No matter how charming you are...

We are not starting to plan your February 22 birthday yet! This momma needs a short break!

Emerson turns 4- January 21, 2012

Can you believe the little man (aka Lil' Bubba) above has changed and grown into the little man below. He has changed so much! So adorable!
For his birthday we invited a couple of his friends from school. His theme was snowmen/Frosty. My step-father's mom and dad (Diane and Larry) had given Emerson a stuffed Frosty for Christmas which plays the song too. It was a huge hit! It only made sense to have that as his theme. Little did we know that God was going to decorate the outside to go along with the theme. Unfortunately, although beautiful, this made it a challenge for us. We opted not to make the cupcakes until the morning of the party because the weathermen made it sound like the white death was going to come upon us. I certainly did not want that many cupcakes around if we did not have others here to help us eat them! His party was at 10; so, it became a challenge to get them together before everyone showed up. For awhile it seemed like nobody was going to make it; but, some did venture over to our house. Thank God everyone stayed safe! Sam was not able to make it anyways because his big brother had a game that morning. Luke ended up not coming because he lives too far away to have taken the chance with the roads. Roman still came as did Mary. So, I am grateful to them for helping us celebrate Emerson's big day.



They did crafts.

played snowball games (Emerson is on his way to get his friends with snowballs-cottonballs.)

ate and drank (Here is what their milk looked like. They, also, had snowman shaped sandwiches. They had snowman arms-pretzels, snowman noses- carrots, and snowman smiles- orange segments.)

I think these turned out pretty cute for having had to put them together so quickly.

Emerson had a wonderful time. He and his sibs played with those "snowballs" for a long time afterwards too. I am glad we had another fun birthday party. I love putting those smiles on their faces. :)

Veronica turns 5- January 14, 2012

Look, another little itty bitty cutie is

growing into a beautiful young lady right before our eyes! How can we slow the days down? Anyone know the secret?

Veronica was a tad upset that she too could not have a sleepover birthday party like her big brother and big sister do. So, we decided to have a "Pj's and Teddy Bears" party for her. All of the girls wore their pajamas and brought their favorite stuffed animals. We just happened to have a huge teddy bear who just happened to be in his pj's and sleeping cap. This was perfect for pictures!

The girls played some games with their friends before putting them down for a nap while we did some messier activities, including eating this...

I love how messy her little mouth is...very cute. I think her smile proves that she had a great time. Thanks to all of her friends for coming!

Ron turns 40- January 11, 2012

Happy 40th to the love of my life! I look forward to spending the next 40 plus years with you! You are a wonderful husband and father! We appreciate all that you do for our family. We love you more than you know.

Sydney turns 8- December 24, 2011

When did this little cutie...

grow into this beautiful young lady?

It seems so unfair how quickly they grow up! For her birthday, she wanted to get her ears pierced.

She was so brave. It was done so quickly. She only let out a little "ouch". I loved the fact that she chose cross shaped earrings as her first.

Isn't she just beautiful?

She had her very first sleepover birthday party. Five friends attended and four of those spent the night. Her theme was "arts and crafts". They decorated the bottoms of socks with puffy paint, painted small treasure boxes, snowflake ornaments, and decorated their own goody bags with ribbons. They made their own individual pizzas for dinner and their own doughnuts for breakfast. Oh, the invitations were printed out on paper with colored handprints around the edge and we included a paintbrush in each one.
She looks happy. I would say it was a success. :)

Oh, btw, in lieu of gifts for herself, she requested monetary donations to go towards "adopting" animals from the WWF. She chose to adopt macaws and a great white

shark. Thank you to all of her friends for helping us celebrate!!!!

Christmas Time Fun

Here we are visiting with one of Santa's elves. It is clearly not the big guy himself. You can tell by looking at the white tennis shoes sticking out under the black. Our children look for such clues. They understand that Santa has helpers because he cannot be everywhere at once. We think we did get to visit with Santa himself later in the season though. :)

Although I miss the children being itty bitty, it is nice having helpers!

It was a real treat to meet Chinese author, Grace Lin. We bought several of her books to get autographed. Very nice lady!

Here he is. We think this is THE Santa. He has black boots AND his belt buckle says "Santa". What more proof do we need?! I do have to put here though that Santa did make Veronica cry(The pictures came first, obviously.). She was looking around and he asked her to look at him while talking. She is super sensitive; so, this sent her into tears. He was nice and asked if there was anything he could say to make it better. There was not. The damage was done. :(

Max had his first and possibly last Christmas band concert. He is doing so well learning to play the trumpet; but, he says he does not like it. Bummer! Both Ron and I were in the band and were hoping he would enjoy it too. I have to say I teared up at the concert. I am such a sap! Wouldn't our high school band director be proud? :)

I love this picture of Veronica singing at her Christmas program. She makes such an adorable Rudolph.

On Christmas morning, the children were greeted by Frosty who brought them their Christmas present from us.

Pumpkin Patch Fun- Our annual trip

New York City Get-Away!

In October of 2011, we took a trip to NYC. It was so much fun! We saw and did so much, such as...

The Museum of Natural History

The Statue of Liberty

a Memorial Park

beautiful cars

Chelsea Market (with the most delicious lemon and sugar crepes known to mankind!)

Duff (through a window)

FAO Schwarz (The girls got to have two nails painted each with polish pens.)

the famous "Big" piano

and high places (both the Empire State building and The Rock).

We are all looking forward to going back to New York in the future! There is so much to do.

Misc. Pictures from the Fall

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures that I can share from the first day of school for Max and Sydney as they wear school uniforms. However, check out these first day of school cuties...

My brave hubby and sister decided to do a "Warrior Dash". This is an intense obstacle course. See if you can figure out which one is the before picture and which one is the after picture. I am so proud of them. They both finished!!!!

We had a great time at the local Chinese Moon Festival. The moon cakes were delicious and the children loved the lantern parade.