after company catch up

Grandma Cathy made KayLea's pretty white dress

Daddy and Kay

Lane Clan (I tried to upload a Fox clan picture but I couldn't get it to work off of facebook.. AMBER e-mail me that pic please!!)

Daddy and KayLea in their "whites"  (yes different dress than what Grandma made)

So KayLea's baptism went off with out a hitch... well that's not actually true.. the baptism it self was fantastic, the spirit was strong and KayLea was so excited and everyone enjoyed everything BUT my camera failed me.. yes the new fancy camera that I begged and pleaded and researched to get the best possible deal did NOT inform me it was with out its memory card as 20 plus pictures were being taken and not being saved... thankfully my wonderful family had cameras and I'm in the process of getting their copies of pictures they took... the issue won't happen again as I will be paranoid and always look to make sure the card is where it should be from now on but yea kida sucks!!! here are some pic's from my wonderful sister!

anyway all the family came and we had a great time just visiting and catching up, KayLea had the idea to give all the cousins a "party favor" we came up with these adorable canvas bags that we pumped up a bit with fabric and my cutting machine.. Fiona, Annie, Knight, Will, Ethan all got one (will and Ethan yours are going in the mail this week.. daddy forgot them!) and Jackson will be getting his when we see him after Christmas...

KayLea uses hers for a sunday bag and all the other cousins said that sounded like how they'd use theirs too (but they don't have to they can use them for what ever they want!)

all in all a great weekend!!!

ta ta

the newest member of the Fox Clan

Meet Julie,

KayLea gave strict instructions that when the box arrive SHE be able to open it herself

her first look

KayLea named  her Julie cute name..

I'm just glad she chose one with freckles

So KayLea's "big" birthday present this year along with getting her ears pierced was a real honest to goodness American Girl Doll.. it arrived today, we originally had the idea to take her to the Am. Girl doll STORE in Boston, BUT the day ended up getting piled up with other obligations so she opted to order it on line rather than wait until some un-forseen Saturday we could make the trek.. she got to choose the eye color, the hair color and weather it had freckles or curly or straight, long or short hair etc. etc.
she arrived and since KayLea got jilted the chance to go to the actual store she got to add one extra, getting the dolls ear pierced..
KayLea is definitely in love, she's calling her the sister she always wanted..

where has my BABY gone!?

Happy Birthday KayLea!!!

she turned 7 today, I can't believe it!!! she woke up early and was so excited to open her presant.. she got a Nintendo DS something she's wanted since the boys got theirs ages ago... she's such a big girl!!!
we are going to spend her birthday money from Grandma Merry this week and she really wants a Taylor Swift CD (it hurts my heart to think she didn't even consider a Barbie!~)her birthday dinner is chicken Enchilada's and pink birthday cake (pink cream cheese frosting)...
I can't get her picture to upload so hopefully I can figure it out sometime tonight but if not
Happy Birthday KayLea she'll always be my baby no matter if she is a BIG GIRL!!!!

KayLea's Birthday is DONE!!!

So KayLea had her friend party yesterday and we all have fun hangovers today... we had 10 kids she invited her whole class (12 kids) plus one friend from church for some reason I couldn't remember my hard rule as to why we don't invite the "whole class" the last time I was talked into this maddness was Hunter's 6th birthday party... is it something like not remembering how much having a baby hurts when your contemplating having another?? of coarse Hunter's 6th b'day class was twice as big as KayLea's so I justified it in my mind I think.. but I digress.

the Theme for her party was "Mad Hatters Tea Party" because when KayLea has been planning this party in her mind for the last few months she wanted a "fancy Nancy tea party" which is a very girly theme.. when School started she discovered her very best friend at school is Kevin a boy, so she was torn as to what to do she has also really formed great friendships with all her class mates.. so we fiddled a bit with the theme and made it a boy girl party..

I think the kids had fun, we made Mad Hatter Hats (thanks Mom for giving me the idea about the plates.. it took a google search but I found a variation of what you described) the boys helped by decorating the house with streamers (they also helped clean!) and Ben made a REALLY good cream cheese frosting for the cup cakes.. the boys also tried to do games but the kids weren't really into the games they just wanted to run around the house and play.. KayLea got lots of fun presents and 90 minute party seemed to pass by very quickly and all the kids were gone.. the house was in a little bit of shambles but really it didn't take long to get it back together and we are good for another year..

a few things we discovered.. as much as KayLea likes the boys in her class it seemed like the boys all congregated together and the Girls did the same.. so I think next year I'm not giving in and we'll do just a "girl party"

all in all it was a fun, exhausting, entertaining day KayLea had a blast!

ta ta

Busy Birthday for her or me??

So KayLea's Birthday is passed, She got to open ONE present in the morning (the sweater she's wearing in the pic's) although she wasn't too happy it wasn't toys (she was told she had to wait for the "toys" for when Daddy got home from work) she managed ok.. we went out to breakfast (Dunkin Donuts) and then she picked her favorite lunch (McD's) then off to school.. she brought in yummy brownies for her class and she had a GREAT DAY she came home to a Lasagna dinner and yummy brownie sundae's for her desert (does this girl know how to pick a birthday dinner or what?).. Then she opened markers for her doodle bear, an art set and some hair stuff and fun lip gloss (she has one more "big" presant waiting for her party) I had to quick sing happy birthday and eat quick cuz Brad and I had to skedaddle to the Church for a Temple Trip Ben was gracious enough to deal with the mess and kids so I could go with the youth.. did I mention I HAVE A GREAT HUSBAND!!! he actually had to wake up super early this morning for work and won't be home until VERY late tonight so yea, I'm sure he wasn't super excited for me to just take off amidst birthday kayos but he fared pretty well..

So I'm not sure we were the smartest parents on the planet KayLea's friend party isn't until next sat (Ben's work schedule couldn't handle a party today) so I'm sure we'll be in Birthday bliss for another week here in the Fox home but somehow it always seems KayLea's birthday lasts pretty much the whole month of Nov!
I'm recovering from little sleep but I'm a proud momma for sure!
Ta TA

I'M DONE!!!

So Day camp is offically DONE!!! unfortunatelly our district was way to disorganized this year which made for a way too stressful week for those who were trying their best to put on camp... but i don't think the Boys even noticed.. Hunter and KayLea had a blast and Brad even had some fun although it was a different guy running the water so he couldn't just frolic in the water with kayak's this year he found a buddy (a fellow older brother) and they fished and swam (on their own) and did bb's once or twice.. so it was a success over all and the best part was I NEVER HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN!!! now thats not to say if i still have a cub scout calling i might come for friday skits or something like that.. BUT... i won't come for a whole week again, and i'm holding firm to that!~!! it's someone elses turn to get those blessings (sounds good right.. i'm going to bookmark this post and remind myself of this next year!)

So it looks like i've finally figure out how to reduce the size of these pic's from my camera so i can post on the blog.. it's still taken a bit but at least here's a couple from this week... above is Hunter shooting arrows, BB's and with half of his den figuring out a catapult and doing a jousting exercise (the theme was Knights of the round table) below are the few pic's i got of KayLea playing and doing her skit with her tag-a-long group..

So dispite the pitfalls it was a fun LAST week... ta ta for now

pictures

we are at the library this morning, so it's time to catch up on some pictures..
Ok just so it proves i'm not totally anti baseball.. i have taken pic's of the kids..
above: brad batting below Hunter catching...

above: Hunter getting batting tips from his coach.. he's all wet because it was the hottest day of the year so far (around 90) and the field we were at turned on the hose for the boys to cool off.. i wasn't too sure about this idea but in the end it was probably the best thing that could have happened..

above; here's KayLea batting and then her on first base.. below: she always holds her helmet because it almsot falls off everytime she runs..

KayLea Fishing

So i'm WAY behind in posting pictures and i'm not too sure it's going to get any better.. today i'll post pictures of Ben taking KayLea fishing it was a Daddy Daughter outing and she was thrilled she didn't have to share Daddy with the boys!!! she only lasted about a half an hour and she caught 3 and even landed one on her own..

We celebrated Hunter's Birthday friday evening, he got to have 5 friends over, they fished in the creek (the un-expected highlight of the afternoon!) ate pizza then they were suppose to watch at least the first indiana Jones movie but they all lost interest after the first 10 minutes.. they ended up just playing 0utside and playing the air hockey upstairs.. One of the boys got to spend the night (mostly because he's from the ward and he lived too far to make 2 trips with in a few hours) it was a good 10th birthday for Hunter.. he had fun.. and we and the house are no worse for the ware i forgot to take some pic's with my phone so those will have to wait until i can get to high speed internet (maybe the hotel in Salt Lake will have high speed wireless hua!)

anyway thats it for now.. we are getting excited for going .. we actually have to leave tuesday night and spend the night in Chicago so we can make it to Salt lake on Wednesday...

i'm sure i'll post on the road as Ben has agreed to part with his Laptop for us to take...

ta ta for now!

One of the MANY reasons I LOVE my husband!!!

KayLea got a DVD version of "Candy Land" and pretty much since Christmas she has wanted to play with Daddy.. well he has had to work a bit but promised her on his next day off he'd play it with her.. well TODAY was the day. we thought for sure she'd forget (rather Daddy HOPED!) but he was such a good sport and even got into it and danced with her! He is an amazing Dad!!! Next BIG reason i love my husband.. he thought he was going to have to go to Albany NY for 2 weeks before we found out the house deal was going through.. after he found out we would be moving in 30 days he appealed to his fellow supervisors and said there was no way he could leave his wife to pack up the house and watch kids etc.. so he got someone else to take his place!!! see he's a Keeper!!!

We signed our copies of the contract, its pretty much a done deal but i'll believe it when i see THEIR signatures on the dotted line.. but it LOOKS good! we hope to be in the new house by the end of Jan.

ok so i just realized i shot this with my camera on it's side (to get the best angle) so you'll have to watch this with your head in an weird contortion but i hope you still get the idea.. sorry now i no better!

ta ta

The Mystery of the missing Freckles

so KayLea has adorable freckles.. i'm sure she will probably loath them when she is older but they are just a sprinkling on her little face.. she is very fair skined so we are oh so careful and slather her with the heaviest duty sun screen but they still come through and we her whole life have called them Fairy Kisses.. we count them at the beginning of the summer until there are too many to count and then notice when they have all gone in the winter... KayLea will tell you her freckles fade in the winter because Fairy's don't like the cold but this year something kind of interesting has happened.. only half of her freckles have faded so far... my Mom seems to think it's probably because of what way she sleeps (although she's no wear near a window and even if she was she has curtains up) or where the sun hits her from where she sits in the car (again she sits in the middle so this theory doesn't really make much since either).. for what ever reason only half of her freckles have faded so far and here's KayLea's theory for now...

Fancy KayLea
who would have thought a book given to KayLea as a christmas presant from Grandma Cathy would become her guide book for life.. "Fancy Nancy" is all about a very Fancy girl who was born to family who wasn't fancy at all, she uses very fancy words like, Fuchsa, Stupendous & parfaits, & she can't wait to learn French "because everything french is fancy".. she decided to offer her family "fancy lessons" and they took her up on it, she accessorized them and took them to dinner at the "kings Crown" where they all were dressed very fancy.. it's a very cute book that concludes Nancy saying..and my favorite line in the book " I love you, mom says... I love you, dad says... and all i say back is I love you.. because there isn't a fancy--or better-- way of saying that" anyway KayLea has wanted ever since she got this book to "fancy up" her room just like Fancy Nancy's room.. trust me when i say we had to do some heavy negotigating for her to not do EVERYTHING Nancy had in her fancy room but, the boys went camping last night so we girls went to Joanne's fabric to see if we could find some stuff to make a canopy for her poster bed.. we were successful..

This is a picture of Fancy Nancy's room before she made it fancy, next to a pic of KayLea's room before she made it fancy...

and These pic's are of Fancy Nancy's Fancy room alongside KayLea's new Fancy Bed!

and Here's KayLea reading Fancy Nancy on her new Fancy Bed...

Who would have thought 10 yards of bright pink toole wouldn't be enough.. i'll probably need to get another 15 yards to do curtains and the other side of the bed.. AND not to forget fancing up her Doll crib (yes it was part of the negotiation) but she's happy for now .. you can't really tell in the pictures but the piece that's inside where she will see up is VERY sparkley.. she wanted to make sure i pointed that out.. and you can click on the pic's to see better/larger pic's..

ta ta for now!

Our life as we know it..

Well, Soccer is in full blow, Brad and Hunter both had great games today... Hunter's team got a butt whippin pretty fierce; he's got a pretty young team and allot of them have never played before so i think he's a little frustrated but we keep telling him it's important for him to be a good example to the younger boys.. but we lost count at 8-0.. Brad's team won and Brad got his 2nd goal EVER! (he got his 1st goal ever last year) he did an awesome job and really shined in the 2nd half.. he's kind of new at playing forward and he is shinning!!!

KayLea isn't playing quite yet, but she has a blast with this little boy Malcum (he's the cute blonde boy in the pic with all the kids) they have so much fun at Brad's practices (he's got a brother on Brad's team).. they are great friends!! it's very cute!

now for the weather.. Brad's game (which is not pictured today.. Brad's picture is from last week's game) it was cloudy and rainey and VERY COLD at Brad's game at Noon, come 3:00 for Hunter's game the sun came out so all of us who were sweatered down were roasting.. it's suppose to get down to 30 degrees tonight!!! Time to fill the Oil tank!!! Not looking forward to that but i'm kind of looking forward to the cooler weather!!!

ta ta for now!!!

A Princess Party,

KayLea was invited to a Princess Tea party this morning, it was so cute it was complete with a story about the princess' slaying the dragon (1st picture of the girls pelting water balloon's at the pic of a dragon).. and then playing keep away with the witch's head.. and play kiss a frog (variation of pin the tale on the donkey) to see if it would turn into a prince.. she had such a good time..

Also, this was a good opportunity to test out my new camera.. I LOVE IT!!! but it also creates a little bit of the monster in me because there are a ton of attachments for it, lenses, filters, a cool flash.. Ben's goona probably be sorry he got this for me.. but it's fun!!!

i also added a bit to my new found love.. see the pic below.. hopefully this is one step in the right direction so i at least have a fighting chance if i ever loose this one (i'm knocking on wood real fast!!!) Ok after seeing this pic i think i may have to explain what it is.. it's a name tag on my camera case.. it says "reward if found and returned" on it..
There's also one on my actual camera also, not just the bag..

ta ta

Pickin Blueberries

Well this morning we decided to go out and pick some blueberries.. the weather has cooled down a ton so it was such a great day to do this!!

the Kids had a blast, it didn't take long to completely fill our bucket.. i think we'll go a few more times the season ends Labor day so we have some time.. it wasn't the cheepest endevor but the blueberries are so good and it was only 1.80 per pound so it really wasn't too bad!

we had a great time!

the only down fall is that i lost my glasses.. i know your asking why wern't they on my face (something i'd ask the boys forsure!) well the sun was kind of glairing on my camera screen so i took them off so i could look through the viewfinder i slipped them over my shirt collar and they must have fallen off on our trek back to the booth to pay.. i've called them and left my number but i don't anticipate finding them.. oh, well i've been wanteing to get contacts anyway (although i really should have glasses also)..