Tuesday, April 09, 2013

St Louis

 We took a trip with the Dodson side of the family to visit the STL Dodsons over spring break, and I think I can safely say we all had a blast! No matter what we were doing, the kids loved just being together, and the adults seemed to feel the same way too. The times where we are ALL together are way too far apart, so it's always special to get time together. Half of us stayed at a hotel there, and it was pretty comical hearing the comments as 7 kids would come down in the morning for breakfast. We started counting how many comments we received each morning, but we always lost track... I'm pretty sure I heard the word "day care" a few times too!
One of the nights there we celebrated Micah, Harper, Caylee and Papi's birthdays. The food was wonderful and I think all the birthday people felt loved on.
We hit City Museum while we were there, and it was a huge hit with the kids. There really are no words to describe the place...it's a big play ground...a kid's heaven... It was really fun seeing all the different personalities come out as we explored the place. Harper had absolutely no fear, and so Micah enjoyed letting her be the leader. Claire always had a plan of where she was going, and Lily was just happy to hang out. Ethan still wasn't walking (his cast had come off 2 days prior), but he was able to get around pretty well crawling all over the place. And with the help of his uncles and dad carrying him around. At one point Chris said, "Ethan, if you'd walk we wouldn't have to carry you everywhere." To which Ethan responded, "If you hadn't broken my leg, I wouldn't have to crawl." Touche.

The kids also loved swimming together. I think the dads did too.

All in all it was a great trip. I'm so thankful for family that loves each other! Time to plan another trip....

Monday, April 08, 2013

Easter

Happy Easter!
We're so thankful for another year to celebrate our Risen Lord! 
 It took about 30 pictures to get one where all 3 kids were even looking at the camera. These pics are definitely more "true to life". It was right after one of these that Owen fell back into a puddle of mud. Yep, true to life.
 We made our annual "resurrection rolls" - you dip marshmallows in butter and sugar, wrap them in dough and bake...once they're done baking the marshmallow has melted and symbolizes Jesus' body not being in the tomb. It makes for some funny questions like "Did Jesus' body melt?" and "Is the marshmallow in heaven with Jesus now?", but at least it started the conversations! And it was fun seeing Harper get into it this year. The whole day she would say, "Where did He go?? HEAVEN!"

Easter afternoon we went to the Harris' house for 5th year to celebrate with them. (it's hard to believe it's been that long!) The kids had a blast on their egg hunt, and the parents enjoyed hanging out eating wonderful food. Thanks, Harrises, for hosting again!

Saturday, April 06, 2013

Birthdays Galore...2, 4, 6

I'm a bit behind blogging about birthdays...like 3 months behind. I think I've just recovered from all our partying.

Ethan turned SIX in January. Six...my first baby is so big now. He's adventurous, passionate, loyal, sensitive, observant, and goofy. He constantly surprises me with what comes out of his mouth. For example, when I praised him for loving on his brother one day, his response was, "If I had not loved on Owen, would I have been doing the bidding of Satan?" He leaves me speechless. A lot. He's loving Kindergarten and was a champ with his broken leg at school. He's reading but much prefers math to any sort of reading/phonics. He still loves to draw, and is working at mastering drawing Ninja Turtles.
 Ethan was a trooper as his birthday plans were changed last minute. One of his good friends got really sick the night before his party and I was a the hospital late, so we decided to keep the party at home and very simple. We invited everyone over for a movie and pizza. When we told him about the change of plans, his wasn't upset at all. "As long as my friends are with me, I don't care where we celebrate." That was just what this momma needed to hear!

Owen turned FOUR in February, and my little farmer has turned a new corner. He loves super heroes and Ninja Turtles. I'm not sure how it happened, but his construction stuff has been packed up and all he does now is play action figures. It made me a little sad at first, but it is fun seeing the boys fight crime together! Owen is still his own person, though. He's hard-working, passionate, tender, helpful, strong willed, resilient, and funny. He's soaking things up that I don't realize and will surprise us when he'll shout out an answer to Ethan's homework. And I love his sweet spirit...he tells me constantly that he'll always be my baby boy. Once day when I picked him, I told him how big he was getting and I probably couldn't carry him much longer, and he responded with, "I guess I'll have to stop eating so you can carry me forever."
 Owen's party was at the place he takes gymnastics. He was in heaven having free reign of the gym. At one point he lost his pants in the foam pit. When he was pulled out by the assisting coach, he was completely naked from the bottom down...I didn't think to make sure he had put underwear on before we left the house. Awesome.

And my baby girl turned TWO in March. She's been ready to be two for several months now. If she could say she wanted to be sixteen, she'd probably say that though. This girl is keeping us on our toes. She never stops moving, she is tough and has no fear. She's incredibly expressive; you never wonder what she's thinking because it's clearly written on her face. She loves Mickey Mouse (ie: "moush"), wearing sunglasses, carrying purses, jumping on the trampoline, having her nails painted, and Michelangelo the Ninja Turtle. I have to admit, I have loved having a girl!

 When I asked her what she wanted to do for her party, all she would say was, "PINK!". So a pink party we had. We painted nails, played with babies, and ate a pink cake. It was startling the how quiet and peaceful having 10 little girls in one room vs. 10 little boys. They were calm, quiet and relatively still. I wasn't sure what to do with that!

We had family over for a separate family party, and it turned into a full day of celebrating! The kids loved having their cousins over to play, and they managed to love on all their grandparents along the way. Ethan and Adam both had casts on and practiced their break dancing moves on the floor together. Thanks, family, for celebrating our kiddos! We loved having you all here!