Cougar kids!

Is there ANY other way??? Gotta love our Cougs! Notice in the picture of all of them....Bella is starting to panic because Bradyn has a nice handful of her hair. :) ahhhh....sisters! Brieyn was her usual goofball self...lots of pics in this post but they are worth it.

Pretty, pretty, princess

So...we pierced Bradyn's ears. She is the youngest one we've ever done, as the other girls were much older. But I thought she would look cute with them, and it took some convincing to get Derek on board. He still wasn't all that thrilled as we did it.......and the event was full of drama, thanks to a crazy Claire's employee....but that's a different story.

Bradyn's baptism!

" 'And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children.....' " Deuteronomy 6:6-7.

Bradyn Elizabeth Henley was baptized today at Selbu Lutheran Church in LaCrosse, WA. Her Godparents are Leonard and Stacy Aune, same as the other girls. It is such a blessing for our girls to have such amazing Godparents, who love and care for them the way the Aune's do. Derek and I were both really nervous how Bradyn would behave, but when Pastor Bay went to baptize her, she popped her thumb in her mouth and looked sweet as can be. I will say that she looked gorgeous in her Christening dress, I so look forward to seeing my girls wear them. Bradyn was lucky to have lots of family and friends come to the church for her big day. We even got a picture of 4 generations of Henleys....Derek's grandma, dad, Derek, and our girls all together! So special!! We went low-key on the party this year, Mom "baked" lasagna (thanks, costco!), I "baked" a cake (thanks, Safeway!), and Nancy brought salad and french bread. YUM! Thank you to everyone for coming and celebrating with us! The girls had a blast playing with the Aune children, Ashtyn, Gunnar, Abree, and Gage.

Annual Halloween Party!

Saturday we had our fun annual Halloween party. We have had this party every year since Brooklyn was born, making this year the 8th! We always celebrate with the same families, and the pictures we have each year are priceless! It has been so fun to watch the kids go from babies all the way till now. And many of the family's have added siblings to the mix, so we have the siblings in the pics too. I must say.....out of 12 kids though, 4 were ours. :) This year the party was at the Kallaher home. Danielle had the house all decorated and it looked sooo cute! We had pizza, drinks, and a bunch of halloween-themed goodies to munch on. Danielle tye-dyed T-shirts orange and the kids drew pumpkins on them. Even Bradyn got an orange tye-dyed onesie! :) Thanks to the Kallaher's, Vining's, Patrick's, and Myer families for another SUPER party! In my opinion, Jaxon Patrick won the costume contest this year. He was an "injured cougar quarterback". For all of you who have been following WSU football, you'll get it! Brooklyn is a vampiress, Bella is Morticia, Brieyn is Grumpy Bear, and Bradyn is a hot pepper!

Soccer mania, part 2!

Fall soccer session has officially come to an end! That's a good thing too, as the games were starting to get very chilly! Brooklyn had a lot of fun on her team, the Golden Ghosts. We weren't so lucky with Bella's team, the Great Whites. Let's just say it was an interesting coach, an interesting group of parents, and interesting children. We are crossing our fingers we get put with different children next time. Brooklyn's team ended the season with a party at Pizza Hut, and when Bella's final game was done.....we booked it out of there as fast as we could! Turns out the ref WILL call the game early on account of the obnoxious behavior of the coach, players, and parents! UGH!!! But we do thank you, ref Chelsea, for giving Derek and I reassurance that other people saw what we saw! :) Brieyn did great cheering the girls on from the sidelines, and Bradyn just was happy to hang out and stay warm.

Lesson learned?

All the "books" say, in order for kids to learn and grow to be productive adults, they need to be able to make mistakes on their own. So....Brooklyn (ya know - because she is a super-mature-grown-up 7 & 1/2 year old!) has decided that she no longer needs for me to do her hair in the mornings. I pick my battles, so sent her off to the bathroom to do her own hair. This was the hilarious result of her first attempt. According to her, not only was she trying to brush it, but she wanted to curl it as well. For most of you who really know us, we aren't "read-the-books" kind of parents, but I must say, they just may be on to something when it comes to kids, growing up, and natural consequences. :) And for the record....we were able to get the brush out of her hair without scissors!!!

Future employee in training!

Bradyn gets to come to work with me. Sometimes this is a huge blessing, and other times I'm ready to pull my hair out. Luckily I have a mostly child-friendly office, and her highchair is next to my desk. When she's in there, she looks and me and makes noises trying to get my attention. She knows how to be charming so she will get picked up! :) If I don't pick her up after all her cuteness, then she fusses. Here are some pictures of her in her highchair and napping in my office. (You'd never know by looking at her that she can cry for the majority of the day!) And yes, at almost 5 months her hair is long enough for a clippie!!!

Silly kid!!

Check out the latest craziness at our house! Never a dull moment!!! The "tank top" Brieyn is wearing...is actually a sundress that was Bradyn's, size 0-3 months. :)

Bribery is expensive!

No pictures for this post, but thought I'd share. Derek told both Brooklyn and Bella that for each goal their scored in their soccer games, he'd give them a dollar. Well last Saturday the girls played at the same time, and Derek and I keep each other posted on how the game is going as well as the score (even though they don't keep score....we do!). Well Bella happened to score her VERY FIRST goal in her game last Saturday. So I texted Derek to let him know. He told Brooklyn that Bella had just scored. She was like WHAT?! so literally less than 30 seconds later the now more-determined-than-ever Brooklyn scores! Wednesday Bella only had practice but Brooklyn had a game. During halftime Derek reminded Brooklyn that for each goal she would get a dollar. Start of the 2nd half....She scores THREE times in a row, and after each time would look at us, like, "pay-up pal!" When we got home, not only was it allowance day for the girls but including the soccer goal money, they are making bank! :)

Outta the way, buddy!

A couple weeks ago, I was in a car accident. I was on my way to work, and a driver ran a red light and CRUNCH I t-boned him. Thank goodness no one was hurt, and Bradyn was safe and sound in her carseat. The doctor gave us the greenlight so far on injuries, so we are SO thankful. As you can see, the damage to our car was minimal, only about $3000.00 worth. We had to replace the carseat, and a few other minor details. The other driver's car....was not so lucky. Unfortunately for the light-running offender, I hit his Chrysler Pacifica square between the driver's door and driver's side back door. And thanks a TON for the witness who was driving right behind the driver I hit, who saw the entire thing and that his light was red. My suburban was in the shop from September 29 to October 15, and in the meantime we drove a rental car. 4 kids and all the stuff that comes with them takes up a lot of space, we were feeling a bit crowded in our rental so we are all happy to have the suburban back! Here are some pictures of my car, taken by Derek before we took it to the shop. Thank you Myer's family for fixing it back up good as new!!! Word of advice.....if you see a suburban coming your way, MOVE....because they are tanks!!!!!!!!!

Bradyn, Bradyn

Bradyn has started eating solids, she isn't too thrilled about it, but we keep trying! Here we have her set on the table in her bumbo and she sits for a bit, then arches her back to try and get out of it. Also, many of you know that Bradyn is a very fussy baby, so much so that we are taking her to a peds gastro specialist to have her evaluated. UGH - wish us luck that we find a solution!! Because she comes to work with me, and I listen to the crying all day long, its nice to pass her off to Derek whenever I need to! He was holding her one day, and put her on her tummy on a pillow on his lap. Within a few minutes, she was sleeping, and our house was nice and quiet!!!

Milestone!!!

We had a big milestone reached at our house tonight. Bella lost her first tooth! It's been loose for awhile....and she's been wiggling it like a crazy girl trying to get it out. Tonight she let Derek pull it out. He wrapped dental floss around it and after a few failed attempts, it popped out! She was very brave and SO excited when it came out. We do a toothfairy matching program in our house, whatever the toothfairy leaves in exchange for the tooth, we match. She put the tooth in a baggie and its under her pillow awaiting that first precious reaction in the morning after she realizes what was left for her!!! I can't believe how quickly she is growing up!

Soccer mania!

With Brooklyn and Bella both involved in soccer this year, we are running around like crazy! Practice is twice a week, games on Saturdays, and sometimes during the week. We've mastered the art of shuttling kids to and from where they need to be, and the divide-and-conquer when both girls play at the same time. Brooklyn is on a 2nd-3rd combo team, with her buddy Emma. Emma was on our team last year, and they do great together, so this year to ensure they got on the same team we told the coach we "carpool". :) Emma's family has 4 girls like us, and 3 of them are the same age as ours, so we have a lot in common! Bella is on a Kindergarten-1st grade combo team. She is very aggressive on the field, which is interesting because she's pretty calm normally. While unpacking some boxes we found some old soccer stuff of Bella's, so Brieyn wears that to the games so she feels like she is in on the action. Even though the stuff is way too big, she doesn't care and thinks she looks just like her sisters!! Bradyn just....well....hangs out.

Kitchen.....before and after

Ok, I have to admit, when we looked at this house for the first time....all I saw was the kitchen. It was very......green. I mean it was ALL green....from the olive green cabinets to the matching olive green appliances. Never in my life had I seen sooooo much green. And that was NOT a good thing. After we left, I told Derek that the kitchen was the first room we'd need to work on, because I could not see myself ever doing anything in there! Oh and another thing, I told Derek we were putting in a dishwasher because if you know me....you know that I don't wash anything by hand, unless its by force. :) So our original more thrifty plan was to refinish the cabinets. What a lame idea that was, Derek got them stripped and repainted and the wood started splitting and it was not a pretty site. So....off to Home Depot we went for new cabinets. Long story short, Derek and his dad did all the cabinets, Derek did the ceramic tile floors, and granite tile countertops all by himself. I love that he made me such a beautiful kitchen!!