Life

It has been way too long since I posted last. I haven't really taken any pictures... Life is just passing by without anything super interesting happening. Here are a few pictures from my phone that I've taken the last month or so.

Cowboy day at the preschool! I think the boots lasted the first 10 minutes of class:) but they loved riding the ponies!

We had a quick trip to the beach house a few weekends ago. It was way too short... We were all super sad to leave:(

Hudson and Brooklyn and their buddy Talen were working hard on their car!

Morgan has decided she wants to be an artist now. Check out the picture she drew of herself:)

Ethan is in Cadets at our church now... Here he is in full Cadet gear:)

ONE more summer post

Just in case Hudson and Brooklyn look at this blog some day I don't want them to think I forgot their 4th birthday! This year they are really cluing in to the fact that they are TWINS and will share their birthday FOREVER! And that they will be in the same grade FOREVER. It is pretty cute trying to talk them through this fact. They will now tell people they meet that they are twins. I have consciously tried to not refer to them as "the twins". So they don't hear that term a lot, unless we are out and about and people ask if they are twins.

We did a very small playdate birthday party at the water park with a few friends. Unfortunately it looks like only cousins showed up in the pictures, but we had a few others there as well. The kids had a blast as we hadn't spend much time at the water park this summer. It's not as fun for the older two anymore.

These two have way too much fun together and are two peas in a pod. They really love to spend time together and can disappear for hours to play.

Hudson got roller blades for his birthday this year. He is actually doing better than I thought he would.

Brooklyn got a Dr. Kit and baby clothes for her doll.

Here is one of Morgan with the gift we got her...a suitcase and holder for her American Girl Doll. Those dolls are quite a culture of their own. It is nice to  have one place for all the "stuff" to go:)

A few final summer pics from my phone

We are definitely well into the swing of school and finished celebrating birthdays, but I wanted to remember a few more highlights from our summer.

My mom, sister and I took the kids to a Kids Bop concert at the end of July. Kids Bop is a group of tweenagers that sing music from contemporary artists but make some of the words kid friendly. All our kids love to listen and dance to Kids Bop on Pandora so we thought they would love the concert. I'm not sure I would say they loved it, but they did really like it. I think it was all a little overwhelming for our sheltered little ones. No one moved from their seats except Emily. It was a fun night though and I think the kids enjoyed trying something new.

During one of the last weeks of the summer my friend Kelly and I decided to take a trip to Fairfield  to check out the Jelly Belly factory and Jump Highway. I've always wanted to go to the factory and after reading a friends blog about Jump Highway we figured that would be a perfect combination to try with our kids too. We loaded em up on sugar at the Jelly Belly factory and then let them jump for two hours...it was perfect!

While the factory was educational and interesting for us moms I think the kids hilight was definitely the wall to wall trampolines and foam pits at Jump Highway. We will need to make our way back here again sometime!

This summer our library had a program where the kids could read 10 books and get two free tickets to a local minor league baseball team. All our kids did this so we were able to enjoy an evening of free baseball! Thanks for loving reading kiddos!

The next weekend Kevin and I were able to join our friends at a SF Giants game. It was my first time in their stadium and we had a blast.

Morgan got to celebrate her birthday at the end of the first full week of school. She chose to have a pj party without the sleepover. So her friends were invited to come over in their pj's for pizza and a movie and plenty of snacks too. It was a really fun birthday party with a lot of sweet girls.

I made another Barbie cake for Morgan. The last one I made was when she turned 3.

The final baseball game was to see the A's play. We left the girls at home for a sleepover with Annika and Audrey and had a fun night with the boys. They both pooped out by the 8th inning though....

This year we managed to make it out to see the last few balloons take off at the balloon festival. It is always a fun sight to see, but you never know if it's truly worth it to wake up crazy early on a Saturday. This year Ethan happened to be having a sleepover the night before so we didn't wake anyone up, but planned on going if they did wake up early. It was fun to see different friends from school. One of these years I'd love to make it to see the launch from start to finish.

Happy Birthday Morgan Rae!

Sweet girl, I can't believe you are six! Where does time go? This past year you have grown so much! Kindergarten will do that to you. You continue to be my creative, original, kindhearted girl. You are a good friend to everyone you meet and your smile still captures most of us.

You and your brother have such a hot and cold relationship. You love him and look up to him and have a blast with him most of the time, but boy can you two fight!! We are working on that...

You made it through your first year of real school. This was the first year that our school went to everyday all day kindergarten. It was a stretch  and challenge for your energy level until Christmas really. But you learned so much and you made so many new friends. You loved your teacher and had an amazing year.

Morgan, you love your time with your cousin Annika. Annika is in Kindergarten now and you two now love playing at school together too. I love watching your friendship grow and I can't wait to see you grow up together.

My crafty Morgan. You still love all things crafty and can make something out of nothing. You get so excited to get an empty box, or a paper towel roll or a stack of blank paper. You see potential in everything...I love it!

Here we are at muffins and makeovers with mom. I am loving our time together and love watching you grow into a sweet big girl. You have become a little more attached to me this year for some reason, and really don't like to be too far away from me.

You my girl love animals. You say that you want to be a vet. I am hoping that you keep those big dreams and that you work hard in school so you can be a vet someday. You'll have to keep enjoying our next door dog Nicky and everybody else's animals for now though;)

Girl time...we had a pretty sweet girls trip this summer. I loved introducing you to all our family in the Midwest and dragging you all over to see a place I love. You were so great at meeting so many people and had lots of fun with your cousins. 

Morgan, I loved that you got to meet Grandma Great again and do a craft with her.

Morgan, God has blessed you with a kind, patient and caring heart. You have been testing that a little the last month or so and I pray it's just a stage. You really desire to make those around you happy and that is a good trait. I pray that God continues to shape your heart the way He wants to, that you grow to love him and desire to live like he has called you too. I can't wait to see what SIX and First Grade bring you this year.

Love you sweet girl!

Hudson is four!

Happy Birthday big man! I can't believe you are 4 already. You and Brooklyn are happy to not be "toddlers" anymore! We have had a fun year together this past year.

This is the sweet little face that gets you wrapped around everyone's finger. How can we say no to that face? Hudson you love to sweet talk me to get your way...trouble.

You love to play golf buddy. You played in your first tournament with Papa and daddy and Ethan this summer. You have some amazing hand eye coordination. Not only with golf but with soccer and baseball too. You can toss a ball up to yourself and hit it. It's pretty impressive.

This year you went through a dress up phase. You had to pick something new to wear several times a day.

You and your brother and daddy have a lot of fun together. Here you are at the Nutcracker, but usually you are playing soccer, football, basketball, hockey....any sport. 

You and your sis have tons of fun together. You are buddies and it is fun to watch your relationship. I am curious to see how continue to grow and relate to each other.

We went to Santa Cruz this summer and you LOVED it. You like all the big kid stuff and keeping up with your big brother and sister. Often times I forget that you are as young as you are.

You, Hudson, have always been a pretty big mama's boy. This summer however when I was gone for a week you seemed to kind of get over it. I saw a big shift in how much you wanted to be with daddy and be like him. I know you will always be my boy....but I think daddy has moved closer to center stage for you. I think that's ok:)

Hudson you LOVE your big brother. You are starting to play better and better together. Now that you can hang with him a little more playing sports you have a lot of fun. You got roller blades for your birthday because you want to keep up with him. You dress exactly like Ethan with your t-shirts, basketball shorts and Nike Elite socks. I pray that your relationship continues to grow and that Ethan will be a good role model for you.

I am excited to see what this year brings for you Huds. You already love school, you and Brooklyn talk a lot about it. You love to play games and you pick up on things really easily, so I can't wait to see everything that you learn. You have a kind and loving heart and a super competitive spirit. We are working on calming that competition down a little bit and shaping it in a positive direction. I pray that God continues to grow you into the man he has created you to be. Love you buddy!

Happy 4th Birthday Brooklyn!

Wow sweet girl, I can't believe you are already 4!! I'm not sure where the time has gone. In some ways it feels like I was just trying to figure out how to have two babies, but on the other hand I can't imagine what life was like without you and your brother. You have had a great year babe, we've had a lot of fun just the three of us while everyone else is at school. 

You and your brother continue to be two peas in a pod. You love spending time together, you giggle and talk and sing....and you fight. I think that is pretty normal! Now that you have started school I'm anxious to see how much you play with each other and how much you play with the other kids. Having each other has sure made going to school easier for you both. You love to change clothes multiple times a day. When we were heading to school on the first day of school I was carrying your bag of "emergency clothes". You asked me "Mommy are those in case I want to change my clothes at school?" Um no babe....there will be no changing clothes at school for fun.

You my girl have spunk and attitude. You are a smart little girl with an amazing memory. You already know some names of girls at school, and you've been there three days. I asked you today who you like to play with and you said "Samantha Wall, we have two Samanthas." You are also singing some songs already and love to count in Spanish.

This picture tells the story of your hair this year so well. You have had a crazy year with your hair. You lost most of it and now you have beautiful, thick curls that get comments everywhere you go. Everyone thinks you need to be the next Annie. We just had to be patient.

You love your siblings and you four have a blast together....most of the time.

It's pretty fun hanging out with you and your big sister. We have some great mommy/daughter time. This summer especially we had a blast on our trip to the Midwest. You were a great little traveler and so good at meeting everyone. Your smile and sweet little freckles won everyone over.

You LOVE babies. Real babies and pretend. You really liked meeting Brooke and baby Caroline this summer in Minnesota. You will be a great mommy some day.

I was reminded my your aunties blog about cousin Audrey that you too have an adorible way of saying some things right now. I know we should correct you more often, but its just so cute:

You say "gymnaxtics" instead of gymnastics

brefkist instead of breakfast

pusketti instead spagetti

You call our friend Miss Lynette "Miss Littlenet"

And there are many more times that you mix your words up in sentences and I love it!

Brooklyn you have a lot of passion, spunk, joy and confidence. I pray that your daddy and I can help you channel those gifts to become a woman who does great things. Tonight after devotions you said "I love God!" We pray that those feelings continue to grow and mature in you as you get older. I love you Brooklyn Helena and I can't wait to see what this next year brings you.