Lila's blessing

Nick was sick and losing his voice, but luckily it came back just in time to bless our sweet little Lila.

another beautiful dress by grandma Jaylene

love this picture

Nick and I had our wedding reception at this building and have lots of pictures of the two of us taken in this same spot.
I was skinnier and he had more hair, but it was fun to take these and see how our family has grown.

Seriously, why is it so impossible to get one shot with everyone smiling?

Charlotte's 4th birthday

Happy Birthday Charlotte!!!

the birthday girl's day was spent.....

sharing cupcakes with friends

eating McDonald's for lunch
(plus more cupcakes)

sharing a birthday dinner with Grandpa Don

(he turned 52!)

eating more sweets!!!

and opening presents!!

Oh what fun it is to ride...

...in a wagon

down Christmas tree lane!!!

Hannah and Aaron....so sweet

Everyone....

should have a cute little teddy bear like this

Look what I can do!!

I got tired of waiting for the experts to call and decided to go with the trial and error method.

Luckily I didn't have too many errors.

I like it.

It looks great hanging by our fireplace.

One down, five to go!

HELP!!!

I'm teaching myself how to knit a stocking for Elsie (with the help of cyberseams.com) and all was going very well, until I got to the heel. I have knitted two scarfs before but never finished or started them myself so I was excited to be able to do the ribbing and make a tube. But now I'm stuck. I don't understand what the pattern is saying and I'm scared to mess up what I have already done. If you are an expert knitter and would like to come over and explain some things to me, I would love you forever.

6 wonderful things about Aaron

1. He is a funny little kid who makes his sisters laugh all the time.

2. He cares about others feelings, he is very considerate and like to make others happy.

3. He is very smart and likes to learn

4. When he grows up he wants to be just like his dad

5. He is overcoming his shyness and becoming very independent (he begged me to let him walk up to the door of his kindergarten class all by himself)

6. He has big, blue and beautiful eyes

I love you Aaron and I am so proud of the boy you have become. You bring so much joy to my life. You are such a little gentleman and you will be a great example and benefit to society. I hope you always stand up for what you believe. Hold onto your dreams, stand for what is right and never let anything get in your way. I know you will do great things in this world.

I love you so much,

Mom

Aaron turns 6

He is officially a big kid. No more car seat!!!

Aaron's breakfast of choice

then a visit to the train store

Uncle Frank's annual day after Thanksgiving gathering

then a walk with Cece.

Claire and Aaron celebrate their birthdays on the same day so we got to attend a birthday with out all the work of planning!

All the kids got to make their own gingerbread houses! Very cute...and yummy too!

(we ate ours already)

Lila and Grandma

Charlotte was super proud of he gingerbread house that Daddy helped her make

Aaron had a wonderful day. I was worried because his day was not really centered around him, but he had lots of fun being around tons of family.

Thanksgiving

Very late I know, but I need it here for my blurb book for 2008. We spent the day at my mom's. I would have liked to spend the day at the beach again like last year, but it was nice to not travel and to sleep in my own bed.

After we ate we went on a little walk in the neighborhood. We found a really small frog and the kids had fun with it.

When we were saying goodbye to he frog Aaron asked if he could squish it. What is it with boys?
(We didn't let him)

Ali's photography below

WHY?

Why are two year olds so mischievous? Why are they only interested in things I don't want them to touch? Why are they so quiet when they are getting into trouble? Why do they always make this trouble when it is time to leave the house?

and...

Why are they so cute doing it?

but the real question is
Why have I not learned my lesson and

put the dang make-up bag out of reach?