Alaina turns 1 year old - Scott turns . . .

We have 3 birthdays in our house in the span of 11 days . . . this is the first year I've had to figure out the logistics of celebrating all three, since it is Alaina's FIRST BIRTHDAY!  We ended up deciding to do all three celebrations in one weekend sweep.  It seemed to work this year!  First, we had Ethan's party with his friends on Saturday, Jan. 28th (a little before his actual birthday on Feb. 3rd, but it allowed for the most family members to be present).  (See below post).

Then on Sunday, we celebrated Scott's and Alaina's.  Scott turned 36 on Jan. 23rd, and Alaina turned 1 on Jan. 31st.  Scott said he didn't mind sharing his celebration day with his little girl.  So, we went to an early dinner to a restaurant in Greenville that Scott wanted to go to, Smoke on the Water - very yummy!  Then we all came back to our house for cake and presents.  That's when we presented Alaina with her 1 year old birthday cake.

I struggled a little about not doing a big 1 year old birthday party for her, as I had done for both of our boys when they turned 1.  But the logistics of planning that out, just didn't work out this year, due to other things already planned on different weekends, etc.  So, I just decided that it was OKAY to celebrate her with our family only.  We took plenty of pictures, so she will always remember that we did remember her.  I think that is the main thing I've learned this year with having three kids.  I can't do everything EXACTLY the same, in the EXACT same way for EACH child.  And I don't need to.  Each child is different, each stage of life is different, and sometimes LIFE just doesn't allow you to do things in the exact perfect, planned out way that you may have in your head (or my head, rather.)  I have learned to be much more flexible this year, at least I would like to think.  There's always room for more growth of course.  But for now, I am so thankful for a little girl to love and have the privilege of raising.  It is definitely different than raising boys, I've already learned.  Both are very special, but just different.  There is SO much more to learn.  I'm thankful for a chance to be a mother to a little girl.  I didn't really ever think I needed or even wanted to have a little girl, I was fine either way.  But now that she's come into our lives, she is just such a sweet, sweet blessing we never knew we were missing out on!

Happy Birthday to our precious Lainey girl!

Ethan's 8th Birthday Bowling Party

We celebrated Ethan's 8th Birthday with his friends and a bowling party.  It was a fun time for all!  Pizza, Arcade Games, Cake, Presents, and Bowling!  I can't reminisce too long, or I become teary eyed that I actually have a child who is 8 years old, but I am so thankful for Ethan.  Just a QUICK look back to a time when we were SO YOUNG (haha!)

 He is such a caring, helpful, smart, friendly, outgoing, social, talented,  . . . the list could go on.  God has definitely blessed me to have my oldest child be Ethan.  I love him so much and couldn't imagine my life without him as our son!  Happy Birthday to Ethan on 02-03-12!

Click below to see more pictures from the party.

https://plus.google.com/photos/108817934195676835920/albums/5703295777601742689

Family Pictures 01-14-12

We went and had family pictures taken with our family and Scott's parents.  I thought we ended up getting quite a lot of good ones.  I'm thankful for photographers that work well with children.  :-)  It takes so much planning to get family pictures made, so we don't get them done as often as I'd like to.  But I had fun picking out all of our outfits in blue and yellow color schemes for these photos.

All About Alaina 2012 Questionnaire (almost 1 yr)

Alaina will turn 1 year old on Jan. 31st . . . how in the world has it already been an entire year??  (The year reflections are for another post hopefully.)  But I am looking forward to her answers on this Questionnaire next year, when perhaps she will say a little more than "Dada Dada Dada" for everyone in her family . . . She calls Daddy "Dada", she calls me "Dada", she calls Ethan and Caleb "Dada."  She will imitate other sounds you make, like "Lala" and "Mama",  . . . but won't associate "Mama" with me yet.  :-)  For now, here is a picture of our Lainey girl in all her sweetness!

All About Caleb 2012 Questionnaire (5 1/2 yrs)

This is All About Caleb . . . as answered by Caleb when he is 5 1/2 years old.  (I think it's funny that both he and Ethan got tired of answering the questions at the same time, when I asked them what their favorite pajamas were! :-)

Favorite book: Five Tumbling Tigers

Favorite movie: Hero Factory and Elf on the Shelf

Favorite tv show: Wild Krats

Favorite song: none

Best friend: Elijah and Charlie and Hayden

Favorite place to go: Monkey Joes

Favorite food: Hot dogs

Favorite dessert: Doughnuts

Favorite thing to do: Go to Monkey Joes

Favorite toy: Star Hero Factories

Favorite holiday: Christmas and Easter

Favorite outfit: none

Favorite color: Blue, Red, & Green

Favorite drink: Sprite and Root Beer

Favorite thing at the park: Going on the playground with Elijah

What do you want to be when you grow up: A Dad

What do you love: DSI and DS's

Favorite vegetable: none

Favorite fruit: pears

Favorite pizza: Pepperoni, Cheese, & Sausage, and all of them actually

Favorite pajamas: Can we finish the rest of the ?s later?

Favorite place to eat: Pizza Hut

Favorite thing to do at school: P.E.

What is your favorite thing about where we live: Watching shows

All About Ethan 2012 Questionnaire (almost 8 yrs)

I got the idea from my friend, Kyndra, to do a yearly Questionnaire of your kids each year, but have never taken the time to do it until now.  I finally did them this morning.  I hope I can remember to do this each year . . . I think it will be fun to look back through the years to see how their answers have changed and how they've grown. 

So, this is All About Ethan  . . . as answered by Ethan when he is almost 8 years old (birthday February 3rd):

Favorite book: Star Wars

Favorite movie: Can't decide

Favorite tv show: Wild Krats

Favorite song: Never Gonna Be as Big as Jesus (Audio Adrenaline)

Best friend: Alaina, Charlie, Caleb, Khalil, Daniel

Favorite place to go: Jason's Deli

Favorite food: Macaroni & Cheese

Favorite dessert: Doughnuts and Brownies

Favorite thing to do: Go on the computer

Favorite toy: Ninjago, Hero Factory, Bionicle Stars, and Star Wars

Favorite holiday: Christmas

Favorite outfit: A Clone Wars Shirt

Favorite color: Red

Favorite drink: Root Beer

Favorite thing at the park: Playing Episodes, Tag, Hide & Go Seek Tag

What do you want to be when you grow up: I don't know yet

What do you love: Alaina, Mommy, Daddy, Caleb, Ethan

Favorite vegetable: Broccoli

Favorite fruit: Grapes

Favorite pizza: Cheese

Favorite pajamas: How much longer? - Lego Star Wars

Favorite place to eat: Jason's Deli

Favorite thing to do at school: P.E.

What is your favorite thing about where we live: I get a baby sister.

Just around the house

It's been hard to get back in our routine after the holiday break . . . at least it has been for me.  We have Wednesday nights at church where Scott and I teach mission friends and I help with 5 year old choir, but other than that, our evenings are pretty uneventful around the house.  I really like the time to just hang out with our family and not have to rush off to sports practice or other commitments.  The kids were having some fun in the ever popular clothes baskets one night:

Alaina has been having fun  crawling around with her sippy cup hanging out of her mouth.  I'm not sure if she's got the hang of getting any liquid out of it, but she sure does like to chew on it!

Even though we've been enjoying our evenings in at home, I am ready for Spring and for it to stay light out later.  How much longer do we have?  I think a while . . .