Brynlee's 7th Birthday

We started off the day with a quick trip to the Dutch Market for a donut. This is an all-time favorite around here!

I dropped the girls off at school and had to catch a quick pic before they walked into school.

When Brynlee got off the bus she had this cute birthday hat on that she was wearing with pride! She also got to ride home in the wagon-Lucky Girl!

A few weeks later (actually one month after her birthday) we had a little party.  Besides her siblings she only had 3 friends over so it made for a nice, fairly simple party.

The party was "crafts and pizza" two of her favorite things! The girls decorated treasure boxes which they all really enjoyed. Brynlee is a hard-core-craft-girl!

No party is complete with out a game of telephone, right?

A dance party was also a request which got fulfilled. This was fun for all too. I made a mix of cute kid Halloween music and they had a blast dancing! I wish I could have gotten better pictures.

Trey is getting some practice for his big day!

I love getting picture of all my kids together!

Party Girls!
Lilly, Brynlee, Ellie,
Scarlett, and Addy

Most of her loot!

I really enjoy this girl of mine. She craves my attention often and I'm trying to be better at giving it to her. In so many ways she is mature for her age. She is smart as a whip and loves learning. I'm amazed at the girl she is growing into. I do feel blessed that she is my oldest child, often Ethan and I make comments about how helpful she is in so many ways. We often use her as our "gofer girl" and she is quick and happy to help!

It's That Time Again

We started potty training today! For the most part it went pretty well, but we do have a ways to go...

Trey was ecstatic about his Thomas the Train underwear, and they look so cute on that little bum!

Uh Oh, let's try again!

Trey was really motived by that Thomas pezz candy. One every time he goes. We had lots of juice, so he got lots of practice. It was nice to have a full day to just be with him and focus my efforts on his learning. There sure is a lot for these little ones to learn about this whole potty stuff. 

Happy 5th Birthday Addy!

We celebrated Addy's birthday in 2 different chuncks. I was fun times. On her real birthday we:

Went to Chick-fil-A for breakfast. We were pretty much the only ones there so it was lots of fun for us.

Then we went to Target to pick out a game with her birthday money from Grandma. It was a hit, they love it!

We made "homemade" donuts which were might tasty.

Not happy that we did not start the "party" right away!

She was crackin me up with that hat and glasses, but the funniest part that really made me laugh was the change that she was holding up that came in a little gift from our neighbor. That was all her doing and I thought it was SO funny.

Trey insisted to hold a doll as well! This is the "big girl doll" that she got to match her sister,

 Now we move on to the pool party she had a few weeks later. She had a combined party with her good friend Kate. This party happened because of the Behrmann family. We love Kate and her awesome family too! It got rained out the first go round so this was the second attempt and it was a gorgeous day!

Love this picture of her.

The Birthday Girls.

After the party (I tried to get this to go the bottom, but I am blog illiterate).

I originally made the cupcakes and THEN the party got cancelled due to rain, so I froze them and they turned out wonderful! That is a type I will use again, because they turned out so great!

The girls had lots of great friends to celebrate with.

Couldn't resist taking this. Trey is getting so big, and he loves it.

I forgot to get my camera out while all the kids were in the pool playing. By the time I remembered, it was getting dark and everyone left.

Five things I love about Addy:
1. She is so lade back and easy going. Not much bothers her. You can often see her singing and dancing with out a care in the world (that is until she sees someone watching her...)
2. She catches on to things so quick!
3. Her hugs and kisses she still gives freely.
4. Her laugh is contagious, I want to bottle it up each time I hear it.
5. This summer Addy has been my right-hand-man in the kitchen. Whether it be baking or cooking she is right there to help. She still can't resist to mess with everything she sees but, either way I do love her help! Most of all i love that because of this we have had some great moments together. Addyson June We love you with all our hearts!

I've said this before and I'll say it again, FIVE is HARD for me! It is an age that so many things happen. I think it such a change from four and seems so much older! I don't like them to get older so fast. I really do with that time would slow down!. BUT at this age we can do so many fun things, Brynlee and Addy both into games and we have SO much with that, love it!

(As a side note Addy has started wearing glasses about a month before her birthday and I do have to say that even though they have been lost a time or two that I am impressed at how a 4/5 year old like her as been so good at keeping them on, even though she clams she cam see just as well with out them, she is a trooper!)

We missed you Daddy!

Ethan went to Hawaii for a work conference (I know hard hard life he has) in May. The girls got together and made this cute welcome home banner for Ethan. I was so cute, my favorite part is in the bottom left side she put "you are my boy"! That cracked me up, she is so funny! I didn't want to for get that!

Road Trip Gone Amazingly Well!

 Very last minute we decided to take a road trip to upstate New York. Going to the Hill Cumorah Pageant was at the top of the Bucket list for us and our time was coming to an end. For some reason it wasn't until just a week or so ago that I realized that it was either now or never. I chalked it up to being too late in the game to plan a trip like this and didn't think much of it... Until Thursday night. The opening night of the pageant was Friday night. Ethan and I were talking and decided that we would try and leave that next day and make it to Palmyra. So I started preparing that morning still not knowing if it would all work out (Ethan had to go into work but thought that maybe he could get off pretty early that day and leave), which to be honest I didn't think it would. The chance of him getting off that early were slim.

I got a call at about 10am. Ethan said it was a go and that he could be home by about noon to leave. I was elated! I had wanted to do this so bad and it was finally working out. 

So i ran around the house like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get everything thing ready for this overnight trip.

We left at a decent time and actually made it for the Friday night show, just barley. He thought we might have to catch the Saturday show since we did have a 5 plus hour drive ahead of us.

The kids were great in the car and all ran very smoothly. I call it the Miracle trip!

I never could have imagined things going that well!

It really was perfect.

Off to a good start = plenty of good snacks!

I'm always trying to capture the beauty of this part of the country.

Just waiting.

It was an amazing production! The set is huge and the cast is amazing, the spirit testified to me yet again that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It is a book that not only has stories of old, but has the answers to how God wants us to live our lives. I felt so blessed to be there that night and partake of the amazing spirit!

The Girls each got five bucks (I think thats what it was) to spend when we got there IF they were good in the car. Each time they would fight or complain they got a dollar taken away and you know what? They didn't get a single dollar taken away, I was amazed because we did not go light on them!
So they decided to go with ice-cream sandwiches.

After the pageant we found a hotel (after alot of looking since everyone and there dog had already booked months and months ago) and got some rest. Then took advantage of the pool the next morning.

Trey stayed on the step the entire time.

We ended up that afternoon going to the Corning Glass Museum, which was very interesting to see how glass is made, along with alot of other really cool glass things!

They each got a big marble.

The Glass museum also ended up being a great hit!

We chose a random new York Pizza place to eat on the way out of town and it was delicious! We all loved it. It really was terrific pizza!
I felt so grateful that all everything fell into place for the trip. I hope to never forget what a good time our family had and how much fun it was just being with each other.

This was also an amazingly beautiful drive, from what I could see when it was light. Like I have said a million times I love the beauty that is here!