4 kids or 5?

Sometimes I think I have 5 children. Every time it rains, Tyler rolls up his pants and runs outside to play in the drain. I guess there is 1 benefit to living on the corner. He grabs the broom and pushes all the leaves, water etc down the big drain and has way too much fun. More fun then a grown man should be having in the rain ... at least outside where people can see you.

Here's how the conversation went as I was taking pictures ...

"TYLER!"

"Huh?" He looks annoyed that I'm interrupting his play time.
"ARE YOU HAVING FUN?"
His face says it all.

Fowler Spa

Reagan had a "spa day" and was cracking me up. She asked for cucumbers for her eyes. Where does she learn this stuff? She was laying down, relaxing, while de-puffing her eyes. Hilarious.

A shaggy haired boy nuck in on the picture. Hair cut post to follow.

5 years OLD

This little lady turned 5 a few weeks ago!

Reagan had her 1st birthday party and had 3 little friends over. It was a great party and she had a lot of fun. It was so cute to see how excited they all were.

Reagan is so spunky and brings so much joy to our lives. She is always saying the funniest, off the wall things. We love her spicy attitude!

She is going to "Husky School" preschool this year and loves it. I love watching her learn and am constantly amazed at how fast she picks up on everything.

We love you Reagan Isabella!!

Visiting Daddy at school the day of her birthday.

Christmas Decor

Christmas is my favorite time of year, especially the decorations.

Having a baby was all the effort I had this year. Thank goodness I have a wonderful husband who loves his kids. He loves his wife too, he sent me to Idaho with the baby, on the shuttle for a few days of much needed vacation and pampering from her mom.

While I was gone he put up our tree, found the star and spent hours stringing cheerios and noodles. What a patient man. I was so touched that he spent that much time doing that with the kids. They had been asking for weeks when we could get a tree. Thanks Tyler.

Melts my heart. So cute.
Our 2ND and final decoration of the year ... our kids nativity.

Is something missing? We lost the baby Jesus part last year and still haven't found it. I threw the box away and don't know the brand or I would try to buy/find a new part. But don't worry, as Tyler says "he's been resurrected, it's okay."

Christmas

3 Cute kids on Christmas Morning!

Reagan, sleepy but so excited.
Whoa, this kid loves his light bright!
Kennedy was the official present distributor so I didn't get a picture of her, she was running all over the place!

This is the face I get when I ask for his "I'm so excited" face. Awesome.

My 4 kids all dressed up for church. LOVE making them match.

A special thanks to Tyler's coworker Sunny who SAVED Christmas.

She gave us a baby gift and it was the outfit McKinley is wearing.

I was freaking out when I opened the gift, I had been looking everywhere to find the matching outfit to go with the girls dresses and Lincoln's sweater vest. I checked 3 stores, called the store in Idaho near my parents and even lost 2 bids on EBay trying to get this outfit. Sunny was our CHRISTMAS MIRACLE !!

Christmas Jammies

Christmas Jammies are a tradition on Christmas Eve.

They all looked so cute!

I guess McKinley wasn't quite ready to sit up on her own.

Lincoln did not want to sit next to the baby, he made sure he sat as far away as possible.

He has since decided she's okay and even kinda likes her ... thank goodness.

We moved the baby onto Reagan's lap to avoid a neck cramp.
Cute baby. I made her, I'm awesome.

Christmas Eve Eve

On Christmas Eve Eve we had a party at Tyler's sisters house. Since McKinley grows so fast, I put one of her Christmas dresses on her that night and snapped a few pictures. There aren't even enough Sundays for her to wear all of her dresses before she grows out of them. Especially during RSV season. So this was the perfect time! This outfit was a gift to Reagan from our friends 5 years ago. Still super cute 5 years later.

LOVE this girl

1st bath

I have a ton of catch up to do on this blog. Having 4 kids takes a lot of work!!

This was McKinley's first bath. She loves the bathing part, but isn't very happy when she has to get out of the warm water and get dressed. If the getting baby ready after the bath as quickly as possible part were an olympic sport, this mom would have a gold medal!

It's crazy how much she looks like Reagan. I have a picture of Reagan's 1st bath in this same baby tub, and they look so similar.

Baby Girl Fowler

McKinley Grace Fowler

Born 11/25/11 at 7:20 a.m.

9 pounds 3 ounces

20.5 inches

Most adorable little girl

What a blessing to be a mom. I am loving our new addition, and so are her siblings. She brings so much love into our home already. We love her and are excited for the new adventures that await us. I can't believe we have 4 little ones.

We are all adjusting and trying to get into a new routine. The girls love on that baby all day long, and Lincoln doesn't seem to even notice her. Sometimes he'll bang his fists on the table when she is sleeping on the table in her bouncer, to see if she opens her eyes ... but that's about all the attention he can afford.

I'll post the labor/delivery story another time. Here are a few pictures from the day we brought her home. Would you believe I forgot my camera at the hospital? Well believe it, because that is how I ALWAYS seem to roll. My parents got tons though, so I will post those soon as well.

Kennedy and McKinley - look at her grin. Love it.

Reagan and McKinley - she is laughing because the baby is biting her finger while she holds in her binkey.

Baby Girl

Her cute "take me home from the hospital" outfit.

Tyler says there is no such thing, but I assured him there indeed was. As well as Christmas and Easter outfits etc.

Baby Update

I am 38 1/2 weeks pregnant and very ready to have this baby.

The kids are getting so excited for me to "get the baby out." Me too, me too.

Here is a run down of recent events, and don't be surprised if they change before I even get this posted to my blog.

1 - I've been planning on getting induced the 17Th for weeks and weeks.

2 - Stinker decides breech is the best position

3 - Take a trip to the hospital to have her turned. WORST day of my life, and not successful.

4 - C-section scheduled for the 19Th

5 - Next Dr. visit, she turns on her own. Again, stinker! I had just accepted that maybe a 30 minute C-section was going to be okay. In and out, not being induced and laboring for 24 hours!

6 - Thinking the 17TH is back on, disappointed to find ZERO dilation, only 50% effaced, tons of fluid left ... induction won't be fun at this point. So we play the waiting game.

I've always know just when I was going in and when the baby would arrive, and this time has been so far from that. We're excited for her to make her debut, hoping it's sooner rather then later. Maybe I should was the car seat ... maybe it's okay if she waits until next week ;)

Either I'm Pregnant ...

... Or I was just craving some pumpkin. In my defense, Walmart has a killer holiday baking display. My friends, I think I have a problem.

My next segment will include all of my recent peppermint baking purchases. Stay tuned.

Halloween Part 2

We carved pumpkins the usual way ... the day before Halloween. We're cool like that.

Winco always has the cheapest/biggest pumpkins. Tyler did not disappoint this year, as usual.

We had the kids draw a face on and then attempted to cut it out. Attempted being the key word.

Tyler decided Lincolns was too hard, and just left his marker face on. After a tiny guilt trip from me, he carved a face the next day. I say "a" face, not "the" face because Tyler had to make it up as he went along. Lincoln's drawn face was quite the intricate little drawing!

Carving pumpkins - and loving that he gets to get so dirty.

Reagan was surprisingly okay getting up to her elbows in slime.

Kennedy even jumped in. Usually they are such girls and won't get dirty.

All together

The finished product! Before the guilt had set in.

Kennedy Turns 7

My sweet Kennedy turned 7 on October 29TH.

Again, how the time flies. I feel like I say that every single day.

Seven sounds so old, and I think it really is. She has grown up so much the past couple months and I couldn't be more proud of her. She has taken right off in 1st grade and is loving every minute. Maybe not the waking up early part, but every other minute.

She is a math whiz and loves to learn. She is working really hard to move to the next reading level, and will be there in no time. She has made (kept really) some really great friends and is so social. Her teacher couldn't praise her behavior more. She can be chatty, but always does her work on time and does it well. We love this girl so much and are so blessed to have her in our family. She is a good example to her younger siblings and will be such a big help when our new little one arrives.

To celebrate we had a costume party! She invited all her little friends and it was a hit!

Pinata to start .. look at the determination!

The gang. Ellie the mermaid, Abbie as Dorothy, Ava the princess, Kennedy the witch, Lily the bee, Tia the witch, Ella the fairy, Lincoln the pirate and Reagan as super girl.

We colored scary pictures and had them pose with their picture and a super scary face.

Lincoln - SO SCARY

Kennedy - SO SCARY

Reagan - SO not participating unless the lime - light is on her.

Halloween Part 1

Halloween this year was busier then ever!

Some of the festivities included: Kennedy's costume birthday party, Reagan's trick or treat party at preschool, Kennedy's Halloween parade at school, neighborhood party with friends, pumpkin carving, and trick-or-treating our neighborhood. Somewhere in there we made dessert for our ward party that we couldn't even attend with so much going on!

Reagan / flapper girl ready for preschool.

Reagan / weird boy

Kennedy the witch, Reagan the super girl and Lincoln the pirate

Kennedy was a witch for her school parade and came home to her costume party with Reagan and Lincoln all dressed up and ready to go.

A smile, sort of. Lincoln would NOT leave his leg on the ground, or his tongue in his mouth.

Again, weird boy.

SUCCESS - after 50 or so shots.

Boise Trip

uch to Tyler's dismay, the Boise/Air Force tickets sold out super fast. We found tickets online, but they cost way too much.

We picked this game to go to months ago, and were sad we couldn't go.

Can you believe that just before the game, a ton of general admission tickets were released. I've never seen Tyler run around the house so fast trying to figure out how to order them.

We go tickets and my parents were kind enough to watch the babies for our weekend away.

We have 1 picture of us at the actual game. It's on my phone and half my face is cut off.

We went back the next day and took a few pictures so we could remember how cool we are.

It was so fun and a much needed little vacation.

My only regret? That I didn't post this sooner ... maybe a few days before Boise lost a home match against a team who has lost twice already.. that they beat in the Fiesta Bowl .. all because their kicker is not so good?! Yea, before then would have been nice. Oops.

He told me to pose ... so I did. I'm so pregnant, and beautiful .. wouldn't you agree?

A shot in the mirrored window, it's the only way to get one of us together.

I like the port-a-potty background myself.

We all know who he really serves.

Double Rainbow at some place Tyler had us stop on the way home.

It may have been Shoshone Falls, can't remember.

Preschool

This little 4 year old is getting SO big.

Reagan started preschool last month. She goes to "husky school" just like Kennedy did.

I can't believe she is old enough for preschool. Again, where has the time gone?

This time next year?

Kennedy - 2ND grade

Reagan - Kindergarten

Lincoln - Preschool

McKinley - Almost 1 years old

Lacey- In the corner talking to herself, while rocking back and forth

Kidding, but seriously, life is crazy hectic .. and only getting more so.

But, I digress ...

Reagan loves school and I've heard nothing but rave reviews on her behavior.

And, I must say, she is the cutest preschooler ever.

Lincoln and I? It's been nice to have the little guy to myself a couple hours a week. And Target .. how we've missed you! We walk up and down every aisle the little boy wants to and try to burn 2 hours, twice a week. Who knows, maybe we'll induce labor a little early. At the least, we're keeping them in the icee business.

SO EXCITED!

No head tilt ... progress!

Miss Shylee, her teacher.

Can You Feel the Excitement in the Air

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am that Boise State Football is coming this Saturday. At 6 P.M. Mountain Standard Time the Broncos of Boise State will be facing the Bulldogs of Georgia. Boise State is ranked #5 and Georgia is ranked #19. This is a rematch of a 2005 game in which Boise was blown out 48 to 13. For the last 3 years the Broncos have opened up with a big game and won. Three years ago they beat Oregon in Oregon and the following year (with the help of the punch heard round the world) beat Oregon again in Boise. Last year they played the Hokies of Virginia Tech in Virginia and won. My wife may not share my excitement, but she does share one thing with me, and that's all my hard-earned money, of which she shares the hell out of. Here is to an undefeated season and the first non-BCS school to make it into the National Championship.

Also, once again Boise State was chosen to open the season with brand new Nike Pro Combat uniforms, this years uniforms are similar to last years but white and a little more awesome. Please enjoy this preview of said uniforms.
- Tyler

1st Grade

How did this happen?

When did Kennedy get so old?

It broke my heart to drop my little girl off at FIRST GRADE today.

What a transition from Kindergarten.

All day school, lunch, 2 recesses, no buses this year etc. etc. etc.

She has grown up so fast, and is so ready to go back to school.

She loved Kindergarten and excelled in everything, she is very eager to learn.

I'm glad she will be back into a routine and won't be so bored.

Now if I can get us there on time, we're golden.

She's so big ... and adorable

Her crazy pose. Hilarious