Greg & Colette's Family Circus

Halloween 2009

2009-10-31T13:35:00.000-07:00

This year we decided to go to our Church's Trunk or Treat dressed as Gotham City's favorite characters! It literally took all day Saturday to put all the costumes together, but we pulled it off and made some fun memories...

Mr. Freeze

Two Face

Batgirl

You know who this scary face is...

Brock was Batman

Riley was Robin

Ethan and his cousin Kaylee the angel

Cj and cousin McKenzie

Greg was a little scary to the kids getting candy

Catwoman and the Joker...a good pair!

Our Papa Turns 98!!!

2009-10-03T14:53:00.000-07:00

I know not very many people can say that they have a grandparent who is 98, but fortunately me and my family can. Our "Papa" as we call him, turned 98 this October and it was fun to get together and celebrate his special day with him!

Gracie is so cute with Papa, she always wants to talk to him

Papa and most of the "ettes"

Papa and his Birthday hat

My mom, and her sisters with Papa

All the men...crazy how their all wearing Blue!!

Papa and the great grand kids

Staycation Summer

2009-09-01T16:26:00.000-07:00

Well, here's our summer in a quick nutshell....

We start off our summers with Ethan's Birthday...he turned 9 this year.

Then 4 days later, the twins turned 3...

Then we celebrated Fourth of July and Suzette's Birthday...

For our family this summer, we bought season passes to Houston's Splashtown. The kids had so much fun going on all the water park rides with their friends and cousins.

We had a family reunion in west Texas...it was an Irish theme. We had so much fun seeing family and the kids enjoyed the water balloon toss.

And last but not least, before the summer ended, we decided to take the kids to an Astros game. It wasn't the most pleasant experience, with the twins ready to go home after about 30 minutes of being there, but we toughed it out until the 8th inning!

Ethan and Greg were actually at this historical game...

CJ was just glad he brought his ipod.

So, in a nutshell...it was a fun filled, crazy, busy summer with lots of memories!

Basketball is now OVER!!

2009-03-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

If you all were wondering why the Robertson's blog has NOT been updated for 3 months...let me just say one word why....BASKETBALL!!! Greg coached Ethan's team this year, so our schedule for the week has been Monday-FHE, Tue-Basketball, Wed-Scouts, Thurs-Basketball, Saturday-Games. So, to say the least, we've been BUSY.

Then just when the Basketball season was about to end, Ethan started Baseball on Wednesdays before Scouts. Then both Cj and Ethan played an extra week of Tournament games...Ethan's team lost in their finals and CJ's team went ALL the Way to Championship game and WON!!! Way to Go AGGIES! Both boys got trophies for their placement...it was a BUSY and Fun season.

Lunch Time with the Kids

2009-02-12T14:57:00.000-08:00

Either I or Greg usually try and eat with the kids at school each year. This year their Elementary held a Family Week where they invited parents, etc. to eat with their kids the week of Valentines Day. So we had no excuses to carve out time and go eat with the kids while the twins were in Preschool. It was really a nice time to visit with each kid and see their friends in their classes.

The Twin Picture Shoot

2009-02-05T14:44:00.000-08:00

The last time we took all 5 of the kids to get their pictures taken, the twins REFUSED to sit and take individual pictures. So Greg took off an afternoon to help me take them BACK in to try again. As you can see it wasn't completely successful, but we did get at least one of each boy to frame.

Gracie Gets Her Ears Pierced

2009-01-10T14:22:00.000-08:00

Gracie had been bugging me almost daily that she wanted to get her ears pierced. I didn't get mine pierced until I was 12, so I was a little apprehensive that she was ready. Mainly ready for the PAIN! As it turned out, I was actually more scared of her getting them pierced than she was. So, I caved and off to the mall we went!
She was so brave....

This is what she chose to do on her "Special Day" with mommy or daddy, so she also got to choose where she wanted to go eat afterwards...Rainforest Cafe. It turned out to be a really fun day for the both of us!!! Some girly time away from the boys!!

Happy New Year 2009!

2008-12-31T19:03:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun New Years Eve!
We ate lots of snacks, and visited until we watched the Ball drop on TV.
Then we went out side to enjoy our own fireworks that Suzette and Collin brought.
It was a little chilly...
wake up twins...

The Mortensens....

The Poultons...

The Beckstroms...

The Coates...

The Kids...

We hope you had a Happy New Year too!

Merry Christmas 2008!

2008-12-25T15:12:00.000-08:00

We had such wonderful Christmas this year. The kids got their usual load...and that includes from Grandparents!!

This year we had Christmas dinner at our house, and we once again got fashionably stuffed! It was a fun filled day!!

Christmas Eve...Jammie Night

2008-12-24T14:54:00.000-08:00

We decided to start a new tradition this year, by letting the kids open one present on Christmas Eve...and lo and behold it is Jammies!! The kids had fun modeling their new sleepwear.

CJ turns 11!

2008-12-23T13:47:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday CJ...he is growing so fast! We love you!

Christmas Card 2008

2008-12-21T14:38:00.000-08:00

Yes, we were lucky yet another year to get a good photo to use as a Christmas card! If you were wondering our secret, we just played a game using our camera on a tripod and the timer on the camera...One...Two...Three...CHEESE!!! (Which explains Riley's cheesy grin!) Then the twins would jump down and say "YEAH!" Thinking they'd won...that they'd beaten the timer!! Oh...the things we do to get a grin! Then my sister Lynette, used her photoshop magic and there you have it! Thanks Lynette!

Gracie Turns 6

2008-12-20T12:35:00.000-08:00

Gracie had a fun filled day of having a fairy party. She has been so excited for this day, as a matter of fact, she has been asking about her party since her birthday last year!!!

Jeanette made this cute fairy birthday cake...she is becoming quite the cake decorator...Thanks J!!

Gracie wanted to have a "Fairy Fashion Show" so we built up a runway in our living room for her and her fairy friends to model their fairy fashionistas with! They all had so much fun modeling their outfits and playing together!

The girls also made fairy bracelets and enjoyed getting their faces painted. My sister Lynette and my two nieces Kaylee and McKenzie helped me with all 15 kids...couldn't have done it without them...Thanks!!!

Happy Birthday Gracie!!!

Thanksgiving 2008!

2008-11-27T15:32:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was it usual Yummy feast!! We missed the Beckstroms, but we are excited to see them soon!

This is Mom and Dad's favorite Thanksgiving Day pose...

Greg decided to sample all 6 different pies...

Before.....

& After....!!

Halloween 2008!

2008-11-11T11:12:00.001-08:00

As November keeps marching on, I know I better post about Halloween before Thanksgiving gets here!! We had so much fun on Halloween this year, we had dinner, a carnival and trunk or treat at the church. The kids enjoyed dressing up, CJ was a ghost, Ethan a Jedi warrior, Gracie (and me) a kitty and the twins were Buzz and Woody (because they are so ADDICTED to watching Toy Story EVERY day!!). I got some fun photos of the kids during the trunk or treat, where Suzette, Colin and Shatzie stopped by.

The kids are already planning on what they want to be for next year! Whew! At least I have another year!!!

To Infinity....

Trunk or Treat!!

Suz, Colin & Shatzie

Gracie and a few of her friends...

Rocked-out Cousins!

Its ALLLLL about the CANDY!!

Sleeping Buddies

2008-11-11T11:02:00.001-08:00

As much as our twins are trying and tiring, there are the times when they are too cute for words. Recently, they have been buddies (more than usual) and I have been finding them asleep together. Our little "Sleeping Buddies".

FHE Halloween cookies

2008-11-11T10:46:00.001-08:00

Sometimes we attempt to do TOO much on FHE night. And this was one of them. We made spider cookies and tried to get 3 pumpkins carved for Halloween. As you can tell, the kids helped me with the cookies and Greg got stuck carving the pumpkins. He only got 2 carved and that took him most of the night since the kids picked out detailed patterns. But the cookies were successful!

Thanks Nanee & Bubba!!

2008-10-21T13:31:00.000-07:00

Each year Nanee and Bubba send the kids a BIG box of Halloween Goodies!!! Full of spiders, decorations, candy and little trinket toys. The kids always have such a BLAST opening and seeing all their stuff!! Thanks Nanee and Bubba...we MISS YOU!! XoXo

The Pumpkin Patch!

2008-10-21T13:15:00.001-07:00

Our annual trip to the pumpkin patch was an eventful one this year. We decided to go for FHE and once we got there, we realized that we had forgotten the camera (which is the main reason of going!!!). So after being there only 5 minutes, we packed all the kids BACK in the car (with Gracie and the twins screaming and crying wanting to stay). With not enough daylight to come back that night, we trooped back out there the next night, and Greg started snapping the camera away, when all of a sudden, the camera's battery was dying and then...DEAD. So what you see, is all we got from the pictures that night. Better some than none...Right?!

Happy Birthday Papa!

2008-10-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

I know sometimes its not nice to brag, but I have a 97 year old grandfather! We call him Papa and he is my last living grandparent. A couple of weekends ago, we had the pleasure of hosting a get together of our family to wish him a Big Happy 97th Birthday! My Aunt Carol and Uncle Phil were also here and it was such a nice visit for everyone!! Papa had fun seeing all the grandkids and laughing at Brock and Riley dig into the birthday cake. Gracie was so excited to see Papa and she snuck in a couple of hugs from him!! It was such a fun day and we feel so blessed to have him in our lives!

New Blog Design!

2008-10-10T14:19:00.000-07:00

WOW! Isn't our new blog design soooooooooo CUTE!! Thanks to my wonderful talented sister Lynette, she revamped our layout again. You can go visit her website Designed by Lynette to see what her talents are!

Thanks again Lynette!

Funnel Cakes for FHE!

2008-10-10T13:56:00.001-07:00

Last week after our FHE lesson, we made funnel cakes for our treat. We made these several months ago and every now and then the kids will ask to make them again. So we made a double batch to share with our neighbors...yum yum!

Brock thought it was plate lickin good!

Here's the simple recipe I got from Schepps

Ingredients:

2 cups Milk
3-4 cups all-purpose flour
3 eggs
¼ cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
Powdered sugar (for topping)
Vegetable oil for deep frying, heated to 375° F
You’ll also need a funnel that can hold 1 cup of batter

Instructions:

Beat the eggs, add sugar and milk. Sift 2 cups of flour, salt and baking powder together and then add to the egg mixture. Mix while slowly adding the remaining flour until the batter is smooth. Cover the funnel opening with your fingers; add 1 cup batter into funnel. Remove your finger and let the batter pour into the hot oil in a circular motion, slowly expanding the circle to make a cake about 7” around. You can also crisscross the batter for a thicker cake. Fry until golden brown on both sides. Carefully remove from oil and place on a paper towel to drain. Dust with powdered sugar or serve with molasses, maple syrup or fruit preserves.

Two Time Hall of Fame"r"

2008-10-10T13:40:00.001-07:00

Yes, its true, Greg is a double Hall of Fame"r" for his time well spent in college football. This past month, University of Idaho inducted the1998 football team into the Hall of Fame for their Conference title and Humanitarian Bowl win. Go Vandals!

The school gave a really nice banquet...steak and lobster tail! Yum! Our friend Ed gave a really nice speech for the entire team.

It was definitely a 10 year reunion for us. We went back to our 'ole stomping grounds and it was so much fun to see our friends again!

We got to go to a Vandals game and hang out one last time with all our friends!

Being with our friends after so long, really has motivated us to see them again sooner, so hopefully we can make this a yearly event!

We survived IKE

2008-09-18T09:09:00.002-07:00

Unfortunately Ike decided to blow our way and Fortunately we only had minor damage (a window leaked, power outage on and off and some blown over shrubs). But what saddens us the most is that our little vacation home that I just recently posted about (the Sea Chelle), no longer stands. Here is a before and after picture of the peninsula of Gilchrist which is east of Galveston Island. Because it was on the "dirty" side of Ike, the entire peninsula of Crystal Beach and Gilchrist was wiped clean. It is such an eerie feeling that a little town can one day exist and the next completely gone! We are so sad that our future vacations will have to be planned somewhere else, but we will cherish our memories forever! We pray for those who have lost everything that God be with them and help comfort them.

Before

After

The tooth fairy comes for a visit!

2008-09-18T09:09:00.001-07:00

Within a week, CJ and Gracie BOTH lost a tooth! It was Gracie's first tooth and one of CJ's bigger back teeth. The tooth fairy was busy!

School Starts!

2008-09-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

I know I am late writing about the kids first day, but I still wanted to post pictures. It is Gracie's first year of Kindergarden, which has been a little sad for me since she is my only girl and has been such a BIG helper with the twins this last year. But I know she must grow up.

Summer Fun at the "Sea Chelle"

2008-08-24T13:17:00.000-07:00

As school starts tomorrow, I am sure my kids are going go be asked what they did this summer. At the beginning of the month, our family & Greg's brothers family, all went to the Galveston area, and stayed in a beach house called the "Sea Chelle". Here are some pictures of our beach fun...

All the kids loved the waves...

And loved building sand castles...

We took a ferry ride over to Galveston Island to get some ice cream...

We had fun looking for sea shells...

Greg and Ryan bought some fishing

nets, and caught lots of fish and hermit crabs...

We also just enjoyed...

being together and having family fun.

Ethan gets baptized

2008-08-07T14:19:00.000-07:00

Ethan recently got baptized. We were lucky to have so many friends and family in attendance. Ethan's Granna spoke on Baptism and I (Colette) spoke on the Holy Ghost. It was a nice program and we are very proud of his decision to get baptized.

Happy Independence Day!

2008-07-08T13:46:00.000-07:00

I really do enjoy blogging, its finding the time to do it! We actually took these pictures Memorial Day, but I thought they'd be fun to post now, since I didn't get a chance back in May!

I hope you all had an enjoyable 4th!

Birthday Bliss

2008-07-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

When it comes to birthdays in our house, when it rains-it pours! In other words, December and June are our kids birthday months. Funny how that works-huh?! So I wanted to share some birthday pics of the kids. It was Ethan's year to have a party, and he wanted to have water games outside. So we bought some extra big water guns and lots of water ballons and the kids had fun getting wet!

Ethan wanted a Wall-e cake, but when I went to Wal-mart to order it, they were really rude and said they needed 24hrs (I was only asking 8 hrs in advance-I quess that wasn't long enough!) So instead, we went over to the toy section and got a Star Wars lego set and I decorated a cake for him. He liked this one waaaay more than the Wall-e one!

Ethan got lots of fun presents and enjoyed a "sleepover" with his buds. Happy 8th Birthday Ethan!

As for the twinners-it was really low key. Our friends, the Poultons, invited us over for pizza and swimming...and by the time we were done with swimming, the babies were also done for the day-they were tooooo tired to sing happy birthday to. So, we saved some cupcakes and sang again to them the next day! Its hard to believe 2 years have gone by so quickly!

Hall of Fame"er"

2008-06-19T13:20:00.000-07:00

We went up to BYU-Idaho (a.k.a RICKS) 2 weeks ago, because Greg got inducted into the "RICKS Sports Hall of Fame"- Congrats Greg! He was one of 5 inductees. The program included a nice luncheon, and the presentation of the awards. Greg felt very privileged to be included in such an honor.

It was also fun for me and Greg to go back to Rexburg, where our family began. Going down "memory lane" to the place of our first kiss and seeing our old apartment. The town has grown so much since we lived there. The temple is a beautiful addition!

first kiss spot

Earlier in the week we spent our time having...

Fun with Family

2008-06-19T12:50:00.001-07:00

We first stayed with Greg's sister, Carrie, and her family. The twins loved all the attention they

got from their cousins Jaci, Sis, and Jen Jen.

We also enjoyed seeing Great Grandma Ruth and spending time with her.

Robertson Boys...

When "the other" Robertson boys came into town, it was quite the scene-lots of energy to say the least! On our way to Nanee & Bubba's place, we stopped for lunch and to get some of that energy out. The kids (and some adults) went on carnival rides.

Love the face, Ry.

Fun with Friends

2008-06-19T12:31:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun seeing our friends, the Hansens, -we miss them so much!! We had yet to meet the twins-Ethan and Elaine! All four twins had fun running around the Hansens house together.

We also went and visited Greg's high school friend-Shane and his family. Again, the kids enjoyed playing with the Meacham kiddos.

Angel Emme

2008-06-17T06:39:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to our Angel Emme.

Our baby girl came in to the world 3 years ago today, but she couldn't stay with us. We miss her but know that she will always be with us in our hearts and we will be with her again. We wish her a happy birthday.

Park Fun

2008-04-02T09:08:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to the park for FHE this past week. We took some bread to feed the ducks-it was the first time the twins have ever seen ducks in person, much less walking right up to them at eye level.

Easter

2008-04-02T08:14:00.000-07:00

Easter morning was fun this year. The twins were so cute finding the eggs and seeing what the Easter bunny had brought them. They all looked so cute in their Easter clothes. When I look at this picture, it is still hard to think that ALL these kids are mine!

Backyard Fun

2008-03-14T15:16:00.000-07:00

Our weather has been so fickel lately, one day it's warm, then cold, then rainy. So whenever its nice outside, the kiddos head out to get some play in the backyard. Greg was lucky to get some good pictures.

Rascal Flatts

2008-03-14T13:48:00.001-07:00

Ok-so I am a country music fan, to a degree. I don't really like the "Twangy" stuff, which is why I think I LOVE Rascal Flatts! So, when we heard on the news about Rascal coming to the Houston Rodeo, I "hinted" to Greg that I would love to go. So he searched around and found us tickets. I haven't been to a concert since I was in college (Bell, Biv, Devo-I know, don't laugh too hard!) so I didn't really know what to expect. We had somewhat of a circus trying to find parking, but once we got there, saw a little rodeo action, then-it was an AWESOME show! I can't believe how great these performers are, esp. Gary LeVox-that man has some SERIOUS vocals! We were in the nosebleed seats, (our binoculars didn't even reach that far!) but it didn't matter-it was still a great show. To say the least-it was a great night-Thanks Greg!

Monkey See Monkey Do

2008-03-14T13:30:00.000-07:00

I just had to take some pictures of the monkeys in the kitchen. Since I sweep the floor at LEAST 5 times a day, the twins always fight over the broom so they can model my behavior. They also fight over who gets a rag when I start cleaning the countertops, so of course, they both get a rag to "Help" me. I just wish this modeling stage lasted a little longer.

Bye Bye Baby Mullets

2008-02-19T20:49:00.000-08:00

Its been almost a year since the twins got their first haircut, or buzz. As most of you can imagine, having twins is alot of work, and giving them a haircut has definitely been one of the LAST priorities on our list. Over the last 9 months their hair has slowly grown into cute little curly mullets. People would ask on a weekly basis when we were going to give them a haircut. At first, I really liked how cute it made them. (reminded me of late 70's boy hair-which has recently become popular again amongst the hair trends of todays youth). But more than just the "cuteness" was pure laziness-or lack of desire to wrestle the little monkeys without just purely shaving their head bald (which is what Greg wanted to do). But last night was probably the straw that broke this camels back. During dinner, they were just rubbing all sorts of food in their hair and one look at them, and I told Greg-"Its finally time to tame the mullets!" So as you can see from the before and after pictures-it was well over due. They really do look like different kids. Funny how hair can do that!

Rut. I'm in a rut too.

2008-02-04T18:58:00.000-08:00

My sister Lynette just posted that she's in a rut right now. Well, so am I. We live in different countries but we are still experiencing the same thing. We always joke that we should have been twins, so maybe this is a weird "twin" thing going on. I think for me, its a little of the weather here-we haven't had much sunshine lately-lots of rain and overcast (maybe I'm sufferring a little from Seasonal Affective Disorder) . But I guess its times like this in our life that make the sunny, brighter days more joyous. And it makes us appreciate the days that we don't feel like we are in a rut. So here's to you Lynette-I feel your rut pain! Love ya!

2008-01-09T23:22:00.000-08:00

Ok-
so I am going to TRY and post more often. I really would like to be a monthly blogger, but it might turn out to be a quaterly thing! The holiday season in our house is more of a celebration station. We start out by having Thanksgiving at our house, and then its a mad rush to get in all the Christmas parties and programs along with 2 birthdays and our anniversary. Not to mention trying to get ready for Santa and getting gifts for everyone else-who has the time for all this? At times I wonder how we pull it all off, year after year, but somehow it all works out in the end. So, I am now going to attempt to document all of the craziness of the holidays here with our family circus!

2008-01-09T18:44:00.000-08:00

We started December out with our ward Christmas party-which I am only posting, because I am the Ward Activities committee chairman. Which means I spent quite a bit of personal and family time planning, buying, delegating and decorating for the shin dig. We had a primary talent show along with a breakfast. For the talent show, our kids did a lip sync of "Christmas don't be late" by the Chipmunks. They were the first kids of the show, which freaked Gracie out and so she hid behind CJ the whole song. Then later on in the show, she did her Christmas dance routine (with 2 of her friends that are also in our ward and in her dance class) with NO stage fright!

2008-01-09T12:29:00.000-08:00

Gracie's school music program was next, on Thurs Dec 13th, with her Christmas Dance recital 2 days later, Sat 15th. Here are some pictures of her programs.

2008-01-09T09:05:00.000-08:00

Next we got up that Sunday morning and took a bunch of pictures for our Christmas card. The sun and moon must have aligned because the babies just sat there and looked at the camera! Lucky us-we got several good ones!

2008-01-09T09:04:00.000-08:00

The next week was pretty much a trial of my multi-tasking! With Gracies birthday party on the 20th and Cj's on the 22nd-I wondered several times-why do I do this to myself year after year!! For Gracie-she had a "Teddy Bear Tea Party" where all her friends brought their teddy friend for tea. After dinner they dressed their teddy's up in tutu's, headbands and necklaces-whew! Just remembering is tiring!! For CJ, he had a "Christmas" party theme-everyone got to make their own faux gingerbread house. We didn't get to take as many pictures at his party-since me and Greg were both fully employed with helping the houses stick together so the kids could decorate them! Here's some photos of both their parties.

2008-01-09T09:03:00.000-08:00

So, after the birthdays, I just wanted to breathe. Thank goodness I had most of my Christmas shopping done, so the few days before Christmas were fairly calm. Christmas morning was fun to see the kids get so excited for Santa's surprise!

2008-01-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

So to finish the month off-we invited our family over for New Years Eve-we provided snacks and Suzette and Collin provided the fireworks for the kiddos. The Mortensens also came over to join us. As you can see from the pictures, it was a cold night. The wind picked up right around midnight, so as soon as we rang in the new year, it was time to go in! Happy New Year 2008!

Fall 2007 Pictures.

2007-11-14T07:24:00.001-08:00

Dance

2007-11-13T17:45:00.000-08:00

Gracie is our girly girl. She loves to dance and loves going to her dance classes. Here are some pictures that we took last week.

Hello to All!!!

2007-11-02T16:36:00.000-07:00

Hello!
Well we are finally apart of the blogging world. I know its been too long, but hey-we have 5 kids! So I mainly wanted to get this up and going for our family and friends who are far away. A shout out to my sister Lynette and her family who just last month moved to Antofagasta, Chile!! Lynette is actually my inspiration to all this blogging! I hope to meet her standards and not disappoint her OCD with being a blog eye sore. But she is helping me with getting this started, so I think I'll be ok.

This past week, we had quite the fun with Halloween. Each year we traditionally decorate our home with tons of spooky decor and for almost a month now we get the daily question of "how much longer until Halloween?" So this year the kids knew exactly what they wanted to be and we knew exactly what we wanted the twins to be-since we compare them to "Thing 1 & Thing 2" almost on a daily basis. We just wish there really was a big machine that came in every night and cleaned up their big messes and put them back in their box!! We first enjoyed a party at church for the Trunk or Treat. The babies were a huge hit! Then on Halloween night we enjoyed dinner with friends and off for Trick or Treating!!

CJ enjoyed being a skeleton and Ethan a mummy! Gracie was a fairy-(I think that she enjoyed putting makeup on the most.)

It was fun dressing the twins up. We are already trying to think about what they could be next year!! Any suggestions?

We also took the kiddos to the Pumpkin Patch a couple of weeks ago-unfortunately I was under the weather, so Greg ventured out with all of them by himself-how brave he was!! Amidst all the chaos, he was lucky to grab some good pictures!

By the way-that is Brock pulling the wagon. We have a wagon of our own at home and he LOVES to pull it anywhere we follow him! He is always trying to pull it into the house, which he gets frustrated when I won't let him. He loves to pull Riley around-and Riley doesn't mind it one bit!!

Thanks for visiting and I will email you all when I get enough moments of sanity to upload some pictures again!!