Sunday, November 18, 2007

Football

Hunter Casillas #51
Well Hunter just finished up his football season. We had his Championship game yesterday. It was very exciting. They played at the High School, had the band playing, the announcer calling the plays...Hunter's team didn't loose a single game all season. They were really good.
The game yesterday came to a sad end, when the other team won. 12 to 6. Hunter's team just wasn't playing like they normally do.
Oh well we have many more years...now we are on to basketball...these boys.... their sports are never ending.






Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Remembering Mom~ November 15th 2004~

Maureen Milligan Hardie





This is such a old picture. That is Cooper when he was little. (My sister Holly behind us)



Well it's been three years since my mom passed away.
I always have a hard time every Nov. 15th.
Not a day goes by I don't think about her.
I miss her so much. I wish I could pick up the phone and hear her laugh. I wish she could know Sienna.
I know she watches over us though and I am thankful for that. I know she is in a better place.
I have vivid dreams about her a lot. I wake up and can still feel her hugging me. I am thankful for those dreams.

A few of mom's favorite things.....

Her Family
Music
Singing with her brothers
Benny and June
The perfume Calix
Fresh fruit and vegetables
Her cats
Her job as a nurse
Going on drives in the Caynon
Picking flowers with Rach
The Sun (like mother, like daughter)
Cooking for her kids (She was always such a healthy cook)
Bryan Adams





Yummy Pumpkin Spread



Okay I made this pumpkin spread this weekend and put it on Pumpkin Bread. It was really good. I have to credit Rachel's friend Lindsey for the recipe though. I thought I would post it for any of you that may want to try it. So here it is.

1- 16 oz. Tub of Cool Whip (Thawed)
1 package vanilla instant pudding
1 can of pumpkin (15 oz)
1/2 to 1 Teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

Mix everything but the cool whip. Fold in Cool Whip. Chill. Serve on Pumpkin bread, pancakes, crepe's...



My kids loved it. It almost tastes like Pumpkin Pie. 
Mmmmm......
Enjoy!

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Pumpkin Carving








We usually seem to wait until Halloween night to carve pumpkins just due to crazy schedules.
This year I made a point to do it the night before.
We made ginger cookies with Halloween cookie cutters and the kids decorated them with frosting and red hots. I have to say they were yummy.
Then we carved pumpkins. The boys got all the seeds out and cleaned so we could make roasted pumpkin seeds. We love them.
For some reason I couldn't get a good after picture of them in the dark.

Sienna loved to play in the mess she was covered by the end
It's so nice now that the kids can get all the guts

Halloween.....











What to choose?





Halloween....the sugar rush.
My neighborhood goes crazy for Halloween.
The amount of candy my kids have....Cooper got over 300 peices in 1 hour.
I remember getting one little candy per house. Now they get handfuls and full size bars.

It is a fun holiday though. The kids have so much fun and it makes me remember when I was little
and all the fun I had with my brother. We would sit and wait looking out the window for it to get dark and then
bolt out of the house with our pillow cases..by the way my kids are on to the whole pillowcase thing.

Their buckets just don't hold enough. They figured out that pillow cases hold a heck of a lot more and I didn't even tell them about it.

Grandpa Ed and Sienna
Cooper, Jackson, Henry and Nicolas (cousins)... getting ready to go out trick or treating
Trick or Treating for the first time
Rach and Sienna
Grandma Jill and Sienna going to the next house
Conwey and Sienna
Cooper (the werewolf ) and Nicolas
Sienna and Grandma Jill


They had their class parties...I went in to help out. Sienna came too. She was in heaven in Cooper's class.
I have mixed emotions on the class parties. They are suppose to dress up but they always want to wear masks for Trick or Treating..so that means we have to think of something else for school but they can't wear make-up. So Tuesday night I said to the boys lets go look in the Halloween tub and see what you guys can be for school tomorrow. Now Cooper was a Vampire for about 4 years in a row because he wanted to be. So I was sure I was safe on that costume. I picked up some Vampire teeth for Jackson.
Well of course we can't find the dang costume anywhere. We have the shirt and that's it.
Poor Jackson..he found some black baseball pants he wore for the pants and we couldn't find
the cape anywhere so he went without it. But he had his teeth!!!

At least it was only for an hour right...
Coop brought all his stuff and then decided he didn't want to put it on.(Along with a couple of his friends..I guess they are too cool or something...)

Sienna playing Bingo in Cooper's class
She plopped herself right down in the middle!
Coop and Sienna


Sienna had so much fun going from house to house. I think she liked looking at all the decorations more than the actual candy.
My sister Rachel and her husband Jimmy came to our house, Conwey's parents, and Amy brought the cousins Nicolas and Henry.
It was a fun and crazy night.

My poor child Hunter though, he went trick or treating with some friends...when they walked in they looked very upset and said we just got mugged....I thought they were kidding until I went and talked to them and could tell they were really upset.
Apparently some dumb High School kids had tried to take their candy. They tackeled Hunter's friend Matt. I was proud that they didn't get a hold of their candy though. What do these big kids think....it is frustrating that they feel they have the right to do that.
I am betting that next year they will stay on our porch and scare they trick or treaters instead of going themselves.
It's too bad.

But all and all it was a lot of fun. I can't believe it's over and we are into November. I don't want to even begin to think about
Christmas...Ugggggg.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Sienna


My sister likes to dress my kids up...
she put her clothes on Sienna...she looked like ET
Asleep in her high chair

She loves to take a tub....

Kisses........
All I could do was grab the camera so I didn't get mad.....


Sienna makes me laugh everyday. I am so grateful for her. She brings so much to our family.
My sister Rachel says she is my BFF (Sienna) she really is.
I love this age and this time I get to have with her. I don't want her to grow up!
The other day I went in her room and she had decided to line all her animals/dolls up...I thought it was funny.....she is just a really fun little personality.
She loves her dad and her brothers. She has a special bond with Cooper. He is very very sweet and patient with her. Sometimes she will only go to him.
She also loves her Aunt Rachel. She cries every time Rachel has to leave....I mean she really cries. It is sad. Rachel has a special relationship with all of my kids. I am also grateful for her.

Hunter is a TEENAGER!! September 12th, 2007

Hunter's 13th Birthday Party


Hunter turned 13! Do I really have a child this old? He is now getting taller than me.
(I know....that isn't hard to do...)
So Hunter wants to have a sleep over. Did I forget the lack of sleep I got with Cooper's?
I guess I think well they are older....I don't care if they stay up all night.
So I think this is the last sleep over we will have for a while. (I know I said that with Cooper but this time I really mean it)
You know it wouldn't be so bad if they just stayed in the basement and watched movies or played games but no they were running all around the house all night long.
They woke up Sienna, they were going out on the trampoline at 4:00 AM...I am sure my neighbors loved that one. Two of them kept running around going doorbell ditching....oh my!
For days after the sleep over I couldn't find my Costco size peanut butter....none of the boys could find it.
I didn't think to look in the down stairs shower for it!!!! Don't even ask!

The Beach....

The Outer Banks...North Carolina
Jackson
Sienna and Conwey



Sienna took her nap everyday at the beach...
Can you tell she has three brothers.....

She can't get to the water fast enough!
Dancing to her favorite song....beautiful girls.....
Football on the beach......
Cooper getting instructions on the next play..
Twins aren't they........
Jackson

Sienna....


Hunter.....

Coop and Sienna....

Okay these are going in a backwards order but oh well....
In August we went to the beach. My favorite place on earth.
It was our first trip to the beach with just our family. Our first vacation anywhere with out one of my sisters...we usually go to the beach with Conwey's family or our friends.
It was a good bonding time for our family this year.....hopefully the boys will have good memories of the fun we had as a family and not think...man it was a lot more fun when all our cousins are here with us.
I think it is good to have both kinds of vacations!
We almost didn't go this summer and I am so glad we did. It was so fun to watch Sienna and see her eyes light up when she would see the ocean. She spent countless hours looking for seashells. She couldn't run into the ocean fast enough everyday.
The boys were all really cute with her too. They would make her little sand pools everyday.
It was a great trip.