Happy Birthday Ethan!

9 years.... 9 years old my boy and I still get overwhelmed having all your buddies over for a party. I still don't totally get boys. I don't get all the wrestling, touching, bodily noises and sports obsessions. I don't get the need to poke and pester and make people laugh all the time. I probably will never totally understand all that, but I love that it makes you you and I love that it means you are all boy. Your dad and I are ready for the challenge to help shape all that energy and ambition into the man God wants you to be. I love that despite all that "boyness" this afternoon you were giving your sister Brooklyn "Eskimo kisses" and laughing hysterically with her. I love that you and Morgan have been going on a bike ride together each morning. I love that you still like to sit on my lap and still sleep with your bear. I love that your daddy is your hero and Hudson is your favorite little dude. I love that together we are learning about obedience, forgiveness and God's grace. 

The golf passion is back!! You are in love with golf and you now like to be dropped off at the course and hit balls all on your own. You love the independence!

You loved this ride at the Boardwalk this summer. You really have no fear with rides and really want to go to a big amusement park.

You still think I'm cool and you still want me around most of the time. I'll take it while I can!

One of your newest hobbies is looking up pictures of sports figures and drawing pictures of them. It's fun to watch a little bit of creativity come from you.

You four are trouble sometimes, you have lots of fun, but you can be at each other's throats pretty quickly too! Mom and dad's prayer for you all is that you become each other biggest fans and best friends.

You started Cadets this year and have really taken to the challenge of earning badges and participating in that activity. I think you earned 6 badges this year!

You love your dad and will do anything to be like him. You don't like to let him down and you would spend every waking moment with him if you could!

Buds! 

You love the Giants and 49ers and after the NBA championship you are now a Warriors fan. I think you would say Jordan Spieth is your favorite golfer. We always have to have a sport to follow! We love you bud and we can't wait to see what year 9 looks like!

Summertime!

The beginning of the summer found us on our annual camping trip. 6 adults and 11 kiddos. We made memories despite the 30 degree nights, stomach flu and rain!

The dads thought the kids would love an afternoon on the party boat... They lasted an hour! But the dads had a nice couple hours on the lake!

We decided to head to the city avoid the heat of the valley one day. We toured Coit tower... The views were amazing! Good thing since we paid a pretty steep parking ticket for our endeavor:(

Then there was golf camp for 6 cousins. Lots of fun had by all!

Kevin and I got away for a quick weekend to see my friend Mary and her husband Kurt in Montana. We had an amazing childfree weekend talking and doing Montana things like hiking, four wheeling and tubing at her parents lake house. Thanks Kurt and Mary for an amazing weekend!!

So Long Preschool.....

Kindergarten here we come!!!!

So hard to believe my babies will be in school FULL TIME next year. I have very mixed emotions about it all. Very excited for them to grow and learn and make new friends. And for me to have a little more time to myself and work more. But, it will be the first time in 9 years I haven't been home full time taking care of somebody. God has been good in granting me these sweet years with my kiddos and I'm so thankful for every sacrifice we have made to make it happen. I will miss having shopping buddies and kiddos to play with. It is just another phase of life though and I think we are ready. Doesn't mean I won't cry on the first day of school!

Hudson and Brooklyn with some friends. They two girls are twins as well. Their kindergarten class will have 4 sets of twins!

Their preschool had a small celebration with a few songs and diplomas and awards. It is always fun to watch your kids perform.

The kiddos did the flag salute and sang God Bless America. So sweet!

Brooklyn getting her diploma and award. Each kid gets an award based on a particular attribute or skill the teacher observes throughout the year. Brooklyn got the creative award.

Hudson got the Athletic award. Pretty spot on for both of them.

The two kiddos who rocked our world and changed it for the better! (most days...)

Friends

Kara and I have started running together.... Well, now that she's pregnant we can run together, otherwise we start together and I watch her zoom past me:) She has decided that my friends and I aren't crazy after all for getting up and running at 5 AM, we are just practical and good time managers:) In the last year we have run one marathon and two half marathons "together". I love my sis!

The kids had an Open House and Grandparents day at school a few weeks ago. Here is Ethan in front of the grandparent pictures they made. Can you find his grandparents?

Here is Morgan in front of the picture of what she wants to be when she grows up.

For Easter we went to the coast with Kevin's parents who were visiting for Grandparents day. We had a great time and didn't want to leave!

Easter Egg hunt time!

At the Apple Store getting Kevin's phone replaced... They sure know how to keep the kiddos entertained!

Brooklyn is constantly taking my phone and snapping pictures, here is one of our friends we "won" at the carnival. (Or paid $5 so we were guaranteed to have happy kiddos!)

Look what we can do with her hair now! Look back at our blog a year ago and you will see how far it has come!

Where does the time go??

It's a cliche I know, but really time just seems to go faster and faster the older the kids get. We are doing well though, someday I'll write a reflective post on all the growing I feel I've been able to do this year. I remember my friend telling me when I turned 35 that "35 is going to be a great year for you." And I really feel like it has been. I've had to humbly go through some tough growing as a mom, friend and wife, but it has been good. I feel like having our younger two turn four has been so great. I describe it as if I am coming out of a 4 year fog. I don't think I ever realized how overwhelmed I really have been most of the last four years. So life has been good just enjoying the kids, growing spiritually and just doing life.

This picture was taken back in January. Ethan had no confidence in his derby car for Cadets and he ended up getting 3rd place in speed! He did awesome and was pretty proud of himself. Who knew derby cars were such a big deal!

Just a night out for dinner with our own little Fancy Nancy. This one has become quite the fashionista. And, now that her hair is long enough to do fun things with she always has a plan for what I should do. I'm not sure how we are going to get ready for school on time 5 days a week next year! Thank goodness for school polos that's all I'll say!

And here is the Audrey, the other Fancy Nancy. These two have so much fun together still. It's so great to watch.

A few weeks ago we had Friday and Monday off of school so we took advantage and found a great new place to hike in the Livermore hills. We had a great time and drug the kids up some big hills. Once we got to the top and saw the view Ethan said, "Wow, this is totally worth it!" That's the love of hiking and nature we are trying to instill in our kids. 

While we still need rain so desperately we sure enjoyed this beautiful warm sunny day for hiking. We have had enough moisture to turn the hills green, they were beautiful. For our family and friends far away pray for rain for us. We are dry!!

No February is complete without our annual festival. This time we hung out my sister and brother in law and their kids most of the time at the carnival. Ethan is old enough now to just run around with his friends. It was a little unnerving sending him off with his buddies, but the night we go is $1 ride night so there are a lot of familiar faces there taking advantage of the same deal. He had a blast with his independence.

These were taken on the big Ferris wheel. Believe it or not Brooklyn really did scream and cry the whole first rotation. Thankfully she got over her fear and had a good time.

We all got to do the run again this year as well. All the kiddos did the one mile so Kevin, Eric and I trotted along with them. Kevin and I did the 8K and Eric and Kara graciously watched our kids. It's always a fun morning of running.

Ethan got 2nd place again in the 8 and under boys. He was 24 seconds short of first place!

Hudson did great and ran it in a little over 10 minutes.

Morgan surprised us all and got 2nd in 8 and under girls! Annika finished soon after Morgan.

These two ran with me and finished in a little over 12 minutes.

And finally the parade. Our group of kiddos just gets bigger and bigger every year!

I think I'm all caught up for awhile anyways!

Here is a video I  have been meaning to upload since Christmas. Our Brooklyn is quite a performer! (and Hudson is the heavy breather in the background:)