Catching UP~Picture Heavy!

No huge news around here...things are pretty much status quo! And I'm real good with that. We are in full swing of baseball season with Andrew, the weather has not permitted me taking pictures at his games, well the weather and chasing 3 other kids around while Brian coaches Andrew's team! Usually, it is a family effort and I am thankful when the in laws are there to help! Kelli was to start her Tball season this past Saturday, but because of flooding from the rains the week before that was cancelled, and resulted in a very sad 6 year old girl! Speaking of 6 year old girls! Kelli celebrated her 6th birthday this month!

We do family birthday parties around here until the kids turn 6 and then they get to have their first friends party! Kelli thought long and hard about what she wanted to do...go to the movie theater, go to the bowling alley, maybe Chuck E Cheese? But she finally decided on a sleep over! We started out with 4 of her closest friends, but you know kindergarteners are...they talk, and before we knew it, all the girls from her class plus one of her dearest friends that does not go to school with her were invited, because "surely they will not ALL be able to come"! Well they all could, and did! Ten 5 and 6 year old girls joined Kelli for a sleep over and boy was it "fun"!! =) Really, they did very well! I was pretty impressed at how well they played together and they actually got 8 hours of sleep!!! Not sure we will do a sleep over again for a long time (for sure not with that many girls), but I know there were alot of memories made!

We did a balloon release and yelled "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KELLI!!!"

Nathan wasn't sure what to think about all these girls!

Lots and lots of Barbies, a new ZhuZhu Pet, and fun arts and crafts projects!!!!

Emily watching from a distance!

Nathan finally figured out he better enjoy being surrounded by all these girls...probably wont happen again!!!

Making popcorn

Movie Time

All tucked in

We celebrated again, with my parents and Brian's parents this past Monday, which happened to also be Brian's birthday!

A combined cake

Kelli amazed at all the candles, Brian still oblivious that it's a combined party!

There is lots of smoke with that many candles!

To see Brian's gift...head over to my Project52 blog!

Dress Up

This week Emily has a new found love of playing dress up. I just love opening the door after "naptime" to see what outfits she has come up with!

Sox Fan

Brian and Andrew had the opportunity to go to a White Sox game this past Sunday....It's a good thing he is so cute, other wise this cubs fan would have a hard time loving this picture! More pictures from the game to come...

Our Young Author

We were so excited when Kelli was selected as one of the Young Author winners at her school earlier this year.






As a winner, Kelli was invited to read her story at our annual Book Fair this past Thursday. We made a family event out of it and we were so proud of our shy little girl! Each day amazes us as she continues to come out of her shell and excel in so many different arenas.

Anxiously awaiting for her turn to read!

If you know Kelli, you know that reading in front of a crowd is a huge thing for her, and with a microphone no less!!

Her classmate and friend and fellow Young Author winner!

Kindergarten and 1st grade winners

Brian took us to McDonald's for celebratory ice cream sundaes. I was one proud momma!

It cannot be true!

Today is April 14th (well it was when I started this!!), and that means Nathan is 10 months old today. It seems as if I blinked the moment he was born and BOOM now here we are 10 months later. I have said it before, but I am in love with this boy! He has me wrapped around his chubby little fingers. I cannot believe that we will soon be planning his 1st birthday party....oh my gosh, no it cannot be true! Where is the pause button...

Here is a glimpse of his yumminess...

















Kelli has become my little photographer in training...She took this one for me...turned out to be one of my favorites of the day!

What happens when you try to force an 8 year old boy to take pictures with his mom...

So much for my post a day! =)

I'm okay with not posting each day, because truth be told, there wasn't time to post each day because we were busy enjoying Spring Break to the fullest! I did however take pictures all week, so I will make up for my lost days all in one huge picture heavy post!


Brian bought a dirt bike many years ago, a real dud of a bike actually. But it was the start of something much bigger than I realized!=) A great father/son (and maybe father/daughter) activity. He found a great deal on a bike for Andrew several years ago, it eve had training wheels, and Andrew quickly fell in love. He lost the training wheels last year and this year this little bike seems like a toy to him. So as of today we are proud new owners of a bigger, faster bike that matches Brian's bike that he got around Thanksgiving to replace the dud!

This is the old bike...(I am hoping for training wheels to be put back on and that Kelli can get some riding in this summer! She actually has ridden it without training wheels this year, but isn't to sure about it, so I think with the wheels she would get a lot more comfortable). These pictures were taken after Brian and Andrew had been out riding for a couple hours...





And I am sure this one will be more than sitting on it sooner than anyone would expect! =)



Love this kid...dirt in the eye and all!


Don't think this could have been much cuter!


Nathan's first taste (literally) of the great outdoors





He's workin' really hard on getting his two front upper teeth through...he keeps rubbing his tongue against them =)

Kelli had a playdate with a friend and Andrew volunteered to take Emily outside for lunch. I am having a really hard time getting Emily to take naps when the weather is nice out (she is presently screaming up in her room as I type this). She wants to be outside SOOOO bad, and I can't blame her! She plays so good outside so I have been letting her skip her nap on occasion as she will then go to bed a little bit earlier. They asked if they could eat lunch outside, and I was happy to see them eating on the stairs right outside the back door so I could get a few shots of the "sweet" interactions, and by that I mean, Emily putting orange jello all over the stairs and Andrew's pants!





Been learning some new photo editing software and some nifty gadgets that you can download for it...this is one of my favorites! It is a free download from The Pioneer Woman...It's called "Seventies"


Last night we got a sitter for the younger two and Brian surprised the older kids and me with a trip to see the local minor league hockey team play. We went around Christmas time and the kids loved it and this was no different!













And some cotton candy to end the night...