Aunt Michelle's visit

Michelle came for Christmas and we always have so much fun. I have to remind them to give her a little bit of space...otherwise they would be with her 24/7. I also have to remind her that it is ok to tell them no. :)

We went to zoo lights and of course made her ride the camel!

Dylan was loving life when Michelle went in the tree with him. He informed me that Michelle told him that it was a good place to sit & think. :)

The last few times when she has left, Dylan crys after she is gone...this time was the same. He cried a few different times the night she left because he was just so sad that she had to leave. He didn't want me to tell her but I told him that it is ok because it lets people know how much we love them when we cry for them. He said "ok, I guess you can tell her".

Until next time.

Christmas is over...

The day after Christmas I woke up to Dylan telling me that "Christmas is over, it's so sad". We had a few days straight of gift opening and he was getting used to it. :)

Christmas was lots of fun this year. It was so great to see the kids have such a great time.

We are very blessed.

Fall in Winter

Yesterday we woke up to a huge pile of leaves that had finally all fallen off our tree. Mark has been waiting for this day, he says that he used to love playing in the leaves as a kid and couldn't wait for the kids to be able to make big piles to jump in.

They had so much fun playing in it. We spend a lot of time in our front yard and this was just another thing to enjoy doing out there. I also received a big wood picnic table from Israel & Kati for my birthday. It is amazing, such a perfect gift for our yard!

Fire Station

Dylan's friend had a birthday party this last weekend at a fire station. We had a tour of the fire house and then they let them go down the fire pole and also pull the water hose. It was really fun...even for me. :)

He was so nervous when we first got there. He said to me in the car that he was scared because he has never talked to a "real life fire fighter before".

Later in the day he and our neighbor friend realized that our grape fruit tree is a great climbing tree. I looked out to see Dylan poking his head out from the top of the tree!

It has been so fun having a really great neighbor across the street.

They play together all the time

Can't wait

Remember as a kid being so excited and anxious to open up your gifts! Well Dylan has arrived at that age. I have wrapped most of our gifts we are giving and Dylan has been going thru looking for his name. A few days ago he found one of his before I stopped the madness of the wrapping being destroyed.

He has pulled that one gift out every day and shakes it, trys to guess what it is and ever so gently pulls back the paper at the seam to see if he can see in. He is so excited it's really fun to see and of course he gets his sister all excited about it as well even though she really has no clue what is going on. :)

I remember as a kid cutting the tape on a few packages and rewrapping because I just had to see what was inside. One of my best memories of that is of these red & white Ked shoes...they were so great and cool. Thanks mom. :)

"O Christmas Tree"

We got our Christmas tree this last week. It was a lot of fun decorating this year because Dylan is so into it, he wanted to have a say with where all the ornament went and he keeps asking for us to go to the store to buy more decorations for the house. :) We also have the lights up on the house, we haven't put them up for a few years so it is fun to have them glowing at night.

Picture below is Mark unloading from the roof of our car.

This year the tree went up no problem...there have been issues in past years of the trunk not fitting correctly in the stand. Thankfully all went well

Cadence loves all the lights in the neighborhood, when we drive at night she says "look mama" at each and every house. A few nights ago we went for a bike ride tour of lights in our neighborhood, the kids had so much fun.

5 Months Old

Isabelle is now 5 months old. She is getting to be a lot of fun, making noises & starting to play with some toys. She also loves to suck on her toes. :)

She started eatting food this last week. So far so good. Yesterday I gave her carrots, they went over a lot better than the rice cereal has.

Rarely does she get any space. If Isabelle is awake, usually Cadence is right there next to her trying to hug her or sit on her (which she calls snuggling...actually she says "nuggle").
Isabelle is either going to grow up loving to be around people or go the opposite and just want some space!

Thanksgiving

We had a nice meal at Mark's parents house. My side of the family always comes over for the holiday as well
AAll the kids...(isabelle not so happy :))

When I was a kid my mom had a tradition that she would make up a basket of little surprises and every time we said something we were thankful for we could pick something out. This tradition has been passed down to her grandkids. They love it and it is so fun to hear what they say now that they are getting a bit older.

Good Morning

This morning was so precious...I was laying in bed with Isabelle when Dylan came in to snuggle with us. He started hugging Isabelle and kept saying in the baby talk voice that we all do, "I love you Isabelle". And then told me how much he loves her.

Then I went to get Cadence up and I was greeted with "I wuf you, mommy". What a great morning of love. :)

The kids have been saying some fun things:
-Cadence and I were doing animal sounds in the car today, she would say a animal and I would make the noise. It went something like this, dog, cow, tiger, mickey mouse. :) I told her I wasn't sure what sound he made.

-The other day he went to play with our neighbors but they were sick. When he came back to our house I asked if he had asked them if they needed anything. He answered that he thinks "they needed some vitamin seeds"

-Dylan prayed for the family tonight at bed, he also thanked God that He was taking care of Lincoln.

-Our tangerines are starting to get ripe on our tree in the front yard. Dylan told me today that it was a good thing we had food growing in our yard just in case the grocery store ran out of stuff, then we would have things to eat.

-Dylan asked if God was bigger than the sea.

Isabelle - 4 months

My friend Camilla let me borrow her good camera to take some pictures of Isabelle. I needed some close ups of her hands, feet & head for a picture thing that I have of all the kids. It captures so much of the details...oh, to have a nice camera of my own. :)

Music to my ears

It recorded a little quiet but hopefully you can hear her.

Can you recognize the song?

Jesus Loves Me

So precious!

I read this on someone else's blog today...

Grief may be a thing we all have in common, but it looks different on everyone.

It isn’t just death we have to grieve. It’s life, it’s loss, it’s change. And when you wonder why it has to be so hard sometimes…it has to hurt so bad…the thing you have to remember is that it can turn on a dime.

But that’s how you stay alive…when it hurts so much you can’t breathe, that’s how you survive. And you remember that one day, somehow, impossibly, it won’t feel this way. It won’t hurt this much.

Grief comes in its own time for everyone, in its own way. So the best we can do, the best anyone can do is try for honesty. The really hard thing, the very worst part of grief is that you can’t control it. The best we can do is to let ourselves feel it when it comes. And let it go when we can. No, the very worst part is that the very minute you think you’re past it, it starts all over again. And always… EVERY TIME… it takes your breath away.

Big Eater

I was looking thru my pictures and forgot I had taken this...we went out to breakfast a few weeks ago. Mark had gotten up to use the restroom when our food arrived. As soon as the plates were down on the table, Cadence moved to Mark's spot and started to eat his food. I think the plate of food was as big as she is.

Birthday Party

Cadence and Dylan both had their birthdays over this last week. We had a party last weekend, it was pirate themed with a treasure hunt with the kids. I think all the kids had a good time...a bunch of water fun, a good bbq lunch, homemade cupcakes (thank you rochelle), lots of great gifts and way too much sugar!

how great is this picture of Maggie, holding the squirt gun upside down with all the water running out :)