Easter 2011

We had a really nice Easter this year. Church was absolutely amazing. I am so thankful to have such an amazing church family. I really feel like I've made some wonderful relationships at our current church. Our life group was so fun this past season. Worshiping our risen King and watching our family get baptized this morning was so uplifting. We are so blessed.

We started Easter Saturday night, late, by dying Easter eggs. It was really fun but I didn't factor in that their hands would turn colors the night before church. Thankfully the dye seemed to fade by morning. They had a lot of fun doing them!

Here is their buckets from the Easter bunny. Way too much candy this year. Mike and I might have gone to the store hungry.

On Sunday morning they couldn't wait to get their new Easter dresses on. Our girls love to dress up. Mike also made a really yummy breakfast of Belgian waffles with strawberries and whipped cream and bacon. So good!
All four kids in their Easter clothes. Ever try and get a picture of four kids all smiling at the same time? How about just all looking at the camera at the same time? Nearly impossible.
I took the opportunity to take pics of each girl today, Nate was asleep. Here's Emily, 8.
Allyson, 5.
Rylee, 3.5
All four at Nana's, pre-Easter egg hunt.

Nate enjoyed swinging during the hunt.
We put all of Emily's eggs in spots taller than her so she wouldn't get all of the eggs.

I LOVE this picture of Allyson. So photogenic.
I suggested to my mom to get them colored bubbles for Easter. Cheap and fun. However the colors were super dark and very messy. We quickly replaced them with regular soap and water, but they had some fun first with the colored bubbles.


Nate ate a cupcake and watched them blow bubbles.

Blessed

This morning was a rough morning. None of my kids were in a particularly good mood. No one wanted to either go to school or get ready for school . Nate had been crying since 5 a.m. and was just plain cranky. But by the end of the day, things had turned around. Everyone was happy and doing great. I went from frustrated in the morning to feeling blessed to have such great kids. As I was cooking dinner I was watching my girls play bowling on Kinect and laughing at each others gutter balls and extolling each others victories. I had asked Emily to take her book into the back yard and read and keep an eye on Nate, who loves being outside. She not only happily complied but proceeded to follow him around the yard helping him with what he wanted to play with, including swinging him and making him laugh. In that moment I felt so blessed. I have good kids. They may fight sometimes, they may get an attitude every once in a while or even talk back. But they have good hearts. One of my favorite things on Sunday morning after church, or after school when they bring home their art work is listening to them say, "Look (place a sisters name), I made this for you!" And they ooooh and ahhh over the prized craft. They do that every time. It's rarely made for me or for themselves, it's always reserved for each other. They really lift one another up and encourage each other. I LOVE that and hope it continues.

I never planned on having four. 2 was my plan. I still sometimes struggle with how busy and challenging it is. Just ask my mom who I unload to on a regular basis. I like to have my house clean. I like to have peace and quiet. I have high standards for them, mostly too high. But I feel like I've learned so much. I am really learning how to stop comparing myself to other moms. My house is not beautifully decorated or perfectly clean. There are pencil marks on my wall that I swear I'm going to get tomorrow. Never happens. I'm learning to make my kids a priority over my house. Seems simple but I'm a neat freak and it's not so simple all the time. The last few months I've stopped to play with them more, laugh with them more, read to them more and it's so much more rewarding than a clean house. Ally told me the other day, "mommy you are the best, you are so much fun. You read to us, take us to the park and let us play at Bella's house." That was the best compliment. Especially since she's such a daddy's girl, I rarely get that kind of thing from her.

Emily told me the other day she's praying for the neighbor that she plays with regularly. He told her he didn't believe in God so she said she told him all about Jesus and that she was going to keep praying and telling him more about her faith. She was so concerned for him. I loved it. I worry all the time that we're not doing enough to grow our kids faith. I'm asking myself if I'm saying or doing the right thing...what I forget is that God is living and moving in their hearts. He's doing the work. Yes, I need to help her grow in her faith, but God is doing far more than I ever could.

So all this to say, I am so thankful for my FOUR wonderful children. I am so thankful for each of their different personalities. They challenge me and make me better. They've made me rely on God in a way I never had before. This may seem rambling but it's been on my heart for a while so I thought I would put it down to "paper" so to say.

Ally's Five Birthdays

Ally's first birthday!
Second birthday...Love that face!
Ally's third birthday.
Fourth Birthday...
Now she's a big 5 year old. The years have gone by fast. She's such a sweet girl and we love her so much. I hope she never outgrows her sweet shy smile she has. Friends and family know what I'm talking about!

For her birthday this year we took her to Leatherby's. We had the place to ourselves and the kids ate ice cream and colored in the coloring books I bought. It was so low key and perfect. She loved it. All the kids had banana splits and they loved them. Ally doesn't like cake so it was just what she wanted. I may just do that every year for her birthday. Cleanup was non existent and shew as so happy. It was a nice little party.

Christmas 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas. On Christmas Eve we had my parents, my uncle Mark and Grandma over for Zuppa soup and twice baked potato soup. It was very nice. The girls and I also baked Santa cookies, the traditional sugar cookies cut out and iced with frosting and sprinkles. They were a very yummy treat for Santa and for us!

Santa came in the middle of the night and delivered Emily a new bike, Ally a new camera and Rylee the helmet she wanted to badly. Unfortunately Ally's camera didn't work very well and after 3 attempts at new cameras we gave up and got her a much needed new bike. She loves it. Christmas morning, right after they woke up...at 7:30!
Opening presents!
Emily was so excited to get this video camera she wanted from Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Amy. It was even better than she hoped as it was her favorite color!
We didn't get much for Nate this year as he's still pretty young but the first gift we gave him was about halfway through opening presents. He was so exited to get one he walked around showing everyone and babbling in excitement. He even did a good job opening it. He really liked ripping the paper.
One of the things the girls got in their stockings was a balloon with a rubber band. He loved banging that ball around.

After opening presents at our house, we went to mom and dad's for the day. It was really fun. We ate a yummy breakfast and relaxed all day before Mike's traditional dinner of prime rib, it was amazing!

Birthday and Holidays

It has been an incredibly busy month. November and December are fast pace for our family with 2 birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and school functions. I seem to be baking, making and preparing for one thing after another. So here's some pictures of what we've been up to these last few months, newest to oldest.

The girls all sang at church this past Sunday. Emily had a little solo. She did really well, even though she forgot to sing the sheep part the first time around and started out singing the cow. It was cute though! They sang The Friendly Beasts and Go Tell It On The Mountain. Ally and Emily sang especially loud. I could pick up their voices both services.

Emily at the second service...she actually was the cow this time!
Allyson had her school performance, and I think she'll forgive me when she reads this someday but is was a HORRIBLE night. LOL! All the kids looked adorable and did a great job. Even though it was preschool, Ally's teacher miss Cindy asked Emily to be the Ghost of Christmas past, present and future. She did a great job. And Ally opened the play by welcoming the guests and announcing their play title. Unfortunately the room was packed beyond the max. capacity. There was no air in the very hot room, no microphones, no music, no stage. So we couldn't hear a thing. The only person I heard talking was Emily. I leaned over to my dad at one point and told him Emily was the entire play. =). The whole thing was utter chaos and a fellow mom and myself vowed to take over the performance next year. This is not my first unorganized play at this preschool. Thankfully her teacher is very capable in the classroom.
Next up that week was Emily's 8th birthday. Her actual birthday was on a Wednesday so I made blue cupcakes with rings on top (her personal request). Then, Mike and I took just her to dinner. She really wanted Red Lobster but that didn't work out with the restaurant not functioning correctly, so we took her to applebee's. She loved the mozzarella sticks, strawberry lemonade and chicken strips. She had a really good time. It was nice to spend one on one time with her.
On Friday, I was preparing for her Saturday party. Actually, I was all week by running tons of errands looking for the best prices on the things I needed. But the actual baking and prepping was Friday. I made 58 Christmas tree cookies. 30 were being wrapped up for her class to take home along with a candy cane, pencil, and yo yo for their goody bags after her party.
My mom and I made Emily's under the sea cake. It turned out adorable and she absolutely loved it.
We had her party at round table. 4 friends from school came and a bunch of friends and family. It was very fun. We played 2 rounds of bingo, 2 rounds of pin the tail on the donkey, ate pizza, cake and ran around a lot!




For her birthday, Emily received 2 Barne's and Noble's gift cards so on Sunday, Mike and I took her to pick out some books before we took her to the movies. It was a lot of fun, she got great books and we got to hang out with just her for a few hours again. Below is her with her stack of books. She couldn't decide between them all so daddy stepped in and paid over $20! He has a soft spot for his girls!
After picking out books, we took her to see Narnia. She was so excited. She had been waiting months to see it. We splurged and took her to the XD 3D showing. It was definitely worth the money. Below is Emily practically running to the theater.
Here she is with her snacks and glasses waiting for it to start. She never even noticed the camera flash she was so into the movie.
After that busy weekend, it was the final week of school. Ally had pajama/game day. She brought Disney Bingo on DVD. It was a huge hit. Then I made pretzel sticks dipped in white chocolate rolled in either smashed butterfinger, candy canes, mini chocolate chips, or assorted Christmas sprinkles for Emily's class and Mike's office. I sliced cheese and used cookie cutters to make holiday shapes for Emily's class on Friday. It was a lot of work but also very fun. Then, after a crazy day of cooking for Mike's office party, it was FINALLY Christmas break.

Below is the girls making a gingerbread tree. It was a lot of fun. They got to frost the star shaped cookies, then I would stack each layer. Then they put on the star and candy ornaments. It took a decent amount of time, little mess, little explanation and it was just a fun time. I think gingerbread houses are fun but I'm just not patient enough with the ages of my girls. This was perfect because you didn't have to be super careful.


Finished product!
Next up...Christmas and Allyson's birthday.

Emily's Story

Santa's Funniest Trip Of All Trips In All The World

This is the story of Santa's funniest trip of all trips. Once Santa landed on a house red and green with sparkles and snow on the roof. Santa looked in the window and saw two puppies looking in the window. He told them, "shh" cause they were about to bark. Then Santa goes to the roof by a sparkly red and green ladder. On the roof he almost slips but he makes it. Then he goes down the roof. The puppies jump on him quietly. They see Santa at the chimney where stockings are hung. Immediately he delivers presents for you and me under the tree. And finally Santa finishes the last stocking and goes up the chimney. He gets in his sleigh, clicks his reindeer and says MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY. AND GOODNIGHT. GOODBYE!!!!! The end

Emily wrote this in school! I thought it was cute.

Busy 1st Week of December

We've had a very busy week. We started the week off with Emily's 2nd grade pow wow, a doctors appt. for 3 of my kids, then Emily's award ceremony at school, then Ally had a field trip to All Fired Up. Busy weeks like this are always nice because they make the week go by fast but it also makes it a little exhausting when you add in the regular day to day routine.

Emily was so excited about her 2nd grade pow wow. She talked and talked about it for weeks. At home, we made a guitar out of a shoebox. We decorated it with feathers and beads and Indian signs. She loved it and used it during their pow wow.

Here she is holding her instrument right before they did a dance.
I thought this was so cute, doesn't he look absolutely bored out of his mind?
Walking around chanting. She didn't smile at all. She was very serious. I think she was nervous.
On Friday, Emily got an award for being a top reader. She's now gotten that award 3 years in a row from 3 different teachers. I think she's ready to get something different but we're proud of her. She's reading over 200 wpm and all the time. I can see why she gets this award.
After Emily's award ceremony I took Ally on her preschool class field trip to All Fired Up. This field trip was a reschedule as the lady who owns the shop didn't show up the first time. Ally was very sad. So today was a big day for her. She chose a butterfly to paint and wouldn't let me help her, not one bit. She had to coat it three times on each side and so we had to take it over to a blow dryer to dry it between coats. She wouldn't even allow me to help dry it. Very independent my girls are! The owner drew a face, eyelashes and wrote her name on her butterfly at the end. She can't wait to get it on Tuesday when it's done being "fired up"!
Here's Ally and some school mates waiting to paint.

Nathan had a 12 mo. check up on Thursday. He weighed in at 21 lbs. He was 10% in weight and 70th in height. No shocker there, seems to be our pattern. He is healthy and doing great. He is mostly sleeping all night now and is a very happy boy. He loves balls and brushes. If he has one of those things, he can play for long stretches on his own.

Next week isn't going to be much better. My first baby girl is going to be 8! That is crazy. The years are not going by any slower, in fact, it seems to have sped up. We are so very proud of who she is becoming. She is so smart and fun to be around. I can't wait to have her big birthday party at the pizza parlor next weekend. Lots of pictures to come so stay tuned! And Ally has her school play that even Emily has a part in. They are doing the Christmas Carol and Emily is one (if not all ) of the ghosts. Ally is very excited about that night. Emily is too, except she's missing the AWANA Christmas party and is learning that in life there are choices that need to be made. It's not always easy, but it's necessary.