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!!!