Family Pictures

We just had our family pictures taken last weekend, by an amazingly creative woman, they turned out great so here are a few of my favorites!

First Day of School 2011

I have to say I'm horrible about making a big deal about the first day of school. Once you're past kindergarten it seems to lose the excitement, but anyways I still make sure to get a picture for our family history.

This year Ashleigh is in 5th grade, and loves it. She is looking forward to going to Sherman Lake Camp in a few weeks. It's apparently a big deal that all the 5th graders get excited about. I think it's because they get to be away from regular school for 3 days and just play and have fun!

Carter started 3rd grade, as always he is not a big fan of school, but he has a great teacher who loves science. She has definitely sparked an interest in school for Carter with her experiments and fun projects. He will be doing a photosynthesis play in a month! (BTW don't you just love the shirt Carter chose to wear for his first day of school!)

It's time for Preschool

Hannah started preschool this year. She has been so excited to go to school like Ash and Carter, and can I just say I have been just as equally excited for her to go! I'm loving the peace and quiet, it's been great for studying.

Here she is on her first day, she thought is was so great that she could bring her favorite stuffed animal. She had planned to take her puppy Jessica, but she ended up spilling her juice on her. Lucky for Hannah Ashleigh has the same puppy, so Hannah was content to take Ashleigh's puppy.

Notice she has a different outfit on in this picture! That is because she got to have John and I go with her the day before she started and we got to explore the classroom. She was so proud of herself for being able to find everything on the treasure hunt map.

She has been loving every minute of school, and wishes she could go everyday to see her teacher Mrs. Huberty, who is so awesome, it takes a special person to have patience with 3 yr. olds!

White Caps Game

 Carter's day with Aunt Tricia was going to a White Caps game. He loved it but was a little disappointed that the White Caps lost. This pic makes it look like they went in early spring or fall, but it was actually August, just a very chilly night!

 The White Caps mascot is a pig, does anyone else think that's a little odd?

A view of the field and the losing White Caps team.

Just for you Sissy!!!!!!

Just for you Sissy I updated the blog. I have more to post but not enough time, so check back soon!

When it Quiet..........

When it's quiet in our house, everyone know s it's time to find Hannah and see what she's up to, which is usually no good. Lately though because she refuses to take naps and we have been doing a lot of swimming and other physical activities this is how we find her

She was sent up to her room after swimming to get changed, but the poor thing only had enough energy to open the wardrobe doors, and that apparently was too much!

This I just simply don't know other than I went to go a fold the laundry and this is what I found to fold, not the easiest of items to fold and put away!

Notice that she always has enough energy left to get her blankie!

Carter's Baptism

 Our favorite boy, turned 8 this year, and that means it't time to be baptized. Carter is normally very easy going and could care less about any details, but for his baptism he was very specific. He wanted his clothes to be exactly like Dad's, includng a tie. Thankfully the distribution store didn't have a back order, because the baptismal closet at church was not at all helpful. It seems that a lot of the child size clothing has gone missing.

 Love these 2 handsome men, can't wat to see John having to look up at his son! For soome reason I just get the biggest laugh at that thought.

 Carter with Aunt Tricia. Carter also chose his clothes for after being baptised, can we say it's just a little morbid choosing to wear black after being baptized.

The entire family that attended. Grandma and Grandpa Gibson, Aunt Tricia, Great Grandma Kreighbaum, and of course all of us!

The girls were just as excited as Carter. It took four times to get a picture that looked like Hannah was looking forward, and she still isn't even looking at the camera here, but at least she was sitting. It's very hard for her to be still lately.

My Sister Tricia insisted that we take a family picture. I hate taking pictures and now you can definitely see why, I'm enormous, I actually thought this shirt looked good, but I was way wrong! The good thing though this picture really got me motivated to start back at the gym again!

Katy Perry Concert

  The cool thing about having an Aunt Tricia, is she is single and has no kids of her own, so she loves to spoil her nieces and nephew. Aunt Tricia makes it a point to take the kids each on their own to do something special with her. For Ashleigh's turn, Tricia took her to a Katy Perry concert. Of course Tricia told her about it months in advance (which I could kill her for), and we heard about every day from Ashleigh until she finally went.

Here is Ashleigh with Brady outside the concert and of course they just had to get a picture next to the Katy Perry poster, can you see how excited Ashleigh is?

Inside the stadium, I thought their jaws were dropped because they were in so much awe, but later found out they were singing along to one of the songs.

Ashleigh and Aunt Tricia at the concert

This is Mike and his daughter Brady. He was Tricia's boyfriend, but is now an ex. Actually they were no longer dating when they went to the concert but they are still friends and had already made the plans so they decided to still go together.

Here the girls are modeling the balloon creations (well Ashleigh is) they got a dinner. As you can see there were smiles all night long, which means they had a great time.

Later I heard my cousin found out that I let Ashleigh go to see Katy Perry, and she wanted to know what was I thinking. So just for the record I really don't think that katy Perry is that bad, there are a lot worse things out there!

Girls on the Run

 Ashleigh once again this year participated in Girls on the Run. She has a lot of fun with the program and I think the messages are great for building the girl's self esteem. This picture is right before the race began, Avery who is in the middle is Ashleigh's best friend. These two are literally connected at the hip. The other girl is Elise, she joined us during the run along with Avery, since neither of them had a parent participating. The all have the head bands because their team was called the ninjas.

Yes this is me and Ash after the race. She really wanted me to run with her this year so I of course couldn't disappoint her and said yes. We had a great time, and I was really proud of her. She and I ran the whole time except for 3 very brief power walks (less than a minute) for her to re catch her breath, and our time came in at around 40 minutes, not too bad for my first 5K, and Ash's short legs :) You can't tell by the picture but it started raining half way through the race, and we are both soaked, and I am so tired I apparently can't even keep my eyes open for a picture! Next year will be Ashleigh's final year and we are both looking forward to it. Avery's mom is planning on running with us, and Ash thinks it's so cool that Grandma is considering running too!

Happy Birthday Ashleigh!

 Miss Ashleigh turned 10 this past week, (I can't believe I have a 10 yr. old) Anyway her she s after having to wait all day ready to open presents. She was totally bummed the day before when she found out she had to wait until the afternoon, rather than before school like her brother the week before. John was working the early morning shift on Ash's bday, but she made it and didn't make a big deal about it.

 Ready to blow out the candles on her cake. Once again  I didn't take a close up, but her cake was Harry Potter theme and she requested that there was his wand and the "magic smoke" be in pink, green and blue. It wasn't my best attempt but she thought it was great, and that's what matters.

 Hannah helped me bake Ashleighs cake, and then she enjoyed the batter bowl!

Ashleigh loved her presents, she got new roller blades, Sharpays Fabulous Adventure DVD, a new outfit, and a gift card to Barnes and Noble. I took her later that night to Barnes and Noble and she got 2 new books she's been wanting and then she ordered the next 2 books in the Avalon series that has been her recent obsession!

YMCA Family Fun Night

 The local YMCA put on their annual Kids Fun Day last week, and we decided to take the kids and check it out. We had a great time and the kids are already asking if we can do it again next year. Hannah is getting her face painted, which was one of the many activities set up inside before the runs began. They had several games and prizes, the kids thought it was great.

 Carter with the WMU Broncos mascot, he looks so thrilled :)

 Outside Ash and Carter decided to try out the rock climbing wall, it was the first time for both of them. Here Carter is just getting started. He made if 3/4 of the way up and then decided he had enough, and came down. Apparently he felt his arms and legs were not long enough to reach the rocks to go higher. I thought I had taken a picture of Ash, but apparently not

 A close up, he's 1/2 way up, looking for his next move

 Here is Hannah showing off her ribbon after completing the Tot Run, the kids 4 and under did a 200 yd. run. It was the cutest thing ever to see all these little munchkins running as fast as their little legs would go.

 Carter and Ashleigh were in the same age group for their run. The did a 1 mile run. They are at the starting line waiting for the signal. Carter is on the end and Ash is the 4th one in from the left.

 Carter just about to cross the finish line, he finished the mile in 9 1/2 min. and he said he walked a little bit of it because he got a cramp. Can we say he is one fast little dude!

Here is Ashleigh crossing the finish line, I didn't time my camera right and only caught her in the corner. She finished the mile in 11 1/2 minutes.

 Hah, I knew I had a picture of Ashleigh on the climbing wall!

 Another picture of them hanging out and waiting their turn. Each age group was separated by a 3 minute start time so there wasn't a lot of congestion on the course.

And finally here they all are finished with their races and proud of their ribbons!

Happy Birthday Carter

 Carter turned 8 this year, I can't believe it. Time goes way too fast. Here he is patiently waiting to open his presents. He got a ramp, skateboard, a new video game and a new outfit. He requested plaid shorts this year, and they had to be from the gap. Sorry no picture of those yet, but he does look pretty cool.

 Didn't get a close up of his cake, but you can see the theme was MICHIGAN he loves the wolverines, just like his Dad. Oh John had to work 2nd shift on his birthday so Carter was excited to get to open presents and eat cake before school!

Along with turning 8 he is now old enough to participate in cub scouts with church. He has loved going and also loves that his Grandma is the den leader. His first pack meeting will be the pinewood derby, and he already has his car ready to go, crossing my fingers that he will do well!

Also with turning 8, he will be getting baptised soon. We had a date set but had to cancel because John's work schedule has been crazy, so we are hoping to do it in June.

The Belly is Getting Bigger

So on Sunday we are having dinner as usual at my parents house. Everything is quiet and John stands up to go grab some more napkins. All of sudden Hannah says Dad and I quote " Daddy your belly is getting bigger." After her comment she just went back to eating as if she had said nothing. The rest of us however, busted out laughing and John now has a complex. Poor guy, and BTW I haven't noticed that his belly is getting bigger.

A Future Princess

Hannah just loved seeing the Royal wedding today, and couldn't believe that Kate was a real princess. Hannah decided she was going to also be a princess when she grows up and gets married. Only one problem when we asked her who her prince would be she said "Carter will be my prince." A little incestuous don't you think? Oh well she is allowed to dream and be a little girl!

Easter Time!

All the kids and Aidan waiting to go and hunt the eggs, it actually took a lot of work to get them all to stay on the steps for a picture, they were super excited to go find eggs

Opening the eggs to see what prizes they all got. Aidan kept finding plastic lizards in his, which apparently he is scared of and kept jumping away and screaming. After opening two of those he refused to open any more. Hannah the little stinker that she is later realized she could control a situation with Aidan by just showing him the lizards. I have to say she doesn't miss a thing and uses it to her advantage!

See how Grandma is now opening Aidan's eggs

The kids in their Easter best, don;t you just love Carter's choice of black. he loves the outfit so much this is what he wants to wear after he is baptized in a couple of weeks.

Another picture, couldn't get the best smiles, the sun was in their eyes

The Easter Bunny brought pretty pretty princess game for Hannah, she was amazed the the Easter Bunny knew how obsessed she is with princesses!

Ashleigh loving to play the game with Hannah

Carter not so happy to play the game, but being a great big brother. he only let me take the picture if promised to not post it on the blog, good thing he doesn't see my blog :) (BTW I should mention that is not a real gun next to him, it is his air soft gun)

We had a great Easter this year, it was easygoing, but John and I were sure exhausted by the end of the weekend!