It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..... yipeee!!! (The picture with the candies- that is a calendar with treats for every day of December- counting down to Christmas- that Grandma King does for all her grandchildren.... our children don't know a Christmas without it! I really really really want to do this for my grandchildren... it is such a fun thing!)

...these were the only types of pictures I took on Thanksgiving! The King men got around the piano and sang- my favorite part... then they played basketball (Caleb won one round of Lighting... made his day)....Josh had fun with chip things... and Katie- well, just looked cute :-) I will try to get some pictures from others.... It was a wonderful Thanksgiving- with much to be thankful for.
~I love our family~ especially my AMAZING husband~ happy 17th anniversary to us today!

Shawn is 16!!!!!!!!! 2 weeks later- he was aksed to Morp (prom spelled backwards- girl asks guy, casual not formal, etc...). Cera asked Shawn with puzzle pieces, balloons, homemade oreo cookies, and his name spelled out in hershey kisses.... he replied with puzzle pieces and hershey kisses INSIDE balloons~ we were all excited for Shawn to have a fun date!

Katie handed this to me today... and we put it in an envelope for Santa...sigh.... is she serious? It IS the most adorable turtle drawing I have seen....but, I really believe we are already overboard on the animals... and I hear they are stinky...and.....sigh. Ah-ha... maybe Santa will bring her some really pretty sparkly stuffed animal turtle?!!! hee, hee, hee.... hmmmmmm......

My honey loves me~

Joshua is 12!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YIPEEE!!! We are MOST excited that he now holds the priesthood in our Church and he can pass the sacrament on Sundays~
We had a mini party for him with 3 friends- they played and played and played- they mostly played on the trampoline (didn't get pictures of that), played basketball before leaving, and a little wii..... these were 3 really really great friends- it was fun to watch them! The drawings were made by Caleb and were his present to Joshua- it was so awesome- I just had to take pictures of them~
~ Josh is an amazing young man- we truly love our Josh~ He is so creative and a delight to be around~ we love you, Josh

Our children are involved in a lot of sports- Shawn C. does football, basketball, and cross country... Mariah does volleyball and basketball... Josh does football and basketball... Caleb does football and basketball... and even Katie does gymnastics. Well, our older children spend A LOT of time on the sports bus- traveling to and from games- they are traveling 1-3 times a week! mariah is just the only one that has taken a camera on the bus and brought home evidence of what the bus rides are REALLY like!!!! :-) IF Mariah ever sees this post..... LOVE YA! (Now, none of you go telling on me.....shhhhhhhhhh)

Mariah hates pictures of herself.... so, here we have the perfect viewing of the beautiful colors we have chosen to decorate the girl's room with.... raspberry fizz and lime green... aren't they lovely colors?

I found some more window horse gazing pictures.... yeah- they're in love!

A little bit of country heaven....
Our girls have always wanted a horse....we don't have one...but, our neighbor has over 20 of them and he has fenced off his farmland surrounding our home- and put his horses to pasture there.... this is a picture Mariah took right out her window (we love our windows!) Yep- this was heaven for our girls~

Joshua can just about always be caught reading... a Redwall series book- lucky for us, there are about 20 volumes in this series of books... we have a little time left before we need another series to get hooked on! It all started with the Magic Tree House series... then Chronicles of Narnia series... we just go series to series with a scattering of books in-between. He is truly a voracious reader~

Cuddles made himself at home on his master Caleb's blanket... and legs.... and he stayed there for quite awhile!

Happy Halloween from our pumpkins and our token black kitty!

shawn, after running the race which qualified him to run cross country state- sophomore year! Should we mention that he only ran in 2 other races this season? Bum. He was too busy playing football.... cross country next year?! I have no opinions in this whatsoever....

Joshua wasn't sure what to think about the posters his mom made for his campaign....but, he DID win President of his class!!! It is fun- when the jr. high student council meets with the high school student council- Josh gets to be with Shawn (VP of his class) :-) Joshua's teachers were really happy he won too~

Katie's graduation from Kindergarten morning!!! (No, mom did not suggest a white dress- that was her idea!! :-) But, she DID manage to keep the red punch from spilling on her- hee, hee, hee)

We almost never have a picture of Shawn and I... one of us is always behind the camera!!! This is fuzzy- granted- but, here we are!!!! It is something I don't think about, until I have waded through tons of pictures and this one catches my eye as....different... oh, yeah... we are BOTH in the picture :-) I sure LOVE my honey~ so grateful he married me <3

KATIE and BEAR WORLD!!!! I got to go on a fieldtrip with Katie's kindgtn. class~ I love bear world. We had soooooo much fun that day (I have about 80 picutres from this day) It was a fabulous Katie and Mommy day~ what a sweetheart- and, I love bears- especially baby bears.... amazing day- happy Tara day!

I am currently a cub scout leader... and here is my crew ;-) (love my Caleb) we visited the police station today... it was very refreshing to take a "fiedtrip"

Fun with goldfish!!!! goldfish crackers are so yummy and fun.... what cuties!