Hunter was Captain America
Mylie was her favorite fairy, Tinker Bell.
Kora was Rupunzel....after her haircut, thus the brown hair :)
Meet the newest addition to our family. After long multiple discussions we finally decided to get another dog. Here was the criteria the new dog had to fit into: small dog, a dog that doesn't shed too much, good with kids, preferably potty trained. This dog is 3 of the 4 but the shelter that we got him at taught us about crate training which helps speed up the potty training process. So far it seems to be working well.
We named him Auto after "Autobot" in Transformers. For those of you who don't know, the Autobots are the good guys. It was Kelly that came up with the name but Hunter who led us on the path in choosing his name. Hunter originally liked the name "Prime" as in "Optimus Prime" but Prime just didn't seem to fit. Auto is half Toy Poodle, half Terrier. The poodle in him means less hair to be shed. I love that. One of the biggest things I dreaded about getting another dog was having all the dog hair all over the house. Auto is a very good dog that loves to cuddle. He is very content sitting on your lap. Thankfully, he is very mellow but also loves to play with the kids. Mylie loves to lay down and let him lick her face. She tells him not to do it but she's the one that purposefully lays down and laughs the entire time. Hunter woke up early this morning so he could play with him outside. Kora loves being the boss and protecting Luke from the dog (who is terrified of the dog but for some reason calls him but freaks out when he actually comes to him).
Auto seems like a very good fit for our family so far. He's a sweetheart and we hope he stays that way. Lots of chew toys and a good brushing every night should help tremendously. It's nice to have a dog that can actually chew on toys rather than devour a toy in 5 minutes like our Carson. We loved him but he was more than we can handle. It's good for the kids to have a dog again. Auto is a little more fragile than our moose, Carson but they'll learn. They have been great with him so far. He is very smart and learns very quickly.
We took several trips to the beach this summer. Unfortunately, I rarely remembered to bring my camera. Here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying the sand and water. Mylie still asks me almost every day if we can go to the beach today. Unfortunately, Hunter and Kora are both in school which means our beach trips for the year are over until next summer. I love the year round school system....but I hate that we miss an entire month of summer. 
For the first time EVER Kelly told me that we needed to go camping. I immediately jumped at the opportunity and asked him when he wanted to go. The kids would be starting school August 1st so I wanted to do it before school started. So, this is our last hoo-rah before school started. We went up to our favorite spot up in Big Bear. Kelly took Friday off so after we were packed we headed up. It was a good thing we left early because as soon as we got our spot and started unloading things the campground was filling up fast.
This is the picture before we left. We pulled out the back seat and moved Hunter and Kora to the middle row with Mylie. As you can see, the van was packed full to the brim. We had 4 tri-folds with us that took up a ton of the space but the comfort they gave us while we were sleeping was worth the space it took up.
I am so sad that this picture came out blurry. It was the only one where all 3 kids are looking at the camera and smiling. I love it! The kids are cooking their hot dogs for dinner. The kids had such a great time. Hunter was so sad to leave. We had so much fun we are greatly anticipating our trip next year.
I have to include this last picture. Last year, I learned the hard way to not pack nice clothes for camping. For some reason, my kids love to roll around and play in the dirt. This year I packed grubby, play clothes that I didn't mind getting ruined by dirt. Which made it so much easier to let the kids get dirty. 
Well, Kelly and Hunter are no longer "just" out numbered. They will now be "tremendously" out numbered with now 4 girls (including myself) to 2 boys (including Kelly). We got the news today that we are having yet another girl. We sort of predicted this. Why would things ever be easy for us? We like things difficult and we'll take the challenge head on. This newest baby...for those of you who didn't know I was pregnant...Oh wait, that should be all of you since I'm not that big and hid it pretty well and didn't really tell anyone. I am 5 and half months along and this baby is due December 24th, yes, a Christmas Eve Baby. As you know, babies never come on their due date and she'll come when she's good and ready. We figure it will be Christmas Day, just to make things fun. We're excited! We have already picked a name, so far it's just a first name, Skylar. We haven't told Hunter and Kora yet since they were at school during my appointment but we'll tell them tonight. Hunter was hoping for a brother...well, we were hoping for one for him too but we're excited for our Skylar to make her entrance....now to get things prepared for her arrival. Hummm, now to make a decision to cram 3 beds into the girls room or add a girly crib into Hunter's room? Poor Hunter.
We ended up coming home from our Vegas trip Sunday afternoon. Hunter's Birthday was on Monday so we had a nice quiet birthday for him at home. The picture above is Hunter with is first of 3 birthday cakes. I didn't have enough candles so we had to improvise and I got 3 normal candles so he could blow out 7. 
All of the kids got to help Kelly light some of the fireworks. It was fun watching them light them because as soon as the fuse was lit they would run to the safety of the blanket so they wouldn't get hurt. After our small pack of fireworks was lit we went into the backyard and watched as some of the neighbors shot off illegal fireworks. Later we went into Kelly and my bedroom and opened the windows and watched them from the higher view. The kids loved the fireworks. It was such a fun 4th of July that I know I'll remember for a very long time.
Above I had mentioned that the cake that Hunter was blowing out was only 1 of 3. We ended up having 2 birthday parties for him this year. 1 with our family (which I was too lame to remember to take pictures) and the second was a friends party.
When we had Mylie's Friends party for her birthday I had gotten a pinata. When I brought it home Hunter asked me why I had never gotten him a pinata for his birthday. Of course I felt guilty but I also made sure that I would get him one for his birthday.
Here the kids are waiting for their turn to whack the pinata. Surprisingly, it was a very sturdy pinata and all of the kids were able to take at least 1 turn.
After the pinata we had a slip'n slide. The kids had a great time. The one we got was a racing slide and the kids had fun racing each other to the end. 
Finally, Hunter's last cake. Yes, all 3 looked exactly the same. I was lacking in creativity this year. I can't believe my baby is 7 years old.
