Pokey's Neverending 3rd Birthday!!

We are going to count the birthdays down! Birthday #3 here at our house with after dinner cake and ice cream, just the seven of us on his actual birthday, November 28. Connor got a new bike helmet, some balls, a new Geo Trax train car, and our friends the Kaplans sent a great little Alligator game!Connor was very nice to let Thomas and Lauren help him with his presents...as if he had a choice. If this was a video you would hear me in the background yelling "IT IS CONNOR'S BIRTHDAY YOU GUYS!!! LET HIM DO IT!!" Oh well, Poke didn't seem to mind.

Birthday #2 during Thanksgiving at the McCarthy's. We did a pumpkin pie slice with candles for this one and Connor got a brand new reved up dump truck, complete with sparks that he couldn't get enough of. I loaded the truck in to the car when we were leaving and half way home Connor realized that it wasn't in his possession and thought we'd left it behind. "MOM!! My truck!"

Thanks for the truck Grandpa Denis and Grandma Sallie!

Birthday #1 at Thanksgiving at the Grady's. We had a cookie monster cake that I knew no one but the kids would eat because of the massive amount of blue frosting, but Connor loved it! Thanks for the football, and the baseball toy Grandma and Grandpa and Jeff and Ashly!

How old are you??? I am "free" years old!

Wow! It only took all night for this poor quality video to load! Happy birthday Connor, I hope you had a good one. We love you soooo much. Everyone says how sweet you are and it's the truth. Thank you for all the joy you bring to us every day!!! xoxo

Thanksgiving #2

McCarthy Thanksgiving at Grandpa Denis' and Grandma Sallie's house was lots of fun. The second round of turkey and sweet potatoes was just as delicious as the first! Claire and Aunt Anne give the camera a smile!

Thomas had the honor of helping out in the kitchen this year. Grandma Sallie let him do the gravy and mash some sweet potatoes. He took the job very seriously!

Connor bounced from person to person interrupting the adult chit chat to announce his birthday several times.

Grammy and Gramps made it back from their month long trip to South America just it time to join in the festivities, Tyler and Ben also made it in to town from the pacific NW!

From left to right...Ronan, Anne, Tyler, Lauren, Grammy, Claire, and Thomas!

So much to be thankful for...such a large and caring extended family being at the top of the list! I am also thankful for washing machines....the kids' clothes were the designated Thanksgiving outfits and they had to be run throught the wash after being assaulted with blue frosting from Connor's first of three birthday celebrations the night before!

Thanksgiving #1

Coffee Filter Turkeys! Thomas brought this idea home from school and the kids went to town! They decided to make one for each person at the dinner Wednesday night. Each turkey had a unique "feather" design and a special set of "accessories" (as T was calling them). Not pictured here, but my personal favorite, was Uncle Jeff's with camoflage feathers and a giant rifle because he likes to hunt. Aslo among the favorites were Great grandma Guylene's with a rhinestone necklace and earings because she loves and wears lots of beautiful jewelry and Aunt Tammy's with a special lipsticked beak because Lauren sees her as the queen of glamour and beauty! All of the baby turkeys had little baby themed stickers on them. I was so proud of them for puting so much thought into each one. Newcomer, Jesse (Lexi's boyfriend) even got one with a basketball drawn on it at the last minute!! Way to go TLC! I need a lesson on how to put pictures in the right order on the blog...surely it can't be hard. Anyway, here's L and C starting to enjoy their meal in hopes of getting to eat the chocolate Turkey that was on everyones plate.

Happy Thanksgiving morning everyone! Actually this was Wednesday morning, but we decided to celebrate over two days this year. We headed over to for the Grady Thanksgiving where the kids met their new cousin Grace Olivia (7weeks) for the first time. My brother made it a point to announce that she had slept 10hours the night before....WHAT??!!! None of my kids slept 10hours the night before! :(

Wow...so lady like! There was NOTHING of this thing when she was finished with it. Claire and her Uncle Jeff.

The "young ones" Lexi and her boyfriend Jesse and Samantha start to dig in.

Enjoying the mashed potatoes!

Aunts Ashly and Tammy and great-Grandma Joy with Ronan and Grace.

Grandpa gives Claire a burp.

Claire and Ronan enjoyed their new high-chairs which apparently came in a thousand pieces and took forever to assemble...thanks Sam and Lex and Grandma Laura!

Shhh...don't tell Thomas

We took the little ones to the Bio Park on Friday! We hadn't gone on an outing like this in so long. It was great to get out of the house and have some fun. The aquarium is always a good place to go because the kids love it, it is a small contained place and it is free! We spent some time in the botanic gardens watching the model trains and playing in the leaves. The River of Lights is being set up all around the Bio Park...we are excited to go. I think (I hope) that the twins enjoyed their change of scenery. They rarely get out of the house except to visit relatives, and I think they really liked watching the fish and getting some fresh air. :)

Brothers and Sisters

Girls and boys, boys and girls....These are just some random pictures. I love the one of Lauren and Ronan. I have been looking at old pictures, and am thinking that Ronan really looks like Lauren after all. If he only had dimples! Isn't Claire's spiky hair funny? I had greased her up with aquaphor after her bath to try to cure the "crusties" and we had fun giving her this crazy do. Can't believe babies are quickly approaching the SIX month mark and we are about to celebrate Connor's 3RD birthday! More interesting posts to come....

Happy Halloween 2009!

Happy Halloween from the McCarthys! We had Mario and Luigi this year, inspired by the Wii game Mario Cart Racing. We had a lovely Mermaid...well at least she started out as a Mermaid. Lauren was a Mermaid for our Pumpkin Patch Express ride in Durango and at the CES Fall Carnival. She was a cheerleader at her class party, and a "mirage girl" for trick or treating. I don't know what a mirage girl is, but the dress she dug up at my mom's was pretty cool! Babies just wore their festive jammies this year. Brian got into the spirit (I unfortunately didn't share the enthusiasm this year...sorry Bri) and was a convict. We had to spend a while convincing Lauren that he didn't really get arrested and the the handcuffs were not the real deal. Below are our friends Mackenzie and Misty dressed as a cat and Dwight from "the Office"...soo funny! :) Also in the pictures, Thomas' ever faithful trick or treating buddy, Clayton and his mom Lisa.

We didn't do our usual larger gathering this year...many people had plans and SEVERAL of you have moved away either temporarily or permanently. We miss you all and hope that you had a great Halloween night! Now the big question is...WHAT am I going to do with all this candy!!!!?