tenth birthday party time!

A few weeks ago, we celebrated the twins 10th birthday with a lot of their friends.  They invited some friends from our old neighborhood, and lots of friends from their new school.  I toyed with the idea of having their party somewhere other than our house, because a) 10 year old boys are wild and crazier, and bigger than 8 year old boys. b) our new house is so pretty! But, in the end, we opted to have it at home, just like always.  The jury is still out on whether or not that was the right decision.

We played a bunch of "Minute To Win It" style party games.  All of the games were really fun, and the few boys that participated in each challenge really got into them.  We did learn, however, that having fun watching others, when it isn't your turn, is an adult skill.  Not a ten year old boy skill.  Oh well!

What party would be complete without a ridiculous amount of yummy food?

This is the only picture I got of the birthday boys together.  

This present was a big hit with everyone, and it was also the only time that everyone at the party was focused on the same thing at the same time.  Sheesh!

10!  The boys wanted birthday donuts instead of cake, so 10s out of donuts it was!

Kade's turn to blow out the candles.  He took the task of thinking of a birthday wish very seriously this year.

Ky's turn to blow out the candles.  Sorry, it's a twin thing!

Happy Birthday (again) Ky and Kade!  The best thing about having your birthday party three months late, is now you only have to wait nine more months to celebrate again!

let's go to the wisconsin dells!

At the end of February, Bart had several days off of work, so we decided to take a mini family vacation.  We started off by driving to Milwaukee and spending the day.  Our favorite activity there was the children's museum.  It's much bigger and more fun than any around here, and all the kids had a blast.

 Even Bart had a great time!  This tower got so tall, I began to worry that it was becoming dangerous to all the kids around us, so we had to "evacuate" the block area so it didn't fall on anyone.

 After a night in Milwaukee, we drove to the Wisconsin Dells, which is apparently the waterpark capital of America.  There are lots of waterparks within a few miles of each other, and several of them have indoor waterparks.  I don't have any pictures of us actually at the waterpark (bummer!), but here are a few from around the resort:

 This baby tiger was often in the lobby of the resort, and we all loved to see it.  This may have been Everly's favorite part of the resort, as she was not very fond of the waterpark.  The first day she cried and tried to get away from the water.  The second day, she had stopped trying to fight us about getting in the water, but she certainly didn't seem to enjoy it.  By the third day, she would actually reach down and splash in the water a bit.  Very different than the twins who lived in Florida as babies, and by the time they were her age, they would jump in from the side of the pool, and become angry if we didn't let them go all the way under the water before coming back up!

 Bart had to speak at the PA school in Madison, WI the last day of our trip, so after we dropped him off, the kids and I had a few hours to kill by ourselves.  We found a movie theater and decided to see The Good Dinosaur.  I was a bit nervous about taking all four kids to a theater by myself, since Everly doesn't sit still in front of the TV at home for more than 30 seconds.  I was even more nervous when Krew decided to act like this before the movie started:

 But, I'm happy to say that it went well and we all enjoyed the movie.  Krew has even declared it his favorite Disney movie!

After the movie, we picked up Bart and headed to our favorite burger place in Madison, Dotty Dumpling's Dowry, for some delicious dinner, before heading home where we took 3 days to recover from our 4 day trip!

football champions x3

 For the third time in a row, Ky and Kade's flag football team was named season champions!
It's so much fun to watch these boys play flag football.  They play hard each game, and they work so well with their teammates.  They are always the first to cheer for their teammates when they do something well, and the joy in their faces as they play is contagious!

Way to go boys!

 This season, Ky had some awesome "tackles" (is that what they are called in flag football??), including some that were critical to their winning the game.  He also had a few awesome runs, and a touchdown pass. Kade did awesome too, and his biggest play of the season was a pick-six that he ran back the full length of the field for a touchdown!
It was a fun season!!

18 months!

Everly is 18 months old!  Here are some fun things about her at this age:

 She has finally started to pick up words.  I finally hear Momma on a regular basis!  It makes me smile every time.  When she comes looking for me, she usually just says, "mom!" and she sounds so grown up.  She also says: Daddy, cheese, hot (every time she is given anything to eat, she has to ask if it is hot first!), done, uh-oh, again, teeth, sock, thank you, bubble, off, stuck, wee, home, ball, cookie, cake, drink, hi!, bye, shoes, outside, papa, and probably a few that I'm forgetting right now.

 She climbs on everything!!!  Several times a day I hear her yelling "done" which means she has climbed up somewhere high and can't get down.  It's so stressful!

 I love that she still lets me rock her to sleep at night, I love that she sleeps perfectly at night and naptime.  I love that she loves to show off her clothes to her daddy when he comes home.  I love that she carries every bag around the house like a purse.  I love that she thinks she's so funny and has a sweet laugh and scrunchy face.  I love that she wraps all her dollies up in blankets and leaves them all over the house.  I love the way she pushes her hair out of her face. I love that she points to her ear and yells, "Hi" repeatedly anytime one of us is talking on the phone to let us know that she wants to talk on the phone as well. I love watching her dance, and the way she will mimic my moves.

 She is still so tiny!  She weighs 19.5 pounds, and is still in a size 2 diaper.

 This little girl loves to be outside, and although she was not a fan of the cold, the snow, and all the layers she had to wear to go outside in the winter, she is loving what the (slowly) arriving spring means for playing outside.

This little girl brings so much joy and happiness into our lives, and we are all lucky to have her in our family!