Sunday, January 26, 2014

Happy 6th Birthday, Keira!

I can't believe my baby is 6 already! She is such a joy to have around, and has gotten so big and beautiful! Most of January, the house is decked out with birthday decorations between Cambria's and Keira's birthdays. They like having the same birthday month.

Cambria is now 3!

 These winter birthdays are hard to do pinatas...it wouldn't be too fun to dig the candy out of the snow. So, we strung it up in the garage and let the kids have a go at it. Of course Thomas is the one to break it open, but Andy made it challenging for him, as he was the one holding onto the rope.



Unfortunately, we didn't have a plastic, lighter bat for Cambria to use, so she struggle to give the piƱata a good whack.



 This year for Keira's birthday, she had her first friend party. Since her new favorite movie is Frozen, we decided to do it a little Frozen themed. Andy drew this amazing "Pin the Nose on Olaf" poster

Here's the birthday girl, all dressed up in her new costume, ready for her princess party:)



Keira's friends got to come dressed up in their princess costumes. Every one of them was a different princess. They got to decorate crowns as they listened and sang along to the Frozen songs. They were so cute!


Here are the princesses, with crowns and all! One friend was unable to make it.


 As part of their tea party, they had a selection of Kristoff's Ice-jello, marshmallow Olaff's (Do you wanna build a snowman?:), white powder donuts, and Sven's "poop"- whopper malt balls







They loved Pin the Nose on Olaff! As you can see, they all veered to the left for some reason and were sticking them in the same area.


(This one was taken later on. This poster will be a keeper!)

Her friends were very excited to give her their presents! Stickers, a barbie, a glow pillow, Tangled pictures to color with new markers





 They each made a sticker princess page from Keira's new stickers, played follow the leader, and then it was time to go. Time went by quick and Keira was sad to have her friends go, but I think she had a great time at her party!

 Keira loves her little cousin, Brielle. She's about half the size of Keira now, but Keira still tries to hold her.

 I love my birthday girl! Keira...
-loves Kindergarten, especially when they do Centers
-she's a great reader
-still loves to sing and dance
-she loves to play with Cambria and Brielle
-she loves to draw, swim, roller skate, she says she wants to do tennis again this summer, she's pretty open to doing anything
-her new favorite thing is Frozen
-favorite color is blue now. Was pink, then purple...now it's blue
-still my cuddle bug-gotta love those moments!

We love you, Keira! Happy Birthday!







Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Merry Christmas...and a Happy New Year!

Christmas is always so fun with kids bringing a little of the magic and excitement to the celebration. My kids were with me till around noon, so I got to sleep in a little bit-with Cambria not being the early riser my kids are. Cambria was so fun to watch this year as she was old enough to enjoy what was going on. Santa was really good to her this year!

Brielle got a cute hat made by Aunt Cindee- and she was just happy playing with, ripping, and eating tissue paper:)

Thomas and Keira immediately went to see what Santa left them once they got here. So fun to see their excitement!





Eventually, they made their way to look in their stockings


Normally we do this Christmas Eve, but since the kids weren't with me, we postponed it till Christmas night. Drawing names to see who plays what part, we did our annual nativity

This was our first time trying a night in Bethlehem themed dinner. It wasn't received with very much enthusiasm as most preferred the hearty big feast with lots of meat. Oh dear, we are spoiled:)

Christmas came and went so fast! New Year's Eve, the boys broke out their firecrackers and other really noisy fireworks...a little bit of fun for them before Jacob leaves.

The kids had fun watching it, too

I let Thomas and Keira stay up this year for the count down. Keira conked out around 10:30 while I was reading stories to them. She sure tried to stay up, though:) So, this is Thomas and I giving our toast to the New Year! 2014- Whoop! Whoop!

New Year's Day we took Jacob to the MTC. It was a quick drop off, they give you a whole 2 minutes to say goodbye. Jacob did amazingly well. What a great way to start off the year-dedicating your life to serving the Lord. Proud of you Jacob!


Jacob was greeted by a missionary also going somewhere in Japan

See you in 2 years!

We hope you all had a fun Christmas and a happy New Year! Love you!