Spencer's 5th Birthday

Wow! Look at those five year old muscles!

This is Spencer celebrating at Grandma's house.

Yea! I'm five!

October is our month of birthdays. We started with Spencer. He turned 5 and he counted down the days for about three weeks. He is such a fun kid. He keeps our life exciting and keeps us entertained. He says the funniest things. He started preschool and is always talking about Miss Angie, the latest thing he told me is that Miss Angie can count to a million. That for sure topped how high the other kids were saying that they could count. Although he has cried this week going to school, he loves it once he is in the door. We love our Spencer.

dance off

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Ellie is a Girly Girl!

Ellie started a dance class with her Nana a couple of weeks ago. She was getting ready for her first class, we got her dressed in her dance clothes and pulled her hair back in a ponytail. She came out of the bathroom later with Spencer and said "I look pretty". Her and Spencer had taken a package of bobbypins and used the rest on her hair. She had about 30 bobbypins in her hair. She has watched her sisters get ready for dance lots of time and they always use bobbypins.

Last week Ellie wanted to cut some paper, so I let her use a pair of scissors. She cut a little more than the paper. She cut a big chunk out of the front of her hair. She is almost three and finally getting a little hair. The lucky part was that part of her hair was pulled up and so she did not get all of her bangs. We can swoop her bangs over and make it look pretty good. No more scissors for Ellie!

Tonight she was sitting on my lap and I noticed that she had on some eyeshadow. She was quite embarrased when I asked her about it and hid her face. I later found my eyeshadow in pretty bad shape, but at least she picked the light colors to put on. What a funny little girl!

Tonight Morgan told Ellie that she could only go to beauty school after she finished college.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

This post is from Morgan and Maddy! The boys went to a football game, so we threw a late night, with our friends! We went swimming, watched a movie, had pizzookies, and did our nails!

This late night was sooo fun!!!
Girls rock!!!
This pizzookie is delicious!!!
I had fun!!!
Kiersten really wanted her nails done!!!
GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN!!!

The kids are back in school

The kids started school on Wednesday. Morgan started 7th grade. She likes Junior High so far. Maddy started 5th grade, and Austin started 2nd grade. The house seems quiet with just the two little ones around. We miss having the big kids home during the day. Spencer will start preschool the beginning of September. He is having a hard time understanding why everyone else started school and not him. Ellie is going to miss him when he is at preschool and is just me home with her. We look forward to another great school year. Here are pictures of the kids dressed and ready for their first day. Austin did not care what clothes he got for school, except for his cool Pokemon shirt that he wore on the first day.

Dance Recital

Morgan taught a dance class this summer to some of the kids in our neighborhood. She had three classes and taught them each dance. At the end she had a little recital, and thanks to her Nana she even had costumes. Spencer, Ellie, and Maddy took her classes and were in the recital. Morgan did a great job organizing her classes and the recital. She also enjoyed having some extra spending money over the summer.





Spencer and Ellie are on the ends

Weber's Cabin, We went up to Pinetop with the Webers to their cabin. We had a lot of fun and the weather was great!

Ellie in her big bed

Ellie has been climbing out of her crib, so we decided to put her in a big bed. We moved her downstairs into Maddy's room. She made the transition very easily. She looks so tiny in that big bed. Our baby is growing up so quickly.

Morgan and Madison had a dance recital. They did a great job. The girls have worked hard this year in their dance classes and it paid off for them. Morgan is finishing up her year of being on a competing dance team and has put many hours into dance. Madison took a jazz class and is has really improved in her dancing. Ellie loved watching the dancers. The boys were as patient as little brothers can be at a 2 and half hour recital. They were all rewarded at the end by Grandma, who brought them cookies from Paradise Bakery.

We had a barbecue on Memorial Day, we were also celebrating John's birthday. We had fun and went swimming in our newly filled up pool. The kids were as excited as John about his birthday present, a Wii. They have been having a blast playing it, especially Austin.

Filling up the pool

We emptied our pool on Friday

and started to fill it up on Saturday.

The kids had a lot of fun swimming
in the half filled pool.

Student of the Year

Morgan got an award on Wednesday for being student of the year for her class for citizenship. We are so proud of her. Sixth grade was a tough year for her, she had a lot more homework and was very busy with her dance team and mutual also. She was still able to get close to straight A's, which was tough in her class. She made a lot of good friends this year and really grew up as she turned twelve and will be starting Junior High in the fall. She is a great example to the rest of our family.

Bateman Family at Papago park

Morgan holding Katie after her baby blessing.
Madison is a great helper.


















Mr. S and Dad

Ellie, you are to cute

Scuba diving in Epcot

This was the best scuba diving.











John hang 5
Run!