New Camera

Ok... I know I have been talking about it for months and months, but I finally did it.  I bought a new camera!  Yea!

I knew I was going to get a Nikon, I was just having a hard time picking out the right model for me.  I finally landed on one after some serious consideration of the D300s and the D90.  Then came time to actually pull the trigger, and as much as I love to shop and buy things, if it is over a couple hundred dollars I will deliberate for months on if I really need it.  (Ask my MIL about shopping with me for bedding...)  Then the 'what lens to buy first?' conversation started.  I knew I only wanted to buy the body of the camera and not get the kit lens that comes with it... I wanted a little bit nicer lens instead, and some of you can relate to this, but glass is expensive!  So once I figured out exactly what I wanted then came time to pull the trigger on the purchase.  Just when we decided that we would go buy it, our house was hit with lightening and our family room TV got fried.  So we bought a new TV instead of a camera, which I was a little disappointed about but decided it was the better purchase for right now.  Then later that day my brother was in St. Thomas in a camera shop and saw the camera and lens for quite a discount and called me and asked if I wanted to get it...  so I sucked it up and pulled the trigger!

My new baby is the Nikon D90 with a 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II lens, and I am super pumped about it.  I am sure it will be my new accessory for fall.. and winter... and spring... and you get the picture.

I charged up the battery last night, and here are some pictures from this morning.

Eating breakfast in our bat jammies (the bats glow in the dark!)...

Iris...

Iris and Hutson sharing a morning snack...

Hutson hamming it up for the camera...

Pumpkin Patch

I took the little men to the Pumpkin Patch today.  It was a lot of fun.  They both got so excited to go on a hay ride, feed animals and pick out pumpkins to bring home.

I've decided that the Cinderella Pumpkins are my favorite kind...

Enjoying the hay ride...  Hut was super excited that the tractor was a John Deere, I don't think he would have gotten on if it had been something else...

How can you not love that face?

They each got to pick out their own pumpkins... I am so happy that they picked small ones, as I had to carry them...

Happy Monday!

Super duper excited...

...to pick up my new camera tomorrow!

But until then... here are a few pictures from today at Evee's Halloween party.

Clarification

In my previous post I mentioned that 'Jer left us', yeah, that was in reference to him leaving to go on a business trip, not leaving us.

Just wanted to clear that up as there were a few questions about that remark.

This evening went a little bit easier with the kiddos... well so far.  It's still early.

Hanging in there...

Four kids is hard.  Really hard.  Lily and Hutson are like having twins, even though Hut is actually 10 weeks older than Lily.  If one wants milk, they other needs milk (even though Hut doesn't like it), if one has a blue cup, the other has to have the same cup.  Both Lily and Hut are potty training, so that is a whole different can of worms, I feel myself saying every 20 minutes, "its potty time!"  Wheeler is obsessed with putting things in the toilet while someone else is on the toilet.  You can get the picture.

After they go to bed I lay out everything for the next morning.  Four outfits, four shoes, four socks, school bags, 2 sets of bottles, lunches, school blankets, diapers.  I get everything ready for breakfasts, so that everything SHOULD be easy for the morning.  Yeah, it still takes us about 90 minutes to get fed, changed, dressed and out the door.

Every night so far, at least 2 kids have gotten up, last night all four decided to wake up at different times, some of them twice.  I downed two cups of coffee this morning before it was even light outside.... not okay.  Hoping tonight goes a little smoother.  Oh, and for those of you keeping track... Baby J is the best sleeper out of the four of them, and she is the youngest!

Jer left us yesterday, so Papa came over to help me out.  He brought pumpkins for the kids to clean out and carve.  Don't worry, Papa did most of the carving.  But Hut and Lily got to decide what kind of faces... Lily's doesn't have a mouth.

Tonight I am flying solo with the kids.  Wish me luck.

Oh yeah, and no pictures.  I don't have time to hold the camera and keep track of all of them at the same time. 

long time no talk

We have been busy over here in the Clayton casa....
A few things that have happened in the last month or so...

1.  We hit a milestone with potty training, and I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!  Yea!  Although, I am sure by the time we are completely finished training Hut, I will have to start with Wheeler.

2.  I was able to get away for a few days all by myself... yeah, you heard right, no kids, no husband, just me.  I took the time to take a weekend trip to LA to visit my bestie, Ash, and we had a great time.  While I did have a great time, I did miss my little men A LOT.

3.  We found out about 5 weeks ago that Waylon has a tumor in his mouth.  The tumor covers about 3/4 the bridge of his mouth.  Well it did.  We had to let go of him today.  We tried to make him as comfortable as possible for the last few weeks, but he took a turn for the worse over the weekend and we didn't want him to suffer any longer.

 this was taken this morning...

4.  A huge storm rolled through our area a week ago and fried our tv, cable box and our modem.  We were able to get the internet back up and running, but of course are waiting forever to have someone come look at our tv.  What this means is that I have been pretty productive at night, cleaning out closets, finally unpacking the last three boxes in the office that have been sitting in the corner since we moved in over two years ago.

5.  Today we had house guests arrive, they will be staying all week.  Lily and Baby J are super excited to stay with Aunt Teddi for the week, I mean they didn't say that, but I just know it.  Jeff is taking Lee on a cruise for their 5th wedding anny this week, and I said I would help out with the ladies.  I might have been out of my mind when I agreed.  Four kids, 2 1/2 to 5 months old, for a week, yikes.  I'll let you know how it went next week, after I hit a much needed happy hour.

 Hutson holding Baby J's hand in the car...

6.  I cut 6-7 inches off of my hair, it feels so good. 

7.  It is finally starting to cool down and we have been enjoying the cooler evenings with outside activities...

Hutson makes us buy huge bags of carrots from Costco so that we can feed the neighbors horses...

 Wheeler really enjoys the swings at the park in the evenings...

 I know some of you have already seen this video... but its so cute.  We are getting ready for Halloween around here, and I just had to try on Wheelers costume.   We have been teaching him to say 'ROAR'.