It's Great to be Eight!

Annie had her birthday 2 weeks ago....she turned EIGHT years old! We ended up celebrating all weekend long (almost). We have a tradition of the birthday kid picking where we go out to dinner, as a family...since Annie's birthday was on a Monday night (when Matt was teaching at BSU) we decided to go out on Saturday night instead.

Sunday night we had her cake & ice cream, since we wanted Daddy to be there for that too! :)

Monday morning, we woke up bright & early so she could open her birthday gifts! She was given her own scriptures & marking pencils, some purple (her favorite color!) finger nail polish, a new outfit from Gramma & Grandpa C (she's worn it a lot!), a new dress & outfits for her American Girl doll from Grandma Judy & Grandpa Bill, and a special date with Mom to get pedicures & go shopping!!

We love this Anastasia! We are looking forward to a special day with lots of pictures & lots of family in town for her baptism!! Of course, I'll post pictures afterward! :)

Allie is 3 months old!

Things about Allie...

1) She loves to be propped up in a sitting position....she definitely likes to see what is going on around her!

2) She has *almost* lost her newborn cry....you know the one I'm talking about.

3) She usually puts up with loads of hugs & kisses from her older brothers pretty well.

4) She loves when Mom is holding her....if mom is busy, a binkie will hold her off just a tiny longer...

5) She does NOT like to lay on her tummy...."tummy time" usually lasts all of 30 seconds.

6) She typically goes to bed around 9pm and sleeps straight through until 6:30-7am!! Yes, I am in heaven!

7) She recently found her hands & loves to have them up near her face or in her mouth (see picture).

8) She will reward just about everybody with one of the cutest smiles ever!

9) She is definitely a blue-eyed baby! They aren't the newborn gray-blue anymore, but a dark, beautiful blue!10) She frequently has "raspberries" on her lips!

We are so blessed to have our little Allie-cat in our family! I love watching each of the other kids play, hold, and kiss her...each of them loves her so much! Matt loves to hold & talk to her as well....I think he misses her a lot when he has to work late or teaches class & doesn't get home before she is in bed. Heavenly Father definitely knew what he was doing when He sent Allie to us! We love her!!

Spring Break, Part 3

We made suger cookies yesterday!! Always a big hit! And, oh so yummy!!

Here the kids are getting ready to frost & decorate...

Decorating away...

All done!!

Now ENJOYING the goodness!!

Spring Break, Part 2

Another snowy day....so, we colored Easter eggs!!!

Some of the final product....
And a cute baby who slepted through it all...

I think we'll make Easter sugar cookies tomorrow! Yum! :)

Spring Break, Part 1

My kids are home this week for Spring Break (though you'd never know it since we've had rain, hail & snow today!)...so they've been doing some fun things to fill their time.

Today...it was the "Pass the Cup" game. I know this must be a Girl's Camp favorite, and last year, I was introduced to how fun it is when I attended Young Women's Camp with our ward. I came home & taught Abbie & Annie...and they love it too! Here they are in action...

If you want to see another family (not ours...on YouTube), you can click here to see a bigger group play. I really gotta remember to teach mine & Matt's family how to play this...I'm sure there would be tons of giggles once we got started.... :) Oh, the fun things that entertain us!!...

Abbie's Favorite Books

So, I've mentioned this before, but for those of you who don't know Abbie, she is a VERY avid reader. In an average week, she reads anywhere between 10-15 hours. Earlier in the school year, Abbie came across a series of books by Erin Hunter called "Warriors". Abbie has LOVED these books...and there are a TON of them. So far, Abbie has read about 25 of the books that Erin Hunter has written (there are several different series...the "Warriors" books are about different cat clans -- ThunderClan, WindClan, RiverClan, ShadowClan, and StarClan -- then there are the "Seekers" about bears).

One day in church, Abbie decided to draw pictures of the cats from different clans. Each clan has a leader, deputy, medicine cat, warriors, apprentices, kits & queens. Here are some of her pictures....

Princess is a "kittypet" (owned by humans) & Tigerclaw was ThunderClans deputy.
Fireheart (was a kittypet now a ThunderClan warrior) & Graystripe was in ThunderClan but switched to RiverClan & back to ThunderClan).

BlueStar (ThunderClan's leader) and YellowFang (ThunderClan's Medicine Cat).

Anyway...if you have a 10 year old, chances are they will love these books too! :)

Go Duke!

ACC Regular Season Champions

ACC Tournament Champions

NCAA #1 Seed for the 2010 play-offs!

Bring on March Madness....this house is full of Duke fans!

Smiles

Trying to capture the smile of a newborn on camera is just about impossible...lucky for me, I was finally able to get a few shots the other day....it's amazing how a little smile melts my heart, completely!

2 months old

On Sunday, Allie turned 2 months old. So, yesterday we had her 2 month check-up. She has reach all the appropriate milestones & is growing perfectly...she weighed in at 10 lbs. 8 oz & 22 inches long. She's handled the immunizations really well, even. She is such a sweet & easy going baby who loves to snuggle with me! She loves her nighttime bath, followed by pajamas, a bottle & bedtime. She's even slept through the night on a few occasions! :) Annie has a special touch for calming Allie down (especially when I'm trying to get dinner ready, or whatever) and helping her enough to relax & fall asleep. Parker & Connor love to give her tons of kisses everyday. Allie is a perfect addition to our family!

Here are a few snapshots that I took of her...(sorry for the shadows)...

And, here you can tell that she'd finally had enough...LOL!...

For Grandma C

Dear Grandma,

Thank you for our new birthday clothes! We love them!!

Love, Parker & Connor

PS...a goofy picture, just for fun...