Dress Up

Ashlyn wanted to go incognito today. She got half a stache on before I could get the pen away from her. Why do they always go for the face with a pen?

One

 The Princess has turned one. 

The nice thing about the 1st birthday is..they are only babies. They don't care if you spend all day baking a cake in their honor. They don't care if everyone they know is invited over to celebrate their big day. They don't care how many presents are waiting for them. The expectations are low. 

It's priceless!

We went all out and got her a brand new baby sister for her first birthday. 

This was one kind of sister I could get on board with.

She is in heaven and loves to squeeze her Dolly. 

I even caught her patting her back during a hug. 

We have a mother in the making at 1 year old.

Hunter's Fitness Goals

Hunter has been preoccupied with how big his belly is getting. He has been trying to not eat treats anymore but has decided to kick it up a notch. He came up with some goals to help him battle the bulge:

1.  Sit ups

2.  Exrsis meshing (Exercise machine)

3.  Run 30 times

4.  No brethis (breakfast) or dinner 

5.  Lift wats (weights)

6.  Ride my bike 100 times in the coldusac (cul de sac)

I like seeing him take a proactive approach to solving a problem he is concerned with but I feel bad that he is so concerned with his belly size. He was even refusing to eat breakfast this morning. I had to explain to him that skipping meals would not be the best solution and why. It makes me wonder if he has been teased about it. One down-side to being a parent is worrying about your kids in these types of situations. I wish I could just help him realize how special and perfect he is, regardless of his belly size. 

On a related note of setting goals, I think we will be working on spelling and penmanship as well. 

Time to Make the Donuts

*sob 

So not excited to start getting up early again tomorrow :(

Little Angel

Tonight when we were saying a prayer before dinner we noticed Ashlyn in her high chair folding her arms. I thought it was just a cute coincidence. We decided to see what she would do at our family prayer before bed. We got the camera ready and Trevor said the magical word "pray." This is seriously what she did all on her own as we snapped photos. We are in awe that at just shy of 10 months old, she knows how to fold her arms for a prayer. So funny!

Baby It's Cold Outside

I don't think I've ever seen a cuter set of buns. 

Today was COLD again! We had a high of 52 degrees which doesn't sound that cold but it was. I forced the boys outside since they haven't gone out voluntarily to play with the neighbor kids. They've had too much fun cleaning and playing video games during our Christmas break. Trevor & I sat outside and enjoyed the chilly weather as we watched the boys play. I came inside frozen to the bone. I laid on the couch under 2 blankets while my sweet husband built me a fire so I could get warm. I enjoyed relaxing on the couch and didn't mind one bit that there were millions of other productive things I should have been doing. The fire did it's job and I finally warmed up. And now I have this warm memory to add to my collection. 

Nerves are Shot

Me to kids: "I'm going to feed Ashlyn and get her to sleep so don't come in my room and please keep it quiet out here."

What Adam hears: "Go play in the backyard and when you discover that the gate is open, go to the front door and keep ringing the doorbell until someone opens the door."

This is the third or fourth day in a row that Ashlyn has missed her afternoon nap because of Adam. He usually wakes her up with his screaming because his older brothers are making him mad. Is there such a thing as the fourth child being on a sleep schedule? I'm pretty sure there is not. Especially when the fourth child has a very active and very horrible at following directions, four year old brother.