Uh-hem, pay no attention to my tardiness

I wanted to get one of the pics I took of A up since I'm here because I know how long it has been taking me to get these things posted! I still have all the rest of the pics to edit but this one was done, so here it is.

I have decided that I have what "doctors" call MPS by way of Procrastination...Mass Posting Syndrome. As I am looking back I am noticing this undesirable trend of waiting forever and then committing what can only be accurately described as diarrhea posting. It's never-ending and contains a good mix of several different holidays/seasons' types of activities. Here are Rylan's birthday party, making and decorating Halloween cookies, carving pumpkins, Halloween costumes, etc. The first one is just a picture I took of bedtime story time a few nights ago that was too cute to pass up.  Especially Cal itching her nose, she'll have to hate me for it later.

I have been editing pictures like a mad woman the last few months due to some crazy scheduling in October and September including 3 groups of anywhere from 20 to 50 people!! I am frantically trying to get these pics done in time for some last minute Christmas shopping, considering I only have maybe 7 gifts actually purchased. My laptop was getting more and more congested with Photoshop and pictures to the point that it slowly and irritatingly gave up on me. Guess Cal gets what she wants, a computer she can play games on...(in walks my new 1 terabyte hard drive computer with a 21.5in. monitor!!!) woooo-hoooo! Now I'm plugging away like nobodies business! As for the rest of the family, besides having to be patient with a semi-absent Mom (absent minded anyway, right??), they are all doing pretty darn good. 

Calyn is enjoying 1st grade more and more. She is a smart little girl and loves to reads books to her little brother and sister. She's actually reading to them right now :). 

Rylan loves preschool as well. He informs me that he has 5 girlfriends...um, I guess that's better than 1, best to keep your options open, right?? 

Afton loves to blow raspberries, she is sitting up and soo close to crawling. She gets up on all fours but just can't quite get the whole "move your hands" thing figured out. She loves big sister and brother and is constantly laughing at them. She's such a sweetheart and we absolutely love having her in our family. 

Devin has been really enjoying his new job. He moved to BEA, which is seems like just another acronym for me to learn but is actually a great place for him to be. However, he just turned down a job offer in town which was a very hard decision for him. It was a training position and the hours were amazing but the salary ended up being the deal breaker. Well, along with a few other details that would have left too much to be desired. 

We are so thankful, especially in this economy, to have the stress of choosing the right job rather than that of not being able to find one, as too many are experiencing right now. With Christmas quickly approaching I just want to tell all my friends and family that I am so thankful for you and your examples and I hope all of you find yourselves in a happy and place this holiday season. We love you all sooo much and are so thankful for our Savior, Jesus Christ and for his sacrifice. 

Now, re-wind a couple months to Sept, Rylan's birthday. Brrrr, that would be sooo cold right now!!

Family times...what's your opinion?

Ok, so I need your help! Last Sunday after church I decided to hurry and snap some family pics since the kids were all dressed up already and we don't have any family pics with our new little Afton. It was pretty humorous since I couldn't get my remote to work for my camera so I put the cam on the tripod and had to push the button then run over and situate myself in time then hurry over to do it all over again. I did this probably 12 times in all and the kids found it pretty funny... Anyway ...what I need from all of you is your opinion. I know they are fairly similar, but I can't decide between the 1st and 2nd pic which one we should use as our main fam pic to put up on our wall. Please help me out by voting your favorite, thanks friends and famliy!! Love you all!!

School Days......

Well, as much as we fought it school has arrived. I am still not ready for summer to be over and walking into Shopko just to see CHRISTMAS TREES up already is just rubbing into my face even more that summer has officially left us for another year. However, despite my denial Cal & Ry are loving school! Cal is in the 1st grade and has been enjoying being at school all day. She really likes her teacher and loves being with her friends again. Rylan was so excited to go to preschool he almost didn't notice when I left. It is a little bit of a bitter sweet having them both in school, on one hand I love that they are doing so well and enjoying themselves, on the other, I am struggling with the fact that I have 2 kids old enough for school and am missing them at home! 
 

Old Preggo pics and Wood Family pics

A few months ago we had planned on doing our "Sister's preggo pics" but little Nicole had to go and mess it up by being hospitalized and delivering early...sheesh Nicole-so selfish! Haha, anyway so we decided that we would still do our pic and just have Nicole put little Seth where her belly used to be. We are lined up in order of due dates left to right (obviously since Nicole already has little Seth).  Look at all these baby bumps! And for effect sake I put another pic of all the babies together after. 

We decided it would be fun to put Afton in the middle in this one since she's the only girl.

They are laying in order of age from left to right: Seth Logan Compton, Logan David Spencer, Carter Michael Williams, Charles Clayton Pett, and Afton Simone Wood. Man she's gonna love growing up with all these boy cousins!! Or I'm gonna love it! Less drama!

Just catching up..

In order to catch up on the craziness that our lives have been for the last few weeks with reunions, blessings, the 4th, tball, etc., I'm compiling them all into one post. So here is what we've been up to lately in a nutshell...

I took a few quick pics of Afton the other day because she just looked so stinkin cute and was holding her head up so well. I just love how babies look like those characatures with the big heads and tiny bodies and these pics completely emphasize how much babies look like them. Their proportions are just too cute!! It's no wonder that their heads bobble all the time, those tiny necks just struggle to maintain the massiveness of them!!

On Sunday, July 3 we blessed little Afton. We had a bunch of family support and are so thankful for all of them!! Afton was such a sweetie and Dev did a great job. What an amazing comfort it is to have your child given such a sweet blessing from her father!

On the 4th we started off the day with breakfast on the boulevard...pancakes with strawberry rhubarb syrup, eggs, ham, and orange juice. What a way to start a day! Since the breakfast is right there on the parade route we just go right out front to watch the parade. That afternoon we went to Dev's parents' to celebrate Sarah's bday party where the kiddos (and maybe a few of us older kiddos) went slip and sliding down in the pit out back on the slide we made with 2 slip and slides and several garbage bags. There is a video (from dev's phone so very low quality mind you) below of a bunch of the fam going down...After that we followed tradition and went to Freeman park to watch the fireworks. I love it there because it's not crowded and we can play football, Frisbee, catch, or whatever we want while we wait and we have the perfect view of the fireworks!!

 Cal is in her 2nd year of tball and I just love to watch her play. She absolutely loves to get out there and is already so talented!! ;)  

A few weekends ago we went to the annual Herrera Reunion that was in Iona Park this year. The kids had a blast playing all the games and being with cousins. We played volleyball, bingo, horseshoes, and the kids beat the crap out of a pinata. At one point during the kids games I looked over and actually saw Rylan running a race wearing a huge bra...not sure what exactly they were playing but proud to say that was my son...completely comfortable with his masculinity...or something.