New Years Eve Photo booth fun

Our oldest Landon, is finally at that magical age where we let our kids stay up to ring in the New year.

We decided that when our kids turn 8 they would be able to stay up till 12 with us playing games and having fun. I think each kid should have some one on one time with mom and dad every now and then. When you have 4 kids its really hard to have time with only one kid with both Noah and me. We do one on one dates with our kids where I will take one out or Noah will take one out but its much more difficult to go out with the 3 of us. 

So we try to let one kid stay up later then the rest one day each week so that they have some one on one time with us. I was super excited that Landon got to stay up this year with us.

We were planning on going to our Neighbors house to play games because my mom was here and could stay with the sleeping kids, but Aowyn started running a really high fever and was having a rough night, so we decided to stay home. (I really hope that she didn't get the flu that her brothers had. That junk took over our house during the holidays.)

We started out the night trying to take some pictures.

It was my "I want a photo to remember our night" attempt, but these two sillies of mine refused to take a "normal" picture.

I quickly realized that my "want" to have a normal picture was ridiculous... we are far from normal so why lie and take a normal picture? Haha! Am I right?

Noah got the bright idea to mess with Photo Booth and thus the silliness really began.

I was seriously laughing so hard I had to hold my legs together and run to the bathroom.

I may or may not have peed in my pants a little.... lets just go with may not..... mkay?

I think our noses look pretty sweet!

I'm sad that's not how we really look, it would definitely keep life interesting

My mom said that Noah looked like that guy from Men in Black when his head get shot off and starts to grow back.

Rolling on the floor laughing....

Now Noah's rocking the Megamind head and I look like a deranged vampire (aren't they all) who can dislocate her jaw, ready for some Megamind blue blood.

Oh the brows.

Noah's got brows for days and I look like I belong on one of those Facebook "These girls need some eyebrow help" pages.

Now I'm channeling my inner Puss in Boots.

Aowyn saw the picture this morning and said "You so sad!" Hahahaha

When we were all done we played Disney's Twilight Zone Tower of Terror Clue and Headbanz while we ate Peanut M&Ms, homemade salsa and homemade onion dip.

We rang in the New Year with our family favorite, Cran/Apple Sparkling Cider and watched a few fireworks out our back window.

Now its time to celebrate New Years day with some great food and College Football Playoffs.

ROLL TIDE! RAMMER JAMMER YELLOW HAMMER!

LET THE STAMPEDE BEGIN.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015 is looking bright.

Family pictures: Nautical theme

My Sister in Law, Melanie, is a wonderful photographer and this past summer, while we were both in Alabama, she was so sweet and agreed to take pictures of our crazy brood of kids.

She is great at capturing my kids personality and I love to see her work.

I am so blessed to have such an awesome sister in law and its a total plus that she is also a great photographer... icing on the already awesome cake, if you will.

I love the red and navy color combo so I finally decided it was time to take pictures with those colors in mind.

I love the way they turned out.

Go here to view her website and see some of her amazing work.

She took some in 2013 in the dead middle of winter in Utah too, go here to see those pictures.

I love that Aowyns hair had so much body in the humidity of the South, its best friend is static cling here in the desert.

Braddoc loves his hats so of course he had to have one on.

He hates having his picture taken and most of our family pictures at home and on vacation either don't have him in them or you can see him far off in the background... so I really love having so many great pictures with him in them.

This little lady has so much sass in such a little body.

She loves to follow me everywhere and do everything that I am doing. 

She is curious about the world around her and is always asking questions in an attempt to understand everything. She hates to have her hair brush but loves a good pony tail and bow.

She loves to be in dresses but always wants leggings with them.

She is the sweetest, most caring little girl I know.

The outfit she is wearing is one that I wore when I was her age and one that my mom wore when she was this age. Maybe I can find some pictures to do a comparison. 

Aowyn will be the only blonde one.

I love the South.

I love the chippy charm that is everywhere.

I love how green it is.

I love the random half old, half new barns and the dead tractors everywhere... it makes for some pretty fantastic photo ops.

We went out to my Granddads house to take our pictures.

Most of my childhood vacation memories are at this house.

Riding golf carts around outside, hunting for frogs, playing catch, running crazy in the big open areas, pretending that wild animals lived in the "jungle" behind the fence, playing cards around the table, exploring the house, and just being a kid.

I love that we could go take pictures out there.

It was fantastic.

I really am so in love with these pictures of the kids together.

I'm pretty biased, I know, but I think this is one good looking family.

I love the pictures of me with each of my sweet babies.

Each of my kids has their own unique personality and I think Melanie did a fantastic job capturing each one of them.

Braddoc with his dimples and freckles is one good looking kid.

He loves to wear colored pants and sweaters (even when its hot).

He loves his hats and has finally learned to tie his shoes.

He has the biggest heart and is always worried about the people he loves.

Anxiety rules his life and I hate that for him, but he is slowly learning some coping skills to help him.

Landon is such a smart boy and LOVES college football.

He helps me when he is in a good mood but mostly just loves to be outside doing kid things.

He loves to be in "comfy" clothes... aka basketball shorts and a shirt and hates that I make him put jeans on 4 out of 5 school days.

He loves Math and is slowly starting to like reading.

He loves to build legos and watch The Lord of the Rings and Super Hero movies.

We call Tayton "baby hulk" because he is so sweet and cute and cuddly until he isn't.

There is never a dull moment with this kid.

He says the funniest things that we have dubbed "Taytonisms" and makes me laugh all the time.

He does "bad" things just to get attention even if I just spent 30 minutes reading him a book.

He loves to read and has the biggest imagination and loves to build things.

He takes such good care of Aowyn and loves to follow his big brothers.

Aowyn was in a terrible mood and therefor had no pictures taken of just her this time.

I can't believe that Noah and I will have been married for 10 years in March. 

Time has really flown by.

I love him more and more each day.

He makes me laugh, keeps me on my toes and encourages me to do the things that make me happy.

I love these guys of mine.

I love how crazy they are together and how much fun they have just being silly.

I wish we had more room for them to just run and play.

That's the hardest part of where we live right now... no open, outside area to be kids in.

I miss the South and all the outdoor grandness and adventures it had to offer these busy little boys.

My parents and their grandsons.

This was supposed to be Grand kids.... but Aowyn was literally in full on meltdown mode so she was not in the picture and Braddoc was PO'd, in case you can't tell by the face he is making, but got into the picture upon bribery of candy being offered.

Shhhh be quiet, there are animals in the woods.

I love this picture so much because it is the reality of our life with those crazy kids.

Thank you Melanie for loving us enough to deal with our craziness.

We love you!

Go here for the Winter family pictures she took in 2013.
Such a difference in the backgrounds... lol green vs snow.