy about because once in a while it gives me a break. She especially enjoys making the family desserts. Graham and she were baking brownies together and Lexi was modeling her oh-so-cute chef hat and apron from Aunt Melissa. And such a sweet big sister to actually look so happy while entertaining her brother!

I caught Haley reading while waiting for pictures. She brought down all of her newly acquired neo-pets (that girl could furnish the world with stuffed animals) and just lined them up next to her for good company. I love it that my girls love to read!

The Singleton Year in Review ( a letter to YOU, our friends)

2008-12-11T11:32:00.000-08:00

Dear friends and family,
As if publishing a family blog isn't enough to keep you up to date on what we do with our lives, here is a little year-in-review, a holiday letter so to speak. It seems after we've reached a certain age with this many children, there really isn't much to report except what the kids are up to. (well, for us anyways, nothing exciting here!) However, just for the sake of saying I did it, here's what the adults do:
Jason still works for the same law firm as he always has. He works the same hours, has the same court schedule and sometimes gets to lunch somewhere other than "Egglectic" (his bosses favorite, a local eating joint which only serves breakfast and Jason has probably eaten there over two hundred times--enough to make anyone sick of seeing the country rooster decor). Once in a while he actually takes off a day here and there to spend time with his family and those are the best days for all of us. We love having Jason home with us, even if it's just a bit too much for him after a while. He still enjoys doing his geneaology and has even ventured out to play fantasy baseball and football. He spends most of his free time reading or playing computer games (but not helping with handyman house projects...ahem ahem). For all you LDS readers, Jason serves as secretary in the Stake Presidency which takes up the other free time he may have and is always busy making phone calls, sending emails and attending frightfully early church meetings on both Saturdays and Sundays.
Amanda stays at home with the children, which is hardly staying at home. She runs around with the boys during the day while the girls are at school, but that's usually errand time. She still enjoys scrapbooking, photography, crafty projects, and being with friends. She also is the leader of Lexi's girl scout troop and right now that's enough to keep her busy. I'm not sure that laundry fits in that schedule anywhere.

Lexi is in the fourth grade this year. She is currently reading at a 12th grade level which has been challenging for us to find appropriate-content books for her. So far she has stuck with reading the classics and is now reading all volumes of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries (which, by the way has a snippet of church history in there she discovered!) She is in all the AT classes at school and even qualified for the above-accelerated math class. She definitely did not get that one from her mom. Lexi won her class student council election and serves with the council every Wednesday. She also participates in soccer, first read club, and of course Girl Scouts. Lexi is a lot like Jason except she is THE drama queen around our house. If there is a problem with Lexi, she will let everyone in earshot know!! She is just now starting to get really interested in clothes and hair (finally!!) and carefully selects each days wardrobe with enthusiasm for what the day holds. When she is not busy reading or complaining about her siblings, she likes to make clay pottery and play with her friends. She is extremely mature for her age and sometimes too smart for her own good. It is a challenge to be her parents but she is such a blessing to us we wouldn't have it any other way!

Miss Haley is in the third grade this year. She has the same teacher for third grade that she had for first grade, so that's a little wierd, but she likes it because she already knows her! Haley is the social butterfly of the family. She always has playdates, always has friends calling her, she is always being invited somewhere, we need a separate calendar just for her activities. She is a very well-rounded child who excels at both physical and academic activities. She is quiet about her achievements yet enjoys being in the spotlight. She is in Brownie Girl Scouts as well as hanging out with Lexi's troop, and she finished gymnastics in the Spring. Haley loves PE and art the most and won a music award at the end of second grade. Haley absolutely adores her new baby brother and shows the most love to him out of anyone in the family.

Graham turned three in February and has been acting like it ever since! He is very much a busy little boy who is loyal to his little friends and loves to meet new people. Graham wants a snuggle buddy every night of the week and when his sisters do not oblige him, he will put his pillow next to Ashford's crib and sleep next to his baby brother. Graham likes telling us all about his alphabet, he loves superheroes (especially Hulk) and he doesn't like loud noises. He is in preschool this year three days a week and has a favorite teacher, Miss Rachel. His favorite activities include tormenting his sisters, playing tickle attack with his parents, and bodyslamming his little brother. Graham is a sweet guy and will share his candy with most everyone. Yes, he makes daily messes with his toys and art supplies, yes he throws food around, but he has only clogged the toilet three times with massive amounts of toilet paper.

Ashford was born in May and is growing so very fast. He is the spitting image of Haley as a baby and is even starting to act like her around dinner time. He is always squeezing his hands (the sign for milk) or kicking his legs (the sign for hurry up, people, it's dinner time!) and has astonished many audiences with his self-propelled moving carseat that he can kick into a real party. Ashford is a really easy baby, a good baby who really just wants his needs met. He only cries if he is bored, hungry, or tired. He loves to snuggle and spent the first six months doing just that. He giggles at his siblings, loves to play peekaboo, loves to eat and eat and eat. He is very tall and skinny and has skipped about seven months of clothing sizes. It is very fun to have two boys an two girls and every night we are even more grateful for our children.

So, there you go, our year in review. We are busy people and love our family life. What more can we say?

My curly-girls

2008-12-09T06:46:00.000-08:00

I am a coolio Girl Scout leader. Really, not to toot my own horn but I am. I make all the activities really engaging for my troop and try hard to do fun badges. So, right now we are doing a badge on looking your best and girl hygiene so I made an appointment for all my girls to go to the beauty shop and get their hair and nails done!

Sweet little Haley, they kept calling her goldilocks. I loved her curly locks!

Oops! Lexi's eyes were closed, but doesn't her hair look adorable?

Both of my pretty girls in their curly-best!

Lexi turns ten!

2008-12-09T06:27:00.000-08:00

It is really hard to believe that our oldest child is now ten years old! Lexi through the years has been an amazing blessing to our family and a much-loved and admired child. She has always been an over-achiever and smart girl. For her tenth birthday party, she wanted to bring the world of Webkinz to life at her very own Webkinz party (which, by the way is the same thing Haley wanted, so easy peasy!)

Lexi with her party guests gather around the gifts and Webkinz and party favors for a pic.

My sweet girl blowing out the candles on the most atrocious-looking cake ever. It was her idea to have strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate, but mom just wasn't in the mood to make it gorgeous.

Here are the girls playing the real-life version of Webkinz "cash cow" where they each had cones to catch "falling candy". Notice the very scared looking Jason in the background!

Such a bunch of sweet girls, Lexi's friends are great and I'm glad she had a wonderful birthday!

Mall pictures

2008-12-09T06:05:00.000-08:00

I can take the most beautiful photos of pretty much anyone except my own kids. When they were younger they were more willing to pose for me but the girls are absolutely not going to cooperate with mom. Graham is the same way and well, soon enough Ashford will learn, too! So, I admit it, I take them to the mall for Christmas and birthday pictures. I do. I do. This year it was even difficult to get all four of them at the mall to behave. But, this is what we came out with.

Thanksgiving at our house

2008-12-08T07:36:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was pretty uneventful at our house. It was so nice to just lounge around with the kids in our jammies, preparing the food for our own little family. The kids decorated their annual gingerbread house after dinner and all was well at the Singleton home.

Halloween pics, no words!

2008-11-02T14:54:00.001-08:00

PUNK'D

2008-10-29T06:12:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Jason was ill so we missed church. I wasn't about to take all four of the kids by myself as that usually causes unnatural amounts of instant gray hair, wrinkles, and other signs of aging. Instead, we had a fantastic day at home while Jason groveled in his cold, the kids bonded with each other and as a mother, I was able to witness the love these siblings have for each other. The girls lovingly doted on baby Ashford and then Graham. However, when it was time for Graham to be on the receiving end of said love from his sisters, they manifest this love in unusual ways. They dressed him up, gave him a faux-hawk and took pictures of him. (They asked permission to use my camera, but they took all the pictures themselves, they even set up a background of Haley's blue blankie!!) Here are the memories of Graham's semi-punk'd Sunday:

An apple a day....

2008-09-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

Every year we go apple picking. We have done this since Lexi was a baby...her first "harvest" was at just ten months. It all started in Columbia, Missouri at the MU Extenstion farm where they test pesticides at the college orchard. Our Bishop was one of the 'men in charge' so he invited us out to pick apples for free. All we had to do was remember to wash them before eating. Easy! I think that night we took home twelve bags (probably a couple of bushels) full of apples. Thus started the canning frenzy at the Singleton home. Each year since, we have continuted the family tradition. Always in September. Since moving here to Chicago, we used to drive the couple hours north of Milwaukee to a cute little town called Mequon....home of the Barthel family fruit farm. We love this orchard, definitely our favorite. However, with gas being so expensive this year and our SUV gets about 11 miles to the gallon, we resorted to finding an orchard just a bit closer to home. We went to the Honey Hill farm in Waterman, Illinois. It is another quaint, family-owned hobby farm that was only 36 miles from our front door.

Both of the girls have been to Honey Hill before on class field trips. The first thing you notice upon arrival is the sweet smell of apple cider donuts coming from the on-site bakery. Apparently, the farm started truely as a "hobby farm" in 1965 and is now being run by the third and fourth generations of family where it has expanded to include a gift shop, bakery, petting zoo, u-pick apples & berries & pumpkins, and wagon rides, etc. Jason and I both loved their little family story and want so much to have a hobby as fun as theirs!! This is the only orchard in the area we could find that didn't charge admission. Admission! Can you believe that? Ridiculous! We just want to pick apples. We don't really care about all the other "stuff" they try to make money from, but we were delighted that this place put the "family" back in family farm.

Every year I make all of us dress in red. Every year Jason comes down the stairs in green, or blue, or orange. Drives me nuts. However, this year when he came down in blue and I couldn't believe he wasn't following the strict apple-picking dress code (for pictures, of course!) he changed into burgundy. His blue would have been ok....now if we could get the man to wear jeans to match the rest of us! Anyway, this very unflattering photo of Ashford was pretty much all I could get of the little guy as he just isn't very ready for the fun of the orchard. The poor little guy, like the rest of us, was getting eaten alive by all the mosquitos. Augh!

Graham wore his bibs to the orchard. He had many, many compliments from passer-bys on how cute he looked in them. In fact, after apple-picking when we went out to lunch, one elderly gentleman (a good ole boy my dad would say) leaned over to his wife and asked her, "is he wearing Osh Kosh or Big Ben?" I chuckled and told them, neither, they are just from Old Navy. I don't think he knew what that was. Nonetheless, Graham was farm-ready in his overalls.

Haley was a pain in the rear. She was hungry, tired, thirsty, and hot. None of the apples were good enough for her and she didn't like carrying the peck-bag around. See, she has always been my little routine girl and this break in routine from our normal orchard in Wisconsin was enough to make her crabby. At least I took a picture before you could really tell too much!!

Lexi loves to pick apples every year! She is used to their being orchard ladders by all the trees in our "regular" spot, but this year all was different, and she had to deal with the lack of bountiful apples to choose from. However, she was well-behaved.

Like I said, there weren't any orchard ladders and so Jason had to keep getting the kiddos on his shoulders for any good picking.

Here's the token photo of me from the event. See all that gray hair? Aughh!!

The sun was so bright (and hot) that the kids kept squinting in all the pictures.

And I even managed to get Jason to pose for a few with the girls, though I do believe we had to bribe the girls with treats in order to get them to pose, too. Graham would have nothing to do with it.

Ahh, yes, this is the last picture Haley would let me take (I was begging her to smile....and this is what I got) before she was positively going to explode from too much sun,heat,thirst,etc....

Graham was peacefully thinking about the corn husks that were decorating the farm. He wanted so badly to eat corn, that's all he kept saying, "can I have corn NOW?" He even opened up one of the husks and tried to lick it. That's when we decided it is definitely snack time. We went to the bakery for some donuts but couldn't decide so we went to their barn store and bought our honey for the year. We buy a few pounds of fresh honey every year from the orchard we normally go to, and that usually lasts us all year long. This year was no exception. We even got to see the bees in action as they had all kinds of cool things to look at inside. There were food samples (the kids' favorite), apples, jam, jellies, candy, pies, and cider. We bought a gallon of cold, cold cider and that was a good thing. I loved all the crafty things they had inside, and Haley did, too

..as one of their displays was of farm-dyed wool made on-site from the sheep. Haley thought it was a cool wig. But, then after I took the picture she said in all seriousness...mom, please don't put that picture in your scrapbook. I said O.K. (But I never said I wouldn't put it on the blog!!)

I didn't know if this sign was for real or not?

Graham was really enjoying all the animals. The owners tell us that the animals are really their pets, not just a "petting zoo". They ask all visitors to respect their pets and treat them kindly. Graham took this to heart as he kept reaching in an petting the pigs. It was so cute. And dirty.

This Belgian draft horse was HUGE. It was a very kind and gentle horse and didn't seem to mind any of the kids or other people around it. It was for sale, too.

The goats kept "talking" to everybody around. They were so loud and obnoxious. But, Graham still thought they were absolutely fascinating. I mean, Graham has been to a handful of zoos and farms, but for some reason these really captured his attention!

All in all, it was a pretty good day for apple picking. I really wanted a great picture of all the kids for our Christmas cards again (like last year's on the haybale) but Ashford just isn't ready yet. We left happy and next weekend we start canning!

Momma's boys

2008-09-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

It is true. I have two momma's boys. Sometimes I love it, most of the time it is, well....all-energy consuming. Right now I couldn't tell you which is harder; boys energy or girls and their sassiness. With my girls at school during the day, I am constantly running after Graham and holding Ashford, picking up after Graham and then feeding Ashford, or trying to do it all at once. Thank goodness Graham started preschool today! And, another plus....he has two little (girl)friends in his class from church, so we get to carpool!! Yippee for the only once a week driving! He was all ready today with his ballcap and backpack. He dressed himself from head to toe and couldn't wait to get out of the door:

He was kind of tired and really crabby after school, but I think he is really going to LOVE going, and I will enjoy having a bit of quiet time with my littlest guy.

Speaking of the littlest guy, he is growing so fast! Ashford turned four months last week and he is a delight (most of the time). He still prefers to be snuggled and held a lot, which gets really difficult after school when the girls are home, or when it is time to make dinner, etc. He can roll over from tummy to back and I've only seen him do back to tummy once today. He is a little kicker all of the time, so I imagine he gets a lot of exercise that way!! My little guy is full of smiles and loves all three of his siblings sooooooooooo much!!

Summer Lovin'

2008-09-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

Whew! I thought summer would NEVER end....with all four kids home and underfoot all the time. Sure, we were keeping busy enough, but sometimes there just are TOO many hours in the day! HEre's a little summer recap from the Singleton house:
July 4th as always at our friend's house. It is such a big party, and so much fun for the kids.
This year they did face painting for the kiddos, we are very surprised that Graham didn't pick something girly. We were actually quite pleased to see the happy face on his cheek instead of say, a rainbow, or better yet a pink heart or something.

This summer started the days of Lexi and Haley cooking for us. Lexi does awesome at her weekly chore, fixing for us the most delicious pizza......all from scratch. It literally took her all day, but it was sure worth it. Yummy!

We took the kids to Blackberry Farm several times this summer. They were having a model train exhibit during one of the weekends that we went. I think the models are superb! The girls had a blast racing each other on one of the trains,

and you can see how excited Graham was to see the trains going back and forth from the station to the little "towns" they had set up. It was awesome!

No, those aren't my triple E's hanging down, it's Ashford in the baby sling. Jason was kind enough to take one token photo of me this summer.

I think this was one of those days when Lexi was not willing to have her picture taken. I suppose she is kind of starting to get to the age where it just isn't cool anymore. Too bad, because she probably won't get to go to Disney until she's like, 15, and I'm sure to take a ton of photos there!

Why do children love carousels so much? I've ridden a ton of them this summer with the kids, and quite frankly, they are kind of boring. So fifty years ago!!

I love it when Melissa and I get our kids together for bi-annual cousins pictures. They all looked so cute together:

Lexi looking all cute and sunny, while Haley and Kimmy thoroughly refused to model:

Jessica loved having Graham around to play with. I don't remember ever really enjoying my younger cousins that way, but I am sure glad that Jessica likes hers!! She is the oldest cousin so the poor girl kind of has to~!

This summer baby Ashford was blessed, too:

Lexi loves her little brother Ashford. He's still little enough to be fun, you know....not too slobbery and he definitely doesn't talk back yet. She still gives him back, though when he cries!

We also started Ashford on cereal. He enjoys it enough to be happy, and has picked up another nickname: el Tauro (torro? I don't speak Spanish) because he kicks up his left leg constantly while he is eating. Funny Jason started calling him that before we even realized that his zodiac sign is the Taurus. What a coinky-dink!

Our garden has been especially good to us this summer. With the addition of lattice work to our next door neighbor's deck, the bunnies don't seem to be as plentiful anymore. Thank goodness, because we had squash, kale, cabbage (so yummy!) apples from the trees, tomatoes, and I can't remember what else. Jason enjoys cooking with the garden vegetables, I like making art:

Summer is all and well, and when people refer to home can be a heaven on earth, don't let them kid you!!!! Heaven on Earth is when, and only when............SCHOOL STARTS AGAIN!!!!!

This year, school started the day before my birthday and it couldn't have been a more timely or better birthday present for me. There is no amount of hair dye that can cover up all the gray hairs my children gave me this summer. Apparently, the happy pills just aren't strong enough because I was so sick of the kids by August. I lOvE ThEm!! Don't get me wrong, but my brain was having way too many healthy doses of over stimulation. Way. Too. Many. I love having my girls around, but I love the quiet even better. Now, when Graham starts preschool next week it truly will be a delight around here!!

However, with school starting, also starts more of the gimme's from the kids,mostly Haley. Please "gimme" new school shoes, new clothes, new pencils, new headbands, colorful erasers, white and only white socks, a new backpack, a watch, can you please gimme the Webkinz school supply kit that is ONLY $14 for ONE notebook, ONE pencil, and ONE eraser. ONLY!!!

Haley was disappointed that her desk did not feature her last name. I don't know why...she is the only Haley in her class

Lexi was just happy that her desk was another big one. I thought all the desks looked the same, but apparently not. Gees, mom, can't you tell the difference?

Before school officially started, we took the kids downtown for a full day of sunny and bright torture. We went to the Shedd aquarium, and don't tell anyone, but I think looking at fish all day is so dang boring!! At least the weather was perfect, but the kids were no more cooperative than usual when it came time to snap photos:

The finished Cousin pIcture product: Don't they all look so cute?

Graham used to be so cooperative for any pictures I wanted to take of him. Now, however, he makes silly faces each and every time I point the camera at him. It drives me insane. I did catch this moment where Haley was actually being nice to her little brother instead of beating on him. I hope she continues to be nice to Ashford because I don't think I could handle another bully around here.

These two (Haley and Ash) are my little twinkies. Ashford is the spitting image of Haley as a baby. I wonder if he will continue to look like her as he grows older.

Ashford at three months, he was wearing a cubbies uniform, but you can't tell. Augh.

The comedy of Six

2008-06-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

While Jason's sister was here yesterday we did a fast (and I mean FAST) photo shoot of all 6 Singleton grandbabies. I think Ashford was the only one in the mood for pictures, and well.....you can see what he was doing the whole time: sleeping! I laugh when I look through all the pictures because I shoot so fast and you can see the almost-frame-by-frame falling apart of the six kids. Oh well. At least we have some pictures of all of them together!

Ahhh.....summer

2008-06-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

Summer in the Singleton household is officially under way! The girls are telling me how bored they are everyday (well, almost everyday) and Graham is greatly enjoying fighting with his sisters. Life is bliss!! No, really....summer is good so far. Take a look at what we've been doing:

Graham has been working on his soft kisses to Ashford.

The kids have all enjoyed going to the pool everyday.

Graham especially loves playing in the sand...or, what he calls the beach.

And I try really hard to keep up on taking pictures of the little man so he isn't the forgotten, unphotographed fourth child! Here are some I just took five minutes ago......Ashford @ 6 wks.

Ashford--Two weeks

2008-05-20T06:32:00.001-07:00

I imagine Ashford's eyes are just too big for the boy right now, he never likes to open them. So, most of the time when I am trying to take pictures his eyes look droopy like in the photo above.
He is a really good baby. Aside from some middle-of-the-night gas issues lately which have been keeping him (and me) awake, he is on a great eat/sleep/poop routine and we get along great. Last night I discovered that *magically* if I just snuggle him next to me all night his gas issues went away and we all got to sleep. Hmmm.....is he really that smart already?
We have enjoyed having this new little fellow in the house, all the kids adore him. Graham is ever the patient, loving, and most helpful big brother as he always wants to help baby "Asford Carter" (Graham always calls him by his full name) by lovingly shoving the binky in his mouth or kindly patting the baby on top of his head when he cries. What a good big brother!

The Babe is Born

2008-05-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

You've probably all received this announcement for baby Ashford.....not George, thank goodness. He was born via c-section on Monday, May 5th at 8:39 a.m. And so much for my doctor telling me he was going to be a small baby...at 8 pounds and 4 ounces and two weeks early, I think he is a chunk. Of course, I am happy to hold him on the outside of me rather than the inside now. He is a good baby and we are so lucky and blessed to have him in our lives now!

Here I am at 5:30 in the morning before we go to the hospital. I blame the bad picture (and spooky eyes) on Jason's photography skills. I had been up all night, too and the night before (peeing, of course) so I was really, really tired.

Here he is at his first official hospital bath! We didn't get any right after birth photos due to the no-camera rule in the OR. I think Jason did great getting photos at all with my heavy-duty pro camera.

And he even remembered to hand off the camera to get himself in some of the shots! Or, maybe it was just a really thoughtful nurse who did that. You see, there aren't ANY hospital shots of me with the baby, probably because they were racing me into the OR for an emergency second surgery and well, I was kind of passed out.

The kids were so cute in their "I'm the big bro/sis" tee shirts. They got to see Ashford before I did. I'm glad Jason was able to capture some shots of them with their new little brother. The girls are absolutely smitten with Ashford and Graham just keeps repeating his name, "Ashford Carter"..

Haley holding baby Ashford.

Lexi holding baby.

Ashford before we headed home. Ahhh......

May Day Haircuts

2008-05-02T06:15:00.000-07:00

Lexi is convinced that babies looooove to pull on little girls' hair. So, she wanted her hair cut before new baby boy was born. The girls got out of school early on May Day, so I took the girls in to get haircuts. Here are their before pictures:

You see, I NEVER take the girls in somewhere and actually pay for haircuts. I always just do it myself. Their hair is such that a straight cut and a good blow-dry with the roundbrush almost always turns out cute. However, given that I have saved a good nine years of money by doing this, I thought it was a good time to turn it over to the professionals. Here is Lexi after:

And here is Haley afters, a haircut I could NEVER do on my own:

The girls were BEAMING afterwards. They haven't stopped looking at themselves in the mirrors since. We added barettes when we got home and my girls are like brand new!!

Ready for Baby....kind of

2008-04-30T15:46:00.000-07:00

So, a couple of weeks ago I finally found the hardware needed to put together this crib. I had sanded, primed, and painted the crib red a month or so ago, and it has been sitting in the garage with me constantly pondering how I was going to figure out how to assemble it without the necessary hardware. When, low and behold...I found the entire bag of bolts, nuts, and screws in one of the twenty totes labeled "baby" in the basement. Go figure. So, today I put it all together (yes, of course by myself! Haven't you read this blog enough to know I get NO help from Jason?) and I am so happy to get it out of the way. Now I just have to deal with Graham saying "mom, get that thing out of MY room!" and mumbling under his breath constantly, "stupid baby, dumb baby, get out of my room baby!" Hopefully after a few months of hanging out with said stupid, dumb baby Graham will like the idea of sharing his room with his little bro. Now if the baby only had a name.....

T minus twelve, or whatever that means

2008-04-22T08:58:00.001-07:00

We still don't know what your name will really be, but I thought a letter was in order.

Dear Baby George,
This is mom here. The countdown has been on for a while, and while I feel really really bad for making you come out of my comfy uterus two weeks early (I felt just as bad making your big brother Graham come out early, too), I am anxious to have my body back. For months and months your daddy and I were anxious to have you and each day was really hard on us emotionally as our history isn't so great with babies and all. However, you have been with us since when? August something and it has felt like the LONGEST NINE MONTHS in my life. Don't get me wrong, it has been joyful and we are extremely grateful, but you have been kind of hard on me! The first few months I became acquainted with the toilets in our house as I was throwing up in most of them all of the time. The only things you would allow me to eat was toast (sometimes), pototoes and plain pasta. Talk about a picky eater...I sure hope you don't come out that way! By Christmas you gave me the gift of wanting other foods such as pizza (like every other night) and the sometimes other disgusting fatty foods. Thankfully, that didn't last long and for the most part I've wanted only good foods like fresh pineapple, strawberries, bananas and other expensive fruits hard to find affordably in the middle of winter. No wonder I'm not getting fat with you...you won't let me. You, however are a big boy. I know this because at this moment I hurt. Yesterday I hurt. I waddle. I have constant pelvic and back pain. I feel as if I am carrying around a brick that is covered in sharp nails... I can't sleep through the night because you insist the warmest spot to be curled up is right on top of my bladder. This isn't an unusual occurence you see, though as already my bladder has been subjected to constantly being told it is time to go pee, but usually it is just for tricks! You have made my body your home and kicked any comfort for me right out the door. I still try to convince myself that I am young and hip and can handle this pregnancy thing, but the longer I have to carry you around the more whiny I become. There are no places comfortable to be for me; it hurts to sit, it hurts to stand, it hurts to walk, it hurts to lay on my side with pillows, it hurts everywhere. Your daddy keeps hoping you will come out about 12 pounds, and I still haven't found the right size bowling ball to attach to your daddy's belly with multiple pieces of rope that also pull on all his manliness at the same time. In fact, if your daddy comes home one more time and asks for a rub on his feet, his shoulders, or his legs, I may just have to find a second bowling ball to shove down his throat. I sense as I write this that you will never subject your own wife someday with such insulting requests. I have lectured your older brother on this as well.
So, with less than two weeks now until you will be joining your family on the outside of my body, I wanted to let you know how excited we are to meet you. I pray every night that you will be healthy and happy and handsome and smart and wonderful like your big brother and sisters. I keep wondering when you will run out of room, or if you will continue to find places nobody knew existed on a woman to kick, squeeze, push on, and hurt. Certainly there isn't that much room left!! I am excited to see your head--most likely all covered in hair like your siblings, and see if you look like the rest of us. I can't wait until we finally reach some kind of decision on your name or you will forever be called baby George and that just isn't sitting right with me. Even my doctor calls you George and Graham thinks I have a monkey in my belly. We must set them both straight. So, come out looking like something a little more sophisticated and modern than George; please.
I hope you will be a good boy and help mommy while she recovers from a major abdominal surgery with no help at home and three other children to take care of. That means, sleep a lot--especially at night when you are supposed to, and eat a lot to help me lose the weight I did gain.

Well, until May 5th, rest well and try not to make me ache so much. I'm getting kind of crabby.
Love,
Mom

P.S. Please forgive and forget all the swear words you have heard lately....my hormones are kind of off.

When you give the kids the camera

2008-04-22T08:19:00.000-07:00

I don't know why my computer isn't loading these pics.....augh!

Yesterday I needed a break. The girls were screaming at each other, Graham was screaming at me and I just hurt from carrying around this chunky baby. SO, I told the girls to load up their brother in his little red wagon and take him to the park. He was begging me to use my camera to take pictures of the birds (yeah, where does a three year old get that idea?) But, I let Lexi take the camera to help Bubba take pictures of the birds. Instead, this is what I got:

No, this picture isn't upside down. Lexi turned the camera that way and took a picture of herself.

And then, she gave the camera to Haley who took about fifty of these same kind of pictures of Lexi on the sidewalk.

Not to be outdone by her younger sister, Lexi took back the camera and took a bunch of pics of Haley on her bike in our driveway. Poor bubba, no pics of the birds!

Garden buddies

2008-04-05T13:40:00.003-07:00

Today has been the first sunny and warm day we have had this entire year, so we were all anxious to get out and get moving. The girls happily took off on their bikes and scooters to play with friends, I sorted through the junk in the garage, and Jason and Graham decided to work in the garden. It was going well for a while, the two orange-clad twinkies using their man-power to turn over what winter had settled in the dirt:
But, as you can see by the below picture, within ten minutes (really!) they were finished.

I took these pics through the window, so they were NOT posing for me, truly, this is why nothing gets done around the house unless I do it myself because Jason has the same attention span as Graham. Go figure.

Spring Break

2008-04-03T13:40:00.000-07:00

My motherhood resume is growing in immeasurable proportions as I suffered through the long 10 day Spring Break of my children. I tried to make it entertaining for them, and I planned activities each day, some of which included Chicago in a day...three kids, pregnant mom, waddling in the snow and sleet to visit here, there, and everywhere...only to come home twelve hours later to a husband asking for a foot rub. I kid you not. There is no mommy sympathy in this house. The kids enjoyed their time, though and I earned some stripes, so all is well

Easter Weekend

2008-04-03T13:14:00.001-07:00

I must say, thanks to me the holidays exist in our house. However, the last eight months of this pregnancy have made holidays very boring, as I haven't felt too good. At least the kids still get their visits from Santa and the Easter Bunny, I mean, that's what it's all about, right? OK, anyway, Easter was no different this year as I was completely bummed about our weather. Jason told the kids he had to set rabbit traps to keep the bunnies out of the garden, and unfortunately that might deter the Easter bunny a bit, too. What a horrific thought. However, I shopped and stuffed baskets and eggs and Jason is the one who heroically made up some story about having a meeting after church (OK, HE LIED) so he could drive separately and hide the stuff before the kids and I came home. There was excitement all around.

We dyed the eggs on Saturday afternoon. Haley is hiding her hands in every picture because she looks like the makings of a female incredible hulk as she used her hands to dip the eggs instead of the provided metal dipper.

I color coordinated things this year to make it a bit easier on the Easter Bunny (aka clueless husband hiding things) Purple for Haley, Pink for Lexi, and Blue for Graham. However, the Easter Bunny still couldn't figure out that a 10 pack of gum didn't just go to one child, but should have been divided. Augh.

Lexi and her loot. She is notorious for losing most everything (because she is a slob) and I'm sure most of the goodies will disappear mysteriously within a week.

Graham, oh how I love this boy. He had this "huh?" face on the entire time. Like, huh? Is this for me? Huh? Am I supposed to do something with this? His favorite item was the $1 Spiderman crayons from Target. Huh?

I didn't buy the kids Easter clothes this year. They never wear them after the holiday anyhow, so I have a closet full of beautiful holiday dresses from the past five years, and they just collect dust. So, this year it was whatever is in your closet, kiddos. They seem much happier that way!!

Mema's Easter package

2008-03-21T06:40:00.000-07:00

All of the kids get so excited to get packages in the mail. And, do you blame them? I still get excited over good mail. So, when Mema's Easter package arrived, the box was greeted with great excitement and awe. The kids instantly transform into "wow" mode, otherwise known as "wow, we've NEVER gotten a thing in the mail before!" even though they clearly have. Well, the girls loved their new earrings and books, and you can see from Graham's cheesy face, he was elated at everything that came out of his bag. Thanks, Mema!

St. Patty's Day....

2008-03-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

Unless you truly are Irish, I think this is a dumb holiday. I can't believe the amount of retail merchandise available for such a holiday....all about green. However, my girls still subscribe to the theory of thou must not be pinched, so they picked out their clothing with great care to have enough green to not get pinched. No leprachans visit our house, that's for sure, as I can barely keep up with the duties of Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter bunny and Cupid. The girls sure were cute, though

Fashionista

2008-03-18T09:10:00.000-07:00

Each morning I worry: is she going to argue with me today? My sweet Lexi, eldest daughter, carbon copy of her father, is a girl who could care less about fashion, but LOVES to argue everyday about her clothing. She would prefer to wear jeans and tee shirts every day of the week. Not just tee shirts, but the kind of tee shirts that you find at Stuckey's gas station 5/$10. The kind of tee shirts people cut up and use as dust rags. The kind of tee shirts that sweaty men have stained at the arm pits. You get it, sloppy....uncute, and well, just trashy. It drives me crazy. She'll say to me she has NOTHING to wear....yet her closet yields more than a semester of college tuition. She has darling clothes, perfect to wear to school and still be comfortable. But, ohhhh nooooooooo.......she doesn't. Years and years I have packed up and passed down to other little dainty girls her unused and unappreciated perfect clothing. I have more than paid for their cost after selling some outfits on ebay. The. girl. doesn't. care.about.clothes. How can she be related to me? To my shock and utter surprise, lately....probably only about one time a week, she will have decided to wear something put together by moi..... previously having been collecting dust in her closet. I love it when she does this.....gets dressed and does her hair all by herself and comes out looking cute. Like in the above photo. I must have praised her for an hour!! Now, don't get me wrong, the girl gets praised about pretty much everything wonderful she does except her clothing choices. This summer she asked me if she could just get five pairs of jean shorts and five different colored summer tee shirts. I suppose.

Maternal instincts and tangerines....

2008-03-05T07:36:00.000-08:00

I really wanted a great family maternity picture with this pregnancy....but getting the family to cooperate is a difficult task! I wanted all of us in white shirts and jeans, but noooooooooooooooo......Jason waited until LITERALLY fifteen minutes before our scheduled appointment to try on his new jeans (because he hasn't worn jeans since I met him eleven years ago!!) and they didn't fit....so we had to decide at the very last second that the boys would wear khaki pants and the girls would wear jeans, and this is what we ended up with:

I wasn't impressed with ANYof the shots, and this was the best one, so oh well, I tried....

At bedtime recently, Graham will wait around until the girls are in bed and then try to snuggle in with mom or dad on one of the couches and watch TV at bedtime, which of course MOM eats up. I just love to snuggle the little guy to sleep and then tuck him in his bed. Jason, of course threatens near death if the boy tries this move on him, but sometimes he just can't help himself. Like Sunday night, when Graham plopped up on his shoulder to watch tv way before bedtime and then ended up falling asleep within minutes. It was so cute. He was still sitting up on Jason's shoulder when his eyes closed and the snores started out....and daddy let him stay there for awhile.

Graham was thrilled to get Thomas stickers from his Aunt Melissa in the mail. Check out that oh so cheesy face! Ilove this boy! He is so fun!However, for parents--stickers are NOT fun. They end up everywhere except paper!! I've been peeling Thomas and his friends off of doors, cabinets, and the floor. Augh.

Now, I don't know how many of you will believe this, but Haley started a month ago CRAVING tangerines. She would not settle for the sweet juices and easily affordable cousin, the orange, oh no, it had to be the oh so desirable tangerine. I swear that girl dreamed in orange, of tangerine trees in her front yard and mountains galore of orangeness. So, she would beg us to get them every time we went to the grocery store. At 52 cents each, that's about the same price as buying a candy bar. So, we would limit her to about six tangerines a week that she had to share with her siblings. It was a great lesson in math as the wedges of deliciousness would be rationed among the kids and they would savor each juicy bite. Well, I must say, only in this family would a co-workers daughters fundraiser come at such a novel time. She was selling fruit...and lots of it! So, Jason surprised the girls with this huge box of tangerines last week, and I swear it was Christmas time on Little House on the Prairie. Oh, thank you pa! We got fruit! Wow! Fruit!

The girls have been very good about eating their tangerines a little by little, even sharing them with Graham sometimes. It has drastically cut down on the amount of Little Debbies our household usually goes through.

In other household news, lately, Lexi has become obsessed with the sunrise and sunset. She will look up the times on the internet everyday; or watch for it on the news, and then set her morning alarm clock to coincide with the sunrise. In the evening, she takes my camera out and shoots the "gorgeous" Illinois sunsets. Ha. But, I think she does a pretty good job:

Sissy's home!!

2008-03-03T09:38:00.000-08:00

Poor Haley had to stay home last week a few days to recover from Pinkeye, but Graham was thrilled to have his sister around. He hounded her nonstop until she agreed to play with him. I must get so boring to see every day around the house, he really was THAT excited to have his sissy around!

Happy Birthday Graham!

2008-02-04T08:14:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe that my little guy turned three on the 1st of this month. To celebrate, we went out in the foot of snow as a family (and brought Graham's best bud Elias with us) and ate at "apple" as Graham refers to Applebees. Thank goodness it wasn't McDonalds!!!!!! The boys were so excited to see each other they could barely contain themselves!!

After Graham's birthday dinner, we trekked back home to open his stash of gifts. He was a very happy camper!

Thomas is big this year. He has enough Thomas playsets now to fill an entire room, wait, I think he already has; our family room. Augh.

Three candles to blow out was no biggee for Graham! He got them all out on the first try!

We took Elias home way past the boys bedtimes, and Graham was trying to stay awake by doing carseat yoga, or something like that....

Happy Birthday little guy!!!

They grow up so fast....

2008-01-09T15:26:00.001-08:00

I can't believe that our second born child has been baptized! Time sure flies by so fast. I remember, still, being pregnant with Haley and going to class and working, and having baby Lexi at home. And now, eight years later she continues to blossom into a fine young lady.

The baptism took place on a Saturday, and Sunday after church we held a luncheon for our friends in honor of Haley. We had an excellent turn-out (and check out that spread!! I do love throwing a good party!) Unfortunately, Haley would not pose for any photos on that day.

Haley celebrated her eighth birthday with a party at Build-A-Bear. I forgot my camera, but in order to have a photographic memory still of the financial loss of such a party, I made the whole crew take their bears to a mall photo studio and capture the $$$ on film. At least they had fun.

And they snapped a picture of just Haley, too...that was so nice. Of course, Ithink the ones that I took are so much better. But, that's just my humble personal opinion. :)

I can't leave Lexi out, but since I started this blog after her birthday, I thought I would throw in her birthday photo as well, Lexi at nine years old. Seriously, they grow so fast!!

Another Christmas celebration

2008-01-06T14:09:00.001-08:00

This weekend was super busy for our family. Almost to the point, wait....completely to the point that it overwhelmed Jason just thinking of all that was to take place. He just can't handle a full schedule. We celebrated our family Christmas with Jason's parents, unfortunately they forgot to bring with them the REST OF THE FAMILY. No, they didn't really forget, there just wasn't any room in the car once they loaded in their gifts. Mema swears she is going to cut back next Christmas, but she says that EVERY year.
Here's Lexi and Haley hidden among the pile of gifts.

Mema, Lexi, and Haley sifting through the big box of books that Mema brought for the girls to read. Our girls LOVE reading books.

Mema, Papa, and the Singleton grandchildren, i.e. the ones with the right last name.

Graham's typical response these days to mom's camera.

I would title this one, "psycho mom" and Graham, but not to be outdone by the:

PSYCHO DAD!!!!!!!! This would be Jason's typical look.

Lexi and some of her gifts.

Haley among her stash.

Later that evening, the whole family was lovingly brought together in the tradition of putting together the gift with the most pieces. This would be Graham's train set and as you can see, they are VERY busy at work with this one.

Again, Graham reacts to the mommy camera.

Meanwhile, someone had the bright idea to actually READ THE INSTRUCTIONS to the train set. It's now getting a little bit better....and easier. All in all, a delightful day, with other events going on the same weekend which I will post later.

1st Christmas 2007

2008-01-04T06:20:00.001-08:00

I say "1st Christmas" because of our luck to have both sides of our families driving up to cold, blustery Chicago to celebrate with us this year. Well, we weren't driving to icky ole' Missouri, so I suppose in a way they didn't have much of a choice IF they wanted to see us!! On Amanda's side, it was our turn to host Christmas anyway, so that worked out just dandy! The Barkers (five of them) drove up here and defeated any bad weather that was supposedly on its way.

The girls were both more than deliriously happy that they got to spend time with their cousins; Jessica and Kimberly. Graham was spoiled by all and it was a great holiday with all of the cousins together.

Give me a break, people, I'm five months pregnant.

Graham does some product placement here with most of the family's drink of choice. He's starting early. I think this was can number five or something for him on Christmas morning. No wonder he didn't take a nap!!

Jason had to help Graham with almost all of his presents, as he isn't quite into the whole unwrapping thing yet, and he was terrified of the Mommy camera the entire time. So, this is one of the only shots of him looking at the camera.

It was a great 1st Christmas, will post about our other ones later!

Welcome to the Family!

2007-12-27T06:35:00.000-08:00

After a year of so of family and friends stalking my personal blog to have news of the family and only to be subjected to my craftiness and pictures of girlfriends, I thought it was time to begin the REAL family blog....so welcome and thanks for visiting!!