Lots of pictures!

My pictures are out of order as well as my posts but at least all my fun pictures are finally up somewhere!!

Josh got home from Afghanistan the night of his birthday, October 26th! I can't even begin to express our joy at having him home! 

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Josh brought this dress back for Katie from Afghanistan. She loves it! So does Michael!!
October 27, 2011, the day after Josh got home from his year long deployment.

 

The kids did soccer this fall and loved it! They did so good! It kept us very busy for almost 2 month but I loved to watch them play! Josh got home in time to watch a game for each of them!
October 28th

My kids love to hunt. While we were in Texas for Thanksgiving with Josh's parents he took the kids out hunting. They got a sparrow, brought it back to the house, cleaned it, cooked it, and ate it!

Big feast!

You know I like my sparrow....... FRIED!

We drove to my parents house in California for Christmas. We stopped and visited Josh's grandparents in Las Cruces, NM. We made it to their house just before the highway closed due to the snow! We had terrible weather all the way through Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico. We had to wait for the freeway to open the next afternoon before we could continue on. Meanwhile the kids LOVED playing in the snow!

Katie

Michael

Katie and Michael sitting with Great Papa Payne

My Mom babysitting Hannah for me!

My parents have a really fun zip line in their yard. The kids LOVE it and could have spent a lot more time on it than they did only because Josh and I got tired of it! Here's Joshua going down.

Michael waiting for his turn.

Katie getting ready to jump out of the tree!  They also love the tire swing in that tree.

Katie!

Michael was funny to watch because he would lay back in the harness!

My Dad baby sitting! Michael was also asleep next to the couch on the floor!

We went to a pizza place with all the kids and their cousins and aunts while all the men went deep sea fishing.  It was funny how many kids we could fit on the little rides! Hannah loved this ride!

Michael, Nehaeva, Gabriella (Michael and Courtney's girls), Corine (Paul's wife), Joseph, and Joshua.
Michael was so excited for this ride!

Backyard Fun, January 6th, 2012

Michael is now mostly potty trained!! Yeah! Josh has been the potty trainer in our home and get it done in just a few days. This is my favorite outfit, underwear and yellow boots! He loves climbing up our fence in the backyard.

Joseph is in the fun picking out his own "cool" clothes and I love his style!!

My goofy Katie!

The kids and I are still so excited to have Josh home!!!! Poor guy always has someone hanging on him!!

Hannah's favorite place to be!

Peek-a-boo!

Fishing trip, January 7th, 2012

One of the things that our family has love doing in Louisiana has been fishing and "fire camps" (campfires). We used little fish for bait and Michael kept reeling in his line a yelling that he caught a fish. He never did get that the little fish was there so he could catch a big fish. I'm sure in his mind he caught the most fish, even if it was the same fish over and over again

Joseph didn't want me to scare off the fish. Out of 5 little kids it would be the mom who gets told to be quiet!

Josh loves fishin' with his kids!

Hannah sat happily in her stroller almost the entire time! Yeah! She loves being outside and getting to watch all the action!

Joshua LOVES Hannah! They are good buddies. He is very good at entertaining her. She loves her big brother.

What's that?

I love this picture of Katie. She is the perfect big sister. Very protective and loving to her little brothers and sister. She getting so grown up.

Happy baby!

We added a new element to our fishing/ fire camp activity, SHOOTING! Josh brought Joseph's beebee gun (baby gun as Joseph use to call it). The kids loved shooting it at the water.

Josh started to make the fire to roast our hot dogs and marshmallows. Joseph got up from his fishing and told me in a very grown up way "Mom, I'm going to go get my gun to go get us some dinner." My kids all love to hunt!! Oddly they are not grossed out by shooting and cleaning animals. They are fascinated and always ask to see all the different parts (brain, heart, etc). Josh took them all hunting with the beebee gun. They didn't get us any dinner.

Katie did catch a fish, but we let it go.

Just some fun pictures