Double Digits.....OH MY!!

Well....I think I redeemed myself. I went from the "worst birthday party ever" to "the best party ever!" Those were Gracie's words anyway! It really was so much fun to watch these girls play and have fun and just be silly carefree little girls! Seven giggling girls cramming sugar into their mouths, playing games, doing manicures and pedicures eating pizza, watching movies, cramming more sugary sweets into their mouths and then sleeping. Wait, not sure about the sleeping part, I slept, but am pretty sure that if they did, it was more like napping! Hahaha! I'm sure their parents paid the price the next day when they had a grumpy girl on their hands!

Come on Gracie can't you cram more into your mouth?

Ice Cream Sundaes!!

Spa Time!

What silly girls on a sugar high do at 11:00 at night! :)

Gracie got a kindle from Mike and I and I think it's safe to say she loved it!

All the delicious custom made cupcakes!

10 candles!

I am so thankful for the girls God has placed in Gracie's life! What an blessing they all are!

It has been so fun to watch Gracie grow up into the beautiful young lady that she has become! I can't wait to see what God has in store for her life! Well....maybe I can wait. Eighteen is going to come way to fast! We love you Monkey!

Baptism Day!

What a special day it was today! Gracie and my brother Charlie were baptized! Charlie had decided this past summer that he wanted to be baptized and Gracie a few months later. After postponing it four times due to illness, traveling and other things it finally happened today and 10 others joined them! I am so proud of the young woman and young man these two are becoming. The love of Jesus radiates from them both! It was very special for Gracie and Charlie to have Pastor Paul baptize them. They love him like a grandfather. What amazing shepherds we have at our little church in Mabton.

Getting ready, she was very nervous!

Deep breath!

Another very nervous boy! In fact, both Gracie and Charlie had written out their testimonies to share but were both to nervous to speak! :)

A day that will be remembered forever!

We were riding in the car the other day and Gracie said "Mom, a bible verse just popped into my head!" "Which one?" I asked, "Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice! Phil 3:1" she said. What a great verse for a day like today, or any day!

Look who's EIGHT!

So I definitely didn't win the mother of the year award for this birthday, not that I ever have, but sometimes I just feel like such a failure! I'm sure all you Mom's can relate with me on this: It is Cole's birthday, I want it to be the best day of the year for him! I want him to feel special and important and to have tons of fun! Well the party we had "planned" didn't quite turn out the way we wanted it to. Three of his four friends he had invited couldn't come to his "sleepover" so we changed the plans last minute and decided to go to a movie with Charlie. I don't know why I didn't want to just cancel the whole thing and do it another day like Mike told me to do, I guess because an eight year old that is looking forward to this day for a year would take it pretty hard if I said "sorry Cole, we are just going to have to wait until another time to have your party." I know it sounds so dumb even as I type this. Why couldn't I have just postponed the party until everyone he wanted there could come? I don't know?

Well the movie was great and after I gave the boys options, either pizza at a restaurant of their choice or pick up pizza and eat it at home. They both decided, home and then they could eat pizza and play video games! Okay sounded good to me and they were both excited. We got pizza, rented a movie that he had been dying to see again and headed home. When we got home it quickly became apparent that we were not going to be playing video games after all.....play station had taken it's last breath I guess and Dad wasn't home to fix it. UGH....doesn't seem so devastating I guess unless you live and breath to play video games, especially when you are only allowed to play them on the weekends! Haha! Well I hadn't even made my poor son a cake because the plan had been to go to Yoplicity, well after junk at the movie and pizza they were much to full for that but I felt terrible that I hadn't even made a cake or let him blow out candles! It seemed to me that his birthday party was such a flop! I couldn't stand it so I quickly made a cake and frosted it with leftover frosting from Joey's party so it turned a pretty rose color when I mixed the green and blue colors that I had in the fridge. Oh well, it was a cake right!? I opened the drawer to pull out some candles and gee...I always have spares, but not this night! Oh man! So I put eight match sticks in the cake and we sang and he actually thought the matches were really cool! Of course he was too full for cake but at least I could say I made one for him! After that he wanted to play Uno. I really really really don't like Uno, but anything for my boy on his day especially when things had gone the way they had!

I know I'm rambling but I wanted to show you how the day went and then show you what I realized when I was looking at the few pictures that I took of his special day. He is smiling! In almost every picture he has that great big precious smile on his face! That is what it's all about! It really didn't matter what we did or who we did it with as long as we were doing something with him! I sure do love my boy Cole! He might be putting more grey hairs on my head than all the other three combined but he has a heart so huge and it shows every time he smiles!

Father Daughter Ball

The beautiful girls ready for the Ball!

What a great looking group!

Melts my heart!

The Father Daughter Ball is here again and it is a day that Gracie looks forward to with such excitement every year! Mike has taken her since she was 11 months old! I don't have that first year on my computer but it is in her scrapbook! :) This will be their 8th time going only missing twice.

2011

2010

2009

2008

2005

2004

I think the pictures speak for themselves. The bond between a father and his daughter is one that is so special. I really don't have words to express how much seeing Gracie grow up in the loving arms of such a great person makes me feel. I'm just so thankful that they get to experience these times together and I pray that these memories last a lifetime.

Our new toy!

Mike did a little side work and traded his time for this motorcycle! The boys saw it in the garage but Mike told them that he was fixing it up for a friend. When he got it going he took it out back and told the kids to come take a look. Cole asked if he could try it out and Mike said "sure it's for you guys!" The look on their faces was so funny!! Needless to say they were all pretty excited!

Mom and Dad even got a turn!

Cole was hilarious! He really did a great job riding it but the look on his face when he came around was pricelsess! It was one of those "this is so fun but I'm afraid I might crash" looks!

Joey and Eli LOVED it, but they are a little to short to do it by themselves, they had a few willing drivers though! Gracie only gave it one try. She almost ran into the fence which I'm sure would have done more damage to the fence than to her! But that was it, from then on she said "I'll just watch!"

A little fun!

About a month ago Mike and I volunteered as counselors for our church's youth group's annual snow camp! It was a lot of fun spending time with all of the special kids that were there. I had the opportunity to take some pictures of a few of the girls in my cabin. It was a lot of fun for me and I think it was for them too! Beautiful girls inside and out! :)

Look who's FIVE!

Hard to believe that my JoJo is five years old already! Where does time go! It seems like just yesterday that I was frantically racing to the hospital hoping to make it before he entered this world! He is such a huge blessing to our family and has a way of making everyone feels as if they are the most important thing to him. His hugs, his smile and his bright shiny eyes are just hard to resist! He is doing pre-school at home with me this year and I am always amazed at his ability to learn and focus! Days that I don't feel like doing anything for pre-school he begs and pleads for me to teach him something new! "Please Mom can I do my pre-school!" He is learning how to read right now and has the patience of a saint! He will try and try and try until he gets it. There is no "give up" in him! He just started his first year of wrestling with his big brother Cole and loves it! The smile on his face at practice and when he comes home to show me his new "moves" is contagious! He is such a joy to us!

This year we had a party for him at the house and the theme he chose was "Angry Birds". I had so much fun making decorations and goodies for the party that it didn't matter that we threw it together in less than 48 hours! I am such a terrible procrastinator! The party was fun and most importantly he had a great time and felt loved by everyone!

I was able to find a ton of decorating ideas on Pinterest!

Having his friends and family to celebrate with him meant a lot! I know before I know it we will be having his tenth birthday! YIKES!! Slow down little buddy!

Snow Glorious Snow!

I'm Baaaaack!! And I hope I am here to stay! My friend Ali has inspired me to get the blog going again and I hope I haven't been away so long that I have lost anyone who was following me! 2012 already!! Crazy how fast time goes! My kids are all growing like weeds and I'm just trying to keep up with the monkeys! Gracie has started her 2nd year of basketball. Her first game is this Saturday and I have to say I am more than just a little excited! Cole and Joey started wrestling this year! They are both very excited and are practicing their "moves" on each other every day while teaching Eli at the same time!

Currently we are absolutely enjoying the snow! Luckily I don't have to drive anywhere so I spend most of my day dressing kids, undressing kids and drying their snow gear out so when they get warmed up they can head out to play again! I'm so glad the snow finally came! I love what it looks like and the fun that my kids and yes even I have out in it!