Fall is Fun In Kansas

This Halloween was crazy just like all the others. We had the Girards here again this year and it was very exciting. Our house has never been the same since. Emilee was the bride of some dead thing I think, Kanoa the Dinosaur (fitting name if you have heard him scream all day), Riley the Pirate AAARRGGHH! C.J. was of course Scooby Doo and the neighborhood loved him but he did not like the neighborhood loving him. Alix was a princess but not to confuse with any disney type princess just a princess. So she jumped right out of the renassance period (or however you spell it) just to go trick or tricking with us. Last but not least is Maddie. She is our families tradition of the pumpkin. All of our daughters have worn the same outfit thier first Halloween. Maddie was so sleepy this day that she just could not do Halloween. I was a little bummed out that she was not in the picture with everyone else but she needs her beauty sleep.



Fall is The Best Time of Year Here!!!

Don't Mess With Mom

Well this is so not funny. So finally I get paul behind the camera and so of course he couldn't pass up the chance to encourage my children and tell them to do naughty, naughty things. He loves to torture me. Needless to say, I got the camera back pronto and was safe when he figured the fun was over.

These are the greatest pictures. I love the leaves all over and the kids love this every year. I especially love the leaves in my laundry from the clothes they have jumped in and the birds thinking anything that is outside belongs to them for the winter (hmhmhm BBQ), and all the clean up that has to take place for the winter with the grass and the leaves. Luckily the biggest job is the girls now that they are old enough to rake all the leaves (from 4 trees in the front and 7-8 trees in the back). I do truly love this time of year and how beautiful everything is. Yet it depresses me to know that winter is coming and bringing the cold with it. Oh Well.

All Work And No Play Makes Paul A Dull Boy......

literally.

This man would not stop working all day long to do anything with us that was fun. No jumping in leaves, no playing at all. When I told him I wanted pictures of him for his mom he said fine. I told him to smile and he said I was just lucky I could get him to take time out to rake some leaves and I can just make do with whatever shots I get. So I did and he is just dull sometimes. Except of course when it means torturing me behind the camera then there is all the time in the world.


Okay so last is that I am now driving a big school bus to Emilee and Alix' school and they are so thrillllled to be riding the bus everyday. Well atleast they have a ride. And my first day was a hit because I only ran over the curve in the circular drive infront of all my friends, my kids' friends and the faculty I have come to know over the years. It was that or plow through all the cars in front and to the side of me. The kids on the bus were shocked when I said "Hold on, this could get bumpy!" and the all said "Whoah!!" at the same time as I went over the drive and back down again. What a performance. Luckily there has been no encore yet. I do feel like I am more in touch with my kids now though. I love my new route and my bus.

More Maddie Pic's

I took these this morning

I didn't have time to put this through my computer to lighten it up a little and get rid of the string of saliva from her chin but it's cut either way and she is just adorable.

There are more pictures but I didn't want to bore you all with my beautiful baby.

Enjoy!!

Presenting:

Maddie at 3 almost 4 months!!

This is her look she has most of the time. She is always looking and observing someone or something. She will learn much from watching her sisters, but she's not a jedi yet.

Maddie is a funny little girl. She loves everyone and she is easy to make smile and laugh.

She is usually always cute, smiley and happy. When she is not though it can get bad. Talk about the ugly cry, she is professional.

She is growing soooo fast we feel sad that she is our last baby but overjoyed at the same time if you know what I mean?

See the red hair. Trip out huh. It's not as red as it was but it is pretty red and brown.

I still have to post a video of her laughing and cooing and stuff but life is getting pretty nuts around this Horspool house. I'll try really hard to get it up within 2 weeks.

Natalie Finally get a job!! (A little bit of a life too)

This is pretty much the bus I trained on and the bus I had to get my drivers lisence with. I was sooo scared to drive a school bus. You thought I had funny stories before, well now there are a whole slew of them. I passed my CDL written test with flying colors which included passenger test, air brakes test, School bus test, and general knowledge. The guy freaked me out telling me how hard it was when I went to take it. He was very impressed when I passed all tests the first time and to tell the truth so was I. We waited all day long from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. to take the driving tests and I was last in the day and sooo tired and hot. I was scared out of my mind so I just took it one step at a time. I had to name everything under the hood and tell how I was inspecting it and what to look for. Then I had to pre- trip the whole bus inside and out. I also had to perform the airbrakes test and if 1 part is missed you fail automatically. I had to parallel park this bus and do off track backing and so forth. All in reverse. I got my lisence and I never want to take that test again. So now I'm back in the work force. Look Out!

This is the type of bus I drive everyday on my routes. My bus is newer and prettier than this one but I have not had an opportunity to take a picture in front of my bus yet. That picture is coming. I am thinking about upgrading to a new bus.



These are some of the buses I am considering trading mine in for. I think I would look good in them all and they could finally get a bus that flatters me!!

I'm thinking this one is a great choice with my two kids in the back!! Too bad I can't pick up kids huh?

School Pictures Are Here!!

Emilee is really turning into a beautiful young lady. I can't believe how much she had changed over the years. She's still not as old as she thinks she is though (10 going on 20). Emilee is in choir and orchestra this year. She is playing the violin and I am so excited. She is considering trumpet for next year but I personally hope she stays with the violin. She will be learning piano also starting some time soon. Busy Girls stay out of trouble right? She is also in soccer and horseback riding. When Soccer ends in a few weeks she will be starting karate so she can kick some serious guy butt when they put on all their moves. Besides this she is doing great in school and struggles a little in math. She has gained some independence this year (or mom has let go a little of her paranoia) and she takes off with her friends to the park and such. She is a fun girl and we are lucky to have her. I'm glad she is so creative, because Riley really enjoys the way that she plays and gets a kick out of her imagination.


Okay, I don't know how to describe this picture. There are differences in opinion in our home. Alix loves this picture and I think she is adorable but the pose needs some help. Alix says this is the most beautiful picture she has ever taken so we have agreed that it should be displayed in her room where she can enjoy it and that she will be taking re-takes in a week so I can display a picture that I would like better. Besides that, Alix is really becoming a spit fire. She has a funny personality and loves to laugh lately. She is such a pretty girl and we really enjoy her sweet sensitive side. She is also doing great in school but needs some extra help in spelling. It's so funny how different kids are. She is excited about learning multiplication this year. Alix is in Soccer and doing great but she is getting burned out since she has been in soccer since Kindergarten. After this season she will also be taking karate so she can kick some serious butt also. Now if I had ugly kids this would not be an issue. Alix will be entering a bowling league right after Soccer because she has begged and begged to bowl on a league. we'll keep you updated. I'm hoping she will take flute so that we can have all my favorite instruments in the house. Besides all this she is so sensitive to Maddie and takes care of her really well even when she cries. She'll be a great babysitter in a few years.

Riley. What can I say? She's still trouble and loves every minute of it. She always gets new school pictures with the girls at the school on picture day but this year she missed it because I was training for the bus. She will be taking hers with Alix at re-takes so she will have a picture on here and I'm sure some interesting comments. She is protective of Maddie. At the bus station she does not want anyone coming up to Maddie or touching her. When Maddie cries the people try to talk to her to make her happy and Riley says "She doesn't like you!", Or "That's mama's baby! Don't touch". She spends her day embarrassing me and enjoys every minute of that too!

Besides all of this, I am so extremely busy now, that I cannot promise how often this will be updated. I will be putting video on here soon. We love you all and hopefully I will update this often. I am going to get a new camera I can just put in my purse so I can blog more. So expect more after Christmas.

OUR FOUR YEAR PROJECT!
So we have been trying to fix and paint the deck ever since we moved in four years ago. Circumstances and mostly weather have made it difficult to do. But now we can finally say that our deck is done and it only took 4 years! We love it. Going at this rate I guess the siding and such should only take 15 years. Exciting.

BEFORE

AFTER

Just disregard the rain all over the deck. This is part of the problem as to why it took 4 years to begin with.