Welcome Baby Sadie!!!

My beautiful niece was born today! Mom, Dad, and baby are all doing great...just really tired. It was a long night for all of them last night. Hopefully Miss Sadie will sleep tonight so they can all get some rest!

Sadie Alexis Gwin was born at 10:44 this morning and weighed 8 lbs 13 oz and is 21 1/2 inches long. She has the cutest little turned up nose and fat cheeks...she is beautiful!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Christmas morning was as wild as usual...a flurry of ripped paper and excited squeals (from Ella that is...Connor is too cool to 'squeal' but he did use the word 'cool' a lot!). Connor got lots of Florida Gators stuff (I know, I know) as well as a few xbox games and an ipod touch. Ella got a new bicycle, a tv/dvd player for her playhouse under her princess bed, and lots of zhu zhu pets. They got way too much, as usual, and moved from one thing to the next all day long.

CHRISTMAS WITH THE BULLARDS AND GWINS:

We enjoyed seeing both sides of the family during the week of Christmas...lots of aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and great-grandparents. Ella had fun putting makeup on everyone...Danielle and my Granny don't normally wear bright blue and green eyeshadow...that was Ella's doing!!! Connor got several iTunes gift cards which he was extremely happy to have after opening his new iPod!
FUN WITH BUMPITS!!!

Someone got a bumpit while playing dirty santa and Jordie played hairdresser and gave everyone a new 'do'. She even got Andrew to do it...he sported the bumpit for bangs...Ella said he looked like Otis (aka Elvis).

Why do we BUY toys?!

Laptop Computer $350

Digital Camera $175

Nintendo Dsi $150

X-box 360 & Wii + games $$$$$

Watching your son play with a PAPER football & CARDBOARD goal post instead of playing above electronics.....PRICELESS

MEGAPOST: September, October, November...

It's been a LONG time since I've had time to blog...it's been a really busy fall! This post is long, but I'm hoping I can get everything caught up.

THANKSGIVING WITH THE BULLARDS:

We went to my Aunt Jamie's for Thanksgiving. Everyone was actually there this year!! We had a great time visiting and eating...the older kids rode around on Clara's golf cart and Ella had fun letting Paige and Clara put makeup on her...she took over after a while and the result is the picture above.

"RAKING" LEAVES:

Ella wanted to 'help' her daddy rake the leaves in the yard. The result was her jumping and scattering the leaves everywhere while David kept trying to keep them in somewhat of a pile. She had a blast running down the hill and jumping in them...I love the picture of her jumping with her ponytail flying up above her head.

HALLOWEEN:

Halloween was pretty low key this year. Clara came to Trick-or-Treat with Connor and Camryn came over to go with Ella. They all had a lot of fun! Connor was "Facebook," Ella was a 'fancy' witch, Camryn was Minnie Mouse, and Clara was a "Granny." Clara's costume was definitely the funniest! About halfway through the night she dropped the walker because it was slowing down her ability to get candy as fast as the others!

PHOTO WORKSHOP:

In mid-October my aunt Jamie and I went to Townsend, Tennesse to attend a Photography Workshop. I learned a TON about how to use my camera!!! I loved it and hope to be able to go back every year. They have a Spring and Fall workshop, but I doubt I will be able to get away to go to both every year. The pictures above are a few of the good shots I got.

LABOR DAY TRIP TO THE BEACH:

David's Dad and his wife, Pat, came down from Montana to go to the beach with us for Labor Day. We rented a house right on the beach that had it's own pool. It was great to have our own pool right on the beach! We had a great trip with all the grandparents and my brother, Keith, and sister-in-law, Lisa, came with us as well. Connor and Keith did a bit of fishing and actually caught a good many fish right off the beach. Connor even caught a flounder! He was pretty excited about that! I love the pics above where Connor is making fun of Ella 'posing' for the camera. Every time you tell her to pose, she puts her hands on her hips and kicks her hip out to the side and makes a goofy looking "model" face. Connor put on her pink goggles and pink cowgirl hat (with a made on tiara) and posed like her...it was pretty funny! (I did get his permission before I posted this picture!)