Dylan turns 7!

Since we are in the process of selling our house and all the chaos that that can cause, the birthdays this year have been a little less planned than usual. Dylan kept changing his mind about what he wanted for his cake right up until a few days before. In the end, I shouldn't have been surprised that the theme was legos. That has been his obsession for the last year or so. He bounced out of bed at about 6:00am and was smiling from ear to ear. He knew that it was HIS day and couldn't wait for it to start. The house was full of cousins and grandparents and he was so spoiled he couldn't have asked for more. Happy Birthday Dylan!

Courtney Turns 9!

Courtney turned nine this March. She had her cake all planned out weeks ahead of time. She drew me a picture of it and posted it on the fridge where I would be sure to see it when it was time to make her cake. She is getting very specific on things she likes and how she thinks things should be. When I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday she said she wanted to have a sleepover and nothing else would do. She invited her cousins, Leanne and Chantel and they really had fun! We got Courtney a new game for the Wii that was all about mimicking the dancers on screen. It was fun and they all agreed it was a great workout! Then they all got a chance to paint a painting on some little canvases that we got for the occaision. They were all so unique and fun I had to get a picture.

We also had a rare event the week of her birthday--SNOW! At least in Oregon that was a first. I never remember having snow this late in the year. So the kids got a day off school and had to go out and try to make a snowman. We had to get Phoebe out there too as it was really her first snowfall. She didn't know what to think and just mainly watched the other kids. But next time she'll know what to do.

Happy Birthday Paige!

Paige turns 4 on the 28th, and we had a little party for last night. She was so excited to be turning 4 and having a party. But she is a little confused about the difference between getting presents on her birthday and at Christmas. Every time I asked her about her party she kept asking me if santa was going to come and bring her presents. I tried to explain the difference but I am not sure she was listening. She was excited to have all of her cousins and grandparents come for the party. She loved all her gifts. At one point, she was so excited she couldn't contain it, so she just grabbed grandma Debby and squeezed her tight!

Another time she said "everything is just perfect!" So I guess its safe to say she had a good time and I wonder now how we'll every be able to top it. She kept changing her mind about what she wanted her birthday cake to be like, so we ended up doing this cake with 4 different princesses just to make sure we had all the bases covered. Check out my cake blog for more close-up pictures. Happy Birthday Paige!

Christmas 2011

So this post is way overdue but here are the pictures of our Christmas. Here are the kids in their new Christmas pajamas. Somehow I missed getting pictures of Phoebe. I think that she must have been sleeping everytime I went to get the camera. I just hope she doesn't hold it against me. These are the gingerbread houses we made. I decided to go with smaller houses this year, so they could each have their own. It worked out pretty well. We got together with cousins at grandma Haycock's house and the sheer volume of candy was pretty amazing.

I have also included pictures of Courtney's Nutcracker performance. It was a fun start to the holiday season. I am really coming to look forward to it.

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.