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!!!!?

Corrales Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze 2009

Fall is a busy time of year, but our favorite time just the same. The weather is perfect and there are so many fun things to do. The harvest festival, the pumpkin patch and corn maze, the balloon fiesta, Halloween, the school carnival! This is our second outing this month with all five kids (the babies usually get left at home). So far so good!


Ronan and Claire pose with the pumpkins (a pretty good size comparison) while the others are off on the hay ride.

Lauren's favorite part was the little petting zoo set up at the end of the maze. There were three little goats that reminded me of three other little "kids"...hahaha! Was that cheesy or what?!

Take a look at the view from the pumpkin patch! I love our village!

Pumpkin King!Connor took his time choosing just the right pumpkin, but each one that didn't make the cut was thrown with all of his might. Sorry people who came after us....there were probably a lot of bruised pumpkins out there. Connor took so long in fact, that we left the patch and then heard "MAMA! WAIT!" Oops.

This stroller wasn't really made for the off-roading that the maze required, but we powered through. :)

The gang!

Balloons 2009

5 hats, 5 jackets, 4 diapers, 2 front packs, 3 snacks, 2 baby bottles, 3 water bottles, 2 pacifiers, 2bibs, 1 change of clothes for Con, 1 blanket (oops, we forgot the blanket), and 1 flask full of Bailey's Irish Cream, and we are off to the Balloon Glow! Thomas got us all excited to go to a glow this year. I am so happy we picked a night that it actually took place, and we had a so much fun. The kids ran from balloon to balloon collecting souvenir cards and hoping they wouldn't run up right as the flames turned on. When that happened they would run back to us with their hands over their ears (similar to Thomas' picture in the paper, if anyone caught that). Darth Vader was our favorite this year. Connor of course was enchanted by the giant sports ball balloons. Fiesta is such a great event....we love it every year...it never gets old!

Soccer Saturdays Fall 2009

This is Lauren's first year playing soccer (#6) and she is loving it. Her team consists of Lauren, Laurel, Leizel, two Sophies, Mia, Janelle and Georgia. They are SUPER funny to watch. I got to substitute coach a game along with Georgia's dad, and boy did these girls crack us up! They are like mini teenagers...talking in a little group, hugging and giggling, chatting up the ref. Thank goodness for Mia, who is like Mia Hamm reincarnated. Thomas heads off the field with his loot (snack) after congratulating his bud, Will Daly on his win (Thomas' team, lost to this other Corrales team). Thomas says, "Mom I wasn't trying very hard because I didn't want to beat my good friend!" That's very nice Thomas, but I can pretty much guarantee Will was not thinking the same thing. Ha!

Connor is the #1 fan of the Crew and the Crush. His jersey has #3 and every Saturday when we are getting ready for soccer he says "Where's my number three? Poor guy has TWO more years until he can play himself!!! I might have to fudge the birth certificate for next year.

These uniforms are known for being HUGE on the kids the first year...but yes, Laurens actually fits her pretty well. Especially now that we have washed it a couple of times and we roll the waist of the shorts once. Some of the other little cuties are seriously running around with the shorts down to their ankles, but not our little giants!!