I'll quiz ya

Today Brandon and Spencer were in the front room quizzing each other.

Spencer: Brandon... where's your brain?

Brandon: Inside my head.

Spencer: Where's your cerebral cortex?

Brandon: Huh? What's that?

Spencer: It's part of your brain.

Brandon: Oh, my turn. Dad where's your dignity?

Spencer: (Silent, and staring)

(Mom laughing hysterically from the other room)

Aubrey: It's in your throat.

Brandon = Never ending free entertainment.

For your Holiday viewing pleasure

Happy Holidays from the Hatch's

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We love our Veterans

This year we went to the Veterans Day parade in our town. Emily was able to be involved in it through her school this year. We made a sign for the kids to hold up as the soldiers and veterans walked by to show them our thanks for all they have done for our country.This is taken at the begining of the parade. The US flag, the AZ flag, and the POW flag.

These were the mounted soldiers representing the Buffalo soldiers that were stationed at Ft. Huachuca, in the 1800's the Fort that is located right next to Sierra Vista.
Now I bet you are wondering if I copied this picture from somewhere..... Nope. This is me playing around on some photo editing softwear that I love. I tinkered around with all the photos in this post.

One of the groups of soldiers that marched in the parade.

Three of my cuties showing there appriciation for our vets. Thanks Dad and Cain for all of your dedication.


This is Emily in the float that she road on. She had to try out at school to be able to ride on it. They sang patriotic songs down the whole parade route. Sorry about the quality of the video it was taken on the little digital camera that we have that's not the most high tech. Emily is located in the lower right of the float.

A little decked out

Halloween is by far most favorite holiday! It's so fun to dress up and deck out the house. Every year we try to tweak the decorations just a little, and every year we acquire something new to improve upon the scariness. Spencer does a great job with his special effects. Here are just a couple of the pictures that we have of the house this year.

Straight from Brandon's mouth

No matter how many times we have corrected Brandon he just can't seem to catch on.

Before during and even after Trick or Treating Brandon went to the doors and said.....

TRICKLE TREAT

I just think that it's funny that he's a boy and says Trickle Treat.

It just brings me back to the days of potty training the boy.

Love you Brandon!

Halloween Goodness

The kids had a lot of fun this year with Halloween. Usually we try to have a unified theme for costumes, but this year was kind of crazy with sports, so we went with what we had. Emily dressed up as a witch this year. I wanted to put make up on her, and make her look really witchy but she wanted to "look like a nice witch" she said. Brandon wanted to be a football player. He had a game earlier that day and we gave him a blue and white mo hawk. So he wanted to keep the mo hawk so he just kept his uniform on voila instant costume. Aubrey was Wonder Woman. This was a costume that we had used for Emily when she was that same age. She was instantly sassy when she put ths on. Tyson was Superman and used Brandon's old costume. He looked adorable. He didn't really know what was going on, but he looked cute. This year we took the kids around the neighborhood, and they loved it. They all got way to much candy and most of it is gone by now. I guess it is good that Halloween only comes once a year, otherwise we would be at the dentist quite often.

To be like Him

Our main reason for going to California was to baptize Emily. It was really great having family and long time friends around to witness this great occasion. Emily has been looking forward to this for a very long time. Brandon was able to give the baptism talk and did a fabulous job. We all sang a song as a family ( I cried of course), and Aunt Kimmy gave the talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a very special night. What a great experience to see Spencer baptize his oldest. It's hard to believe that she is 8 already and is choosing to take on such great responsibilities. She is a great example to her younger brothers and sister. We are very proud to have her as our daughter.

FORE!!!!!

While in California Spencer was able to take Brandon golfing with him. They were joined by Aunt Kimmy and Uncle Jake. This was Brandon's first time golfing and he loved it. He still carries around his prized golfing pencil that he used to write on the score cards, it's quite funny. Brandon has a real knack for it. He was able to connect with the ball and get it in the whole, and riding in the awesome golf cart wasn't to bad either. On the last hole he was able to get a 7 on a par 4. Not to shabby considering it's a course that adults play on. I think Brandon will give Spencer a real run for his money when he gets a little older. Good job Brandon!



I LOVE MY PREPPIES!

We love us some California!

Who wouldn't love sandy beaches and great weather? We certainly don't mind it. Going back home was great this last time. We just went and did what we wanted, and going to the beach was a definite must.Brandon wrote me a little note in the sand. He's such a loving "little" guy.
This was Tyson's first time to California and to the beach. His first time with his feet in the sand. There's no going back now, California all the way!
We went down to OB ( Ocean Beach) where they have some pretty cool tide pools. The kids saw lots of different sea animals and played around on all the rocks.

115 pounds

Every year when we get to go back to CA for fall break we have to stop at our favorite pumpkin patch Bates Nut Farm. They have the best and largest pumpkins. 115, Yes that is how much our pumpkin weighed this year. Although it wasn't as much as last years weighed, it was still a great pumpkin to have. It took the whole group of them to get it in the wheel barrel. Our abundance of pumpkins. You can never have to many.
Our silly kids being silly.
Aubrey and Brandon feeding the animals at Bates Nut Farm. It was a fun time had by all, and a yearly family tradition. The kids always look forward to going to Bates.

Huh??

One of the conversations that occurred on our way home from CA a couple of weeks ago.


Kids: Mom can we stop at chum bucket on the way home to eat?

Spencer and I: HUH???

Kids: Yeah, you know..... the place that we had chicken and dumplings at on the way over.

Spencer and I: You think that place is called Chum Bucket?

Kids: Yeah.

Spencer and I: So.... do you know what a chum bucket is?

Kids: No, what is it?

Spencer and I: It's the bucket that fishermen use to store there bloody chopped up rotting fish in. So they can throw it in the ocean to try to catch sharks.

Kids: EWW that's gross. So can we go to Chum Bucket?

Spencer and I: It's called Cracker Barrel, not Chum Bucket.

Kids: So can we go?

Spencer and I: (looking at each other with look of baffle on our faces) I guess.


Needless to say they continued to call it Chum bucket several times after this conversation. Where do these kids come up with this stuff?

My baby's 6 months old

Wher does the time go?

Now this is scary

Do you think they could have even see out of those glasses?

Starting the Halloween season right!

Don't forget to pause the music on the right!!

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8 is Great! Party Like a ROCK STAR!

WOW!!! My oldest is 8. What an exciting time. Emily has been looking forward to turning 8 for a really long time now. We we able to have a fun party for her. It was originally going to be a slumber party but with the sudden back surgery we shortened it to just a night of partying.

ARE YOU ON THE LIST?

We decided on a Rock Star theme for the party. We had it all, from a red carpet all the way to the "security" bouncer. Brandon was happy to help out in this department. He took his job very seriously. He was decked out. He had the shirt, glasses, and even his security earpiece. As the guests arrived Emily greeted them on the red carpet so they could get their pictures taken by all the POPO (ie: Spencer and strobe lights). Each pose was unique and classic.

NO AUTOGRAPHS PLEASE!

This is the whole group of Rock Stars that attended. There was purse making, pizza, and a whole lot of candy had by all. They even busted out the Wii mic and sang a few songs.

WE PARTIED LIKE ROCK STARS!

San Diego Super Chargers!

We went to see the San Diego Chargers play the Cardinals this past weekend up in Phoenix. It was a blast. The kids really enjoyed the game. We all had our Charger gear on and cheered proudly for our team. We had many taunters around but as the game went on, they slowly became more quiet because..... We kicked some booty!!!

Yeah Chargers!!

Aren't they cute when they are getting along?
Thugs at play. Fo shizzle.
Sassy Sassy Sassy!!! We made shirts for all the kids to wear to show there spirit. It was a great time had by all. We can't wait to go back and win again. Spencer and I have yet to go to a Chargers game where they have lost. We MUST be good luck charms....So if anyone is willing to sponsor us on any of the playoff games we would happily attend to ensure a win.
Way to go Chargers!

Back to school baby!!

School is back in session, and boy is everyone excited, and I mean everyone. What does starting a new school year bring to our family you ask, well I'll tell you. Starting back to school means Emily will a 3rd grader (wow I feel old). Brandon starts his first day of "real school" he's a kindergartner (now I feel even older). This means that I only have two at home, with two mornings a week with only one at home (yeah even older). For Aubrey this means getting to pick whatever movie, show or anything else she wants to do without having to "compromise" shall we say with her older siblings. Dad finally will be able to sleep during the day with some peace and quiet, and I might actually get some stuff done during the day. It's just a win win situation all around. Did I mention school was back in session? WOOHOO!!

This is Emily and Brandon heading out to the bus stop on the first day of school. Emily has Mrs. Simkins and Brandon has Mrs. Townsley. It even rained on us as we were waiting for the bus.

Our newest kindergartner. He was super excited to get his academic career started.

This was the highlight of the day getting to ride the bus for the first time. He has been waiting years to do this.

This is what Aubrey and Tyson did on there first day of school. Augh isn't this the life?

Buddies

I just had to post this picture. I thought it was too cute not to share it. We did our last little bit of school shopping this last weekend and found these cute sweater vests at the children's place for$1.99 each. I just couldn't resist. So at church yesterday Brandon and Tyson were twins. Green vests, white shirts, khaki pants, and black shoes.

TOO CUTE!!

Gettin' back into the grove...

This is my latest cake I was asked to do. This was for my friend Angie's little girl, Sydney. It was for her first birthday. I really loved doing this cake. I've been waiting to do something with this color combo and something with paisleys.

It finally happened...

Well, after having four kids I wondered when I would be asked this certain question by one of the older kids. It just happened to be Aubrey. Yesterday I was burping Tyson and Aubrey comes over and we have the following conversation:

Aubrey: When are we going to take Tyson back to the hospital?

Me: Why? Don't you like having a baby brother?

Aubrey: No. (shaking her head)

Me: Why do you want to take him back to the hospital?

Aubrey: I want a girl one.

I think she might have put her request in a little to late. She'll just have to get over that he's staying and he will forever be a boy. Sorry Aubrey.

Sunnyside Ghost Town

When all the family was down for Tyson's blessing a group went to one of the ghost twons in the area. The kids really liked it . They could still see some of the old news papers that were used as wall paper, and a lot of the old constructions styles used back then.

A little competition

Who can win the most games?

Summer Activities

We have been trying to keep the older kids busy this summer with a couple of activities that they have never tried before. The cities parks and recreation offers many different kinds of classes for the kids so we decided to take advantage of them this summer. Emily decided this summer to try her hand at tennis. Now I know she is my daughter and all but she really has a talent for tennis. I was surprised at how well her hand eye coordination is. She does really well and seems to really enjoy it. So we signed up for another round of lessons starting today. There aren't that many kids in the class so she really gets that one on one attention.

Watch out Willams sisters here comes Emily!

Brandon decided to give Karate a try this summer. At first I was a little worried that he would attempt to "practice" on his sisters but he has really been responsible and kept his karate moves to himself. Brandon REALLY likes the uniform he gets to wear. You will often find him check himself out in the mirrors of the class room. Focus Brandonson Focus!

Here he is the next Karate kid. Mr. Miyagi eat your heart out.

Lions and Tigers and BEARS!!!!

Spencer took his scouts out this last weekend for the first time as the scout master and look what they found lurking around camp. Needless to say it wasn't the scariest bear. I think it at least provided so much needed entertainment.

FYI: This is taken at the top of Carr Peak at the camp ground. Can I say a little to close to home?

Baby Blessings

This past Sunday on Fathers Day Spencer was able to bless Tyson. It was really neat to be able to do this on Fathers Day. The blessing was beautiful and Tyson did great. We were able to have lots of family out for it as well. It was really great so see everyone. This is all of my side of the family that was able to come. My sisters Kim and Jennifer, her husband Cain and their daughter Natalie and my mom and dad.

These are Spencer's parents. It was also great to have them out as well. It is always nice when the kids get to see their grand parents. They can never get enough of them. Thanks to everyone for enduring the drive out. We love you.

Border Patrol Rocks!

On memorial day we were able to travel to Artesia New Mexico to the Border Patrol academy to see Cain (my sisters husband) graduate. Spencer was able to pin his badge on him. It was really a neat thing to see since none of us we able to see Spencer graduate when he graduated 7 1/2 years ago. Congratulations Cain!! Good luck on the spanish portion of the academy you'll do great.

Kindergarten here we come!

Brandon is on his way to kindergarten, and he can't wait. He thought that once he graduated that kindergarten would start right away. He wasn't getting that there is still a summer vacation in between.

This is Brandon with his teacher Mrs. K. She was great with Brandon. He is really going to miss her.

We dropped the ball

Emily's class along with the rest of the 2nd grade classes at her school participated in the 3rd annual 2nd grade egg drop competition. The rules were it had to be no larger then 18"x 18"x 18" and you had to make your project look like something. Meaning they just didn't want it to be a box for example. You also couldn't spend any money on building materials it had to be things found around the house. So Emily and dad took the challenge on to see what they could come up with. They found a green foam ball and decided that it would make great housing for an egg. They made an access to the center large enough to hold the egg snug and took it outside to test it. Wouldn't you know it passed with flying colors. We were a shoe-in to win. The decorating was the master mind of mom. We couldn't just leave it a green foam ball. I had a Styrofoam ball in the craft closet decided to cut it in half and voila Kermit's eyes. It all took off from there. Well we definitely had the cutest looking egg holder ever. The time came to drop the egg holding contraptions. Our hopes were high at having a successful launch with no breakage. With faith running high down comes Kermit from the sky (about 50-60 feet) SMASH!! Did it break???? Unfortunately our faith was crush along with the egg. We found out the teacher didn't place the egg correctly in the ball therefore breakage was eminent. I think I was more crushed then Emily was. We were sure of victory. Well maybe next year (if they do it in the third grade). At least we had the best looking egg drop contraption out there and no one (Holly and Jill) can say otherwise. We will just never be able to look at Kermit the same again.