Mara's 1st birthday party!!

We held out for an extra week before we threw Mara her birthday party due to bad weather and boy did we end up getting a great day!! We rented a bounce house which was a HUGE hit with all the kids...can't say that mommy & daddy didn't also have fun bouncing with the kids in there the next day!!!! ;-) All of us had a fantastic time with family and friends and we are so grateful to have been able to share our celebration with all of you! She seemed to be a little "off" the day of the party and napped for a little while during it...later we discovered she had cut 2 teeth during that afternoon! Here are a few pictures that were taken at the party and a couple from the next day of the kids playing in the bounce house, I have yet to take her out and get some good pictures of her in her little birthday outfit but, hope to do it sometime this weekend while the weather is a bit warmer and will post those soon!! I can't believe our sweet little princess is already a year old...we are looking forward to where the adventures of the next year of her life will take us!! We are very blessed to have her in our lives!! Happy 1st Birthday Sweet Mara!!!

12 month check up!

Mara's appt today along with her 9 month appt were very encouraging. She is really starting to take off and grow!! As of now she is 18lbs 13oz and is 28.5 inches long! She's gaining and growing well, has 5 teeth, babbling like a pro and trying to keep up with her big sisters and brother!! It's amazing how fast they grow and learn...she is just perfect!! Can't ask for anything more than a happy healthy baby!

Evan's 1st day of pre-k

Hard to believe but, Evan is now 3 yrs old and this little independent person that started school today! He was very excited and did fantastic! I know we were a little worried about how things would go since he isn't away from us very often but, the little guy surprised us and he did awesome! Here are a few pics from this morning!!

1st Day...Kindergarten, 2nd grade and 3rd grade!!!

Today was the start of the 2010-2011 school year! The girls were as always SUPER excited about going back to school, seeing their friends, making new ones and settling in for what I hope will be an awesome year for all of them! I can hardly believe that we have a 3rd & 1st grader and a kindergarten & pre-schooler! Today has been a big change for me as well as Evan and Mara, I really miss each one of the girls and hearing their chatter and laughter in the house...It's been an awfully quiet day! Evan was crushed this morning after he realized that the girls were leaving on the bus and he wasn't. He has been a little lost all day without Madi here at home. I'm very anxious for them to come home and tell me all about their day!! Here are a few photos from this morning!

1 year already!

WOW!!! Can hardly believe how quickly this year has gone by and how blessed we really are. Mara celebrated her 1st birthday yesterday. We remembered often through out the day about the happenings of the day a year ago and how excited we were as we patiently waited on her arrival! At 7:16pm on Sept 4th she came into our lives and changed our family forever! What an amazing blessing she has been and continues to be! We are thankful everyday for such a happy & healthy baby girl!

Due to the weather we pushed off her birthday party until next weekend but, still took her out for dinner to celebrate and came home to have a yummy piece of cake! Overall it was a really great day!! As each year passes by I hope she grows up knowing how much she is loved and how proud we are to have her as part of our family!! Love you & Happy 1st Birthday sweet princess!!

Meeting the teachers :-)

This morning we had a great time taking Madi to school to meet her kindergarten teacher, I can hardly believe that my sweet little girl will be starting "big kid" school now. Had to fight off the tears a few times thinking about how hard it will be this time next week to let her go and take this huge step in growing up! Seems like just yesterday she came into this world, she has come so far in the last 5 yrs and has become such an amazing little lady! I couldn't be more proud!

Later this afternoon we took Bethany and Lexi in to drop off their supplies and meet their teachers and this looks like it will be an awesome year for all of them! The teachers all seem wonderful and the girls are very excited!! Summer has gone much to fast and a week from now I will be letting them go once again. I swear this doesn't get any easier for me to watch them climb aboard that big bus the first day and wave goodbye.

We will be making the most of the last few days of summer...sorry to see it end so soon but, excited to see what this year holds for us!

BBQ with the family!

Had a great afternoon at Dave & Lisa's house this past Saturday with Chris, Kathy & Joe!! It's been a busy summer and it was nice to slow down a bit for a few hours and just enjoy some time together, relax and have a few laughs!! Here are a few pictures from our time together!

Fair 2010 - Night 2

Spent the entire day at the fair and again had an awesome time!! We started our day by walking through the horse barn. It was closed for the night by the time we had made it there during our 1st visit. The girls just love the horses, Evan wasn't quite so sure though but, eventually relented and did pet one! Their massive size is very intimidating especially when you are only 3 yrs old! After walking the grounds for a few hrs we stopped to watch some friends dance! Their kids did such a great job and the girls loved watching the dancing! Then time for dinner at the fair which is always fantastically bad for you but, SO good!!! The day ended with the night of destruction event...nothing better than a little fun watching monster trucks, bus/car demolition derby's and figure 8 races! It was a crazy long day, we were all exhausted but, the smiles never faded! The kids were such troopers!! Here are a few pictures from the evening, I left the good camera in the van so the picture quality gets pretty bad as the evening went on and it got darker out!

As we began our journey out of the fair grounds for the last time this summer Evan's comment (when asked if he had a good time) pretty much summed it up. "IT'S GOOD"!! ;-)