January Phone Dump

January 1 - thankful to start the year with this bright-eyed beauty!

Reading in his tent fort

Celebrating ten years with a special date night - dinner, a show, and a long walk through the streets of London 

A special Happy Meal lunch treat - I was feeling generous on our anniversary!

Don't mess with us.

Sharing read time before bed 

yummy dinner 

Superhero capes for Rooke's birthday party ready to go. 

This is us being SUPER excited after we found out our cousin/nephew, Finnick, was born!

The beautiful baby Finnick (photo taken by my dad) 

Just waking up from an unusual napping position

"Mommy - the sun is coming in our house!  Can you feel it?!"

Mommy/Son time in the snow with hot chocolate

Gretchen loved this sticker book she got for Christmas.  We did one page a day together and made it last the entire month! 

Story time with Batman.  Totally normal.

"I love you" message to Daddy (and a new hair cut)

Waiting for Kaye K and Big Daddy to arrive 

Passing time in the car with this little munchkin while the big kids swam

Frozen Peas

Watching Bridgette eat frozen peas is one of my favorite things.  On this particular occasion, it was just her and I at the table.  She was contained and happy, so I should have been sweeping the floor or putting dishes away or preparing food for dinner . . .  But I just sat there and soaked up her sweet facial expressions as she used her tiny pinchers to grasp the little peas.  She's our little doll.  Who likes to eat frozen peas!

Oh.  Those eyes.

Playing In {and out of} the Snow!

We've had snow and ice this past week!  Ryan was granted early release from work on Friday, so he came home in time for me to pick Rooke up from school by myself (which is a treat on more than one level - I didn't have to wake the girls up from their naps to be there on time!).  Rooke and I decided to make snow angels and a snow man before going inside.

Gretchen was sick over the weekend, so the girls stayed inside while Ryan and I took turns playing outside with Rooke.

See how I'm about to get a snowball in the face?!

There was some Jedi action happening in the backyard

10 months

If I had to sum up this last month with Bridgette in one word it would be mobile.  We like to say that our girl is movin' and groovin'!  She has gone from just barely crawling, to crawling with speed.  She prefers to be standing, pulls herself up on anything and has just started standing on her own in the last couple of days. 

Bridgette is happy, happy, happy!  The teething monster has caused us to see her not-so-easy-going-side (she's working on all four of her top teeth at the same time - ick!).  But even when she's not feeling great, she's still just happy!  She lights up when her siblings come in the room.  She loves Mommy snuggles.  She goes to sleep like a champ, taking two naps that fit with our schedule of dropping Rooke off and picking him up from school.  Her newest trick is learning how to wave and she will actually sit in my lap to read a very short story without trying to eat the book now!  And she's eaten pretty much everything I've given her - which is mostly just what we eat.

All three kids have loved pulling the kid books off this same book shelf at about the same age.  We just have more books for me to pick up now!

Fleeing the scene of the crime

Five-year-old Superheroes

This was the first year that we planned a "friend party" to celebrate Rooke's birthday.  He asked for a superhero party and couldn't wait for Saturday morning to come!  He had a great time, so it was well worth the effort.

We started off with superhero bingo and then the kids had to use their "x-ray vision" to guess what was in my box.  I think I learn something new about the culture here almost daily and the party taught me yet another difference.  After a few incorrect guesses for one boy, I opened the box and said, "It's a pickle!".  Blank stares all around.  Even the two parents who were there just looked at me.  Apparently, they don't do pickles here and none of the kids knew what it was!  Oops!

We read a couple superhero books in between some other games (including shooting darts at the "bad guy balloons" hanging in the window!).  I think the boys had the most fun searching for the bad guy, capturing him, and tying him up with toilet paper so he couldn't get away.  Just look at those superheroes flexing in their victory!

We served "power nuggets", "energy bursts", "super-vision sticks", and "catwoman claws" - but this was the biggest hit at the food table:

Singing to the birthday boy

 Rooke was excited about the colorful surprise inside when we cut the cake!

I caught Daddy in the act of sharing with this little munchkin

 Typically, they don't open presents here during the actual party.  So we followed suit and waited until the kids had left, then had fun opening presents as a family.

Happy Birthday, Super Rooke!