PUMPKIN PICS

They loved the goo - or rather Tate did!

We did our best to keep it out of her mouth!

She lost interest and went back to stair climbing - her favorite!

This was at the beginning when it was exciting!

UGH! I have been so bad. Life is just too busy - we need to SLOW down. So - what is new....well, Eloise is crawling ALL OVER the place. She says mama and dada (and yes, mama was first!) and has 5 teeth. Three more are on their way in so we are drooling all over the place. Max's soccer team won first place and starts tournament this weekend. He is exceling in school and has even started multiplication and division early. Tate is getting a little peach fuzz on his head (we aren't getting our hopes up) and has declared he wants a mohawk! That child is one of a kind!

We just got done carving pumpkins - glad that is over! I was starting to post the pics and realized I left the camera in Eloise's room when I went to put her down and it is not worth the risk of waking her up! I will post soon - I promise. My camera has been out of commission for a month with a dead battery. Shocking but I couldn't find the charger in this tornado of a house! I did finally find it so I will be better with pics!

TELLURIDE 2008

We left on September 11, 2008. Rich, myself, Mandy and Drew. After a long flight, we met up with Kelly and Nico. All four siblings reunited. Brad has lived in Telluride, CO for about 16 years and never have we all been out to see him together. It was unbelievable. Telluride was hosting its 15th annual Blues and Brews festival. We went out and explored the town Thursday night and then headed to the festival Friday. Saturday morning we woke early and headed to a jeep tour of Tomboy. We braved a narrow road up to the top of the mountains. It was scary. The jeep was, at times, wider than the road. We could look straight down the cliff. It was an old mining town - ever heard of Smugglers Union? Even Rich scooted close to the middle at certain points! Once at the top, Drew proposed to Mandy. None of us knew except Brad. It was so romantic and perfect. We went back to town, picked up some champagne, and head to "Bridal Veil" - waterfalls under which we toasted to new couple! The rest of the weekend was spent at the festival. All in all, one of the best times of our lives! Enjoy a few pics!

TELLURIDE, CO

Mandy and Drew - right after he proposed!

Kelly, Brad, Mandy and Jenn

Kelly, Mandy and Jenn

Jenn and Rich - what a view!

ALWAYS A PRINCESS

We recently made the long drive to Anna Maria Island, FL for a family vacation. We split the trip by stopping for the weekend of the 4th at Kelly's lake house in Wedowee, AL. The kids had a blast - the did the rope swing, knee boarding, skiing, tubing etc. See some pics below.

Max on the rope swing

Rich on the rope swing
Rich and the boys
Rich and Jenn with Eloise
Tate soul searching!

All the kids ready to watch the fireworks on the Lake

Tate, Max and Davis
Eloise keeping watch on the waters ahead
Eloise driving the boat
Kelly, Jenn and Mandy

Josie graduated from sixth grade last week. She has grown into such a beautiful lady and we are all so very proud of her!

Okay, so maybe I was a bit optimistic in thinking that I would update/post once a week! Life with three kids is HECTIC! Anyways, I will try to do better but know I am doing my best!

Max played baseball and soccer again this spring. We did not get any soccer pics (I was coaching and Rich was with Tate and Eloise) but we did get some baseball pics - look out Reds!

Tate played soccer this spring and again, no pics as I was coaching and Rich was with Max and Eloise. He was hilarious on the field. Other than that, he is enjoying helping Dad in the yard....I think we should be worried!!

And lastly, Eloise has completely won the heart of her Daddy! She has convinced him that chocolate doughnuts are appropriate for a 4 month old!!!!!!

The weekend of April 12th 2008, Rich went to Chicago for a "boys weekend" so I loaded up Mollie, Davis, Max, Tate and Eloise and we headed to Louisville, KY for Mollie's dance team competition. Kelly met us there and we stayed the weekend for fun.

On Saturday, after a Friday night of swimming and jumping from bed to bed in the hotel, we headed to the dance competition where Mollie and her team took home Platinum. This is the highest award - we were so proud. Those girls can dance!

To reward the boys for sitting through such a dreadful thing, we went to the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum. It was a lot of fun and the boys got regulation bats with their names engraved.

Eloise was a trooper as always! Enjoy the pics!

CAPS

Just a quick post to give everyone a cool website.
http://www.childrensalopeciaproject.org/cap/index.php

Spring Break 2008 - Florida

Tate

Max enjoying some ice cream

Captain Jack Sparrow on the beach

Tate, Max and Davis

Elosie's first trip to the beach

whoops - it is www.naaf.org

Tate update

Just wanted to write a quick note to explain some pics of Tate. Tate was recently diagnosed with Alopecia Areata. He is completely healthy but will lose all of his hair. It is an autoimmune disorder whereby the immune system attacks the hair follicles. While we will have some ups and downs with this diagnosis, we are very lucky if this is the worst we are dealt. Anyways, just wanted to explain why you will see some earlier pics of Tate will long hair (Eloise's birth) and then more recent ones with little to no hair. Visit www.naaf.com for more information.

Easter 2008

Tate digging in

Russell, Tate and Eloise

Max checking out what the Easter bunny brought!

Elosie on Easter am

All my cute clothes - so much more fun than boys!

6 weeks old

2 weeks old

First Day Home

Eloise was greeted by many on her first day home........