Isabel 10

 Here is Isabel on her 10th bday.  She got to celebrate with 3 of her closest friends: Dora, Sarah and Isabella.  They had an ice cream cake, grabbed candy from a broken pinata, hung out at the house for a bit and then I drove them all to play mini golf in Tyler. (Isabel's gift from Grandma Beth.) I have some great shots and video of the girls playing mini golf but they are all on my iphone. 

 Above is Isabel with her friends that she goes to school with.  (Anna, Isabella and Sarah)  They were gathered for Open House.

The other morning before heading to school I found these two out on the front porch admiring the beautiful early morning fog and sunrise.  It was a sweet moment.

And lastly we have a picture of Isabel just after a soccer game with her two littlest sisters.

Isabel is a very tender hearted girl.  She is also a wonderful student and works very hard to get good grades.  She is simply fun and a joy to be around.  She likes to get a bit crazy sometimes....wrestling or going outside to play in the rain.  She is also a great cook!  One of her specialties is making pancakes from scratch for the family.

Aubrey 12

Aubrey!

The first two pictures were taken during Aubrey's 12th bday party. She had a few friends over for a sleepover in her new tent from Grandma Jeani. Here cake of choice (not pictured) was a Swedish dessert called Snooda.  Think chocolate, mocha and coconut.  Think tastey goodness.

The next picture is of Aubrey, Isabel and Aubrey's best CA friend, Adia.  Adia and her family came for a visit shortly before Aubrey's bday. The tent that Aubrey received sure came in handy when Adia and her family were here.  We had the girls sleep outside several times simply because we were all *squished* in our 4 bedroom house! We had 4 adults, 8 girls and one boy under the roof! Ah, but we had so much fun catching up with the Hoyle family!

And lastly another pirate picture just to show Aubrey's fun loving side.

Aubrey is incredibly smart, loves to read and relax, enjoys hanging out with friends & playing games with the family, is a great tree climber, such a detail girl, and very artistic. She also loves to organize things yet continually has a messy room....kind of like me!

Christian 14

I sure wish I took more pictures of this amazing guy with his family.  And better pics of him playing sports too.
Words cannot express how proud we are of Christian.  He's an incredible son, brother, friend, athlete and possibly...future Marine.

Lucy's 5th Birthday

In March Lucy had her 5th bday!
To the right we have Lucy with some of her friends.  They came to play a few games, do the Hokey Pokey, eat cake and celebrate Lucy!

 This picture is not from her bday, but I thought the flowers were pretty neat.  They remind me of flowers that one might see in a Dr. Seuss book.

Lucy with Grandma Beth and the gift she received from Grandma.

 And here she is with her cake...she must have helped with the cake because she's got her apron on.

Shane's mom, Grandma Jeani, sent Lucy some gifts and here is one of them...matching dresses for Lucy and her doll. So cute!

My Pirate-y Children

Above we have Aubrey, Isabel and Anna.  I have no idea what spurred this on when my 3 oldest girls did this a few months ago, but it sure was silly.  And the best part of it all for me was how much Shane enjoyed their silliness when he got home from work.  Making each other laugh is one of the best parts of being a family.