Aidan and Tristan are 8!

My little boys are 8 it's hard to believe! They were my little miracles at a time when I thought we might not ever have children the conventional way (if only I had known what the Lord had in store for us). The years have flown by and they are growing into wonderful boys who I'm extremely proud of. They are very different as those of you who know them have figured out but both special in unique ways. We are grateful for them everyday ( Ha ha! well some days more than others).

There is nothing better than a Florida Christmas! We had so much fun in FL! We got to see all of our family and friends, enjoy the beautiful weather, celebrate Aidan and Tristan's eighth birthday and do a little swimming! It was perfect! Now if only we could find a way to move back. I'm slowly catching up here and then I will post more but I'm still unpacking, doing laundry, preparing for Aidan and Tristan's baptism Saturday and getting ready for recently retired Papa's 17 day visit! Hopefully with Papa's help I can catch up!

The Shaws are the next Partridge Family!

HA! HA! I thought the kids were hilarious playing Guitar Hero World Tour! They were having alot of fun with it! They were getting pretty good!

I got myself a thumb sucker!

It's so cute that we can't force ourselves to make him stop!

The Last Days of Fall

Well here are the girls and ones of everybody together too. We had alot of fun at the Park and having our picnic. It's been a pretty mild fall here (so far) so we have been trying to enjoy it while it lasts. Winter is beginning to set in and it's always hard for this Florida girl to deal! We are counting down the days until we make it to FL for Christmas we all can't wait! I think I'm looking forward to it as much as the kids. Well all except the plane ride .... You can only imagine the looks our crew gets from the other passengers!

The Last Days of Fall -the boys

A couple of weekends ago we went up to Capitol Reef National Park and had a picnic. It was beautiful and we were reminded of what a beautiful place we live in. Here are all our beautiful boys! Everyone loves taking individual pics and I think it's what happens when you are part of a big family you strive for individual attention. I love the one of Sully holding the leaf (Delaney said he needed one for his fall pic). The one of Landan is funny too because he wanted a running pic which was hard to get because he kept running at me.

Our little boys!

While pilfering through our Halloween bin Landan finally decided to be a frog even though it was a little small instead of Spiderman because that costume was still a little big. He looks cute and it reminds me of when I had 2 year old twin frogs! Delaney and Finley keep kissing him and telling him to turn into a handsome prince. Sully is of course the wise one, Master Yoda! Finley was Yoda a few years back and besides the kitty costume it's my favorite and was glad to get one more chance for someone to wear it.

Our High School Musical girls!

Well the girls love High School Musical everything and so that's what they wanted to be for Halloween.

The Halloween Parade!

Here are the boys in the Halloween Parade at school. You know you live in a small town when the whole town comes out to watch the kids walk around the school in their costumes! It's really fun though and I always get great costume ideas for next year that I never have time to implement! This year Aidan is a Clone trooper and Tristan is Obi-Wan and for you Shaw trivia geniuses yes, we have used these costumes before but this year the boys switched!

A great quote!

"Whatever you give a woman will multiply. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, fair warning . . . don't give her any crap."

I read it on a friend of mine's blog and I thought it was hilarious and great!

Sullivan Smiling

In these pics I think I finally captured his smile and his cute little dimples! He is growing up fast and getting really chubby. As much as we want to be done with the baby stage we are trying to enjoy every new thing he learns to do. He loves to talk with the kids and hates it if no one is paying attention to him. We moved his swing into the dining room because he doesn't like to be left behind when we are all in the other room eating. He has seemed to fit in to our family seamlessly like he always belonged there. Which I guess of course he did!

Playing at the park last weekend.

It started to feel like fall last Friday but then Saturday it started to snow a little. We are hoping to get a little more Fall before Winter sets in for good. This is the time of year I really miss Florida. Aidan and Tristan were practicing for basketball season which starts in January and this is the first year they get to play for the school league. They are really excited. Sullivan was wondering what that wind stuff is because he doesn't like it. Delaney and Finley were just trying to keep Landan from breaking a bone on the playground equipment. He is a little of a daredevil if you haven't noticed.

Delaney the Photographer

Delaney has loved taking pictures lately and wanted to post some more of her favorites. Her favorite she says is the one of Landan "doing his favorite things jumping on the couch and wearing his spiderman pajamas."

More Delaney taking pics

I thought these were funny because the little kids started taking her picture with their pretend cell phones.

Everyone is loving to take pics!

Delaney took all these pictures. I think she is becoming quite the photographer. She took the one of Landan having a temper tantrum because she said, "I need an action shot!"

Mom Questionaire

I thought these were funny on everybody elses blog so I decided to try it out ...it was pretty funny.

What's Mom's favorite food?

Tristan: "Olive garden, Reese's cups, and chocolate." (Wow, he really does listen to me!)

Aidan : "Salad and chocolate"

Delaney: "Chocolate cake"

Finley: "Pickles" (She only remembers that because she thinks they are disgusting and can't believe I like them)

Landan: "Bagels!" (Yeah I don't know where that one came from. I don't like bagels but he is a strange kid.)

Sullivan: (Stares expectantly... Did she just say eat?)

Dad: Chocolate (Yes. If only it were a food group I would be a happy woman.)

What makes you happy?

Tristan: "When I can play video games." (He gets his video game priveleges revoked alot.)

Aidan: "A good surprise."

Delaney: "Kittycats" (I just hope she still isn't saying that at 30.)

Finley: "Playing pigs." (Again, I just hope she still isn't saying that at 30.)

Landan: "Spiderman!" pauses and screams "And being craaazzzy!"

Sullivan: "Is she finally talking to me????"

Dad: Cocks an eyebrow "Is this going to be on the blog?" (I get the idea, nevermind.)

How old is Mom?

Tristan :"30 something"

Aidan : "31" (getting closer)

Delaney: Laughs "1 ...no no... 2 ...oh okay seriously 14" (she has no idea)

Finley: "40" (Ouch, that kind of hurt.)

Landan: "Landan birthday??"

Sullivan: Smiles "She really is talking to me."

Dad: "32." (Though he had to figure out how old he was first.)

How tall is Mom?

Tristan: "3ft."

Aidan: "2ft."

Delaney: "6ft."

Finley: Raises arms as high as she can.

Landan: "blah blah blah" I have no idea.

Sullivan: he's now sleeping

Dad: "5ft. 5in."

What does Mom always say to you?

Tristan: "Go to timeout!" (He thinks that is going to make me rethink my strategy. He's wrong.)

Aidan: "Good night!" (Ouch, that one hurt a little.)

Delaney: "Be Good."

Finley: "Clean up!"

Landan: "High Five!" (As I said before he is kind of a wierd kid.)

Dad: "Shoot me now." (Wow! I knew I was a negative person but... ouch!)

What is your favorite thing to do with Mom?

Tristan: "Play video games." (I'm starting to see a pattern. Good thing his Dad is a video game addiction specialist. Ha ha.)

Aidan: Smiles "I like to learn and cook with you." (What a sweetheart.)

Delaney: "hiking"

Finley: "When you help me write my name."

Landan: Jumps up and down like a maniac and screams "WEEEE!"

Dad: laughs then rolls eyes "watch Oprah." laughs again. (He is such a dork.)

What does Mom like to do?

Tristan: "Read"

Aidan: "You like to read and for us to be on time." (Funny!)

Delaney: "That's easy READ!"

Finley: "Play computer."

Landan: Stares then screams. (Hopefully I am not supposed to infer anything from that.)

Dad: Read and go out to eat. (Hence why I have been banished to Loa. Too bad I haven't lost any weight oh yeah chocolate they do have that here.)

What makes Mom happy?

Tristan: "When I make cards for you."

Aidan: "When everyone is being good."

Delaney: "A clean house." (Oh that girl knows me too well....)

Finley: "Talking to Dad" (See I do like him.)

Landan: "Spiderman!" (I don't think he grasped the question.... or maybe he really thinks I really like Spiderman as much as he does.)

Dad: "Chocolate and Money" (He just made me sound like a bad person...but it is true.)

What makes Mom sad?

Tristan: " When no one is listening to you." (Interesting perspective usually it's just him.)

Aidan: "When your kids are being bad."

Delaney: "When Sully screams."

Finley: "When your kids are sad."

Landan: "Spiderman!" while jumping on the couch. (Yeah he is right that does make me sad but I don't think he is listening anymore.)

Dad: "Messiness" (Is that a word? I retort that makes me mad not sad.) "Oh okay how about Oprah." (Atleast he is taking this seriously.)

How do you know Mom loves you?

Tristan: "Because you always say so and you make stuff for me."

Aidan: "Because you do alot of stuff for me."

Delaney: "Because you are nice to me."

Finley: "Because she hugs me."

Landan: "Bagels!" (Yeah I have no idea what is up with the whole bagel thing.)

Dad: Pauses like he has no idea!?????

Aidan finally lost his tooth!

It only took like a week but Aidan finally lost his tooth too! It's traumatic around here whenever anyone doesn't do something identical to his identical twin.

Finley's Bday Party!

Well we celebrated Finley's 4th Birthday a little early so she could have a party while her cousins were here. It was alot of fun. She told us she wanted to eat chocolate all day for her birthday! (She really is my daughter.) She wanted a pic of her with her favorite presents. Her American Girl, her new High School Musical Build a Bear and her Diamond Castle Barbie. Landan wanted his picture taken too with his Spider Monkey whom he loves dearly. He never liked stuffed animals until we got one that wore Spiderman clothes now he carries it wherever he goes.

The girls wanted this too!

I couldn't post Landan in the trunk with Ruby and not the girls too so here it is.

More Messick pics

This is our attempt at gettting all the kids together for a picture after church it wasn't all that sucessful but we tried for Grammie. The pic of Ruby and Landan I thought was really cute. For some reason they were fascinated by my "treasure chest".