A gift from the Tooth Fairy

Katie finally lost her first tooth. So, here she is displaying her gift from the tooth fairy.

Happy Halloween

Well, after a couple of months of not being able to download my pictures from the camera. I did it the old fashioned way and took my camera to Target. Here is the kid's Halloween picture this year. For some reason, I can not get the girls to think outside of the box and wear anything other than Princess gowns and Jacob is again their Knight in Shining Armor. I think this is the 2nd year now. He's out of the Star Wars phase for now and just focuses on anything that is military. And Sarah won't insists on wearing either her Snow White dress (which was Katie's so it's entirely too big for her) or her Princess nightgowns when she is home. Ah...2 year olds :)

Catching up

As you can see, I am catching up from the past couple of months. It has been chaotic to say the least around here since the middle of August with the girl's celebrating their birthdays (mine was in there too) and the oldest two starting back to school and Dave getting a job!! We thank you for all of your prayers in getting Dave a job, now we need to sell our house. It has been on the market for a few weeks now (hence the craziness) but since this isn't the best time to be selling our house and moving closer to Dave's job, we need lots of prayer. But before I go, I did want to share a very important milestone for Jacob - he joined Cub Scouts this year. If you know Jacob, you know he is very excited about wearing uniforms and earning things so this is right up his alley. He is also involved in a Basketball clinic on the weekends and Katie is still taking ballet and is even trying out Soccer this Fall. Did I say we were busy? It's all good, though - God is good.

Flower Girl and Ring Bearer

Katie and Jacob were blessed with the opportunity to be in a wedding today at our church. It was a beautiful ceremony and the children did very well standing still. Below are some pictures from the wedding party and the only one I could get of the 5 of us that was half way decent. It's hard to tell but Jacob has on a light grey shirt and blue velvet satin tie to match the grooms and Katie's blue velvet satin bow matches the bride's dress. I loved the hydrangea blue theme and the cake was gorgeous (tasted good, too). And Jacob caught the garter much to the dismay of the soloist's daughter who caught the bouquet - watch out Carla!

Back to School Day

I haven't had a chance to get pictures of the kids taking the bus, which they love, but on the first day I drove them to school. Jacob is starting to get to that age where he is embarrassed when I take pictures of him in front of his friends so he isn't as cooperative as Katie. Oh well, pictures on the first day of school are mandatory and my job as mom is to embarass him!

Our Summer Olympic Party

Below are some pictures from our Summer Olympic Party - we colored pictures of the Olympic flag complete with award ceremony and made our our own flames by roasting marshmallows and then we ordered in Chinese food since the games were hosted by China and then watched the opening ceremony together. Quite a memorable event and we actually watched a good part of the Olympics this year thanks to TiVo.

Our Summer in Pictures

Below are some pictures of what we did this summer. Jacob and Katie spent several days with Grandma and Grandpa as well and even went with them to the beach for a few nights but I don't have links to those pictures. `

Jordan Family Vacation - this is a picture of the kids with their Jordan cousins.

Katie's Dance Recital

Father's Day 2008

Jacob's Civil War Dress Up - he finally got to go to a battlefield at the end of summer with Grandma


Katie and Sarah playing outside. Luckily we've had really nice weather this year.

The boys went camping at Yogi Bear Jellystone Park and the girls and I joined them the next day for swimming.



Katie and Sarah playing dress up on a playdate with Grace.

The Good Patient

This is Dave the night of his surgery where he had his deviated septum corrected. We were really suprised that the he didn't have black eyes and a lot of bandages. He basically slept for 3 days after the surgery while he was taking the pain medication. But after he had the splints taken out, he could breathe better than he has in the past even with the swelling which will take another couple of weeks to go down.

I'm Bragging

There are two reasons for this post. The first one is to celebrate Barbara's 60th Birthday. She has been a huge part of our lives for the past 7 years as she has taken care of our 3 children on the days that I work during the week. She has been a tremendous blessing to us and allowed me to go to the office knowing that my children are taken care of and loved. Thank you Barbara for your parenting advice, devotion and dedication to my children.
The other reason for this post is to brag about the giraffe cake I made her. She loves giraffes and while I could never thank her enough for being a part of our life, I was able to come up with the ingredients around the house to make a giraffe cake for her and the kids so they could help her celebrate. I'm no professional cake maker, but I was impressed with my amatuer ability.

Katie's Big Night

Hopefully, I can figure out how to upload this video properly. This is Katie's first big performance in her Preschool end of year program. She is Noah's wife and although you may want to turn down the audio since you can't understand a word the class is singing, it is mildly entertaining.

Jacob's Bike Blessing

Just a week after successfully passing the Bicycle Obstacle course at our local fire department and receiving a new helmet, Jacob's Haro bike was stolen from the church parking lot where he goes to school. After a few days of shock and searching and much prayer, we decided we would start shopping yard sales to get him an old bike to use until Dave got a new job. However, God decided to answer Jacob's many prayers in a different way. We went to school the next week and a girl in his first grade class had organized a fundraiser to help Jacob buy a new bike. Then his Aunt Laura found out that we were planning on selling some of his old toys at the Flea Market to raise some more money since Jacob wanted a bike with foot pegs, etc that he could really enjoy, and she contributed to his purchase. Another week later, Jacob purchased his dream bike and we bought a lock!

Kitchen "Help"

Well, if you have girls, then you know how much they enjoy "helping" mom in the kitchen. Katie and Sarah both like to help me fix dinner by getting items out of the refrigerator and putting the utensils on the table. Here is just the latest picture of the girls in the kitchen. I'm looking forward to the day they will take over all together. Now, if I can just get Jacob to clean the kitchen.

Happy Easter 2008

 

Here is proof that it's difficult getting three children to smile without looking goofy. We had a fun day at church on Easter Sunday praising our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And it's a good thing we had an opportunity to grow closer to God because the next day, Dave was laid off. We weren't exactly surprised given the downward turn of the housing market and economy in general. But I'd be lying if I didn't say it was a little alarming at first. So, besides this post wishing you a blessed Easter, we also need to ask for prayers from anyone reading this blog.

Jacob's Fun Expedition

I know it's been a long time since we've posted but we are crazy busy just like everybody else these days. Here is a picture from Jacob's 7th birthday party last month at Fun Expedition. It's a pretty neat place - rock climbing wall, laser tag, arcade, bowling, mini-golf and a soft play area. The kids had a great time and I ran around after Sarah, my usual story when out at one of these kid places.