Eight

Did you realize that we've had an awesome little boy in our lives for EIGHT YEARS already?

Isn't that amazing? :)

Eight years ago, we were holding this little bundle of joy

And just look at what's happened over the last 8 years--he's grown up into a fantastic, fun, goofy young man!

Oh, how the years fly by.

Josiah's birthday started out with the traditional funny face pancakes. (Always a hit around here!)

During breakfast the boys talked about how awesome it is to be part of our family because probably not every family has funny face pancakes on birthdays. Ahhhh, that is a much sweeter sound than the moments when they bemoan their fate about whatever they aren't liking at the time!!

I don't understand why it is so difficult to get all 4 of them to look at the camera and smile at the same time. Oh, right...because it's "all 4 of them." Well, this mom is going to keep dreaming big that maybe one of these days they will all "get" what it means to look at the camera and smile and that the delayed reactions will catch up with the quick listeners and the silly faces will fall in line after the smiles. Like I said, I'm dreamin' big.

Josiah was REALLY happy with some of his presents this year. All day long he kept reminding me how everyone gets to open one or two presents on their birthday, even if it's not their party yet. I seriously think he thought I was going to forget or something. Now, I admit that I did his birthday shopping the night before and got to the store about 30 minutes before they closed, but I DID have his presents before his birthday. And (so far) I haven't actually forgotten anyone's birthday or their presents. I think he was just looking forward to it so much that he didn't want to risk it that it might not happen. In any case, I'm pretty sure he wasn't disappointed!

Well, here's 3 of them looking at the camera and smiling. That counts for something!

And the usual funny face picture. Because everyone knows you can't take some pictures without making goofy faces. It's like peanut butter and jelly...they just go together.

And what's a birthday without some cake??

Happy, happy 8th Birthday, Josiah! I love you so, so much and I am so thankful that you are part of our family. I can't believe you are 8, but I pray we will have many more years to journey through life together. May each year of your life be filled with love and laughter and bring you into a fuller understanding of God and how much He loves you and how wonderfully He made you.

Stylin' Saturday - Borrowed Style

I made it on Saturday!! Woo-hoo!!

Here are the girls' stylin' tips for the week:

Even though you have 20 bazillion pairs of your own shoes that are the correct size for your foot, wear your brother's shoes which are 7 sizes too big.

If you've got a slave driver for a mom (like I do) and she makes you do horrible things like sweep the floor (even though you routinely ASK to sweep, remember to put on a big production when she requests it) remind yourself and everyone else that you are a princess by wearing your crown. And keep up with the layering! Vintage clothes are FABULOUS for layering because you can use a dress your mom wore at 18 months as a shirt when you are 3!



Always, always remember to LAYER. This applies to swimsuits and pajamas as well as everyday clothes. Here you can see I've made use of several clothing types with my swimwuit looped on over my sister's dress which is over my pajamas.

If your mom is so rude as to laugh when taking your picture, a good firm "Don't!" will remind her who has the fashion sense around here.

THE Playhouse

Seriously, the coolest playhouse ever. Of course, I'm not biased at all simply because it's in my backyard.

It's still a work in progress, but we don't care. We're too busy having fun with it!

Stylin' Monday

I follow quite a few blogs but one of the funniest by far is Tales from the Motherhood.  Wendy has a way of writing and telling her stories that makes me laugh almost everytime I check her blog.  I love her honesty about life and being a mom.  If you haven't read her blog before, I HIGHLY recommend it! 

So, onto my Stylin' Monday.  I know, its not as catchy as Wendy's Stylin' Saturday but since I wasn't organized enough to do this on Saturday, I've just got to work with what I've got.  No doubt there is some equally catchy fashion-related title that would work with Monday, but it's 9:30 at night and I'm all but brain dead.  Deal with it.

My girls' fashion tips for the week:

Fashion tip #1:  Baseball uniforms need sparkles.  And cowboy boots, too.

I know that for whatever reason not everyone in the world was as big of a Cyndi Lauper fan as I was.  That being the case, before the next tip, I need to familiarize you sad folks with this album cover:

Emilia's fashion tip #2:  If you're feeling out of sorts, and just not sure what to wear on any particular day, imitating Cyndi Lauper is a 100% failsafe way to go.

Fashion tip #3:  Don't be afraid to try something new.  And when in doubt--LAYER.  This applies to clothes as well as make-up.



Sucker your sister into it too, if you can.

Before you know it, she'll be a fashion diva, too!

Finally! I Posted!

Hello, everyone!

Did ya miss me?

Things have been so busy and crazy around here, not that I'm surprised by that, but sometimes I get lost in the busy-ness and craziness of life. So, just to try and catch you up, I'll give you a quick rundown of our recent lives.

Josiah and Micah have started up another season of soccer. They are on the same team this year, so at least that simplifies practices and games a bit! Micah really debated about playing soccer this fall. Part of him wanted to play baseball again. I was not for him playing baseball again (I needed a break from that bit of madness), so I may have encouraged soccer more, but even so, I think he's quite happy with his choice. They had their first game on Saturday and although they lost by one, they were both excited about how they played and how their team as a whole played, too.

The boys have also joined Cub scouts. Micah is a Tiger scout and Josiah is a Wolf scout. I can almost guarantee they are both going to have tons of fun being a part of that. They have only been to one meeting so far, but they both loved it! The tricky part of scouts is that the meetings are on the same night as soccer practice. This means that my stinky, smelly soccer boys are sent to scout meetings as is. I may have to start them on some deoderant. :)

We're in our 5th week of school for the year. In addition to what we do at home we're also going to a co-op on Tuesdays. The kids like being around other kids and having "class." I'm their teacher there, too, though so it can't be that much different from school at home, but they act like it is! I'm also teaching/watching my friends little girl during the week. I mean, I figured I already had 4 kids--what was one more?? Ha! Her little girl is 4 and I actually think the situation is going to be really good for all the kids involved. Emilia is sooooo thrilled to have another little girl to play with and Audra now has 3 people trying to mommy her, but we're figuring it out as we go. However, I am EXHAUSTED at the end of the day. Something about having an 8, 6, 4, 3, and 1 year old...

Audra is still trying to figure out the whole talking thing. She's started blabbering up a storm but I have a hard time understanding many words, but she's getting much better! Based on how much she jabbers incoherently now I'm pretty sure she's going to take after big brother Josiah and always have something to say...once she learns actual words! I'll have to move her carseat next to Josiah's and they can keep each other company on our car rides. :)

There's a big project going on in our backyard these days, too. This year I asked my mom and John's parents to put money toward a backyard playhouse instead of the usual birthday presents. All three of us pooled our money and now our labor (although really the majority of the labor is being done by my mom and Sue!) and are building THE MOST AWESOME PLAYHOUSE EVER. Seriously. It's that cool. There is (or will be) a playhouse, a deck, a gangplank, a slide, a sandbox, a rock climbing wall and a swingset. But wait! There's more! As if that weren't enough, Mom and Sue keep coming up with more totally awesome ideas to enhance it. I think they are going to add a pretend store front and jail! Oh, I would have LOVED this when I was a kid. Who am I kidding? I love it now! I haven't taken pictures since the first day of building, but this will give you some idea...

As if all of that weren't crazy and busy enough, John and I are in the middle of training for a half-marathon. A what?? Yes, you read that correctly. I'm trying to train this ole body to be able to run 13.1 miles. Am I insane? Well, maybe. I did wake up before the crack of dawn, before my children were even awake to be able to go out and run 4 miles this morning. In my book that qualifies me as insane, but hopefully you have different standards. Training is going really well, though! I've been running with my friend Stephanie and last weekend (end of our 4th week of training) we ran SEVEN miles. Without walking. We were/are ecstatic!! We feel like superheroes!