Happy Birthday Anne !

This is the beginning of the birthday month in our family.  Within a month, half of us have a birthday. :)

Anne turned 3 on Friday.  I just love my little girl.  She has so much personality and loves her family so much.  She gives the best hugs and kisses.  It's funny because she is so tiny that no one that sees her believes she is 3, but sometimes I believe she is more like 4 or 5 because she talks so mature.  The other day she was sitting next to Jacob and it's hard to believe but they are almost the same size...just 2 years apart. :)

Here are some of Annie's favorites:  playing with Jacob, taking baths, chewing bubble gum, mint chocolate ice cream, changing her clothes multiple times a day, getting new clothes or shoes (she gets so excited), drawing, sitting on Christopher's bed and looking at books with her brothers, getting tickled by daddy, puppy dogs, reading books with mommy, swinging at the park, and laughing...she has the best laugh.

I love having a daughter and since it looks like she is the only one I will get, I'm go glad that her little spirit came to our family.  She is so spirited and kind and we all love her so much.

Happy Birthday Annie-bananie !


Breakfast in bed is one of my favorite birthday traditions.  The kids love it so much! 
They all had a fun (dirty) day playing and so we did baths before cake and gifts so that is why they are all in their pajamas in most of the pictures. :)  Plus I have the hardest time getting Annie to actually look at the camera...she is too  busy to bother with me taking pictures. :)
Also, I had so much fun making the flower cupcakes.  I made the flower tops out of candy melts.  I saw the idea on Bakerella.

Proud mama

We had back to school night last night.  Jeff and I enjoyed meeting Christopher's teacher and can see why he likes her so much.  We already knew Michael's teacher because Christopher had her last year and we really like her too.  They had some of the kids work there for us to see and there was something from each boy that impressed me. 

Each child in Michael's class had made a little person and drawn it like themself.  Then it had a little briefcase with some clues about themselves and said, "Who am I?"  A lot of the kids wrote about the toys they had or their pets.  Michael's said, "I have 2 brothers and 1 sister".  I liked that he was proud of his family.  We love Michael!

In Christopher's class he had also drawn a picture of his family.  But we also got to look at his notebook that they write in every morning.  One morning they were supposed to write about what they did over the weekend.  Christopher's page said, "Over the weekend I went to church" and he drew a picture of the church.  I love that he wrote that.  He could have written about playing or anything else, but I like that he associates church with the weekend.  What a good little missionary.  We love Christopher!

Annie and Jacob are enjoying their play time at home together and get along well.  Annie likes to play with playdough when she has it all to herself and Jacob is actually saying a few words...hi and mama.  We love Annie and Jacob!

First day of school

* sorry for this long post.  The blog is sort of turning into a family journal of sorts and I don't write in my personal journal as often as I should so I didn't want to miss documenting this fun day.

    

    Yesterday was the first day of school for Michael and Christopher.  It was a good morning.  I got up extra early to make sure things weren't rushed but it still ended up being a little rushed to actually get out the door.  Jeff gave the boys very nice father's blessings to start off the year and I feel so blessed to have the priesthood in my home.  These priesthood blessings really help them have a great year.  The boys were excited to wear their new sneakers and back packs and school shirts.  The look so cute in their uniforms.  We had a big breakfast but they didn't eat very much.  I think it was the nerves.  I remember that happening when I was young.  We took Anne and Jacob over to Wendy's house and then walked across the street to the school.  Christopher saw some of his friends from last year and went right up to them and started talking.  When the bell rang he gave hugs and went right into class and found his desk.  He was so brave.  He is going to have a great year!
     Then we went with Michael to the gym for the kindergarten opening.  The principal talks for a little bit and then they lead the kids to the class.  Michael has the same teacher Christopher had last year and we are very happy about that.  But Michael was getting more and more afraid, (which we expected) and didn't want to go in when it was time.  Last year they didn't let the parents go to the classroom at all and that was a little hard, but this year they let them walk them to the room.  But when it came down to it I had to actually pick Michael up and take him in and put him in his chair.  It could have been worse but he wasn't really going for it at first.  But his teacher is so nice and said I could stay for a little while if needed (she said, "You have special privileges")  :)  But I just got him settled and gave him a hug and Jeff and I left.  I knew he would be fine and  love it.  I had a few tears because I knew he was worried, but I did much better than last year where I was sobbing as much as Christopher was.  This year I already knew his teacher and the school and I was much more comfortable with it all. 
    When I picked them up they both talked forever about how much fun they had.  Christopher looked a little overwhelmed.  Not sad or anything but I'm sure the first day of first grade is a lot of new information compared to kindergarten. We all went and got an ice cream cone and came home.  The boys played so well together all afternoon, which was nice compared to the bickering they have been doing lately.  :)  We had a fun dinner (spaghetti buses- pict below) and then went and vacuumed out the car.  They went to bed pretty easily since they had such a tiring, eventful day.  I'm really excited for this school year and all the fun things they will learn.  I can't believe I have 2 kids in school now. :)

Last...and only...summer trip

I feel like summer break went so fast and I wonder...what did we do?  I mean, I don't think summer should be non stop fun and games for kids.  They still need to do their chores and do a little bit of learning each day and life should be kind of normal.  But I guess it just went so fast and I wish it wasn't over already. :(  We did do lots of fun things, but we didn't really take a full family vacation which I kept wanting to happen but never really did.  I can't wait for a better work schedule some day. ;)   But we did take a fun short trip this last weekend up to Lake Placid.  It was beautiful up there and nice and cool...even a little cold I would say.  We stayed in a hotel and swam in the pool (where Annie swallowed so much water she threw up her yummy Adirondack chocolate....but I digress).

The highlights:

1.  Christopher lost his 3rd tooth.
2.  Jacob started actually crawling on hands and knees instead of the army crawl. (I attribute it to the carpet at the hotel.  With hard wood floors at home it is so much faster to just slide around on your belly).
3.  We went to the summit of Whiteface Mtn. and saw the amazing view of Lake Placid and rode the elevator INSIDE the mountain.
4.  We attended the most amazing little LDS branch that was actually only like a minute down the road from our hotel.
5.  We ate at a yummy local pizza restaurant.
6.  We ate way too much "non real" food.
7.  And Annie threw up her "Candy Man Adirondack Chocolates" in the pool (well technically all over me and the stairs by the pool....yuck....and then she was upset when we insisted on going back to the room and not swim anymore).
8.  We found the coolest school playground that was huge and like a giant castle.  The kids loved it.

What a fun trip!!  School starts tomorrow.  (boo hoo and yeah)