Falling behind!

It was bound to happen. Two months with no posts= a very busy life (or maybe the other way around?!)

Today is gray and rainy, and I really don't want to finish the pile of laundry or clean the kitchen, so blogging it is. Over the past few months there haven't been many out-of-the-ordinary events, just life. We did have a great trip last week for Josh's annual convention with Christian Brothers and just got home on Monday (hence the pile of laundry.) The girls spent the week with my parents, and I thought they might not want to come home after all the fun they had! Between the baby elephant at the zoo, to visiting a farm with clydesdales, to lots and lots of attention, they came home very happy and very tired. We got a little time for us, I got a lot of time on the beach :) and more than anything else we got a breather from the craziness that is our everyday life. Pictures to follow.

Other than that, we're just trying to stop these little girls from growing so fast. We registered Sarabeth for kindergarten and would start tomorrow if we let her. It took some time for her to accept the fact that she didn't start kindergarten the day she turned 5. Anabelle is reminding me more and more of myself as a little girl. Next year is going to be hard for her, but good at the same time. With Sarabeth in school, Anabelle will have more time as the big sister instead of relying on Sarabeth and following her every move. Adelyn is changing so fast I can hardly keep up. She has quite the little personality especially now that she's learning to talk, partly through sign language but also speaking a few words. She's at that in-between phase: too young but too old at the same time. She desperately wants to be doing the things her big sisters are doing, but she's too small to keep up. On my end of things, she's past that "sweet little baby who stays put in her carseat" phase, and wants to be on the go constantly.

Never a dull moment, and I wouldn't trade it for the world!

5 years old!

5 just seems like such a huge birthday. The baby, toddler, even preschool years are behind us. We're coming up on real school years, accompanied by serious growing up. She's way more ready for all this than I am, and reminds me, "I really AM 5." I guess just in case I've lost count :)

Sarabeth has always favored Josh in personality, mannerisms, and expressions, and each year I see it even more. Lately I find myself laughing at things she says as I think, "Yep. That's what your dad would say also." She is realizing more every day that the older she gets, the more responsibilities she has. Some days she enjoys it, others she would rather not act like a 5 year old. I can't blame her, though. Some days I'd rather not act like a 29 year old mother of three. That's what growing up is all about.

All the way to the ripe old age of 5, she continues to be such a joy to our family in every way. I love how she has taken a new interest in learning and can't get enough of it. Spelling, rhyming, writing, trying to read...it makes me very proud! I love how much she loves her sisters. I love hearing her ask me to read her Bible, and listening to her and Anabelle "read" Bible stories to each other. I love seeing her teach Adelyn little things: sign language, pretend play, puzzles. Life can't get much better than this! Happy Birthday Sarabeth!

We had a joint birthday party with Sarabeth's best little friend, Camryn. They've been in playgroup and mother's day out together for 3 years now, and their birthdays are about 6 weeks apart. I kept the details of the party a secret until the week before, and she was so excited when she found out we were having a petting zoo complete with pony rides. I've figured out how to guarantee a fluke cold front in between beautiful weather in March- plan an outdoor birthday party. It was the 2nd time in 3 years we've had her birthday party outside and it was cold both times, but perfectly warm the day before and the day after. Oh well. The kids had a blast even anyway!

The birthday girls!

Adelyn was in love with the animals!

Sarabeth's new bff, "Little Buck"

Is bragging always bad?

Sometimes things work in my favor. Like tonight for instance. After dinner I always have the girls clear their own places at the table. Plates, cups, utensils in the sink, trash in the trash can. Not too hard. It's become a routine and makes my life tons easier. Tonight, Anabelle finished dinner first and put all her things from dinner in the appropriate place, after which, I rinsed them off and put them in the dishwasher. Sarabeth finished next and instead of just doing the usual, she wanted to rinse them and put them in the dishwasher herself. Like I'm going to tell her no! After she finished she went to Anabelle and in an almost bratty, hands on her hips, bossy-bragging sort of way said, "I cleaned my own plate and put it in the dishwasher myself!" Anabelle was in the kitchen before I knew what happened also wanting to wash her own dishes and put them in the dishwasher herself. So that's what she did. And now they're already talking about doing it again tomorrow night.

Is bragging always bad?

Ski trip

Leaving for Colorado at 1:30 in the morning on December 27th sounded like a good plan. We decided doing the drive in one day would be easier, thanks to our long drive to the beach this summer. It would have been a much better plan had the children been in on it. As it turned out, they didn't go back to sleep until 4:30/5:00 in the morning, and we had to stop for gas around 6 so the morning backfired on us a little. The rest of the day was smooth sailing until we stopped for lunch and noticed the car was making awful noises. It turned into a 3 hour detour to the Honda dealership. Thankfully they were very kind, helpful, and fast, and got us back on the road in time to get to Breckenridge before dark.

Our first full day there was spent playing in the snow, adjusting to the altitude, and getting to know everyone else in the house. We were invited by good friends of ours in Houston, and they also invited their neighbors and a family from their church. Since we had never met these other two families it took a little bit of time to get used to each other. House totals: 9 kids, 9 adults.

The next day we enrolled the girls in ski school. We had some hesitancy putting Anabelle in because she tends to be very shy in new and unfamiliar situations, but she was in a class with Sarabeth and another little girl from the house so we decided to at least try it for a day. It turned out to be the best choice we could have made! I've never seen enjoy an activity more. She came out of her shell in a way I never would have expected, and the joy on her face when we picked her up made the whole trip worth it. Sarabeth enjoyed it just as much and picked it up very quickly. We had Sarabeth start in the 3-year-old class (even though she's 4) so she could be with the other two girls. Her instructor suggested the next day we put her with her age group because she was learning so fast. The second day was as successful as the first even with the girls in different classes. Sarabeth was going down the bunny hill completely unassisted and could stop and go on command. Anabelle was balancing better by the end of day 2 and could make it about halfway down the hill by herself. If nothing else, I'm glad we gave them the opportunity to try something totally new. And who knows, maybe next time we go we'll all be skiing together down the mountain!

The next 3 days were bitterly cold. Highs of 4* and lower, lows in the -20's with wind chills in the -30's. Unbelievably cold. We didn't venture out of the house except once on Friday and again Sunday morning when we left to go home. Luckily by that time we knew the other people in the house well and the kids were happy to play together inside all day long. Well, I say "we" didn't venture out...Josh took a little side trip. He left at 5am Saturday morning to fly to LA for the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The trip of his life! He got to cheer TCU on to a Rose Bowl victory, something few people ever imagined. Definitely one to check off his bucket list. It was a whirlwind trip, though. He flew back to Denver at 6 the next morning where we picked him up to drive back to TX. Thankfully the drive home went pretty well even with a stop overnight in Amarillo.

We were exhausted and glad to be home, but had a blast. The highlight of the trip for me was definitely seeing the girls' faces each day as we picked them up from ski school. There's just no way to fake joy like that!

Being burried in the snow by dad

My little snow bunny

The whole fam bundled up

Waiting to watch the girls ski

Sarabeth on her skis

Anabelle getting ready to hit the slopes

After 2nd day of ski school

Sarabeth was as interested in eating the snow as she was skiing on it

Does it get any cuter?!

Sunrise view from the house

Adelyn turns one!

I can hardly believe that my little baby is one. This past year has been full of joy, changes, challenges, and love. Adelyn is such a blessing to our family! I always thought I wanted an even number of children. I have no real reason for this, it just sounded good. Adelyn makes our family feel even, feel complete.

She turned one on the 28th, and since we were in Colorado for her birthday we celebrated early with my parents and aunt the night before we left. The other two girls had never had a bite of cake, cookie, cupcake...anything of the sort before their first birthday. Those kinds of rules went out the window with the third, so I had a pretty good idea that she had a sweet tooth. She was the only of our children to really enjoy her birthday cake! It took her a few minutes to figure out what was going on, but when she discovered that underneath the chocolaty goodness (icing) was cake...well, she was hooked. She'd take a bite/lick, look around at all of us, smile, wave, repeat. Adorable!

Birthday girl!

My favorite pic by far. As if to say, "Are you done with the pictures yet? I have a whole cake to eat, people."

Opening presents

On her real birthday in Colorado

Modeling a new b-day outfit!

Christmas 2010

This year for Christmas we were able to celebrate with both sides of the family! We went to the Walls for Christmas Eve and did the traditional "grandkids in matching PJ's" picture (I'll have to get copies from Kristen), had a delicious prime rib dinner, and opened presents. I'm pretty sure I've never seen more wrapping paper flying through the air than I did that night, but I guess that just comes with the territory when there are 10 grandchildren 7 years old and under.

Christmas morning was spent at our house with the 5 of us. The girls opened presents from us and Santa and played with their new toys all morning. My parents and Aunt drove down from OKC to share Christmas with us, so when they arrived it was present time again! We made a big turkey dinner while the girls napped (not without our kitchen sink/disposal exploding first) and almost had everything ready by the time Josh's family came over for a wonderful family dinner.

Checking out the loot

Ready to start opening!

A My Little Pony for Anabelle

From Aunt Lauren & the Falcos

Adelyn's first Christmas!!

Polar Express

A week before Christmas we went to Grapevine and rode the Polar Express with the girls' best little friends. The highlight of the trip for mom was I got Santa pictures, since we didn't make it up to OKC to see our favorite Santa this year :)

Anabelle was unsure of the Jolly Man...Dad had to do a little coaxing.

The "snow"

All aboard!

Watching Santa walk down the aisle of the train

Sweet Anabelle

The end of 2010

As 2010 ends and 2011 starts, I still have plenty to do to wrap up last year. I'm sitting here looking at the box of our Christmas cards, which I still have great intentions of mailing, and feeling good about the fact that we added "Happy New Year" to our "Merry Christmas" greeting, knowing I probably wouldn't get them out before Christmas. Here it is January 6th and I still haven't mailed them.

There's also plenty I'd like to document from the last month so when the kids look back, they'll say, "we DID have Christmas in 2010!" or Adelyn can say, "you DID celebrate my first birthday!" Yes, we actually did both these things. And my goal is to get the pictures and stories up so I can prove it. Here goes nothing...