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My oldest and wisest...

Here's Ethan. Man, I love this kid. So much fun. I've loved being able to spend so much time with him this summer. We have been able to do a lot of fun things. When we don't have something planned, Ethan still manages to keep himself busy. Here are some of his latest adventures:
1-You may notice in this picture that he is missing a tooth. We took him and his cousins to McDonalds for happy meals last week. While eating his hamburger, his tooth fell out. According to him, "I felt something crunchy in my mouth. I didn't know what it was, but I didn't want it in there, so I just swallowed it as quick as I could". Good thinking. This is the second tooth he has swallowed while eating!
2-You may also notice his new buzz cut. He hasn't had his hair this short in a long time. We didn't really have a choice, since Ethan decided to give himself a haircut. He took the scissors to his own hair! He has never tried to do that before, but he thought now was a good time to try it. He says Colby told him it would be "so, so fun", so what could he do? He took off a nice big chunk, right against the scalp. He even sun burned his little bald spot! We had to cut the rest of the hair short to match, but the sad thing is I didn't buzz it until last night, and he had cut it about 2 weeks ago. I made him walk around with weird hair for way too long!
3-And finally, a few weeks ago I was out running some errands and the kids were home with Zak. When I got home, Ethan was laying on the couch with tear streaked cheeks. He had hurt his foot and ankle. How? He tried to do a cannonball off the bunk bed! Once again, good thinking! He didn't break anything, but must have bruised it pretty bad, because he was limping for about a week.
If you ask Ethan about any of these things, he gets really embarrassed. It's actually pretty funny to see. He doesn't even like me to tell the stories, so he won't be so happy if he knows I put them on here! One thing that did make him feel a little better was being able to swap stories with his uncle Keith.
My brother, Keith, has had lots of crazy adventures. When Ethan told him about jumping off the bunk bed, Keith told him about when he jumped off the roof into a snow pile. Since the snow pile was only about a foot deep, it didn't turn out quite as he planned. After hearing this, and lots of other stories about Keith, Ethan was feeling a lot better about his experiences. I'm not sure if that is good or bad!! I would not be able to handle it if Ethan was even half as crazy as Keith!

5 years old!

Colby turned 5 years old last month! I can't believe how grown up he is! We decided to skip the party this year, and just do dinner out and cake and presents as a family. Colby got to choose whichever restaurant he wanted. His choice was McDonald's (much to my dismay). It was a fun night, though. We sure love you Colby! Thanks for being such a great kid!

A little late...and a little more homemade

I've mentioned these cookies before, and the tradition has continued every Valentine's day, my entire life, except this year. The chocolate wafers I've always used to make these cookies, were no where to be found this year. My sisters were all able to find them, but the stores I checked around here no longer carry them. What was I to do? Larissa offered to mail some to me, but I figured I could just do without this year (as sad as that would be). Then, thanks to my cousin, I realized I could make the wafers! What a novel idea! So, after a whole lot of work, and lots of failed wafers, I was able to make the cookies. They taste delicious, maybe even better then when made with the store bought ones. It was a little after Valentine's day, but these little guys are still welcome even if they are a little late!

Sadie turned 2!

Our little Sadie Bug turned 2 earlier this month! I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She is so fun and has a whole lot of personality.

We had a lady bug party, or a be-bo party as Sadie calls it.

Here she is opening her presents (or actually watching her brothers open them for her). She was pretty excited about her new doll!

Happy Birthday little girl! We are so happy you are part of our family! You bring so much joy to us all, and we love you so much!

A little girl

Peeked in Sadie's room and saw this. She makes me smile.

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

So every year I am a little slow getting our Christmas cards out. I don’t know why I let it sneak up on me, I should be used to the idea by now and plan ahead, but I don’t. So, as I started to look into some of the photo cards out there on the web, I was very impressed with Shutterfly. So many great Christmas cards! They have a wide selection so we won’t end up sending the same cards as every other family. I love that they have so many different layouts—some with just one picture, and some with spots for a few pics in case I can’t just pick one shot. Also, they offer a lot of folded cards, which I think are great. They seem like the more traditional card, but with a modern twist. Anyway, here are a couple of my favorites:

As you can see, I might have a hard time choosing! You can check out lots more of their Christmas Photo Cards. And, the coordinating address labels—so cool. Shutterfly also has great gift ideas for Christmas, and many of them are on sale!
So not only am I loving their cards, I’m loving the fact that I can get some for FREE! They are running a promotion for bloggers to get 50 free cards and I am so excited. You can do it too, by clicking here, but the cutoff is today so you have to be quick!

Thanks Shutterfly!

Hard to impress

Colby started preschool in August. The first time was a little rough since he is so shy, but since then he has been loving it! He gets to do all kinds of fun things there that I never let him do at home, like painting, play-dough, and tracing in a pile of shaving cream. Ms. Robyn is so great. Colby is always so proud of the projects he brings home. He is a total perfectionist, so he takes his time with his coloring and everything. Sometimes when I go to pick him up the other kids are playing, and he is still sitting at the table, carefully finishing his work.

There is one little girl in his class that is just so cute. Always so nice and polite. Her mom told me that she likes Colby and keeps talking about him all the time. We had talked about getting them together for a play date sometime. Later I was asking Colby about her.

Me: Colby, are you friends with Allie?

C: Yeah.

Me: Do you play with her a lot?

C: Sometimes.

Me: She says you're her best friend.

C: ((little grin))

Me: She's really nice, right?

C: Yeah, well....well....um....sometimes....she scribbles.

Sorry Allie, this kid has standards. You're going to have to clean up your act if you want to impress him.

Nice Hair

Most days, I try to keep Sadie's hair from looking like this:

She's not quite to the ponytail length yet, so we use clips. Clips that she loves to pull out and leave everywhere. We go through them pretty quickly, so I went to Target last week and stocked up, buying 3 packages. When she found them the next morning, she was so excited, she wanted to wear them all.

At the same time.

Oh yes, much nicer.

Where we are

We have been having a great and busy summer so far. Swimming, reading, playing, camping, working....It has been fun. I thought maybe I could take a little break to blog, since I have really been neglecting this poor thing.

I love having Ethan home. He is growing up too fast and I love that during the summer we get to take a little break and spend a lot of time together. He is such a great older brother. He spends hours helping to entertain the other two, who think he is just the greatest. Sadie loves to bring him books to read, and he sometimes ends up reading the same ones over and over before he finally tells her to take it to me. Every morning Colby asks Ethan, "so, what are we playing today?" He knows that Ethan can always come up with something. There have been many times where Ethan has to help his very shy brother by holding his hand or sticking by him in crowded places, and he is always willing. He loves to teach Colby about anything and everything. He has become quite the expert on some things now that he is done with first grade, and luckily for the rest of us, he is always sharing his knowledge. The other day he asked if he could plan the family home evening lesson. He did great, finding a scripture story and one from the friend and tying them together with a little visual aid he had. I was impressed. I know his Primary teacher always prepares great lessons and I think she has rubbed off on him. I am so proud of the boy he is.

Colby has grown up a lot over the last little while. He will be starting preschool in August and I am really excited to see how he adjusts to that. He has always been really shy, but when he is willing to let his personality out, it is so fun. He loves to laugh, and will make up jokes for hours. He also has a great imagination and comes up with lots of "what if's". He is my little helper, and I often find that he has done jobs around the house without even being asked. I love it. He also loves to help Sadie with anything, from getting her a toy to getting her out of her crib (which is a pretty impressive feat). When I am trying to be positive, I describe him as persistent, but it could also be described as down right stubborn. It is near impossible to get him to eat, wear, or do anything that he does not choose on his own. He loves to be a big boy most the time, but sometimes he still wants to be comforted or snuggled, and I am perfectly fine with that.

Sadie is quickly turning from a baby into a toddler. She is running all over the place and is starting to understand so much. She loves her brothers immensely and follows them everywhere they go. She spends her days playing with cars and dinosaurs and superheros, but usually does it with some fancy necklaces on and a baby doll right next to her. She has become the little princess and even her brothers have learned that she is going to win most every disagreement because none of us like to see her upset. She is almost always happy, and loves to show her cute dimpled smile to whoever she sees. Although she is still wary of getting too close to most people, she has picked a few that she has decided are her buddies, and she loves to interact with them. I never knew I would love having a daughter so much. It is so fun. I also love seeing how her dad treats her. She definitely won him over. I just can't believe how fast she is growing up. She is almost 17 months already! We are excited to see more of who she is as she grows up, but we are happy just enjoying this baby girl stage while it lasts.

Zak and I just celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. Crazy. I does not feel like it's been that long! But it is fun to look back at all the things we have been through together. When we first got married, I don't think we realized all the adventures that would lie ahead. It has been fun to experience so much together, and to look forward to what is to come. I sure love him. He has been more busy than usual this summer, so he has missed out on a lot of playing, and we have missed having him around.

More summer fun is in the works, and our schedules continue to get busier, so this blog might still be feeling neglected for awhile....

She's One!

You can have a party in you dream's tonight...It's Pajama Time

We love Christmas Eve pajamas!

And the cute kids wearing them!

Christmas Pictures

As usual, we were such slackers getting our family pictures taken this year. As we got ready for church one Sunday, I figured we were all looking as good as we would any other time, so we better get some shots. This is how most of them turned out:

Not so cute. We were able to get a couple that would work, but I really think we are due for some professional help!

It's not too hard to get a shot of Sadie looking cute. It was so fun to see her enjoying everything Christmas--even if she did eat everything she could get her hands on!

Seeing Seattle

My sister Larissa has spent the last 7 years or so living far away. First in Milwaukee, and now in Seattle. I get to see her when she comes here for holidays and other things, but I have never been to her house. I decided a few months ago that I really wanted to go, and that I would surprise her for her birthday.

Surprise!

So, Sadie and I took off to spend almost a week up there. We went to some fun spots in Seattle, like Pike Place Market...

The Space Needle...

And a ferry ride over to Kingston for a fun day trip.

(It was a little windy)

My niece Olivia was afraid to get her pants wet in the freezing water, so she pulled them all the way up and had a great new look going.

We ate some delicious crepes. Yum!

Sadie was pretty clingy for the whole trip, but she did like to play with her cousins. Olivia got to teach her how to accessorize!

We had so much fun! Thanks for letting us crash your place Lar! Hopefully next time we come to visit you'll be much closer!

Zak stayed home with the boys for the week. Luckily we have great friends who were willing to help out so Zak could get some work in. He ran a pretty tight ship, making sure homework and chores were done everyday. And they got to have fun watching movies, eating out, and going to the wildlife museum.

A little late...

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