Bentley Elise Keys

This little girl finally made her debut on Friday November 13th at 1:42pm.  She was 8lbs 2oz and 21 inches long; our biggest baby yet!  One reason she was the biggest was because I was 6 days over due and none of her brothers even made it to a due date!  I was really hoping she would be born on Nov 12th making her the 3rd child in our family to be born on the 12th of a month, but the doctor was going to a football game and wouldn't induce me until the next morning!!  Really?? I like football, but I was really disappointed.  I did everything I could think of (besides castor oil) to make me go into labor on the 12th, but she wasn't going to budge!!  She stayed inside nice and cozy until we forced her to come out the next day!

We got to the hospital and they broke my water at 8:30am the next morning.  I wasn't having consistent enough contractions by 10-10:30 so they started pitocin.  Ugh! I HATE that drug!!  By 11:45 I had not made much progress, so I thought I was in for another long day on pit.  However, I progressed pretty quickly after that and was ready to go around 1:30.  3 pushes later she came into the world (thankfully, because I don't think I would have made it much longer)!

She screamed and screamed when the nurses were messing with her.  She hated them touching her and doing things to her, but she was born with a full head of hair and looks like a mix of all her brothers right now!  It was a relief to know that it was for sure that we finally had a girl in our family, and she is perfect!

This was the day I thought for sure the Dr would send me to the hospital.  However we had to wait one more day!

As new as they come!

Kenney HATED this big bow!  She will never have a bow that big again.  Daddy will make sure!

Not sure the glossy eyes are her best look, but we still thought she was pretty.

Cleaned up after her first bath with poofy hair and all.

Long and skinny, just like her brothers.

She latched on to her pacifier really fast.

Practically perfect in every way!

Our Thankful Tree

We started a new November tradition this year (mostly because I was planning on having a baby by now, but have a little more time than expected). We made a Thankful Tree! The boys helped me draw and cut out leaves, and then for Family Home Evening we wrote what we are thankful for on the leaves. The boys had fun with it and asked for more leaves! They didn't even run out of things to write down once they caught on to what thankful meant!  When we first asked Radley (who really didn't understand at all) what he was thankful for, he looked at us very seriously and said, "Nothing."  We were able to convince him of a few things!  Hopefully we will be able to remember what Thanksgiving is about and not just skip over to Christmas!

Here is a list of some the things we wrote on our leaves:

• Friends, cousins, food, markers, the couch, the iPad/TV, movies, pictures (Kyler)
• People being nice to me, playing with friends, animals, playing in the leaves (Damon)
• Brothers, toys (Radley) 
• Our family, Jesus Christ (Mom)
• Being able to see, touch, taste and hear; Heavenly Father's plan, our house, Mommy (Dad)

So easy to make!

They were proud of their work!

And because we have to have goofy faces too!!

Kyler's Boxcar

This last week at school, the kindergartners were doing a unit on transportation. The teachers gave us a few weeks to work on a project and make a boxcar for Kyler to parade in at the school and at the pep rally. I was very grateful that Daddy was around because they worked on this project together! Yay for Dads!! Kenney added a few extra accessories and we thought it was a pretty spiffy little car. However it was insane how much effort some of these parents put forth for these cars!! There were lights and music and all kinds of accessories! Were were blown away. Thank goodness Kenney did put some extra thought into his car.

Testing it out at home.  They added a few extra things after this, but we thought it looked pretty good!

I don't think Kyler knew we were coming to the parade at the school, so he was super excited when he saw us (Daddy was even able to come)!  There were a lot of bat mobiles, but Kyler's was the only Ironman.

One of the best smiles I've gotten in a while.

Kyler's turn on stage.

I think he had a lot of fun with this!  Next year Damon will enjoy this because he loves cars and was super excited about Kyler's.

This kid had a full on jet!!  It was huge!  This picture is not great because Radley was helping me take it, but it was crazy how big and detailed it was.

Walking through the pep rally.

That's a lot of little box cars!

This is Damon during the pep rallies.  It's hard to point out where he is, but he is the one kid sitting down the entire pep rally.  I think there is just too much going on and too many people he doesn't know.  His teacher tries and tires to get him involved, but he refuses! 

Halloween and Trick or Treating

Halloween did not disappoint this year! The boys both had Halloween parties in their classes at school, and Radley and I went to help. I was floored at how much stuff they got and how much food/treats were there! I'm glad I didn't do anything over the top!! Radley had fun being in class with the boys and getting treats too. He felt pretty big sitting next to Kyler! The boys went 'real' trick-or-treating this year. Radley was not excited at first, but he caught on really quick! He soon became the lookout and spotted every house with a light on or the door open. After about 20/30 mins he got tired of it and decided to yell directions to the boys from the car and eat candy! Damon was proud of himself because he wasn't too shy to say thank you! Kyler would have gone all night if we would have let him! Once we got home, they had just as much fun passing out candy. It was fun to see them get so excited to hand out candy.

The Incredible Hulk

Hulk Smash

A non-compliant Buzz Lightyear

He was really not into pictures.

Captain America was ready!

Strike a pose!

How cute is he!!

Daddy even dressed up for work! 

He made a really good Luigi.

Trunk-or-Treat & Pumpkin Carving

This week of Halloween activities has been crazy!!! Kyler and Damon decided a while ago to be The Hulk and Captain America.  We tried for a month to get Radley to be Thor or Ironman to go with the others, but he was determined to be Buzz Lightyear!  He would not budge!!  So he got what he wanted!  Oma got the costumes here just in time for the boys to be ready for the first party of the season at the local movie theater. They had a canned food drive and showed The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown for the kids. They were so excited to get to wear their costumes for the first time! We had our church Trunk-or-Treat, and they got to trick or treat for the first time this year. They boys don't need any more reasons to love Halloween!!! It is Kyler's favorite, and he has rubbed off on the other two!  They have all been wearing their costumes all week.  They have them on at all waking moments!
 
We've decided pumpkin carving is not for parents to enjoy! It's a lot of work! The boys are no help and are extremely impatient! Kyler wanted something spooky, Damon wanted a spooky dog, and Radley didn't really care about anything except having a pumpkin! We ended up with a scary face, a bat, and a Trick or Treat night scene on the other. Even though it was a pain, the boys love their pumpkins, and we can't wait until the boys can be helpful (without cutting themselves).

The Hero Crew

Watch out bad guys!  Don't worry Radley is trying to figure out how to make his wings work!

He will throw that shield the second he senses danger!

We should have told Oma to add some muscles to his legs because they look extra skinny with his big muscles.

Still a little unsure of this dressing up stuff in public!

This seems to be Radley's nervous position while he figures out what is going on around him. 

Damon walking around saving the world!

Cousins all dressed up.

Eating something of substance before tons of candy!

Mary Poppins, Bert and a penguin.

Damon dragging Radley through the costume parade.

Kyler hoping to get some candy during the parade.

Cary Shane and Diana's monster trunk.  We didn't go quite as elaborate at most others.  I didn't make much effort.  Maybe next year, maybe!

Radley trick or treating with Daddy.  The other two boys went on their own, and I handed out candy at our car.  After the first car he went up to every car once he realized they would give him candy, even the scary ones!

They were some happy campers after getting tons of candy!  And yes, that's as close to a Halloween costume as I got this year.  I do have a belly the size of a pumpkin!

Our newly returned redneck hillbilly Uncle Keyan.  He played the banjo for everyone as they walked around.

The Spooky Face

The cheesey smiles continue.  Radley was too busy throwing a fit to take a picture, but they loved their pumpkins.

Kyler's

Radley's

Damon's