Punkin Patch Matchy Match Mayhem!

5 kiddos... count them... FIVE. Matchy match outfits and the punkin patch equals pure mayhem for this camera girl and everyone that went! There is never a shortage of energy on the kids' parts and always an overload of stress for the adults, ha. Its always fun to see what we get from this wacky group going to do pictures. Scrapbook fun for all !! enjoy

5 different little personalities for sure

jon with his boys

smile smile, do what jen says and then i can run off and play!

and look at that, I even got in on one or two.

2nd Annual Halloween Party !!

There are faint memories as a kid of going to a few really big production Halloween parties, put on by a family from my childhood church, Sang. We're talking everyone dressed up in elaborate costumes, garages blacked out with various games and treats and music and fun.. I remember a group of us going door to door with our pumpkin buckets in tow and collecting an enormous stash of candy from the neighborhood. Almost every house in the block participated and had decorated their porches up big in preparation for the sugar filled event. I have always loved this part of Halloween, and decided at an early age that when I grew up I wanted to be the one that hosted a big ol fun Halloween party each year. So last October, when we realized Jaxson's visit didnt fall on Halloween, it was time to host a Halloween party! 09's version was more of a camp out in the back yard, but it was a party none the less and we all had a blast. Our 2nd Annual Halloween Party was a hit as well... Jon's tasty homemade crock pot chili, grilled hot dogs, some frightful cupcakes made from a girl at our church, and lots of Mimi's fun filled sweet treats! The Paul family was so funny as the BBQ crew... Brody's hot dog costume was so funny.. We found a dalmation puppy outfit for Kellen at Old Navy and came up with the idea for a fire station theme... We really didn't think Jax would go along with it (thinking he'd insist on being his typical blue transformer.), but to my surprise when I told him dad was the fireman, Kellen was the station dog named Spot and I was the fire hydrant, he immediately said ' and I can be the fire truck! (of course he insisted that it be BLUE, and my hydrant be yellow, no doubts.) We were so thrilled that he was excited to be a part of it that I quickly went to work on a making a BLUE fire truck! I was a little nervous to if he would actually like the way it turned out looking, with jaxson its a coin toss on whether he will love it or hate it... when he got there that visit, he walked in and saw it on the table and his eyes immediately lit up, and knowing him I know that meant I did a good job! woot woot ! Go Jen, go jen :) Gramma was a big pink butterfly from head to toe. ha. She had wings, and tights and colorful eye shadow and when she got there Jaxson was sweet and told her that she looked pretty. Mimi was a kid working at dog patch usa (anyone remember that place.).. lol or a hobo or ellie may or something, cute cute.. My brother and Angie and their crew had to get there a little later because of other things going on, but they were good sports about trying to appease me with the entire dressing up thing. My brother even busted out his hunter gear equiped with the fake hair visor.. priceless look for him :) And of course princess Lily Grace was Cinderella in glass slippers... what else ? ha and Cameron came, which totally made my night! Always hilarious and in a good mood, he's a hoot!


Pops took everyone on an awesome hay ride around our neighborhood, complete with spooky sounds howlin into the moonlight... spooky! Towards the end of the hay ride Papaw, dressed in a fireman black jacket and Gramma's leggings over his head, jumped out and about scared everyone to tears! (umm, Cameron! lol) and poor poor Reece, not only did Papaw make him cry but later on Gramma jumped out from the side of the house thinking she was going to get Caden and it was Reecer peecer instead. Later in the evening, I went in to start coffee and came back out to the campfire to this: Halloween music rockin, everyone standing around laughing and clapping while Jaxson and Lily were each showing their dance moves on the back porch... Jaxson was breaking out the robot among other things and princess Lily was a mix of cheerleading moves she's learned from Ashton. there were also some moves in there that were clearly allllll her own! ha
By the end of the night, Kellen was crashed, and my family and jon and I were hanging out in the kitchen telling some funny but too embarassing stories to share on here.. An overall great time spent with family, which ultimately is what life is all about. As for next years 3rd annual Halloween Party, well, we plan to make this thing bigger and bigger each year!

The fire station gang!

My brothers good looking family

the BLUE fire truck and his side kick Spot !

a pup and a dog.. ha

The BBQ Crew 

The Firehouse dog... named Spot!

Tidds and Bitts...

Lets see, some tidds and bitts would be... eating peas, pancakes, among other things at Mimi's house now, still loves bananas the most... loves remote controls, starting to get mad at toys if they have any kind of long string or cord on them and it wont do exactly what he thinks it should.. (early temper im sure )... has 2 more teeth coming in, both on top row.. but not together, one is the top front and the other is a few teeth over, so i cant wait to see how that will turn out looking :) My brother is bald (the cute bald of course), and when he visits Kellen, K just stares at his head with this priceless look.. its hard to describe on here but its hilarious.. he'll look at him and then look straight up at his head.. I guess he is confused that there is no hair there to PULL... still pinching skin and pulling hair and tugging at glasses so look out! All at the same time he is a sweet heart, always smiling and happy to see all members of his family.

His daddy was standing beside me making him laugh and giggle here... He always wants me to hold him and if Jon tries to take him while i'm there, he will fuss, but he wants to watch his daddy non stop.. his eyes follow him all around the house and he just smiles at him and watches his every move.. There is NO slowing him down now that he crawls everywhere... and speaking of the word 'no', he is hearing that in his vocabulary now, quite often ! as he crawls around the house he is constantly drawn to the plug-ins (covered ofcourse), dvd player, wii, book shelves... 'no kellen' 'no kellen' .. im already getting practice with the momma repeat!! ha

He claps and patty-cakes now... one hand is open and the other makes a fist. He loves music, especially on cartoons and he'll stop what hes doing and start listening and clapping when he hears it.. Yo Gabba Gabba (which his mom occasionally finds creepy), along with Handy Manny and The Mickey Mouse Club are among the attention getters!! He will crawl to the door way of Jaxson's room and just set and stair at his toys.. this amuses me every time.. It's like he knows its 'no mans land' in Jaxson's toy box and theres an unspoken rule that he's not allowed to get anything out of there! Of course knowing Jaxson, there is a REAL possibility that he has 'had a little talk' with Kellen to let him know that his room and toy box are off limits! :)
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Most babies ive ever seen will play 'peek-a-boo' at this age, and maybe this is common but ive never seen it: he will hold up his own blanket over his face and i'll say 'where's Kellen' and he will peek out from around the blanket and show his 2-tooth grinning face! and then do it again ! Maybe its just me being in aww of my child, who knows. but its highly impressive if you ask me.

Give me one of them punkins...

To the Pumpkin Patch we went last Friday to pick us out some punkins. Having just bought a new accessory flash for my camera I had to bring it along and play with my new toy! A while back Jon's mom had gotten Kellen these fancy john deere green dudds and to be honest I had NO idea what I was supposed to do with them. LOL When Dana suggested wearing them to the patch for pics, I thought ehh... but they ended up being perfect for this patch full of punkins! Oh and thanks to always prepared and ready for anything Aunt Dana for having Benadryl on hand.. Towards the end, Kellen's cheeks and nose started turning red and he was having an allergic reaction to something; I'm guessing the hay... whatever it was, the Benadryl cleared it right up! Though I prefer to give her a hard time for being over the top organized and OCD at ALL times, she really does come in handy to have around... LOL (love ya Dana, much appreciated) :)

Sharin some kin folk!

The theme of this post is great grandma's!! There is something about the older generation and their loooove for those grand boy babies! Last year on my Grandma's 80th birthday, Jon and I went and spent the day with her. Took her shopping and then out to eat. I was good and pregnant with Kellen at the time. This year, we went to visit her for her 81st with Kellen in tow! Always fiesty and head strong is how I would describe my Grandma. The past few years she has slowed down a lot, apparently that happens when your in your 80s.. but one thing is for sure, she looooves those great grand babies.

We thought about, attempted to, tried to plan, and well.... never made it around to visiting Jon's grandma this summer. She has been sent 100s of pictures of Kellen but was so eager to meet him, so Aunt Jo decided to bring her up for a visit first of October.. Kellen's middle name comes from her/her husband, Jon's maternal grandparents. The visit was short but very sweet. She was wearing a pretty necklace and as usual Kellen was trying to eat it! 

K's Church Dedication...

This would be the picture they were supposed to use for Kellen's baby dedication this past Sunday. They didnt, and instead only clipped one of the pics and used it... go figure I would spend time on a collage and it wouldnt even get used.. ha. owell. It was keeping with the theme of the morning... Kellen is usually our alarm clock that goes off WAY earlier then we need, but on his baby dedication Sunday he decided he'd sleep in. I guess he pushed snooze :)

So we got up an hour before we were supposed to be there... not exactly frantic mode, but just enough to put us in that 'everythings rushed' state of mind and a little stressed. O'well, the important part is that Kellen and his baby cousin Brody here dedicated at church and Mimi and Pops were there of course.

It really means nothing to walk up in front of your church for 'dedication' Sunday, unless you believe it means something, and that I do. It represents a committment I have to myself and my family to raise my son in church... To take him to church and be involved and give him the best fighting chance a parent can give their child in this life to learn and to know about Christ.. THE only thing in this life that matters is to be a child of God.. all the trinkets, gadgets, and ridiculous frills amount to squat!

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Our little guy is 4 days shy of eight months old... He refuses to crawl, he will rock and act like hes going to and then drops and rolls around wherever he wants to go! He will leap towards something like a frog too, funny stuff to watch! Way more interested in pulling up on furniture and having help standing up then he is with crawling. Were guessing he will skip it all together and just go straight to walking very soon. It is my understanding that almost all babies are receptive to music and K is right there with them. Any cartoon that has music to it he will watch, anything else he is more interested in toys. Loves to play with the big kids at mimi's house. He thinks he is one of them and can just go down the slide and get down in the dirt.. he is still growing in leaps and bounds. We are sooo excited for upcoming pumpkin patch and Halloween party events for Kellen's first FALL !!