Because I promised...

Have your ever seen a cuter Buzz and Woody?!? The girls are enjoying their first suckers with our friend April.

We just got home from Thankmas in Montana and we are trying to get back in the swing of things. Kallie decided to climb out of her crib 12 times last night so I am dealing with that while Kevin is away on business. Fun.Fun. Suitcases are still full and I haven't even done one load of laundry. I am feeling swamped!!

Yikes! I'm back!

Getting ready for Kindergarten with some help from Mommy:)

Our handsome little cheeseball.
Klaire is giving baby bear kisses.

Kallie is 'sleeping' with her babies.

And people ask me if they are identical!

Best buds.

Klaire our little dare devil wanting to ride with Landon.

Super hero Liam kept everyone safe when we went to brunch at little Ave's house. I'm ready to ride mom!!

Kallie and Klaire couldn't get enough of this!

Watch out people. No really he doesn't turn to the left very well!!!!

Costume pics coming soon!! October has been a crazy month!! Kevin has been gone A LOT and I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off even more than normal! But the kids are great. Hilarious and darling as always.

Our little Goobers

(picture from June)

I have a few funny stories that I need to share before I forget them!!!

Last week I bought Liam and Landon some new underwear, boxer briefs, thinking they would maybe be more comfy than their briefs. So they were excited to try them (I love that they get excited over the smallest things, its' so fun) and Liam was particularly excited when I mentioned they would reduce wedgies. So he was wearing them for the first time and after a couple hours he says to me (as he is fixing a wedgie), "Mom these underwear aren't working, you are going to have to get some more." I said, "Well, all underwear give wedgies, I just thought these would be a little better." His eyes widen. I knew he had big news to announce. "Nope mom. Not all underwear. I KNOW that God's underwear NEVER give him a wedgie."

Now a little story that shows how much work I have cut out for me when it comes to taming the girls!! It was time for Klaire to get her jammies on and instead she was ignoring me and being a little toot to Kallie so I said, "Klaire, come to mommy or you are going to get a spank-spank." She looks at me, smiles, sticks her booty out, spanks herself, says, "pank-pank", and turns to keep 'playing' with Kallie. Well, she did end up with a real 'pank-pank' but I was so tickled I could hardly discipline her:)

We have decided that our kids are going to have some of the most creative (or strange!:) future aspirations EVER! Landon has wanted to be so many things, but the most memorable are 'Noodle Maker' and 'Poop Teacher' (he liked to coach Liam) but now I would like to announce that he has decided to be a 'Doggy costume maker' and a 'Science Experiment Teacher'.....we, especially Dad, is hoping for the ladder!!!! You should see some of the things he has tried to tape onto Minnie:)

I don't really have a particular funny story for Kallie at the moment. She is SO funny though. Both her and Klaire have the funniest facial expressions. They are very dramatic....surprise surprise....and they love to get all of us giggling at them. Kallie gets kinda shy around people so unfortunately most people don't get to see what a little turkey she is.

What's going on in Staplesville

A lot. Which is why I'm a little behind on the blog:) And I don't have much time to post right now so I'm going to brief:) Or at least try:)

Some things we are up to......

-Softball for Kevin. 3rd season this year. Church team, he is coaching. He is enjoying it very much.

-Beth Moore Bible study. For me:) First one and I'm enjoying it very much. Even the homework!

-Hosting a small group on Wednesdays at our place. I love cooking for others!

-Bunco for me once a month and poker group for Kevin....we are on a loosing streak currently!!

-School school school. Remembering lunches, picture day, nightly homework, show and tell, dress up days, ahhhhh so much to remember!!

-Book Club for me. Shocker for those of you who know me well. But I am getting into reading and find it more enjoyable than straining my eyes and neck in front of my computer!! Which is another reason the blog is at the bottom of my to-do list):

-Church plant. Most of the stuff we are involved in is with our church community, Venture. We have been attending and helping out with the church plant since earlier this year.

Oh and the most important thing we have been up to...........

Tear-free Start!

We have a first grader. AHHHH!!! That is so crazy! Let me tell ya this back to school was sooooo much easier than last year. Mommy didn't cry. Landon was a pro at getting around the school and we are so excited about his teacher. The first day he said that it wasn't quite as fun as he was expecting, but yesterday he said that first grade was even better than kindergarten. So he is settling into the transition from basically playing all day to getting down to business really well thus far. And he and Margo and Kiran all got different teachers):

Liam starts back to 2-day preschool next week. And the girls aren't going anywhere yet! We probably won't send them until they are three.

Where is your nose?Where are your toes?Where is your hair?Where is your ear?Klaire pretending to sleep in Liam's bed.Kallie is our shoe girl. I can never find my shoes!!I know it's not much curl, but I adore it and play with those curls all the time!Thank you Jesus.

A Cowboy without his hat...

Is like a Yodel without 'ay-hee-hoo'!!!!!!! Not a Toy Story fanatic??? Well then you may want to brush up on your Toy Story characters before you talk to Liam about his birthday! Actually his birthday wasn't all Toy Story, but his favorite present was 'Woody'. And Woody talks when you pull his string and he has several cute phrases like the one above. Liam didn't set him down for literally 48 hours. It was the only gift we got him because we were taking him and Landon to the circus, and boy are we glad we didn't get him anything else.

Woody has not only been his favorite new toy, but he replaced 'Blankie' at night. Which is a GINORMOUS thing in Liam's world. Blankie has been with him since birth and Liam has cuddled Blankie (or as he calls it....humm humming blankie:) and sucked his thumb with Blankie from before his first birthday. In fact, we had to cut the blanket into four pieces just so that I could wash it consistently. Blankie has been on every trip with us except for one! We forgot him and so we had to cut a piece off one of the girls' blankets! Blankie has comforted Liam through countless nights and naps and we believe it is one of the main reasons that Liam never once since he was about six months old cried when we laid him in his bed. We have enjoyed cuddling Liam while he cuddled Blankie and we have enjoyed watching him be calmed and so saying goodbye to Blankie is difficult. I have shed some serious tears over it and I am again as I type. Our Liam is growing up. It is a mark of a new chapter. A major new chapter for mommy.....

I remember when we wrapped him Blankie...

I remember when he couldn't decide which Blankie he wanted the most....

I remember when Blankie read stories with us...

But I will also remember Woody:)

I saw this cake in a magazine a few months ago and tucked it away in mind hoping that Liam would be happy with a motorcycle cake this year. And sure enough he was delighted with the idea. It was SO EASY. Two boxs cake mix, two cans chocolate frosting, coco puffs, chocolate doughnut holes, big pretzels, fruit roll-ups, green licorice, and a toy motorcycle and you're good to go.

Now I wish I still had some of this cake......chocolate is the best after a good cry!! I am going to be a wreck when the girls get to this age too:)

I am....

Not doing For Keeps Design anymore. I know, not a very exciting change:) But for me, it's a big change.

Sarah and I started For Keeps right after I had Liam and opened for business September of 2007. We were super pumped and full of passion and optimism (and had more disposable time:). Now we are thrilled to be done with the money pit!! We believe that we had a great product but we just couldn't compete with our competitors pricing and website traffic. So we are both sad that it didn't end with us selling our booming business to Hallmark, but at the same time relieved to be saying 'adios' to the responsibility and stress. We learned SO MUCH throughout the process. We learned about strengths and weaknesses that we never knew we had.....I learned that I suck at writing and Sarah learned she could design when I forced her too!! We also learned what SEO stands for, how to file taxes for an LLC, learned what a comptroller is, how to run the administration side of a website, we learned about adwords, Xcart, the difference btw digital and press printing ($ is about it:), what EIN stands for, we learned the ins and outs of merchant services/credit card processing, and the list goes on and on. And I couldn't have asked for a better business partner either. She is an amazing business woman and friend.

Thanks for the journey Sarah!

Oh and by the way....we are selling our website. If you or someone you know is interested in an online retail store please contact me at lauramstaples@gmail.com for more details.

www.forkeepsdesign.com