Fun with Cousins!

Cousins...Friends for life


My brother and his family came to visit the weekend after Thanksgiving. They were our first official visitors since we moved out here and we really enjoyed their visit. They have 2 boys. Their oldest is 5 months younger than K2 and their youngest is 3 months older than K3. It is great having the kids so close in age...they really enjoy being together! We miss you guys and can't wait to see you at Christmas! I'll leave you with a slideshow of the kids together...

Some funny pics to end your Monday...

Saturday morning, I came downstairs to see quite a sight! The girls are really sweet about being extra quiet on Saturday mornings and letting me and Bryan stay in the bed a little longer. We had breakfast with Santa that morning, so we didn't stay in bed too long, but they still woke up before we were ready to crawl out of bed. They thought they'd be extra quiet by going out back to play. Also, they saw ice on our patio table and thought it would be fun to play with ice (ice, snow...same thing...at least to my kids). Needless to say, it was pretty chilly outside. My sweet little K1 bundled K3 up and thought she and K2 were dressed appropriately, too. That line between dependence and independence is a pretty funny line! Here's what I came down to that morning...notice the shoes...

Another quick funny...
The other night K1 was wanting me to give her some hard words to spell. She is really good at spelling. I decided to ask her to spell mischievous. She said, "Well, that depends...is she married or not, because I know that rule." I got hysterical over that one, because she was dead serious.

Then, K2 joined in the fun and said, "I know how to spell boy". Then, she proudly began to spell it..."HE"!

They keep me in stitches!!! Thanks be to God for all the laughter that children bring into our lives! I can't imagine my life any other way!

Happy 8th Birthday, K1...We love you!

It is so hard to believe that our baby turned 8 today. Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday we were announcing to our parents that we were expecting their first grandchild. Eight years later, we're sitting here with not one, but 3 precious little girls. We have been so blessed! K1 is now officially entering the tween years (8-12) and we couldn't be more proud of the little lady she is becoming. She has such a sweet and gentle spirit and is a great big sister. Both her little sisters think she is just IT! (Her mommy and daddy are pretty crazy about her, too) I thought it would be fun to post a favorite picture from each year to see how much she has changed and grown. Enjoy!

Birth...

1 year...


2 years...


3 years...


4 years...


5 years...


6 years...


7 years...


8 years...


Happy 8th Birthday, sweet girl! We are so proud of you and thank God for the wonderful gift He has given us in you! We love you most!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town...

Here is the picture of the girls with Santa Claus! They did great! It's the first year with no tears and we were so proud! Enjoy!

Decorating the Christmas Tree!

Every year we decorate the tree the Friday night after Thanksgiving. We order pizza for dinner and then spend the evening decorating the tree and inside of the house. The girls get so excited and we all have a blast. We play Christmas CD's while we hang the ornaments and the girls dance around the living room in between hanging ornaments. I'm not sure who has more fun...them or us watching them. They are sentimental already when it comes to hanging the ornaments and they have their favorite ones to hang. It has become one of our favorite times of the season! I have lots of great video footage of them dancing around the ottoman to the tune of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. Maybe someday I'll put some of that footage on the blog if we can get it small enough. For now I've just put together a slide show of some of my favorite photos from the night. Hope you enjoy them!

We went with some friends and took the girls to see Santa at the mall tonight. Once I get it scanned in, I'll post it on the blog. It's the first time that all 3 girls sat on his lap without mom or dad in the picture and no one cried or anything. Quite an accomplishment for us! They all even talked to him and told him what they wanted...even sweet little K3 sat on his lap and in her soft little voice told him she wanted a baby. Too cute! Afterward, she was sooo proud of herself and so were we!

Thank Heaven for Little Girls...

This was the first holiday since we moved back and I was a little nervous about how it would go. We definitely missed being with our families, but we enjoyed a great dinner with some of our closest friends here, the Newtons' and Russells'. These are friends that we made the first time we lived here and have continued the relationship over the years. They've helped us feel as if we never left. When we left, their babies were still babies and now they're not so little. The girls are both a little older than K1, but have really helped the girls with adjusting to the move. All our girls just adore both of them and it has been so fun having them back in our lives. After dinner on Thanksgiving day, the girls cooked up a sleepover...how could I resist...look at those faces! They all had a great time and we enjoyed having them over! Sorry for taking so long to get this post up, JN! Hope you enjoy the pics!

All reaching in the popcorn bowl...


They can eat some popcorn...


What's a sleepover without silly faces...


The girls minus K3, she was comfy on the couch, sucking her thumb...


Note: As mentioned above...K3 comfy and sucking her thumb...