A couple things...

     While trying to improve the exterior of our house I thought it would be nice to change out our house numbers from the burgundy colored ones to some metal ones. I found some really cool aluminum ones online and ordered them thinking they would be perfect. I may or may not have looked at the description and specifications before ordering. Here's what came in the mail.

Cool, right?!

Pretty great until you see how big they actually are. Here are the other numbers I recently purchased in comparison.

One inch compared to four.

Just a slight size difference!  Oh well, the small ones might look cute on the mailbox.

     And then this just happened today.

1997 Ford Escort

Kayli's first vehicle purchase. She's pretty excited. I can remember when I purchased my first car/FREEDOM. It's a thrill like no other. And the punishment ante just went up 10 fold for us. (Insert evil laugh here!)

Rub a dub, dub, three "men" in a tub

    Not a lot going on this week but I managed a couple photos.

This is cute now but if this was Mark, Kayli and Isaac you all might call the authorities!

       Greg decided it was time to make our vehicle more in sync with our numbers and found a pretty awesome bench seat at the local junkyard for a whopping $35. Now he just has to install it properly and we'll be set to hold all 9 of us with a seat or two to spare. My only concern is where to put all my groceries but I'm sure we'll figure it out. The seat will be going in facing forward unlike the photo below, which is why I'm concerned about cargo space but it'll be great for the kids.

These three are pretty thrilled with the idea of sitting backwards, too bad that won't be the case.

      So that's the jist for our week. We've got basketball games to enjoy this weekend and maybe I'll get to my taxes!

Family events!

  First, let me share another portion of the siding project. Greg painted the garage door, finished the siding and installed new light fixtures. The siding and painting were actually done several weeks ago but I was waiting for the lights to call it finished.

It's not the best before photo but it's all I got.

This part is DONE! I'm very happy with the over all look and I really like my new light fixtures.

     Then we had our newest niece make her appearance a bit early, much to her mother's relief I'm sure. Meet sweet little Alexis Louise Kmetzsch. She's a real life monchichi doll!

She weighed 9 lbs. 4 oz. and was 18.5 lbs. She's such a chunk and half her weight is in HAIR! Seriously, how is that even possible?!

     And because little monchichi came early we got to help watch little man, J.J.

He was quite happy with Charlie's table and stools.

Cousin time.

And J.J. was such a good boy at our Orthodontist appointment.

Elevator ride!

Hanging out in the movie cubby. Charlie refuses to sit still and gives me a real workout every time we're at the orthodontist.

      And then we had a birthday celebration for Brock who is now 7!

Happy 7th birthday!

His one and only birthday gift from mom and dad.

I think he's pretty happy about it.

It's the robot he wanted, just like his big brother Isaac's only Brock's is black.

Angry Bird birthday cake with Brock's own personal touches on his name. (This is what happens when he's alone in the back of the car holding the cake and has a bowl full of Mike N Ikes nearby.

And "Thank You, Grandma and Grandpa B. for the card and money!"

     So there's the week for ya! Some fun events with regular days in between.

New man & Charlie snuggles

      Greg became a little 'grizzly adams' over the past few months. I don't blame him, shaving is a pain and if I were a guy I'd probably go with the facial hair too. He's been threatening to shave it off for over a month but the kids kept protesting and insisting he keep the beard and go for a "Duck Dynasty" look. Well after our trip he'd had enough of the beard and went for a more trimmed look. Here's the before....

     And now the "new" Greg......

     I think he's handsome either way but it's nice to see more of his face for a change but I think I'd opt for the full beard only trimmed up, not so bushy.
     So Charlie has learned that to get attention her best method is to go for kisses and cuddles because this generally gets the best reaction. She's also learning to pose for the camera. Here are some fun photos of both from this week.

Going for kisses in order to distract her brother from his game. (Sorry it's blurry, I accidentally erased the better photo.)

Snuggling McClane during lunch.

Just noticed the camera so now she's got to pose.

They love hanging on daddy when he's home for lunch.

     And in case you're wondering, (because I know you think about my kids and what they do ALL. THE. TIME.) this is honestly how much Brock loves his giant teddy bear.

Actually maybe this is how much the giant teddy bear loves Brock. Who knew an almost 7 year old boy would be so enamored with a giant teddy bear.

     So that's our week in photos. If you want to vote on Greg's facial hair feel free to leave it in the comments. I know he'll take all opinions into serious consideration for his future shaving decisions.

Happy New Year!

    We got to welcome our New Year in Oregon with our Baker and Larson family. It was fun and simple. A little karaoke, poker and pool and plenty of homemade pizza and other yummy food/treats.

Dyrin helping Charlie or maybe just chatting with her.

Dyrin leaving in sadness because McClane insisted Dyrin was in his seat.

Dyrin, Kayli and Mark expressing different emotions on the upcoming Stake Dance.

Josh arrived and they all agreed they were happy for the upcoming dance.

Cousins.

Charlie's new photo face.

Games.

Karaoke playing in the background.

These three couldn't get enough of these cool tiles. (Forts mostly!)

Charlie made it to midnight.

First selfie of 2015! Happy New Year!

Also while in Oregon we went bowling.

First time for Isaac.

McClane's first time with a little help from Mark.

If you can't roll it, sit on it.

We spent a lot of time at the Larson's. The family with the pool table wins the "favorite cousin, aunt & uncle" award!

Carter's pretty much a pro now ;-)

Cheesy face!

Oh and did I mention they also have the sweetest dog?! 

We couldn't get enough of Haven.

A few of us (Greg, myself, Brock, McClane and Charlie) made a quick visit to Aunt Marie's house in a neighboring town about an hour away from Grandma and Grandpas. I only managed to take a couple photos. The kids enjoyed playing together for the couple hours we were there. Thanks for the nice visit Marie :-)

And thanks to Lottie and Jackson for sharing their new Christmas toys.

McClane was pretty excited about the train set.

 And in case you don't know why I took this next photo, let me explain. Pretty much my whole life my mom has sat on the stand as the organist but now she's her wards Relief Society president so this was weird to see at church.

First time in 40 years my mom's sat on the pew with us.

And here's just a few fun photos from our trip.

Blurry Charlie snuggles.

One big blurry mess of sleeping children. Who else goes on vacation to sleep on their grandparents floor & couches?!

This is why sleeping on the floor isn't so bad, fun with Grandma!

It's a staring contest. 

I think Charlie stared at Elle for at least 3 minutes straight. Intense!

Kari finally warmed up to Charlie, a little.

Now we're headed home and we're only an hour into the trip and we're already on fight #3! Long trip ahead! 

Starting with the sunrise and we'll see the sunset before we get home.