Phoebe turns 1 on 11/11/11

What a day to have your first birthday! Last year when she was born we thought how neat it would have been if she had been born on 11/11/11, but I think it is more appropriate that she turns one on that day. Not that she could tell the difference. I think she was just in shock that we let her dig in to the cake that way! I decided to go with a circus themed cake, just because she wasn't old enough to argue and I have been wanting to try it out for a while. It took a lot longer than I thought it would but it was fun to make. We can't believe how fast the year has gone. She has turned into quite the personality. She is my best eater yet. She rarely turns anything down as far as food goes. In fact, it sometimes seems the only way to keep her happy is to keep feeding her. Despite that she is still quite petite. I just took her to the doctor and at 17 pounds 3 ounces she is now in only the 3rd percentile for her weight. She isn't walking yet although she does stand on her own and is quite proud when she does it. She is still a mommy's girl and wants my attention pretty much all the time. She now has teeth on top and bottom and boy does she know how to use them!

I had to take Phoebe to get her one year pictures and so I decided to get Paige's done at the same time. They turned out really well despite the fact that Phoebe did not want to cooperate. Paige was a little angel that day and it really shows in the pictures. Of all my kids she has been the easiest to take shopping or on errands in general. A fact which I have always been thankful for. I thought I would also include Courtney and Dylan's school pictures here. They are looking so grown up. I almost wanted to cry when I had to change out the pictures I had up on the wall.This picture was taken just days before she lost her two front teeth. You can see how she is trying not to show them. They were so loose that they were hanging funny, but she refused to let anyone pull them. So it took a while before they finally fell out on their own.
You'd never guess it by the grin on his face, but picture day is about the only day I can convince Dylan to wear a shirt that doesn't have a superhero on it.

Happy Halloween 2011

So we went to the pumpkin patch with our little preschool group. And it was the coldest day of the year, so even though they were bundled up the kids were almost too cold to enjoy it. Paige's favorite part had to be watching them make fresh apple cider because we were able to be inside for it. But I was impressed that she was brave enough to feed the goat. In the end, we got our pumpkins and I made pumpkins cupcakes for the kids to eat afterward as it was my turn to be in charge. At least it didn't rain!

For Halloween we actually did get a little rain but we did the trunk or treat two days before and that day was dry. Here are the kids in this year's costumes. They were especially excited to have Phoebe dress up for the first time. It was the big debate whether she would wear Courtney's old princess costume or Dylan's lion costume. We decided that since she is known for her very loud growling noises (especially during church!) that the lion was most appropriate.

Summer 2011

This post is waaay overdue so I am doing a bit of catch up here. We went to the Great Wolf Lodge in Washington about a week before school started for two nights. The kids loved it! The only one who didn't was Phoebe as she wasn't big enough to take part in much of the water activities and missed out on naps etc. But Clint and I just took turns holding her and it worked out. We got a room that had a little cabin in it for the kids with their own TV and they liked that. But we really spent almost the whole time in the water park. I have to say riding down the water slides on the tubes with my kids was the highlight for me. Its so fun that they are old enough that we can begin to enjoy doing things like this together.