Party Time

The day before Morgan's birthday we got to celebrate her! She was very confused as to why her party was on Tuesday, but she wasn't 4 until Wednesday. I explained it several times, but I'm still not certain she understood it:) We did a low key play date party. I had a few crafts for the girls to do and they played dress up.

Spiderman even made an appearance:)

Happy Birthday to You! We've been singing that song a lot this week!

Yum!

Morgan loved all her presents and loved her time with her friends. She was very excited to have them all over to her house.

The girls broke out into a few spontaneous rounds of Ring a Round a Rosie. It was fun to watch their pure joy in such a simple game.

The rainbow cupcakes I made. They turned out pretty good I think, the girls all enjoyed them anyways.

On her "real" birthday Morgan woke up to balloons in the living room and then she got to open a couple presents when Daddy got home from work. (Yes that is Christmas wrapping paper, I need to buy some birthday paper, and no one even noticed:)

This is baby Sally. Baby Sally goes everywhere with Morgan now. I'm just impressed that Morgan's naming ability has gone beyond our family now:) We had a great time celebrating Morgan.

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We never did get to have a party to celebrate with Hudson and Brooklyn. In addition to starting school last week our family got hit with a nasty stomach bug, and Hudson and Brooklyn were hit the worst. They haven't been able eat much this past week. They did each get a gift from us though. I have pictures that I'll post soon.

Morgan Rae is Four!

Happy Birthday to our free spirit little girl. It is hard to believe that you are four Morgan. You have certainly grown up a lot this past year. You continue to be easy going and content with most things. You are definitely expressing your opinion more though and seem to get pretty emotional lately, especially when you are tired. You have such a kind heart for others and you really want to make sure those around you are happy and feeling good. You are very sensitive to people being mean to you or hurting you. You are quick to cry when you feel there has been some injustice done to you. We've had some firsts this year too.

Your independent sense of style makes me smile. You  have been dressing yourself since you were two and I must say that your ability to match is actually pretty good now. You have strong opinions on what you wear so mommy only interferes when something really doesn't match and we are headed somewhere when I want you to match. I love this independence and confidence about you and I hope it never changes.

Morgan, you and Ethan are the best of friends and the biggest enemies. You had a great summer together and you really grew a lot in your relationship. Since you are getting better at communicating with him you two really have fun together. You are the imagination behind most of what you guys play together. Ethan loves to follow your imaginative lead.

Mo, you and your little sister have a lot of fun together. Most of the time Brooklyn follows your directions and plays what you want. You two can disappear for long periods of time into your room. Sometimes that means trouble!

I love this picture because it shows your crazy bed head. You have beautiful curls Morgan and if we don't braid it the night before, this is what you look like in the morning. Everyone loves your curls too. Often you comment that you wish you had long princess hair, so I know there will come a time when you don't like your curls and I'll be spending hours straightening them:)

You love one-on-one time with daddy and mommy. You don't demand it, but you sure get a huge smile on your face when you get to run errands or play a game with just daddy. Daddy has a way with you too and on those rare times you are coming undone about something I usually send daddy in to deal with you.

You, Ethan and Daddy like to have dance parties after dinner. You love to dance and sing.

Your current passion is crafts. You will spend hours cutting, gluing and coloring. When we started talking about preschool you said, "Do we get to do crafts all day? Yay!" Give you a pack of paper and some markers and you are a happy girl.

You have a lot of great friends and you are a social little girl. I call you my extroverted introvert though. You love your time with friends, but whenever we come home from bible study, church, or a friends house you head to your room for about 30 minutes of alone time. You definitely need your space in between all the people time.

You got your first hair cut this year. You were beside yourself with joy:)

Girl you love the dirt. Put you in the sand box and you are a happy camper. You also love the swings and will swing for as long as I let you.

It has been fun watching you and cousin Annika this year. You are starting to play so well together. You will now disappear upstairs at Papa and Nana's house and we won't hear from you for quite a while. It is fun to watch your friendship.

I love you sweet girl. I love your compassion and how you beginning to understand the Bible and who Jesus is to us. I love how patient and helpful you are with your little brother and sister. I love your confidence and your desire to please. I pray that I can be the mama that you need!

Another first was ballet camp. You got to take 4 sessions of ballet this summer and you LOVED it. I think we may be revisiting ballet in the future.

You are also playing soccer this year and you aren't loving it. You start out great, but then after about 20 minutes of running and getting bumped into or knocked down you're done. It takes quite a bit of talking and bribing to get you back on to the field. I'm thinking this may be our only year of soccer. We still have a lot of games left though, so mommy is really praying you begin to like it!

The last first for this year is starting preschool. You love it so far and I can't wait to watch you prosper in that new environment.

Thanks for making us laugh Mo and for who you are to our family. God made you perfect for your place in our family. Love you girl!

Happy 2nd birthday sweet Brooklyn

Oh our little Brooklyn Helena, you certainly keep us on our toes. I can't believe that you are two already. These past two years have flown by, yet it seems like we've never been a family without you. You have grown a lot this year. You aren't my baby girl any more, you are a toddler with an opinion! You love to sing and seem to have an incredible memory for melodies. Your favorite songs to sing are "Twinkle, Twinkle", the Elmo theme song, "Cool, Cool Summer" (a VBS song from this past summer and you even request it in the car) and Jesus Loves Me. You can sing along with most of the songs on our cds in the car. I love hearing your sweet voice singing.

Look at you, ready to embrace life. This picture was taken last summer just after you turned one. You have certainly changed, mostly in your hair color. You're a blond now:) Not as blond as brother, but it has certainly changed. Like Hudson, you took your sweet time learning to walk. Finally at 17 1/2 months you decided to make walking your mode of transportation. You haven't stopped running since.

You and Hudson and Morgan play so well together. You love to pretend and stay quite busy together when Ethan is at school.

You love your big brother, as long as he lets you have your way and you are feeling cooperative. You have quite the strong opinion on most things little girl. You let everyone know with a loud shriek if you aren't getting your way. We are working on using nice words instead of screaming or biting.

You love Hudson! You two are so sweet with each other most of the time. If he is upset you like to bring him his blanket, bear and binky. You like to make sure he's ok. You two also sure know how to fight. Unfortunately right now biting is your biggest weapon.

Here you are at 18 months sweet girl. I love doing your hair, you have beautiful thick wavy hair. You are pretty good about sitting nice so I can put piggies in. Nana can even get a french braid in your hair, mommy hasn't attempted that yet. You love to talk with anyone who will listen to you and you are quite friendly with strangers in the store.

You and your sister are two peas in a pod. For the most part Morgan loves to have you tag along with her and she often brings you into her room to play some imaginary game. You two have a tendency to leave Hudson out quite often. I can't wait to watch your friendship grow as you get older. I pray that you'll always be friends. During VBS this summer when you saw Morgan on stage you kept yelling, "Hi Morgan, Hi Morgan!"

You are a girly girl. You love to dress up with Morgan and wear your pretty dresses. You don't seem to need as much sleep as Hudson. You are often up talking later than he is at night and you are usually awake first in the afternoon after your nap.

Now that Ethan can read, sometimes I can talk him into reading to you and Hudson. You both love books and actually sit quite well when we read to you.

You four are so close in age which can be so fun and so hard all at the same time. My favorite times are when all four of you are playing nice together. I know we are going to have lots of fun times as you get older and more independent.

Just like your siblings you loved the beach this summer. So many great memories are being made there!

I love how cuddly you still are. When I get you up in the morning you often lay your head on my shoulder. Those moments are so sweet. You love your mama and have a hard time when I leave you behind when I'm going somewhere.

I love this picture Brooklyn because it shows your independence and concentration. You often say "No my do it". You think you can do everything yourself. You will sit and concentrate on books, puzzles or some other toy you are playing with. I still go hunting for you when I can't hear you any more because that usually means you've found trouble, like coloring your arms and legs with markers. I love your content and independent spirit Brooklyn. It will serve you well as you get older. We love you sweet girl!

Hudson Lee turns TWO

Hudson Lee, I can't believe you are two today. It has been quite a year handsome. You've gone from a baby to a toddler, you learned how to walk, we learned you have a milk allergy, you talk (a lot) and you're a lot of fun! God sure has blessed our family with your quick smile, your silly faces, your efforts to always keep up, and your hugs and kisses. Here is a little recap on your year buddy.

You, little one, took a long time to decide to walk. While your first steps were at 15 months, at 17 1/2 months you finally decided that you were sick of crawling on the ground.

It has been so fun to watch your relationship with your sister grow over the last year. You are each other's best friends and worst enemies. I have a feeling that will be true for years to come. For the most part you are very kind to Brooklyn. You would rather share with her than anyone else, but she is also the one that gets a hit or bite from you sooner than anyone else. I hope and pray that you and Brooklyn will always be close, you like to call her Brooky.

Here you are after your first haircut. Your hair grows fast. I now cut it myself about every 5 weeks. Your daddy and I have fun spiking it with gel, we can't do that with your big brother's hair.

Your big sister Morgan loves to play with you. She sure has fun pulling you into her imaginary world. You already crawl on all fours and bark like a dog for her. You like to play with your siblings, but your favorite place to be is right by mommy. You also tend to get something in your head and insist on having your way. Currently you love to go "golking" and only real clubs will do and you love to "work" with daddy's tools. You got some tools of your own for your birthday so they usually work to take the place of the real thing.

You are all boy. Just today you walked into the garage and made shooting sounds at daddy. You love trucks, cars, tractors, and balls. You love to swing on our swing set and take walks too. Swimming has become a love of yours this summer. You love to run and jump off the edge. You even added a little spin after watching the Olympics.

My favorite times are when you and your sisters and brother all play together. Typically you guys do a great job of that after dinner, whether it's playing outside or imagining in the family room.

You love your big brother and he loves you. You have a couple matching outfits and Ethan really likes to wear them on the same day. You do everything your big brother does and that's why we remind him to be a good example.

18 months little stud. Around this age you and your sister had mommy exhausted. You loved to do everything you thought you could all by your self and you had a hard time listening. Whining was your preferred mode of communication. You are doing much better now. Your big brother and sister are on soccer teams this year and you think you are too. "Soccer, soccer" is all you can talk about lately.

Sisters like to dress up and so do you! I don't have any pictures of you in the latest dress up gig...Morgy's (as you like to call her) leotards.

Hudson you also love your daddy. I love this picture because you look so much a like. You get super jazzed when he gets home and you love to wrestle with him and help him outside.

You are also a little mama's boy. It is sweet and overwhelming all at the same time. You have a little smile that totally gets you your way with me. I knew that would be true when you were just a baby. I often have a hard time saying no to you. The best way lately to get you to calm down when you are just so upset that you aren't getting your way is to put you in your crib and let you have some binky time.

Hudson, you loved the beach house this summer. I know you will continue to love it the older you get.

Well my little boy, happy birthday! I am thankful for your personality and your presence in my life. I can't wait to see what year 3 brings us!