Persistent Pete

I love this picture of Brady. I'm not really sure why. I guess to me, it describes him pretty well. We were running and joking around, and I was just snapping pictures. He can be difficult to photograph sometimes because he's either really goofy, or barely smiling. Anyway, this is my new favorite of him.
So...Persistent Pete can be, well, persistent. Very. This kid asks for stuff constantly, mostly food. Often he's asking if he can play something, and usually it involves a screen of some sort. I actually have to tell him to find something to do that doesn't involve a screen. He just looks at me like there's not life beyond tv or video games. The funny thing is he isn't that into video games. He just doesn't know how to play on his own. Back to the persistent part...he just doesn't understand what no means. He thinks if he just asks one more time, the answer will be different. He takes it to another level. I think eventually, being so determined will help him out in life, we just have to find a way to harness it and lead him in the right direction.
Another nickname he could have is 100%. Right or wrong, good or bad, he gives everything in life 100%. (at least the things he chooses to do) He definitely loves 100%, and you just can't help but love him right back!

Still coming soon...Nosy Nelly.

Button pusher Betty

I'm planning on doing a post about each of the kids and their abilities to absolutely drive me crazy! I just have to get the right picture of the boys. They're harder to catch.

I'd like you to meet my little button pusher! This little girl knows how to push my buttons faster than anyone. I know it's hard to look at that face, with those glasses and imagine her ever getting into trouble, but it happens. Quite often actually. I'm pretty sure we cruised through the terrible twos, only to enter the ____ threes. I'm not cursing there, I just don't have the right word to describe it. Of course it's not all bad. In fact, we have fun more than not, but she's still my button pusher! Gotta love my little stinker!

Coming soon...Persistent Pete and Nosy Nelly.

Okay people...

I'm going to try to get back to blogging. I have a couple of posts that are finished, but I just never got them on here, and now it's too late. I really miss blogging, although I'm probably the only one!! I just haven't had the time to sit down and focus on getting something on here. I have thought of several things to post, but they all seem to be about Chloe. I don't want it to seem like she's more important then the boys. It's just that she's at home with me more, and she's hilarious. I really want to keep this thing going, so years from now, I'll be able to look back and actually remember something from when the kids were young! My mind is already not that great, so I'm sure it's only going to get worse. :)
The kids are out of school today for a snow day, although it only snowed here for what seemed like five minutes. There is no accumulation, but we're enjoying the day off anyway. We've had quite a few days this winter that we've had snow, but it hasn't done anything more than dust the ground on occasion. At least we get to watch it coming down.
Keith, Brady and Chloe are all a bit under the weather, but hopefully we'll all be well soon.
Keith has been busy at work lately, which is good. You can't complain about job security! Guard is always there too, like it or not.
Avery is getting ready to play soccer again in a few months, and Brady is going to be playing baseball. This will be the first time we let them play different sports at the same time. I'm hoping it's not too crazy. Avery had a bit of a rough baseball season last year, and he's done with it. I'm a little sad, but it's never really been his favorite. He gets bored. Brady, on the other hand, loves baseball, and is thrilled that he'll be in kid pitch this year. It should be interesting!
Chloe is still loving preschool. She's really going to miss her teacher. She's learning so much! She comes home telling us all about what she learns in her Bible class. It really amazes me sometimes. I can tell she's picking up on her letters and numbers too. She started telling me what some numbers were in the grocery store the other day, and I didn't even know she could do that! Of course I'm really enjoying a little time to myself too!
I haven't been doing too much other than the usual. I'm taking cake decorating classes at Hobby Lobby, so that's been fun. I would really like to get back into making cakes.
That's about all that's been going on around here. I'll try to get some pictures on here soon, so it's not so boring!!

All about Chloe!

This is her new bike. Can she really be this big? She can fly on that thing. Now we just have to keep her off the bike ramp!! :)

She wrote her name all by herself, except for the e. I helped her with that one, but that's it. She also drew a picture of herself! That is a little harder to see, but it's there.

This picture is Chloe in a nutshell. She's all about anything pink, and she's even wearing her new apron, but she's also shooting something on the tv. Her big brothers are a big influence on her, good and not so good!!

I know I've been ignoring the boys on here lately, but I'm not with them as much as Chloe. She's just at that age where she's changing and growing so quickly. She's so much fun and so very stubborn, all at the same time! (no comments please) These are just a few pictures of her lately. She's such a nut! The video is just for fun! That was our Saturday morning last weekend. We were lazy all day because it was raining, and Keith was at guard. Enjoy!

Stokes Family Christmas

Here are just a few of the pictures from our week at the beach house. We had a great week. We had a couple of days of fog, but then we had a beautiful rest of the week. It was nice to see the sun, since it hasn't been out much lately here at home. The kids had a blast with each other. Chloe and Kiley spent pretty much every waking hour together, which explains why they were fighting like sisters at the end of the week! Chloe spent as much time as we would let her in the babies' faces. :) It's up in the air how they felt about that!! The boys spent most of their time outside, either at the fire pit or on the beach. They spent one whole day outside with Pops, chopping wood!
Now, I think I'm finally done with our Christmas pictures. It seems like it's taken me forever to get them done. This week has been pretty busy. I think we're getting back into our routine, so maybe I'll get back into posting more often.

Christmas morning

These are just a few pictures from Christmas morning. We had a fun morning watching the kids. Chloe loved her princess dresses, and everything else she got. She had been begging me for boots for months, so opening those got the biggest response, except for when she saw her princess dresses! Avery and Brady loved all the sports stuff they got. If you didn't already know that they're Florida Gator fans, you know it now!! I'm not sure what Avery's favorite was, but I'm pretty sure Brady's was the Gatorade water bottle. He's a funny kid!

Christmas at the cabin

I haven't really had time to get any pictures from Christmas on here, so I'm going back to the beginning.
Sam and Brady watching football.
Emma and Avery learned to play nertz. The couldn't get enough of it!



Chloe and Ethan had lots of fun playing together. They got along really well.
This is the tree that fell our last night there, during some storms. It took out some pretty big branches on it's way down, and those fell on our roof. It was a little scary, but nothing was damaged.