MARCH BIRTHDAY PARTY

Between my sister and I, we have 5 kids born in a 10 day period in March.....instead of individual parties, we just get everyone together for 1 big celebration.

Josiah turned 4 this year!

everyone waiting for the gift opening to begin!

Janae and Julia opening up a gift together.

Becca opening up her favorite gift....a puppy in a purse.

oh my. this is SO her.

we bought Jeremiah and Josiah a set of 3 little dart guns (so all 3 little boys would have their own gun)....pretty sure my sister was happy about that. :)

little fireman

Happy Birthday Josiah, Janae, Rebecca, Jeremiah, and Julia!

We love you!

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY BECCA-BOO!

how in the world did my baby girl get to be 6?!

Becca spent the morning with grandma, Elizabeth, and all the girl cousins at a play (heaven for Becca to dress up AND hang out with her cousins!). This evening we will go out for Ethiopian food (she begged for it. :)) and come home and open presents and have cake.

We had our family's big March birthday celebration ~my sister has 4 kids born in March! ~last Sunday...I'll get picks from that posted soon too.

Rebecca Anne~

You are an amazing gift to all who know you, but especially to daddy and I.

Your precious tender heart coupled with your sassy attitude make you the perfect blend of 'sugar and spice'.

I love how you love Jesus and want everyone around you to know Him too.
I love you how you love babies, puppies, kitties, and the elderly.

I love how you talk and text on your cell phone like you're a teen-ager ~even though it does worry me!

I love you Becca-boo.

love-mommy

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY ELIZABETH!

it's hard to believe my BABY is 5.

where has the time gone?!

she is growing up to be such a neat little girl ~smart, funny, athletic, caring...I could go on and on. :)

my niece, Janae, wrote a precious poem for Elizabeth's birthday and I wanted to share it here (as well as print it off and frame it!)



Dear Ellie,

Yesterday you seemed 16, though you were but 4;
And today you are 5, though you seem so much more.
When my aunt and my uncle, that’s your mom and dad,
Returned from China, all those with us were glad.
The day you arrived we all thought you were cute,
And now you are 5 and for the Buckeyes you root.
Ellie you’re friendly, you never are shy;
You’ve won our hearts over and there’s good reason why.
Ellie God loves you and by you He’ll stand,
He’ll guide you forever with His tender hand.
Ellie you’re sweet and make us laugh to death,
Happy birthday our darling Elizabeth!


Happy Birthday sweet baby girl.

We love more and more each day ~and we can't imagine life without you!

We love you!

ANDREW'S 7TH BIRTHDAY

On October 14th, my sweet firstborn turned 7.

I did a small post that day for his birthday with the intention of a follow up post with all the pics...."life" got in the way so I'm now just getting to it!

the birthday boy!

We had a fun, relaxed morning and then met John at his work for lunch ~something the kids LOVE to do.

Then, we stopped by my mom's so she could surprise Andrew (and the other kids) with passes to our local "natural history museum".

They love museums and Andrew especially loves this one cuz of the dinosaurs. :)

putting together a "broken pottery" puzzle ~it was WAY harder than it looks!!

panning for "gold"

me and my boy

oh how I love him

let the gift opening begin. :)

just a small cupcake on his actual birthday since we were having the big family party a few days later


AND -the big family party pics

it was a "Football themed" party ~for months before his birthday, he told us he wanted a St*ar Wars party (hence ALL the St*ar Wars stuff!)..but then about a week before, he changed his mind to football....which was fine ~dressing up as football people and doing a football cake was MUCH easier!!

how outdated this pic is!! baby Joshua is still IN my sister's tummy..and now he's been out almost 5 weeks!

isn't this great?! My sister found it out a garage sale just a week before Andrew's b-day!

his new addiction

and his obsession ~football.

does every family do this?! after we blow out candles the kids fight to lick the frosting off the candles. :)

We love you so much Andrew!

AND NOW HE'S 7.

I can't believe he's 7 today.

He's growing up...to be a sweet, loving young man.

Happy Birthday my sweet sweet boy.

I love you so very much bug.

love-mom

KEEPING IT LIGHT

I have so much swirling around in my head right now ~stuff that is more "heavy"...so I will save that for another post....I think I need more time to process it all anyway.

But for now ~here's a little update from around here!

please ignore the pile of laundry in the background! :)
Biruk has really taken a liking to Becca's baby doll "Matthias". :) He doesn't carry it around or anything, but every once in awhile you'll catch him holding it or playing "mommy and daddy" with the girls and all of their dollies.

He is VERY sweet and nurturing with the dolls~sweet to see.
I know...you're thinking "what?"...the teeny bud in the middle is a budding pumpkin plant.
We decided to let each kid plant 2-3 pumpkin seeds...in different soils...to see which ones would grow best...and hopefully, by Fall, we'll have some homegrown pumpkins to decorate!

just had to include my summer obsession.
Sun Tea.

It's addicting.
I do 1/2 plain decaf tea and 1/2 Good*Earth original tea

I go thru this much tea in 2 days by myself!

last week was my b-day...nothing special...just another year older. :)

John and I were able to go out to dinner ~just the 2 of us ~then back to my parents to open presents.

The big present was Twist*er!

John and I thought it would be a fun game to get for the family. :)

If you don't have this game ~you need to go get it! It's not only fun but helps the kids with right/left...and is helping Biruk with his colors.