Family Pictures 2011

For those of you who have checked out the main page of our blog, or are Facebook friends with me - most of these pictures are old news.  I did add one or two new ones though :)

In late August we had the amazingly talented Tammi from More Than Words Photography take our pictures again (she has taken our fall pictures for the past three years now).  It always shocks me that she can take such beautiful pictures when I walk away from the session thinking 'What a disaster!'.  A huge thank you to Tammi for being so thorough, patient and caring!

 I love that she caught Easton on an upstep - he is a few inches shorter than Ellery, but you can't tell in this picture.

 This is a different picture than I added to the right side of our blog.  Quin was such a stinker during this session - she had lots of attitude, and wanted to do everything on her terms (pretty much how she always is though!).  I love how happy she looks in this picture - as if she is thinking of something that is making her laugh.

 This is also a different picture of Ellery than I added to the side of our blog.  I had just had her bangs cut a week or so before the session - I was bummed when I realized how long they looked in the picture.  Oh well, she is beautiful with long bangs or short!

 I think Gianna is such a cute girl - but I have a hard time getting cute pictures of her.  Not so hard for Tammi though!

 My handsome little man :)

 This was the very last shot of the session.  I love, love, love this picture! 

 Many of you tell me that we are always so photogenic   {I give all of the credit to Tammi - she is the one who takes the pictures!}  For all of you who give me such a hard time, I had to add this picture.  I am sure there are many more silly looking pictures that never come close to making the cut, but Tammi included this one.  It makes me laugh every time I look at it.  I love the look on Gianna's face, and the fact Jason is smiling as Quin makes a kissing face at him. 

A huge thank you to both Tammi and her husband who helped make this another successful session!

Halloween

Ah yes, I realize it is the day after Christmas and I am posting about Halloween...  sorry!

If you have followed us for a few years now, you realize that I love to put together theme costumes for Halloween.  The first year the four kiddos were Goldilocks and the 3 bears, and then last year they were all zoo animals.  This year we went with the 3 little pigs and the big bad wolf.  I gave Quin the option of being the wolf or a pig, and she opted for the pig.  She put up a fight the few days before Halloween (she wanted to wear one of her princess dress up outfits).  Since I told her the only way she would be able to trick or treat was as a pig, the prospect of candy won out!  Come the night of Halloween, she was a very good sport!

 They were sooo stinkin' cute from behind - those curly tails bobbed as they walked!

 I love the look on Easton's face!  We had so many people stop us - all he wanted to do was keep walking.  We had several people ask us if they could take their picture... Jason was very disturbed by this!  I just laugh and kept us moving!

 I sure wish they would cooperate with me!  I tried to get Easton to look like he was 'huffin & puffin', but he had no interest! 

 Why couldn't he focus for a picture???  Well, duh... the candy was calling his name!

 It was a beautiful night!  We were able to sit on the porch and hand out candy.  I only wish it was this nice every year.  The kids had a blast putting candy in the kids bags, guessing what other kids were dressed up as, and telling everyone what they were dressed up as. 

We ran out of candy (we do every year).  If my memory serves me correctly, we handed out close to 550 pieces!  Crazy kids are probably still eating all of that candy - ick!

Merry Christmas!

May the warmth and joy of the holiday season be with you and your family!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Fall Flashback

Wowza!  It has been 2 whole months since I last posted - yikes!  I will try my best to stay to the point, but I must (for the sake of my 'baby book' format) post our past few months events in order.  Yeah, I know it's Christmas Eve eve... sorry! 

So... without further delay, here is what we were up to this past {gulp!} fall!

In October, we met up with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, and my sister and her family.  We met at an apple orchard in Charlotte - although it was so much more than just apples!  They had fish in a pond to feed, pumpkins to pick, a petting zoo, bounce houses, a cider mill...  The weather was in the low 80's (crazy!).  We had a great time!

Quin feeding the fish.

Easton loved pulling the wagon full of apples!

 After walking all the way to the back of the orchard, we could ride on the 'train' back to the front of the orchard.  All four kids loved it!

 Our four kiddos and Lincoln loved feeding the animals!

 We spent quite a bit of time in the covered picnic area (to cool off!).  They had apple cider slushies, and super yummy donuts!

A few weeks later we carved our pumpkins at my school.  The other first grade teachers and myself put on our annual 'Family Pumpkin Carving Party' for our first grade students and their families.  It is always a great time to let the families make their pumpkin mess at school and then take home their pumpkin masterpieces!

Jason took on the task of carving our pumpkins with all four kids!  I was able to stop by every so often, but I needed to circulate among my families.  All five of my Sizemore's did fabulous!

 Easton's favorite part?  The cider and donuts, of course!

 Quin was so proud to show off her finished pumpkin to anyone who would look!

Near the beginning of November we were able to celebrate my dad's birthday!  My sister and her children (Lincoln and Isadora) were able to meet us at my parents house, along with my grandpa. 

It was the first time that the triplets had the chance to interact with Isadora (she was in a sling when we were at the orchard).  My little momma, Gianna, was in her glory!  She couldn't keep her hands off of Isa!!!

I can see these two becoming best buds in the near future!

 Ellery is drawn to my Grandpa - I simply adore watching the two of them interact!  They can toss a ball back and forth forever.  You can hear Ellery giggling from the opposite side of the house.  Love, love, love!

 Everyone had a great time playing in the leaves also!

 Even my dad (Popa) got in on the fun!

PHEW!  Nothing like rolling three posts right into one! 

It's a Girl!

I am so excited to introduce you all to my new, beautiful niece - Isadora Marilyn!  She was born September 22, at 4:48pm.  She weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces and was 19 inches long.

 I thought it was pretty cool that they stamped her feet directly onto Kirk's forearms.

 Long story short... Isadora had been breech for many weeks.  When Abbey went in for the scheduled c-section, they did a last minute ultra-sound and found that the baby had flipped.  Abbey had really hoped for a natural delivery, so she was ecstatic!  I was so excited (and honored) because Abbey told me that I could be in the delivery room if I could make it in time (how nice is that, since never in a million years did I want anyone in the room with me?!?!?).  Unfortunately, by the time I left school and was on the road - I missed my sweet niece's delivery by a half hour - 30 stinkin' minutes!!!  It was still so special to meet her so soon after her entry into this world! 
My mom was able to be there for the delivery (she was there for Linc's also).

 I just love the smell of new babies - and the warmth of their smooth skin!

Quin and I went back to visit the day that Abbey and Isa (pronounced Eeeesa) came home. 
It didn't take long for her to find the perfect niche in my dad's neck :)

 Quin was immediately smitten with her!  We would be rich if we had a penny for every kiss Quin gave her that day. 
Look at that dark hair - she may end up looking more like my sister :)

 My brother Nate with Isadora.

 Quin, Isadora and proud big brother, Linc

 Quin has talked often about going back to cuddle with baby Isa!  I love this picture.  Quin kept looking at her and whispering things to her like "Do you want to be friends?" and "I can't wait until you can play dress up with us!". 

I am so happy that Isadora has joined our family and can't wait until the next time I get see her! 

'Four' School

 So, my baby is in real preschool this year!  She is LOVING it!  She goes three mornings a week and would love to go every day.  She is excited about learning and socializing!

Her teacher describes her as sweet, kind to others and funny.  I am so happy that she pulls it together at school, because those are not always the words I would use to describe her at home ;)

{SIGH} I can't believe she will be a big kindergartner next year.  I would love to just bottle her up and keep her young and innocent.  {Even bigger SIGH!}  I love you Quinners!

Cruisin'

This one has been waiting in my editing pile for awhile! :(

Wayyyy back at the end of August, we took our whole crew into Grand Rapids for the car cruise.  Before the triplets were born, Jason parked his Camaro and took part in quite a few of the cruise offerings.  Needless to say, we haven't been able participate a whole lot since the babes have been born!

The weather was perfect this year, so we decided to at least drive down and park in a parking lot to watch the cars drive along 28th street. 

Quin has her own ear muffs that help make the sound more tolerable.  She loves driving with Jason, but hates the loud engine. 

The triplets and I followed Quin and Jason.  I love how you can see the top of Quin's head :)  People always get a kick out of her booster in the backseat.

 We made a pitstop for food - Quin wanted to stay in her seat even though Jason went in to grab our dinner.

Easton LOVED all of the cars and trucks!

 The girls... well, they enjoyed their picnic.

                                

Hee, hee  Jason had to reshine his car before we took off.  I thought the kid prints were cute - he thought otherwise ;)