Giselle Turns the big O N E!!!!

Giselle turned one on Dec. 22nd. This year FLEW by. I can not believe she is already 1. She is such a fun, loving, easy going...unless she wants something to eat then she screams. Wonderful daughter. She is definitely my go to anyone girl. She took her first steps at 10 1/2 months but really started walking about a month later. Now she is already trying to run. She has Jacob leading the way. We had a small birthday cake on her birthday but we didn't have our camera so we didn't get any pictures. A few days later when all of Brett's siblings were in town we went over to his parents house and did a breakfast birthday!

We did monkey bread, which was perfect for our little monkey girl. She loves music and everyone singing to her makes her very happy. She had no interest in blowing out the candle but hey that's what siblings are for, right? Look at that smile, so happy!

Waiting for some of that monkey bread. She has no issues with food...EXCEPT she isn't very patient for it. She screams LOUD if you don't give her a bite right away. For some reason she thinks that's the only way to get noticed. Luckily though she will eat anything you give her.

Mommy with her baby girl who is growing up way too fast. She looks too little to be one but acts more like she is 2. She loves being with her sisters and brother. She loves books and music. She has a favorite blanket and will put her head down on it everytime you give it to her. She LOVES my phone and daddys phone and really any phone for that matter.

Giselle has Daddy wrapped around her little finger. She gives great kisses and is even starting to give hugs. She says Dadada. she says mama too but dada way more. Giselle thank you for coming to our family and making it even more fun in our house. We love you so much and feel very blessed and humbled to be your mom and dad!

NYC at Christmas time!

I was lucky enough to go to New York City for the 1st time ever at Christmas time AND with my 3 oldest daughters. We got up super early and headed to D.C. to take a train to New York. The girls were so excited and loved every minute of the train ride...Jillian asked the conductor to punch her ticket like Tom Hanks on Polar Express...she laughed and punched a bunch of holes but it didn't say anything. I bundled the girls up like little eskimos, thank goodness since it was pretty windy in certain spots. This picture was taken inside Radio City Music Hall. We saw the Rockettes. The show was incredible. The only thing was Jillian had walked A LOT by that part and we had been up since 4:30 in the morning so once we sat down in our comfy warm chairs and the lights went out...she went out. Slept through almost the whole thing.

Here we all are in front of Radio City Music Hall...you can see we are pretty bundled up. I was going to bring my big fancy camera but Nichole offered to take pictures with her smaller camera. Thank goodness because I had a back pack already full and at the end I had to carry Jillian. Thank you Nichole!

Nichole and I in front of the Giant Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Plaza. This is where I watched the amazing Salvation Army ringers...they know how to work it. WOW! They all have microphones and music and really get into it. I really wanted to go ice skating but the line was HUGE and the price was wayyy too pricey! Oh well...sometime not a week before Christmas.

Grandma Fox treated the girls to their very own American girl Doll. This store is huge and has everything an american girl doll could hope for. The girls LOVE their dolls and take them everywhere with them. Thank You Grandma!

I'm sure most of you know I am a little bit of a chocolate lover...so of course the Hershey store is a must stop. The girls loved it too....So many choices! mmmmm!

One of the first places we stopped at was Macy's. The largest one in the world i'm sure. We went to the 8th floor to mail a letter to Santa. I've never seen such a busy store before. The windows outside are absolutely amazing. They change every year and this year it was the story of a little girl named Virginia..how perfect for my girls huh?

We had such an amazing time and loved every minute of it. We got Pizza from John's and a vendor Hot Dog. Hot chocolate by the NBC building. Saw the Empire State building lit up. Stood in the middle of Times Square and heard more honking that was neccessary. Saw a man holding a sign saying he needed money to buy weed...at least he was honest right? What an experience. I am so glad my 3 daughters were there with me. Next time, I can't wait to go with Brett!!!

THANKSgiving!

Giselle had her first thanksgiving feast and boy can that girl feast. She loved EVERYTHING!

All the sweet kiddos. We had our friend Lori and her 4 fun and great kids join us. My parents came down from Michigan too!

More super cute kids!!

Jacob loved the Vernors grandma brought from Michigan..he couldn't bear the thought of the spilled soda going to waste!

Brett carving his first turkey!! He did a great job. We are so blessed to have so many blessings and privledges in this life. First of all the blessing to choose what where we worship. Without this one freedom all others would fall to the side. With this freedom I was able to marry my true love for all time and eternity and with that union has now come 5 beautiful children. I can't wait to see the amazing blessings that are yet to come..until then I will forever be grateful and THANKFUL for all the ones I have now!

Every time we have a baby that has their first thanksgiving we take a picture of the turkey in front of the baby...hahahaha the turkey was SO big it covered her up..or maybe she is so little!

Now you can see her! chewing on her favorite carrot!

Cafe Fox!

People ask me all the time..How do you do it? I respond with I have some really great friends. It's true I do. I am so blessed to have some great friends in my life. I ask them for help and they are there..armed sometimes with food, sometimes with sponges to clean and sometimes to play with kids. I felt like a thank you note just wasn't going to cut it. I sent an evite and thank goodness they could all come.
We started the meal with Artichoke dip. Then had broccoli and white cheddar cheese soup!
Spinach, apple,craisin, walnut and feta salad with an apple vinaigrette!
Super yummy bread *from wegmans* with make your own sandwich
sunken chocolate cake with ice cream and berries drizzled with hot fudge.
I love my china but I rarely get it out. Too many little hands, but I felt this was a good time as any. Real napkins can make such a difference..and fresh flowers pulls it all together.

I really feel like these ladies brighten my day every time I am with them, so I picked out cute little candles for each of them..thank goodness they all got the kind they liked!

After all of that, they stayed and helped me clean up..not to mention Alex came in the morning and helped me get it all together. How lucky am I...not lucky. Just blessed. Love you Ladies!

A week of Halloween!

Wow, what a fun but crazy busy week. Monday we carved our pumpkins and ms. Giselle decided to stand up and join in on the fun. I got to go to the concert Muse on Wednesday..AWESOME!! so fun. On friday I went on a field trip with Jillian to Cox Farms..super fun but very cold. after the field trip I went back to the school and co hosted a halloween party for Jolie's class. They are such cute kids. Then friday night I went to a witches brew party. 30 + women dressed up as witches..mean super fun! Saturday was fox family halloween carnival and then the ward trunk or treat. Sunday was soup and more soup. and then trick or treating. We had a great time and thank goodness for no school on monday or tuesday because we were all worn out!

Soccer Genna!

Genevieve is in her third season of soccer. She loves it. We have loved going and cheering for her. It is so fun to watch her talent grow. She was just asked to be on an All-Star team. The tournament is in a couple of weeks and then she will be done until the spring. Way to go Genna!

9 months

Giselle had her 9 month check up this past week...I know she'll be 10 months next week!
She is 16lbs. 5 oz. 27 1/2 inches long
She crawls everywhere. Stands and cruises with furniture and can hang tough with her brother.
She LOVES to eat. This picture she had just finished eating brocolli and cheese soup, ravioli, blueberry yogurt and orange jello...all in one sitting.
She sleeps threw the night...bless you child for that one.
The only hiccup recently is she HATES the bath tub. She had one horrible experience in the tub..really she just rolled in the bath, which I was right there and right away scooped her up, but it looks like she is scarred for life. It is the saddest little thing now when she has to take a bath. She shakes so hard and screams and will not sit down in the water. The other day I had Jillian get in with her and try to make her happy. It helped a little bit, at least she stopped screaming. No sitting but she did put her hand down in the water. So hopefully I can keep working with her and get her to like the bath again.
I was telling Brett today that I think she is the wards baby..she is passed around to everyone and is so happy about it. Thankfully everyone in my ward is happy about it too. She really is a sweet, happy go with the flow baby. Now if she can just stop growing!

Super Saturday...super crazy!

Yesterday was my ward's super Saturday. I was SO excited for this. We haven't had one in quite a while and they had tons of super cute stuff to make. I got up early to make a batch of broccoli and cheese soup..which took way longer than necessary since I do NOT have a food processor...**hint hint Brett**. :) Brett had to go to a funeral for a coworkers spouse so he was gone. I load up all the kiddos into the car and nothing. The car wont start. The battery is dead. EEERRRR! Of course, because Brett isn't home..isn't that always when stuff goes wrong. The van is in the garage so I knew it would be very tricky to get a car in there to jump it. I run over to one of my neighbors leaving all the kids in the car. I ask if he has one of those portable car jump things...another ** gift idea for me** but nope. He says he doesn't even have jumper cables...I DOOO. I say. So he comes over and we realize I need to empty everything out of the garage that is on the other side so we can get a car in...so we empty everything out and then he brings this zippy little car in..which the girls all think is the coolest car ever..it looks like bumblebee from Transformers which makes me laugh because they've never seen Transformers. Anyways after much careful maneuvering of the car and climbing out of the car we finally get it. YAY!!!!!!!!!!! I get in the car and now it is after 11am. Yikes. I rush to the church and get started right away. That lovely banner took me forever. I only had time to make the one project, but I'm OK with it. I love it and at least I got to go right. The kids had fun in the nursery and when I picked up the crock pot it was empty...always a good sign it was good. The crazy part that was only ONE part of our Saturday. I will post later about that nights festivities. Side note Genna scored 2 goals in her soccer game that day. Way to go Genna!

Apples and Pumpkins!!

We went to our favorite orchard to go pick apples and get our pumpkins. It was a very warm day much like it has been all summer and fall. Since it has been SO warm for so long it really took a toll on the orchard. SO they didn't have any to pick just already picked ones. It worked out just fine though and I got to really take my time picking good ones and helping the girls learn how to find a good one.

Genna was concerned of some brown spots on her apple. I suggested she look for a new one.

I love this picture. Aren't my boys so handsome. Jacob wants to be just like daddy. I say good choice.

As soon as we got there Jacob grabbed an apple and took a bite, he was in heaven.

Giselle, she wants to be like the big kids so bad. She just had to get her hands on those pumpkins!

The field behind us is where I go strawberry picking..I love fresh food!

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. We had a great time and love this family tradition!

Genevieve's baptism dress

The Joelie!!!

This is Aunt Jennifer. She has had long hair for as long as I've known her....forever! Last week Jolie chopped off her hair. She had wanted short hair for quite a while. When I asked her what she wanted to do with it she said she wanted to cut her hair like her cousin Joelie. This is Brett's cousin Tamara's daughter. So Jolie's 2nd cousin. Jolie LOVES her new haircut. A great friend who happens to be an even better hairstylist came over and did the "do". Aunt Jennifer saw her haircut and really liked it. With 3 children 3 and under a short hair do sounded pretty good. Not to mention a really cute style. So she did it....she took the oppurtunity and CUT IT OFF!

I am so proud of her. It looks stunning. I mean really, did we ever doubt it wouldn't look good.

Her hair always looks good. She makes even a ponytail look stylish. I have to say her hair looks even better. I was amazed at how much thicker it looks.

Her hair looks a little darker in the picture than in person...but look at all of that hair.

So here it is..." The Joelie"! Cute huh!

Let's grab something to eat!

The question let's grab something to eat is always a sentence that is followed with....drive thru or do we do it? Do we brave the impossible? Take all 5 kids into a restaraunt and SIT DOWN!!!
This past week had been very busy and very little daddy time. Saturday came and he had to go up to our church to help someone for a little while so we all went up and played in the gym while he helped. Then we headed home...we had a TON of cleaning to do. When we left it was lunch time so we thought we should get something to eat...we saw two places right away. Ledo's pizza or Glory Days...we chose Glory Days. We got there pretty soon after it opened so it was crowded at all. We got a big table since we are a big family.

This is how our meal went.

Jakey: trying to climb over the top of the bench onto the table behind us...the entire time.
the girls: we know what we want and are going to play games on the menu.
Giselle: Screams....finally get her out...trys to grab EVERYONE's drink.
Jolie: I have to go to the bathroom.
Jacob: undoing everyones silverware and dumping them on the ground...and climbing over the bench again.
Brett: I'll take Jakey for a walk while we wait for our food.
Lisa: Holding giselle giving her a taste of lemon...not bad she says but really just wants the strawberry lemonade.
Jillian: I have to go to the bathroom.
Lisa: Seriously, Jolie just went..why didn't you go then.
Jillian: I didn't have to go then.
Lisa: Great..ok go.
Our food comes-
Jacob shares with all three girls.
Brett and I start to eat as fast as we can..we know we have limited time.
Giselle: GIVE ME FOOD NOW!!! she starts with blueberries out of my salad and quickly moves to Jillian's fries.
Jacob: Grabs food off of my salad. he has mac and cheese right in front of him but of course wants my food.
Jolie: I have to go to the bathroom again....
Lisa: AHHH.
Brett: finishes food in record time..and takes jakey again for a walk.
Lisa: attempts to eat food but Giselle is just way too fussy.
Brett and Lisa: look at each other and say...let's go.
Lisa: takes jakey and giselle to car and straps them in and waits for the rest.
The rest come back and we go home...
Gee...why don't we do that more often.
I'd tell you the food was good..but I honestly can't remember!!

Strippling Warriors!

Jolie and Genna were in charge of FHE ( Family Home Evening). The lesson was on The 2,000 Strippling Warriors. They did a great job. We all got into character by becoming warriors. We read scriptures and answered questions and at the end we went outside and dug up or weapons of peace. The girls buried plastic knifes in the mulch. Everyone had so much fun and were loving the dress up part. Even mommy and daddy dressed up!! Good Job girls!!!!

Tomatoes and Cookies!

Giselle was tasting all the freshly picked tomatoes for me the other day!

She approves all these yummy juicy red tomatoes...even the little ones!!!! That bowl was picked that afternoon...we shared with our neighbors.

"Best cookies ever" Said by neighborhood children!!

These babies are SOO good. I was mucho impressed. I got the recipe from a friend and now I will pass on to you!

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup shortening

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 box (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding ( this is the magical ingredient)

4 cups sifted flour

3 cups chocolate chips

Cream together butter, shortening and sugars. Add eggs and Vanilla.Beat well. Combine Salt, soda, pudding mix and flour. Add to the creamed mixture and fold in chocolate chips.

Bake 8-12 minutes at 350 degrees until lightly browned.

Great Grandma Fox comes in town!

Don't you just love excuses to get all dressed up and look pretty? Here are two very pretty cousins...Jolie Fox and Lucy Fox. Jolie just loves holding babies!

Each family took turns taking pictures with Great Grandma Fox...our colors we chose were white, khaki and blue. Cousin Colton was hanging with some his cousins and this shot was captured...I love it!These handsome young men are Jennifer and Taylors boys. Colton and Nolan. We are lucky enough to live only a half hour away from them.

Giselle LOVED chewing on Great grandma's hand. She did that forever it made us all laugh so hard. She was even entertaining herself with sounds she would make on great grandma's hand!

A little closer up....mmm..You sure are sweet Great Grandma. We loved visiting with Brett's grandma and sure wish she lived closer to us. A few highlights were: Taking pictures, eating Grandma's FAMOUS peach dessert, playing rock band with Grandma, finding out Grandma loves twilight just as much as me...yes she is Team Jacob too! :) Most of all getting a hug from her. We LOVE YOU!