Birthdays!

Matthew, Ethan, Josh, and Ben all have birthdays in the last 3 months of the year, so Thanksgiving time is perfect to do one big party for all four. This year we took them to Chuck E Cheese and had a blast. Everyone had tons of tokens, tickets, pizza, cake, and prizes. Again, I'm not sure who had more fun...the kids or the adults!

Knott's Berry Farm 11/25/08

My parents took all of us (minus Shelley and Jacob who couldn't make it) to Knott's Berry Farm. We had a blast! We all wore red shirts, which sounds corny, but was actually so much fun. It made finding everyone a breeze too! We got asked more than once if we were there to shoot a commercial for Knott's. The kids had a blast, but I'm not sure who had more fun...the kids or the adults. I absolutely love roller coasters. The faster and scarier the better for me. It was the perfect day to be there....not hot, no lines, happy kids.

This was the skateboard ride...look at all those brave kids with their hands in the air! Right before they raised it to drop them down...just missing Ben and Andrew (who didn't meet height requirements)

Hands in the air!

On the airplane ride.

Boys being boys

Kallie and Nini on the car ride.

Alysa and Tay

Ben on the car ride

Christopher, Bebe, Matthew, and Chris on the ride that slowly raises you high and they drops you like a rock...I skipped this one.

The bunch of red

My Dad is the roller coaster KING! By looking at this face can't you tell how happy he is...and this was after the drop you like a rock ride (notice the wind blown hair)! Dad rode on EVERY ride with us...and even a few more! He loves speed!

Chris and Ben

The log ride that we must have gone on about 30 times. Every time we would run around again the ride operators would call us the "red group". The kids loved this one and it had a great drop at the end!

Nini and Kallie. Special friends. Kallie wouldn't let me do ANYTHING for her while we were in Cali. It was all about Nini...which was fun for the first day...but then I missed doing it!

Andrew was such an amazing baby the whole day. He is the most easy going child I have ever met! He was jut itching to get on the rides with the kids!

Ava's Blessing

The real reason we headed to Cali so early was for this cute little girl...

Little Ava Leigh had her baby blessing the Sunday before Thanksgiving and we really didn't want to miss it. I know you are asking yourself, "why does she have a picture of Ava Leigh on a table at Chuck E Cheese, instead of a picture in her amazing blessing dress?" Well, that answer is simple...I didn't get a picture of her in her dress!!! (Shelley just posted some on her blog www.jacobandshelleyingram.blogspot.com so go there to see the cutest little baby!) By the time we were done chatting after church, and arrived to the after blessing get together, Ava Leigh was done, and out of her dress. But, we did get pictures of lesser important things....Case in point, our athletic challenge between us old and out of shape (well at least one of us) siblings.

Benjamin starting this whole thing out so innocently...playing on a playground as all kids do....
Ethan, giving it a go...

Chris trying to show off by how many pull ups he could do...this is one...

And this is less than one second later....

Christopher knows better then to try a pull up...instead he shows off his amazing slide climbing skills! No one can beat him at climbing slides!

Here I am doing my best to cross the monkey bars. Well...I pretty much just hung there and looked cute. Do you remember how much your hands hurt after doing the monkey bars! OUCH!

Ligaya actually made it all the way across! (I actually am not too sure about that, but I just love her face in this picture!) So all said and done...Chris and Ligaya take the cake as winners... Christopher and I just went and had a slice of cake after all that hard work!

We enjoyed a yummy lunch...and even yummier ice cream cones!

Auntie Shelley knows how to make one little girl VERY happy!

Las Vegas Layover

Another Thanksgiving holiday, another trip to California. Lucky for us, Emily and Dan now live in Las Vegas, which just happens to be on our way to "sweet-bro land". We took off a little early so we could spend Saturday with them. It was a blast. The kids went crazy playing with Hailey. They really have fun with her and miss her quite a bit when she's not around. We jumped on the trampoline, rode bikes, and went to the COOLEST dinosaur park where we got just a little bullied, but also got to feed the ducks and geese. Uncle Dan even let Dad take a ride on his hog which was enough to cement the decision that yes, someday, Dad WILL have another motorcycle. Even if Mom never lets him drive it. Hopefully, Emily and Dan didn't mind us hanging around because now we know where they live, and we will be passing that way again....

Andrew's First Haircut

Daddy finally caved and gave permission for Mom to let Andrew get a haircut. Mom didn't want to do it herself because she wanted the first one to be special. She found this place that is all decked out for little kids. They offer a special first haircut package and everything. Yeah, Mom should have cut it herself. At the first sign of fussiness, the girl decided she was done leaving the haircut unfinished. Hmmmmm.... she even had the gall to look dissapointed when we didn't leave a tip. Here's a tip: find a new job.

Ben's Birthday

BEN TURNED 5! He was so excited. Walking down the hallway that morning he stopped, looked up at the ceiling, and said, "Wow, I can't believe I'm 5!" It was a great day with donuts, a trip to Toy's R Us with Grandma, bowling, and Chuck E Cheese. Boy, do I want to be a kid again! Plus, Auntie Meg and Uncle Terr gave him THE BEST birthday gift ever: a digital camera. Not a play one, not a toy one, not a little kid one, a REAL one. I have never seen a memory card fill up so fast. We may not be keeping track of EVERY picture Ben takes.... As if that was not enough, Grandpa showed up on a motorcycle to take him out for a belated birthday lunch a couple of days later! Wow.