Friday, November 28, 2008

Thanksgiving 2008

We had Thanksgiving this year with all the Lyon side of our Family. Rich and Natalie were nice enough to open their home to all of us, but Natalie was even nicer to make me giggle for weeks with her humdinger interpretation of "She Drives Me Crazy" by Fine Young Cannibals. While we were playing Cranium, Natalie did not remember what the song sounded like, so instead of humming the real tune, she randomly hummed her own melody and proceeded to break all the rules with hand motions of driving, pretending to be someone crazy, as well as trying to eat her own arm (you know...cannibals!). Poor Rich sat for two minutes completely perplexed and I just about wet myself with laughter. Too bad that Rich didn't guess the answer, because I think Natalie should have won that round based on the sheer fact that she outdid herself in entertaining all of us!
Here is a cute moment captured between Parker and Eliza. So Cute!

As a side note, Ashley made a cute turkey decoration at school and decided to hang it from our dinette chandalier. That poor feathered fella didn't stand a chance! Parker took one glance at that poor, unsuspecting paper creation and quickly decided to tear the paper turkey off by the neck and and proudly stick it's body on his head as a hat. If you can tell, the feathers are upside down and Parker is pleased as punch with himself! What a little TURKEY!



Saturday, November 1, 2008

Christmas Pictures

Every year I dread the inevitably painful process of taking family pictures. Between trying to organize all the clothes for everyone, trying to do everyone's hair, trying to clear everyone's schedule, and trying to make sure that the youngest ones are in the right frame of mind to even consider making a smile for the camera, it feels like a near impossible task. But this year, the stars were all in alignment. I had been hoping to take a winter Christmas picture for our Christmas cards this year and, as luck would have it, we got our first BIG snow storm on Sunday, the twelfth of October! The girls all had their hair done for church, our calendars were free to spend as a family, the snow was fresh, thick and fluffy all over the yard, and the skies were clear and blue! To make life even better, I happened to mention my great idea to a good friend at church and he spontaneously offered up his services to come over and take our pictures after church was over. Man, did I ever happen to bend the right guy's ear! Darrin came over with this amazing professional camera and took pictures like a pro! We simply pulled out a chair on to a corner of our back yard, smiled for the camera, and were in and out of this picture session within 30 minutes. I couldn't have planned this day any better if I had tried! The only hiccup was that we never planned to take individual shots afterward, so Ashley went in the house and the other children were lucky enough to get a few impromptu photo shoots that turned out fabulous. Sorry Ash! (she wasn't too happy with us when she realized what had happened)!
Here are just a few of the shots:


Sweet Megan!


I love this photo of Katelyn! Not only does it perfectly capture her personality, but it clearly demonstrates how much joy she manages to find in the little things in life (like snow).







This was the first snow fall for Parker to really play in and discover. Boy oh boy, did he ever have a fun time discovering what snow was all about. If he had his way, he would have single-handedly eaten the whole backyard supply of snow! As you can see, his little cheeks and hands are red, but he doesn't care! In fact, if you look closely, you can see a handful of snowflakes glazing his hair and one of them has melted into a big raindrop right on the corner of his eyebrow! He is ALL BOY!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Parker! He just melts my heart!

These next few shots of the kids really seem to bring out each of their true personalities. I love the fresh snowflakes that are falling all around them.





This final photo was the picture we used for our Christmas greeting this year. Who would have guessed that we were just getting started with the month of October?





















Here are a few cute photos of just the kids! I thought they looked even better than the family pictures!





































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