Leah is Six !

This week we celebrated Leah's sixth birthday. It is so hard to believe. She is our "holiday" girl, so we had to be extra careful to make her day special. The day before we made pink cupcakes for her to take to school for her birthday. She really enjoyed decorating them with sprinkles. Another special thing for her birthday is that my mom was here to help celebrate it with us.

Leah decided that she wanted to buy a cake for her birthday, instead of me making one for her. So after she got home from school that day, we headed off to the grocery store to pick out a cake, as seen below. After we found her cake, I decided it would be fun to take her to McDonald's for lunch. She loved it.

We also told Leah she could pick what we would have for dinner. Her choice was macaroni and cheese, chicken breasts and I added broccoli to it. It was an easy and kid friendly.

Leah is turning into such a young lady and we are so proud of her. On her birthday, we celebrate Leah and are so thankful God chose to bless us with our first daughter. Happy Birthday, Leah!

My big Birthday Girl

Leah showing off the castle she built with her grandma. Thanks, Aunt Laura, the crafty things were a hit.

Zoe's First Birthday

I really don't know where the last year has gone to. It feels like I have just blinked my eyes and my baby is one year old. Zoe is such a delight to our entire family. It is rare for her not to have a smile on her face. She eats absolutely everything, which is such a relief since her bigger brother Nate will not touch a vegetable. She is also quite the comedian at the table, able to get everyone's eyes focused on her and laughing at her. We often time have votes while we are at the table and the kids raise their hands with their opinions. Well, Zoe can now be found raising her two little hands along with the rest of them.

Zoe isn't walking yet, but she is beginning to push things around the house. She got a little baby doll stroller/walker for her birthday and she is constantly pushing it around. She just stuffs her baby in and off she goes.

Zoe is also quite the daddy's girl (more than our other girls have been). When he walks into the house and she hears his voice, she crawls quickly to wherever he is. If he doesn't pick her up immediately, for instance if he goes to hang up his jacket, she breaks down and cries hysterically. She acts as if he has just broken her little heart. It is priceless.

Since it was a snow day and mom wasn't feeling all the way better from Strep, we decided to do Birthday Pie!

I don't think Zoe minded one bit!

Peaking into the empty box from her birthday gift

Now that she is one, she has a new trick...Climbing. Oh, dear!

Pushing her baby around

Throwing a fit/tantrum when daddy didn't pick her up as soon as he walked in.

Our Big Three Year Old

On Christmas, we celebrated Nate's third birthday. Nathanael is such a good-loving little boy. He is pretty laid back and so happy. He goes off and plays by himself in the basement for hours. He also makes it his goal, while he is down there, to dump each and every box of toys. The next time I head downstairs, it looks like a tornado went through. The other kids don't like that he does this very much, because they are the ones who we make clean it all up.

His birthday and Christmas gifts pretty much consisted of trucks, tractors and cars. It made this little boy VERY happy.

Here, one of the boys put dish cloths in his shirt to be like football pads. This is the face and the growl he thinks football players do.

One of the funniest things he does lately is tell everyone how old he is. For example, someone will ask him how old he is and he will respond, "ten." We then tell him, "no, three." Just the other day, we asked him and he responded, "ten!" We said, "ten?" He then said, "no, probably eweven." He cracks us up more than we can count everyday and we are blessed by him.

Look Who's TWO!

Once again, along with Christmas we were able to celebrate another special day in our family, Nathanael's second birthday. We celebrated after dinner with both sets of Grandmas and Grandpas. He loved tearing into more presents. The other kids think it is no fair that he gets to have his birthday on Christmas and get even more presents. I don't think it is something to be jealous of. He doesn't get anything the rest of the year. Bummer! Since he is still young and doesn't have much of an opinion, what we have been doing, by having a birthday party on Christmas night, works well for us. When/if he starts to get bothered by his birthday on Christmas, we will change things.

I just love this little pose!

Tearing into some pressies!

Enjoying the first licks of his birthday cake. He was adorable trying to blow out his candles. He tried, tried and tried but finally gave up. He just looked up at me as if to say, "this is too much work."

We are so blessed to celebrate another year of Nathanael's life. It was also neat to be able to celebrate it, along with Christmas with the rest of our families.

Cason Turns Eight!

This stylish dude turned eight way back on August 21 (see how behind I am.) Cason was able to have a bigger birthday party than usual as grandma and Aunt Laura were here visiting. We once again gave him the option for what he wanted to do for his birthday dinner go out or eat in his favorite food. He chose to eat in. He wanted grilled chicken with Peri-Peri sauce from Nando's. So that is what we did. We ended the meal with a confetti cake with homemade butter cream frosting. He was thrilled.

His birthday was on Friday. For the day, we took grandma and Aunt Laura into Stamford to the market. We did a bit of shopping, had lunch and then stopped off at Bean's (the best little coffee shop) for milkshakes for the kids, hot chocolate for mommy and Aunt Laura and coffee for grandma. After our little treat, we had to make a secret stop for a surprise for Cason. We headed to the music store where we bought Cason his birthday present - a 3/4 size red,acoustic guitar. He was so surprised. He left the store carrying his guitar in his case all the way to the car as proud as can be. He had asked for an electric guitar for his birthday, but mom and dad wanted him to learn on acoustic first and thankfully the man at the music store agreed.

Everyone waiting for birthday cake.

The happy birthday boy and two proud sisters.

Cason with his remote control Hummer from Grandma and Grandpa S.

Cason with his very own personalized picture from Grandma F.

Blowing out the candles.

Cason, we hope you had a great birthday. We love you so much. You are such a hard worker and a great helper. We hope you have fun learning how to play your new guitar. Love you, honey!

Annaliese Turns Three

With company here and packing to get ready for our trip to Venice, I completely forgot to post Anna's birthday pictures. It is so hard to believe she turned 3 last Thursday. She was the little baby that was only two months old when we moved here. She is more English than American. The time has flown by.

Annaliese is the little mother of the family. She adores babies real ones and baby dolls. She loves taking her baby with her where ever she goes. Annaliese is a delight to our whole family. Her name should be Joy because she is a little girl filled with joy and brings joy to everyone around her.

We were happy to be able to celebrate her birthday with Grandma S. and Uncle Mark. We went out to Pizza Hut for dinner and then back home for chocolate cake and presents. I think she had a fun day.

Anna showing off her new princess dress and scooter.

Andrew Turns "9"

I have been little blog overwhelmed lately, with the Ireland trip and all. I completely forgot to blog Andrew's birthday. I am sorry, Andrew. I wanted to do it now so he didn't think I forgot him.

It is hard to believe that, last Saturday, May 2, my baby turned nine. I seriously don't know where the last nine years have gone. I don't even feel old enough to have a nine year old. I guess that is a good thing.


We had a very nice day on Saturday. We started the day with Cinnamon rolls, Andrew's pick. Then the guys headed off to church for a work morning. I got a few things done around the house with the little ones. The weather was absolutely beautiful. We spent the rest of the day working around the yard and such. For dinner, Andrew's choice we grilled hotdogs and steak. Yummy! After dinner, the Houston's, Glenda's family, came down for some cheese cake. The kids all had fun running around and wrestling (Glenda's boys are 14 and our boys love them). The girls had more sofisticated talks with Chloe (12) on the trampoline.

Andrew really like his birthday gifts - Legos, and built them all afternoon. Grandma F. also made him a picture with his name and how he is special written on it. He thought that was pretty neat.

I am pretty sure he had a great birthday. Just the other day, he said, "only four more years until I am a teenager." AAAHHHH! That is scary. The time is going too fast.

We love you, Andrew, and we couldn't imagine our family without you. You witty humour makes our days brighter. The fact that you adore your little brothers and sisters amazes us and how you are so willing to help with them and play with them, especially Nathanael, is a joy for us to watch. Andrew, you are a blessing and we love you. Happy nineth birthday!

Happy Birthday Leah

Today we celebrated Leah's fourth birthday. She is such a big girl. We had a nice afternoon at home and then she opened her gifts. She chose to go to McDonald's for dinner and then we came home to have cake. Leah loved her birthday so much that when we put her to bed she started crying. Steve asked her what was wrong and she said that she didn't want her special day and birthday to be over. How precious is that? None of the other kids have done anything like that. I think I am getting a little glimpse of the drama of girls.

We are so thankful to be blessed with Leah for another year. She is a spunky and delightful little girl and we all love her so much.

Leah and her big brothers

Leah blowing out the candles on her princess birthday cake.

Opening her gifts.

HAPPY FOURTH BIRTHDAY, LEAH!!!!!!