Smiles, Dolls, and Tea Sets

So, the big day has come and gone, Kay Leigh's birthday. My little baby is entering her toddler-hood, officially. Let's all scream together, ready??? Mmmmm, well, she is a typical toddler, full of energy that I envy, full of curiosity, full of things she wants to say but can't :D She's saying full sentences, likes her classes at church, loves coloring with markers, and charms Daddy's heart. She also loves her big brother and often has to know that he's in the room with her to be to sleep peacefully. She watches Beka's every move, and tries to everything she does, with often disastrous results. She simply annoys Carolyn, rare are the moments when they are peacefully playing together, but I have noticed that those moments are increasing! We love her, with all her quirks and faults, and her lovable faces and sweet kisses to all of us. We've decided that we'll keep her :D

Here she is posing with the baby accessories my mom got her, she is very fond of playing mommy, I'm just sooo glad girls don't become mommies at this age, they aren't very gentle :D

Here's a picture of her looking at her new tea set, she loved this present too. She loved all of her presents of course, but she received clothes for some gifts, per my request, I was WAY more impressed with them than she. She looked briefly, tossed and went looking for more toys :D She's not quite to the age of appreciating clothing yet.

The bag's as big as she is!! In fact, we took one of the sacks later and carried her around in it :D That handsome guy in the back looks familiar too....oh yes, that's Travis! A rare glimpse....

Taking care of the baby doll that her Great Grandma gave her...

I did not make her a cake, since she really didn't care at this age. She got chocolate chip cookies and ice cream, I didn't figure you all would want a picture of that :D

Girls, Cakes, and Candles

Greg's birthday, January 26th, just noticed I blogged none of those pictures...so what's new. These first pics are of the girls though, at his party. Grandma Dean always bring each sibling a little something, which is so kind of her, and this time it was bracelets. The girls were thrilled of course. I'm not sure what Kay was doing here, it looks like she was praying, but I don't think so, unless I was peeking during prayer time and didn't know it :D

Beka showing off hers...

And yet another funny face from Carolyn, with her bracelets.

And of course, Greg had a cake, an eggless chocolate cake, no less. I have to figure out how to make stuff with no eggs (or else not eat it, which i suppose is a viable option) and food coloring is not great either, for Carolyn, so the kids are getting a lot of chocolate, or white, or just plain :D But he wanted a dinosaur cake, this is what I came up with. He seemed happy with it, and it tasted pretty good, if I can say so myself.

Present time!!! Who doesn't like that? Greg got great boy stuff, legos, a pair of safety glasses, a reachy tool, fake grenade...

A really neat and huge nerf gun...

And many other things. I'd say he liked turning 6 :D

And we didn't light anything on fire with the candles. Successful party!!

Legos, Fists, and Fans

Gregory, thanks to his daddy, has turned into an avid Lego builder and creator. This first picture is a spaceship he and his dad built together. There will be pictures in subsequent posts of more things that he's built himself using instruction manuals. He's surprisingly good at these, Very proud of him! And as you can tell by his face, he's pretty happy too :D

I threw this picture in for free, it's our dog Bogey, he's getting big, but still just as nice! The only reason he's standing still for this picture, is because he has to go outside!

An impromptu group pic, with FISTS!!

Someone got these fists for Greg a while ago, and they make noises when you punch something or someone with them. Greg loved them, and Kay Leigh finds them very entertaining as well. She was chasing Greg around with them, and he was hamming it up and acting like she was really getting him, pretty funny :D

Remember playing with fans when you were a kid?? Not the part where you stuck your finger in and nearly got it chopped off, but the part where you'd talk in it and make your voice all garbled, and where you let it blow your hair straight up...

Kay loves apples, but there's a problem, she only eats a tiny portion this way, then we have a half eaten apple laying around. So I've started cutting them up, the other kids were so thrilled to get a piece of apple with a tiny bite out of it!

And the final picture, back to the fan, using it to blow a ball across the floor.

Happy times!

Oriental, Faces, and Snow

I decided it was time to make another blog post!! Had a few pictures, although must say I haven't been taking many....been busy I guess, grabbing the camera is sometimes the last thing I think about. Too much going on, screaming tots, schooling children, dogs underfoot, snow and mud getting tracked all over :D It's all great, but time consuming! So I've been limiting (or attempting to limit) my time on the computer. That's been allowing me to get less stressed and enjoy my kiddos more! Hooray! We'll see how long it lasts :D

So first picture. Travis and I have discovered that one of the best ways to stay connected during his school semesters is to have a quiet dinner together after the kids are in bed. We get something special and easy to prepare, and reconnect while we enjoy it! It's cheaper than going out, and doesn't require a babysitter! HA! So anyway, my father-in-law gave me this really neat oriental dish set for Christmas, in my favorite color and I love the pattern. So this was our first meal using it! We used to have sushi with eggrolls, but I just found out I'm allergic to eggs, so.....no more eggrolls for this girl. We found that potstickers are a very yummy substitute! And we also have a nice little oriental teapot and teeny tea cups :D Adds up to fun!

Next two pics. Who knew how much fun kids could have with stairs?? Tons. Up and down, sliding on bellies or bumping down on their rears, or....

if you're really lucky, getting a ride on your sister's back :D

Gregory is a Lego freak!!! He loves them, and he and his dad come up with gorgeous lego creations together. Which I might add, break during use, and guess who has to figure out where those tiny little parts go?? Mmmm, yes, Me. But I'm very proud of his creative abilities, shows sign of being very much like his father, which is a good thing :D

Kay Leigh is our resident cut-up, she makes us all laugh all the time. She can also make us all cry too, but we won't dwell on that :P

She has a smile and face that melt our hearts, she's going to be the spoiled baby of the family, no doubt there!

Our snowfall of the year, it was a pretty good one, so the kids had a lot of fun with it.

Here's Beka, not sure what she's doing...

Carolyn riding her bikes on the slippery driveway, yes she did learn the hard way that it's not good to go really fast and try turning on wet cement. I did warn her, but you know how these independent types are, they've just got to find out themselves :D

Key Leigh loves her hat, and her hood, and her gloves. She's wearing the little coat I made way back for Beka, it's made it through three little girls, and I've never made another one :D Maybe someday I'll make one for a granddaughter...yikes, what a thought!

Greg wanted to make a snowfort, and proceeded to roll this huge ball, he couldn't even hardly move it :D I think they did eventually make a fort type thing, don't know if there was any snow left for snowballs...

So that's that. I'll post a couple more pics in another post!

Games, Lips, and Mohawks

So here we are again. Life trucks on, dragging us along with it :D Ok, it's not that bad :D Not even! The kids are anticipating Christmas now, and hoping for snow :D I'm hoping it doesn't get too cold!

Kay Leigh is super cute, and talking more and more, and getting into things, and getting frustrated because she can't keep up with her siblings.

But she's cute, so we put up with her :D

The two older kids have discovered the xbox, courtesy of daddy, and are quickly getting very good at it. They do zone out a bit, as shown by the next two pictures...

I think Beka is getting Greg here, she looks slightly happy...

Things look a little grim in this one :D

Carolyn had a birthday, got lots of stuff, and got with her birthday money, some Dora glasses, and her backpack that she's been wanting for months, and now carts all over the place with her :D

Kay Leigh says, "want some lip balm Carolyn?" Carolyn says no but...

she gives in at last.

Prairie day at Master Club, and I don't buy stuff for costumes. We rummage through what we have and come up with our best. Pretty good??

The two of them...

Greg was supposed to be something from Thanksgiving, so he picked Squanto. One cut up t-shirt and a mo-hawk later, we were ready!!

He's pretty cute I think :D

Carolyn didn't have a dress up night, but she felt left out, so we did crazy hair (her request), but then come picture time, she was sooooo tired, this was the best I got.

Headbands, Balls, and Parents

I found a post I never published!!

This is Kay wearing a headband, we'll have to help her a little with her fashion know-how :D

My ring that Travis got me for our tenth anniversary!

Greg's awesome Lego original creation! And big smile!!

Carolyn was taking pictures with my camera, and took a picture of her favorite toy, her big bouncy ball with a handle, you should see her flying around the house on it!!

Mom and Dad with the kiddos, back in October! I am sooo behind on this one :P

That was a fun surprise!

Green, Big Brothers, and Checkerboards

The kids go to a program our church has for kids every Wednesday night during the school year. And every so often they have special nights. This was Wear Your Team's Color night. So, we put as much green as we could in her hair without painting it, and markered her face up with washable markers. It turned out pretty well, I thought :D

Pretty scary, huh???

Greg's giving his little sister a piggy back ride, pretty cute, huh??

One of those rare moments when they aren't driving each other nuts :D

So this is Greg's special hair for Crazy Hair Night. I shaved a checkerboard pattern, on the bottom half, and then did stripes on the top. He didn't win, but he was very pleased with the result.

He got to wear it for a couple of day before I finished the haircut :D