SMILE!

Psalm 30:10-12

Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me;
O LORD, be my helper.

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,

That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

The kids had the BEST time together...played...played...and played

The generous gift

Sometimes all you want to do is cry. You are not in the mood to smile for a picture. You say cheese in the midst of pain...and fake it. Then one day, you look back on the pictures and realize how thankful you are that you have that moment to see and cherish. When you look back, you realize that today it is a bit easier to smile than it was on that day. You see in those pictures...friends who love you and were faking a smile too...as they were aching inside with you. You see their love for you and praise God you shared that sweet time together. So thankful for the pictures.

Survive the Five

It was fun having "twins" for a few days

Meeting baby "no name"

...they finally named him Nathan

My dear friend, Bethany, had her son on Friday the 13th of January. We were honored to be able to take care of their kiddos while they were in the hospital. We had them Saturday morning through Monday evening...and by "we" I mean "me." Since Chris works weekends, I was pretty much solo with 5 kiddos, ages 5 and under. Thankfully, they all love one another so much and get along very well. They had two nights of sleepovers and were busy bees during the day. I even braved taking them all to church and to a birthday party. I did save a special "movie time" as a treat on Monday (they thought it was for them...nope, for me).

We we dropped them off Monday evening, the kids were super sad. We missed them and felt like the van was too empty and quiet on the drive home. I loved having a full house (but I won't miss the diapers). :)

Aubree checking out the snow before church on Sunday

Kayla had a gun and was in charge of all the boys! It was so funny.

This is just the beginning of the booby traps the boys set for their sisters (two full rolls of masking tape).

Every pillow in the house became part of the boys' fort. They even had warning bells to alarm them if the girls were trying to enter.

Scappoose Snow Storm

Our snow was about an inch...enough for Abigail to get some chunks of bark in her mouth when she tried to eat some snow from the planter beds. My parents, on the other hand, got about 9 or 10 inches. Since the roads were safe, we made the drive out there to play in the snow because Abigail insisted that she HAD to make a snow angel.

Isaac plowed off the slide

"Look, I'm making a snow angel!"

Isaac worked so hard clearing the snow of the playhouse roof and shoveled a safe path to "his house."

Gramm found a toupee for the snowman.

"Your nose looks do delicious!"

Gramma coaching Abigail how to make an angel

He just loved the snow!!!

Interview with Isaac

Tell me about yourself.
 "Um, I love my electric HO train. Um, I love my new room (that we just decked out with all his train stuff). Can I say something I don't like?"

Sure.

I do not like listening to Tangled (that his sister plays over and over). I don't like wiping my bottom.
What makes you laugh?
 "When I hear Johnny getting smashed by the train tent...sometimes pillows get smashed on it and fall on Johnny...that makes me giggle."

What's your favorite meal?
 "Plain white noodles."

How do like school?
"Awesome, but I don't like doing my homework. My favorite thing is my teacher."

What do you thank God for?
"Having enough money to buy my trains...I mean, my snail."

What's your favorite Bible verse?
Eph 6:1 'Children obey your parents in the Lord' to which Daddy replies, 'Hey, I like that one too."

Quotes:
*"Wipe my bottom!" (He doesn't like it! We remind him that he's old enough, no one likes it, it's just something we do. Dad says he'll wipe Isaac's if Isaac wipes his. Isaac always says 'yuck' and wipes his self.)
*"Can you tell me a story about.....(when you were 9, a Christmas when you were a kid...)?"
*"Stop it, you!"

-He constantly talks to himself as he is building trains or Legos...he processes everything aloud.
-He really misses his friends in California and constantly tells us that he will move there when he grows up (but he still wants to live at home when he is in college).
-He still plans to marry Aubree, become a train engineer and drive trains in other countries where he can be a missionary, passing out Bibles and telling people about Jesus.
-He LOVES wrestling with his dad and is causing Dad more injuries (now that he is getting bigger).
-His favorite part of Karate is his friend from kindergarten, Owen, who is taking it too.
-He is becoming a hoarder, and we often have to push him to thrown "treasures" away (which are actually broken toys or boxes or whatever that he insists can be used for something in the future).
-Gramma and Papa gave him a tape (that plays hymns) and he thinks it's awesome because we actually have a tape player that plays his tape (sorry Apple, Isaac is taking technology backwards instead of forwards).
-He loves science and detests sports. He insists he will never play sports in his life...we will see.

Interview with Abigail

***Typical Abigail...she has changed her clothes 3 times while I was waiting for her to be interviewed.
Oh no, she just came back again...make that 4 different outfits (she does rehang them back in the closet)

Tell me about yourself:
"Uh, I like Rapunzel and to dress up as her and I like to pretend I am talking, but is really my CD."

What are your favorite things:
Rapunzel movies and my brother, mom and my dad. And I love Pascal.

What is something you are good at?
Riding a bike and my toys...and my little Rapunzel doll.

Is there anything that scares you?
The haunted house at Disneyland.

What are your favorite foods?
Noodles, chicken, sausage and soy sauce with some rice.


-She is such a kisser
-She draws her people with lots of fingers (by "people" I mean Rapunzel characters)

 

-She loves to come behind us and hold us around the neck when we are sitting down

-She is very attentive to people and notices when they are wearing something new

-She always stops us in a story book when she sees the picture inside that matches the one on the front cover

-She gets so excited for new clothes! (new as well as hand-me-downs that she knows are from other people...as long as they are new to her)

-She LOVES getting her back scratched and is a pretty good scratcher herself. Dad loves when she rubs his greasy hair.

-She still gets so excited for her favorite people...Gramma and Kayla
-She takes songs/tunes she knows and makes them her own by adding her own lyrics.
Example:(tune from Mary Poppins) "Just some birthday money helps me buy Pascal, me buy Pascal, me buy Pascal. Just some birthday money helps me buy Pascal...in the most delightful way."


*While playing Candy Land, she puts her hand on the top card and, just prior to flipping it over, closes her eyes and says, "God, please help me not to get the Peanut."

*"Mom," Abigail says, "Kayla says 'Ciner-la-la.' We need to teach her to to say it right...'Cinder-wella.'" One day they'll both be able to say it right and I'll miss it.

Official Kindergarten Picture

Love those fake smiles in school pictures!

Fun Times Dec, 2011 and Jan 2012

"These boots are made for walkin'"

Lovin' Uncle Kevin and In and Out Burger

Abigail and Isaac livin' it up at Gramma and Papa's...they gave us one free overnight babysitting each month of 2012 (GREAT GIFT)

A moment to enjoy in California

Right before the thick fog rolled in

The best climbing tree in Laguna

Isaac and Liam

A stop in Sacto on the way home. Holding hands with cousin Charlie

Isaac trying so hard to encourage Charlie to love trains

Kids cooking: Isaac, Fried Rice/Abigail, Eggs

She put this outfit together herself. Madonna, 1980s

Just a normal Abigail day (one of 5 outfits she wore that day)

Visiting the police horses with the Springers

Our kids just LOVE being together!

Love this snuggle bug!

"Mom, I beat a kid older than me at bowling!"

Kian's mommy & me at his bday party

Isaac calling his grandparents to tell them about the trains that Liam's grandpa Rick gave him (in addition to ones his own grandpa Rick gave him for Christmas)

Princess Party for 4th

We let our kids choose all their own meals on their birthdays. Abigail picked donuts and sausage for breakfast.

 Abigail and her best friend, Kayla have birthdays only 4 days apart. They share the same circle of little girl friends from church so we had a joint princess tea party for the girls' 4th birthday. It was so special. They played princesses, dressed up, ate tea sandwiches (thanks to Beth, Kayla's mommy who did ALL the food), had a dance party, hit a pinata (funny thing for 4 year old girls to do), and opened presents together. It was perfect!

The matching gifts were so fun!

What it's really like...all the moms taking pictures. :)

Dancing to Rapunzel

Kayla, still thinking about making a wish

The gift she wanted more than ANYTHING...Pascal

Each of the princesses took home a rose

Again...all the moms and their camera flashes reflected in the mirror