Caleb's 5th birthday

He is SOOOOOO happy to be 5 years old!!  He feels so big and is super pumped that since he's 5, he gets to go to big school this year!  We had a good time celebrating Mr. Smiley and he was so pleasant all day, which made his special day that much more fun.

I'm in love with this picture!  He is so photogenic and so darn cute!

Gettin' around on his own wheels now.  He mastered that thing in no time, boot and all.  The birthday continued today with the release of the boot.  Woo Hoo!!

"Mommy, I want a white cake with white frosting and the Planes movie on it."  We managed to accomplish all 3 requests by tweaking things a bit.  Abby was sweet to draw Dusty Crophopper and then cut him out to place on the cake for decoration.  Dusty is an orange plane and since we would have to use the dreaded red dye to make orange, we needed an alternative.  Seems to have been a success and I'm loving getting to see Caleb's true self and personality shine through when he isn't bothered by food sensitivities.  He suddenly looks so much bigger and older to me today.  So big!!  

Abby's 7th birthday

I'm just not so sure this is even ok...7 years old?!?!  Abby is just growing and growing and it is really neat to see her becoming a wonderful young lady.  Her birthday this year was on a school day so it was either get up a little early and do presents or wait until school was out and I left it up to her.  You can see what she chose by the pj-clad siblings...  :)

She was really excited for her special day and enjoyed some special attention at school on her exact day.  I was able to sit with her during lunch and go to recess with her.

More than capable of reading her birthday cards on her own this year.  So big!!

She asked for me to make her a Hello Kitty cake.  I think she was pleased with the outcome.  :)

Emily's 2nd birthday

Happy 2nd birthday to our Emily!!  It was a cold, snowy day (as usual) but we enjoyed playing outside, the warm fireplace inside, and lots of smiles and love in celebration of our birthday girl.  She definitely had the hang of opening presents this year, but was patient with the willing helpers.  :)

Not every newly-minted 2-year-old can fit in her doll's pack n play...but mine can!  She truly thought it was for her.  Hahaha!!!

She loves being the center of attention and we all enjoyed a bite of her giant skillet cookie!  She really keeps us on our toes but we love her so much!!

Mission Buffalo Gap

The first week in June our church embarked on a week-long service project for the community of Buffalo Gap.  We cleaned up the outside of someone's home and really made their yard shine and also did a major overhaul on the elementary school's grounds.  That involved tearing down an old building no longer in use, sandblasting all of the playground equipment (which is a lot!), happening on and then clearing out an abandoned rock garden, pulling up yard after yard after yard of landscape fabric, and mowing and trimming until we didn't know which way was up.

The kids and I were able to do work most mornings, but they needed rest time and cool down time in the afternoons.  I'm proud of them though, for all their hard work and love of Christ and others through service that week.  We are thankful to be part of a church that constantly serves others and helps us as we try to model and instill that in our children.  It will be fun for Abby and Caleb to get to reap the benefits of their hard work when the school year starts again!  And Emily in the afternoons after school is dismissed.  :)

2013-2014 school year

The 2013-2014 school year was definitely different for us because we sent off 2 (well, one just twice a week) but we successfully completed an entire school year in one location, which was nice.  :)  Abby sailed through first grade and we just adored her teacher!  I really hope we "just happen" to have that teacher again in two years for Caleb.  It was a good school year for Caleb in Mother's Day Out and he is also a very quick study and we had some personal growths with him as well.  Woo Hoo!  It was sad to not be in class with their best friends, Garrett and Avery who still live in Arkansas, but Abby made friends with some very sweet little girls in her class and Caleb got to know a few kids who are entering kindergarten at our school in the fall as well.  Emily tagged around with me all day every day, poor kid.  Ha!

First day of first grade!  Sporting 2 missing teeth on the bottom that would very quickly be replaced with those adult chompers.  And we outgrew our shoes halfway during the year.  Yikes.

First day of Mother's Day Out (part-time preschool)!  Enjoyed playing and meeting new friends, especially in his boy-filled class, but hated to have to get quiet and still for rest time.  Also outgrew our shoes during the year...twice!  Double yikes.

A rare moment of Emily contentedly playing by herself while Mommy got a bite of breakfast.  Almost every day she looked forward to "go Babby's school" to pick up Abby and when we went to Caleb's preschool she always announced "uh huh, yeah, yeah, me, me!" over and over.  :)  Someone's in a hurry to grow up, just as long as her bottle and pacifier aren't far away!

We're enjoying our summer and anticipating the 2014-2015 school year.  Exciting (and so very busy) times!!!

That Time I Didn't Blog For A Year...

Just a few things have gone on in the past year, or more like over a year.  Here's what my (very good, very valid) excuses boil down to:

1.  Life is busy with 3 kids and it's perfectly good for the computer to take a back seat.

2.  We moved.

3.  We moved again.

4.  We didn't have internet service for about 6 months.

5.  Our computer decided to be stupid (and we just now bought a new and reliable one).

I make no promises in staying entirely current but thought I'd give it a whirl.  Read at your own risk.  Ha!


Let's start with catching up on LAST year's birthdays:

Emily turned ONE!  So big!!  She really got into that cupcake.

Then, Abby turned SIX the same day her daddy accepted a new job!

And then, Caleb turned FOUR!  We were all loving his enormous cookie cake that he chose!

And by now the girls have both had their birthdays again and the dude's is fast-approaching again!  I'm so very glad that we are more or less getting into a good groove around here.  Been a good but crazy year.  Stay tuned...

Catch-Up: Christmas Cuties

 

Obviously Emily had other things on her to-do list besides sit for a picture.

 

 

 

Snow for Christmas!!