a first birthday party

I was feeling so guilty before Raelynn's birthday party. We celebrated her birthday, Grams's birthday, and Bryan's all on the same day. I bought a few decorations while at the store buying party supplies for the boys' pirate party. That's all I had done to plan her party a few days before the actual event! I had a women's retreat I was going to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning (her party was Sunday afternoon!).

So, Thursday night, I went and ordered her a cake since I knew I wouldn't have time to make anything. I started making plans in my head, and made a list for Bryan to tackle while I was at the retreat. Of course, the husband came through, and got everything I needed. Then Sunday afternoon, my mom came over and helped decorate while Bryan cleaned and ran to pick up the cake. I have an awesome Mom and husband.

We used a polka dot theme with purple, pink, aqua, and green. It turned out pretty cute! And of course, the birthday girl was adorable, as usual!

 Rae loves her grandma!

 When I ordered the cake, they actually wouldn't let me "custom order" Raelynn's free smash cake. I was so bummed and picked this ugly balloon cake. When Bryan went to pick up the cakes, they didn't have her smash cake ready. So, he knowing how bummed I was about the ugly balloons, asked them to match it with polka dots since they were making him wait. Amazing husband I have because her cake was so much cuter! 

 My little cheese ball. Love her.

 Don't worry, she never touched the fire

 Before her cake was given to her....

After her cake was given to her. 

 The boys wanted in on the cake action

I love how Raelynn is staring Isaiah down as he eats her cake

Raelynn would have eaten that entire cake if I'd let her. Seriously, she just kept digging in. Bryan eventually just took her to the bath because she wouldn't stop eating! So much like her mama that way - if there is good food, we just don't stop eating! 

After cake, we opened presents.

 Raelynn had a lot of helpers

 She took a ride on her new car once Daddy put it together

I tried to do a little photo shoot with her, but it didn't work. She didn't like the grass, and she wouldn't hold still! 

She was still cute crawling away

she is one

Weighing in at 19.5 pounds!

My baby girl is one year old today.

Raelynn has been part of our lives for an entire year, but it seems she has always been apart of our family. She fits so perfect. She brings so much laughter that I cannot imagine not having over the past year. Raelynn is beautiful, and I pray she grows to be beautiful inside, chasing the Lord with all of her might, and loving others with every fiber of her body.

These last few weeks have been pretty difficult with her. It was really tough for me because she has been so easy up until recently! She wasn't napping, she would take forever to go down at night, and she was so cranky. All. day. long. It was awful. I started noticing some other changes in her, and realized that she wasn't getting enough milk. Man I still feel awful! She went through a little over two weeks before I realized she was probably dehydrated! We switched her to formula recently, and our happy, little girl is back. Plus, she's already gained back the weight she lost!

And Raelynn is crawling! Hallelujah! I wasn't sure if this day would ever come! She has no speed whatsoever, and is just happy to slowly crawl to wherever looks interesting. I mean SLOWLY. Once the boys figured out crawling, they became speed demons right away, getting into everything imaginable. Raelynn just takes her precious time, and is just now starting to get into things.

Here are her happenings over the last month:
~ She has 6 teeth; 4 on top, 2 on bottom
~ She pulled herself up in her crib for the first time about two weeks ago, so we finally lowered her crib
~ She started pulling herself up everywhere (not walking around things yet, just content to stand there)
~ Anytime she starts fussing, Elias will drop whatever he is doing, run to her and start clapping in her face. She thinks it's the funniest thing, and starts squealing and clapping with him
~ She is a little oinker. No kidding, this girl eats all the time! She really wants whatever we're eating. At dinner, she'll throw tantrums if she doesn't have exactly what we are having. It's quite ridiculous, but it's been so nice not having to make baby food every week!
~ She has been crawling for about a week
~ She loves being outside, music, and her brothers.
~ She just started blowing kisses, and it may just be the cutest thing ever!

Oh Raelynn, you are such a gift to our family! We all adore you so much!

a pirate party

Our boys have been talking about having a pirate birthday party since the day their fire truck party ended last year. We decided to do just a family party this year because of all the chaos we've had this month, and I'm just plain tired! So, we had burgers and hot dogs, and it was a beautiful day for a party!

We started the party off by getting decked out in pirate attire:

Isaiah decided to wear his halloween costume, and they all put on sashes, pirate tattoos, and eye patches. They also made hats, and spyglasses. They needed their spyglasses for their treasure hunt!

All these kiddos are 5 and under, so for their treasure hunt, I took picture of random things around the house (inside and out) as clues. They started off a little confused, but by the 3rd clue, they were on a role! Their treasure was buried in the sand box in the back yard in a plastic treasure chest full of coins, jewels, necklaces, rings, and bracelets.

 Clue #1 a bit confused

 Now they are starting to understand

 Working together

 Digging for treasure

 The buried treasure! 

Next up, the pinata! or "yato" as Elias likes to say. It was the toughest pinata in the world. Seriously, our boys are pretty hard hitters, and it didn't even dent the pinata. So, Uncle Josh had to step in and beat it for awhile to get it to a point where candy would fall out. This was the boys favorite part. They love their pinatas. 

And of course, you can't have a birthday party without cupcakes & presents. 

Happy 5th birthday, Isaiah! Happy 4th birthday, Elias!

nice days

We have been blessed with some awesome summer-like days, and we have taken full advantage of them! We've had picnics at the park near our house or on our front lawn. I love the sun. Can't get enough of it.

 Not the healthiest lunch, but these boys were happy!

 Isaiah's school gave him a birthday hat & necklace to wear for the day. I forgot to get a picture, but here is Rae sporting it for him! 

 This boys is getting so big. 

 Rae loves the swing!

 Elias - always entertaining himself

he is 4

Elias is four years old! Our little man is quite the little rascal. He keeps us guessing as to whether we're going to have a happy boy or sad boy. I think the move was a pretty difficult transition for him, and he is still adjusting. We love him to pieces, and he is always making us laugh.

Elias loves loves loves giving kisses and hugs. He comes up to me about 20 times a day and says, "I want to kiss you" or "I want to hug you". He'll be playing in the other room, and after a little while he'll come into the room I'm in, give me a hug, and say, "I missed you". So sweet!

He has a love/hate relationship with Raelynn. She likes to get into his toys, which he doesn't think is so great. She likes to hang on him, and he doesn't like that either. He loves to smother her in kisses, and loves to bring her her own toys.

For this little man's birthday, we were in Washington over a very busy weekend. I had planned on doing donuts or something, but the night before we had a family birthday party for all the kids with Bry's family. He was very spoiled then! I didn't even think of taking my camera out all weekend! That means super busy and tired, people. I always have my camera in hand.

Just so you know, Elias, you are so loved! I adore your silly personality, and your spastic ways. You are such a joy!

Since I didn't pull out my camera all weekend, I'll make due with one of my favorite pictures of my little man

This guy is a crack up. 

he is 5

Isaiah is five years old! This boy keeps me on my toes. He is joyful, active, loving, kind, and caring. He has such a servants heart - he loves to help out in anyway he can. And oh my, he is a perfectionist. He is most particular about his coloring and crafts.

Lately, he has been noticing things that are "for girls not boys". No longer will he take a pink or purple balloon because "that's for girls". He is so excited to go to kindergarten because he thinks he'll get to eat lunch off of a tray like "big kids".

When we told him we were having another baby, he put his head in his hands and cried. He said, "But there are too many kids!" It was so funny, and not something we expected at all. Isaiah has come around, though, and he is excited. He told me today that he'll take care of Raelynn so I can take care of the new baby. So sweet and thoughtful.

For his birthday, we took him out to donuts before Bryan went to work, and we decorated a little with some balloons and streamers. It was pretty low key because he'll have a fun pirate party later.

 He's happy he's 5. Promise.

 This boys really does have a wonderful smile. Not sure why it hides for pictures!

 Sprinkles in celebration of birthdays!

 My sweet boys

count your many blessings

My morning started off with Isaiah throwing up. Then Raelynn started. I got puked on a few times. The crib got puked in a few times. Then my washer started making this awful beeping noise and flashing a 1-800 number to call for assistance. My washer was washing Raelynn's diapers. Thankfully it was on it's last rinse cycle, but it died right in the middle of the rinse cycle.

I just kept plugging away. I wouldn't allow myself a breakdown because I had a couple sick kiddos that needed my attention. Did I mention I haven't done laundry in a week? Yeah, I was going to tackle that all today after I washed Raelynn's diapers. So right now I have over a week's worth of laundry and a couple crib changings covered in puke hanging out in my house. Holy hannah.

Once I got the kids in bed, I tackled Raelynn's diapers. I had to rinse them all out in the tub and wring them out to dry. It only took me about 25 minutes. About half way through it the song "Count your many blessings" just started running through my head. It made me smile. I started thinking of all the blessings throughout the day instead of all the yuckiness.

The first blessing immediately popped in my head was my dishwasher. I am so thankful it was washing all of our dishes for the day while I was rinsing out the diapers! I was so thankful to not have to tackle a stack of dishes.

Next was that the dryer wasn't broken too. I'd have no where to hang dry the 60+ pieces of cloth diapers and wipes I was rinsing!

Elias isn't sick yet! Two kids is hard enough to keep cuddled and clean.

I had no morning sickness today! I was so thankful because I'm not sure I could have handled Isaiah and Raelynn puking if I was nauseous!

Our dirty kitchen floor - it's covered in food that I need to sweep up, but it's evidence that we have all we need and we are well provided for.

The abundance of warm water we have. Raelynn took 3 baths because of her puking. Isaiah and Elias each got one too. Then the dishwasher was running at the same time.

My amazing husband who always helps me with everything the second he gets home from work. I mean everything from cleaning, to taking care of kids, to helping out with dinner - he does it all.

The last thing I thought of as I finished up the diapers was chocolate. Yup, I was very excited to get those diapers in the dryer so I could sit down and enjoy a piece of chocolate!

And now as I finish up this post, Isaiah is screaming from his room because he just puked again. I think I'm in for a long night!

Count your many blessings, name them one by one, Count your many blessings, see what God has done....

easter 2012

We went to church and had a few hours before we were headed to Josh and Meghan's house. So, we finally dyed Easter eggs.

The final product & my crazy boys

My favorite picture

And of course, here are a few of the outtakes. I usually just keep snapping pictures, hoping for one good one out of the bunch. I think I took about 30 pictures, with only one or two good ones! 

After our photo session, we headed over to Josh and Meghan's for lunch with my whole family. We had an egg hunt and lunch. We tried naps, but it didn't work very well. After naps, we headed to the park, had a picnic, and let the kids play. It was a great day, and we all had a great time.

This picture cracks me up! Elias was really enjoying the window rolled down

My handsome boys searching for those eggs

The whole crew looking for eggs