2013

Happy New Year's Day!!! A new year with new goals set I am excited about what 2013 is going to bring!

In's and Out's for the last 2 months...

the kiddos in pj's having fun

Mario sledding with the kids

the kids playing dress up, even Ethan wearing an old jacket!

Eve eating cereal for the first time... And not sure about it!

Elise and our fat cat Anne are napping buddies...

Elise usually can be found wearing a tu tu!!!

Having four kiddos is such an incredible blessing but it does keep a mommy busy! I wanted to take a moment and give an update on our sweet family. Ethan who is a big Star Wars fan has become an even bigger Batman fan. He now has us watching the ol' Adam West Batman tv show which is ridiculously cheesy. But it is great fun  for an 8 year old.;) Ethan and Emma have been taking piano and ice skating lessons which shockingly Ethan loves both! It has been a challenge for us to find extracurricular activities that he likes! And now he wants to go to a hockey game. He has great balance on the ice and is really interested in learning to play hockey. We have an outdoor ice rink in the park that is walking distance from our house but unfortunately it has not been cold enough for a long period of time to use it. Maybe next winter! Emma is the lead out in her ballet recital scheduled for April. I got to take a sneak peek at her hard work in progress last week and was amazed at how well she is doing! She wants to open up her own ballet studio. She just takes ballet, when she was younger she took a tap class but didn't really like it. Ballet is more her style. Elise is more girly than Emma if that is possible! She is into dress up, Rapunzel, oh and of course her play kitchen. And Eve she is rolling over now, trying to sit up, and experienced cereal for the first time last week and well she ate it! She puts everything in her mouth and makes all kinds of sounds. She is really getting a personality on her, the goods news is she is very relaxed and mellow more like Emma! Elise is still our firecracker and keeps us on our toes but I wouldn't change it, she is also our comic relief in our family. She loves to make us all laugh. She loves to sing. And well Max and Ruby is her fav and she loves to read the books and watch the tv show! We have fun and boy do we ever stay busy. Mario and I are planning a garden a real garden with lots of veggies so that has been keeping us busy! He is going to make me some raised beds with his new saw! Can't wait till spring. But for now we're enjoying the cold winter days with our kiddos... Here are some pics of well a sum up of what we have been doing the last few months...

Nutcracker

Ethan playing piano, he is really enjoying piano lessons.:)

Emma at her Christmas ballet to the Nutcracker, it was fun. It was snowing when we drove home after her ballet, just beautiful! I love this time of year...We are taking her to see a real nutcracker ballet this week and she is so excited! Emma is on far left, she lead the girls out on stage.

Eve Angeline in hospital just hours after she was born.

Baby Eve Angeline was only two hours old, my friend took these pictures for us at hospital wrapped in the hospital blanket and I love them. So precious so I had to share!

Thanksgiving Day, a lot to be thankful for...

all the kids...

Ethan and Jake

Emma and her bestie Maddie

our dining room

We celebrated Thanksgiving Day with some good friends. We loved the brining turkey recipe from Alton Brown! So juicy and the flavor from all the spices tasted so good. The kids had a blast playing with friends. Since our family is all back in Oklahoma we decided to invite friends over to enjoy our feast. I can't believe our old table has held up so well over the years. It is almost 100 years and still very sturdy. We squeezed everyone in, kids and adults. When I asked Ethan what he was thankful for this year, he said his family. :)

Eve Angeline at 8 weeks...

Well Eve is 8 weeks old and is doing new things all the time. I forgot how quickly newborns change. She is a very happy baby. Smiling at anything. I tried to take a picture of her many looks. She tries to hit her toy now, she hit it a couple of times and let out a loud coo! We are really enjoying her!

Thanksgiving prep

Ok so I don't write on my blog for months and now I can't seem to stop. It just looks so clean and fun to update now. It's kinda like after I give my house a 'hard' clean I find myself wanting to just stay home, light a good smelling candle, drink an ice tea, and just relax.

This Thanksgiving is going to be a lot of fun. We are hosting some good friends over for dinner then 9 more are coming over for dessert after they all eat. So we will have a house full. I'm looking forward to it. I'm putting together the menu now. We are brining our turkey for the first time with an Alton Brown recipe. And I'm going to attempt to make a new gluten free cookie recipe since one of the families eat all gluten free. I'll let you know how it turns out and of course with pictures. We are staying in Iowa and are planning on a visit back home to Oklahoma for Christmas. I love this time of year.

Elise lovin' on baby Eve

As you can tell Elise loves her baby sister! Eve Angeline is  now 7 weeks old which doesn't seem possible. She coos now and gets so excited when you talk to her. She is FINALLY only waking up twice at night. Until now it was every 2 hours, which amazingly enough I haven't been that tired. She looks a lot like Emma did but has Elise's smile! There is never a dull moment in our house and I wouldn't change it!