Birthday Party v. 5.1

On Tuesday, February 23rd, we celebrated Brooklyn's birthday with her 4 grandparents. She had one of her favorite meals, buttered noodles, and we ate a chocolate cake made by Brooklyn and Gramma. She had a great time and opened TONS of presents from her very generous grandparents.

Brooklyn loved the doll changing/bathing station from Gramma and Pops...

... And the Puppet Theater from Nanny and Grandpa.

What a special (and spoiled!) little girl!

Happy 5th Birthday, Brooklyn!

Happy 5th Birthday, Brooklyn Marie! Thank you for making me a mommy 5 years ago. You have changed my life more than you will ever know, and I love you, my firstborn, soooooo much. We have had quite a year of changes, and you have become the best big sister to Jake! I am so proud of the little girl that you have become. You are quite the mini-me, according to your Dad. I try to look annoyed when he says it in a "not so positive way", but I secretly love it. :-) When I look at you, I see the best parts of your Daddy and I. You are truly God-made and heaven-sent. I thank God everyday for you, and I cherish every moment that I have with you as my "little" girl. I have to admit, though, that each birthday gets a bit harder for me as I realize just how big and independent you are becoming. Can I go ahead now and have the talk with you about how you must always live within 5 miles of me (except for the 4 years you attend UNC)?

So....What are your favorites right now?

Foods- Desserts, Baked beans, salad, macaroni and cheese, rice, chicken nuggets, quesadillas, mandarin oranges, apple slices and caramel dip...you are a great eater!

Songs- Mighty to Save, Do You Really Want to [Hug] Me?, Love Story by Taylor Swift

TV Shows- 17/18/19 Kids and Counting, Biggest Loser, American Idol

Movies- Strawberry Shortcake, Praise Baby

Friends- All her Shout sisters and all the girls in her class at school

Saying- "Booty Shake!" (Don't ask....but it's usually accompanied by a really funny dance move), and "You can't come to my birthday." (when she is mad at us)

Animal- Callie (Gramma and Pops' dog)

Restaurant- McDonalds

Book- her "reader" books that she is learning to read with

Candy- yellow lollipops

Drinks- Chocolate Milk; Sweet Tea

Outfit- Dresses

Activities- Wii bowling, tennis, or Band Hero; Swings on the playground; Playing with her gazillion baby dolls
Colors- Most anything

Shoes- Target "Ugg" boots

Ways to land herself in time out- Sticking her tongue out, talking back, screaming at the top of her lungs, hitting/pinching us or her friends (don't let that sweet face fool you)

Bath time activity- Washing my whirlpool tub

Breakfast food- KK doughnut or granola bar

Valentine's Weekend

Before the 5th Birthday posts start coming in this week, I wanted to recap our Valentine's Weekend.

Friday the 12th Brooklyn dressed up for her Valentine's Day party and dance at school. She wanted to wear her Christmas dress so we just layered a black long sleeved tshirt underneath and sent her on her way.

Saturday the 13th, we celebrated Oma and Opa's 8oth birthdays (they were born about 2 1/2 weeks apart). Here they are with Jake.

And on Sunday, February 14th, we celebrated Valentine's Day as a family by attending church and the Confirmation Service/Banquet. Chad and I were both "Faith Friends" for two youth from church. Here are my sweet babies in their V-day attire.

Brooklyn got a new t-shirt that says "Spread the Love" so she wanted to wear that for the afternoon/evening.

Gosh, am I lucky to have the best three Valentines ever?! Brooklyn let me share the spotlight with her and take a picture. :-)

Survivor's Guilt

I rarely discuss work on here because I find that one day that may bite me in the you-know-where. I love my job, and I love the Girl Scouts as an organization. I wouldn't leave my children in pre-school if I didn't love working so much.

We are having a tough time at work with our budget now that we have merged 4 councils in western NC. They are laying off several staff people and eliminating positions. Yesterday, we lost 4 valuable people in our office. I am safe for now, but it is not over.

I am suffering from Survivor's Guilt this week. But with this economy, I have to say it's better than suffering from Unemployment.

Sigh.

Trying to catch up...

Check out my two big kids below and what they've been up to!

15 Weeks

Jake is just the sweetest baby. He is about 3 1/2 months this week and just such a blessing to our family. He is very laid back, and very snuggly (translation: likes to be held a lot of the time). Usually after eating, he will play for a while in his glider, on the activity mat, propped up on the Boppy, etc. But when he is done with his "by himself" time, then you better be ready to hold this precious (yet heavy!) baby boy.

I vary where I put him for his naps when I am working from home. This particular day he was having some belly issues so I kept him downstairs with me. He laid like this for 3 1/2 hours! Such a good boy! I am so blessed to have these few months to work from home on Tuesdays and Thursdays and watch this precious one grow right before my eyes.

Wow...it only seems like 15 weeks ago when I gave birth to this sweet angel. :-)

Two things I love

Be My Valentine

When did my baby girl become old enough to address her own Valentines?! She was a vital part of the whole process, from picking them out at Michaels ("Princess and the Frog" with tattoos) to reading her class list to addressing each one. (Well, let me be honest and say she did everyone in her own class, but they also added the 13 kids in the class next door- who does that?!- so I ended up doing about 9 last night to finish them up.)

Such a daunting task for a 5 year old- but it was HER idea. :-)

thank goodness for no broken bones or face plants!

So, this wasn't the best video (Jake woke up from his nap), but you get an idea of how steep our driveway is and the fun that we had this weekend. Once the Henzlers came over (see previous post) and we had a REAL sled, then they were flying down the driveway!

Snow Fun

I just love long weekends...especially weekends when you are forced to stay at home and go NOWHERE. We are a very busy on-the-go family. When Jake was born, we slowed down a bit and stayed at home quite a bit in those first few weeks. We were just getting back into "regular life" of weekly band practice, evening Girl Scout meetings, dinners out, etc, when we got this blessing of the Winter Storm 2010. It couldn't have come at a better time. We really just needed some family time (and time to clean my house). BUT...because I live with two people who like to stay busy and are always wondering two things 1. What's for dinner? and 2. Who's coming over? I knew that I needed to get creative. First I stocked up on TONS of food, including some special snacks and things to bake for "cooking activities." What I did forget, though, was stuff for snow cream, but we improvised with what we had and added some blue coloring because, let's face it, adding food coloring just makes things more fun. :-)

We let Brooklyn outside for just about 20 minutes that first morning because she was recovering from a cold and cough.

Day 2, we invited the Henzlers over for some winter fun...including lots of snacks and sledding down our driveway. Jake also has a small cold and cough, so he has been inside all weekend. I am not risking any sleepless nights just to get a cute pic of him in the snow. He's cute inside in the kitchen.

Allie and Brooklyn

Joe and Chad had a blast sledding down the driveway on baking sheets, garbage can lids, and an actual sled. (We aren't ALWAYS ghetto!)

We have also been doing lots of arts and crafts...I have turned the dining room into a temporary art studio for the time being because I hate packing it all up and bringing it all out over and over again. And....we have been teaching Brooklyn to read. She has been doing AWESOME with her beginner books and is having the best time learning. Not to mention, she is super proud of herself.

So, thank you God for this wonderful blessing of uninterrupted time with my family to just "be." We needed it. Though Jake will be quite lonely for his sister when she returns to school tomorrow. I think I might be a little, too.

Picture Overload

Here are some recent pictures of my two cuties....

3 months old!

I cannot believe my baby is a quarter of a year old now. Tuesday marked Jake's 3 month birthday. I got my weekly "BabyCenter email" yesterday that tells what he "should" be doing and what to look forward to, but the thing that caught my eye was the statement, "Most babies cry the most their first three months of life so you should notice your baby's crying to taper off now." Well, if that was the most Jake's gonna cry, then WOW, I have an awesome baby! He is so laid back and precious...hardly ever utters a peep unless he's startled or dirty diapered. We are so lucky!
Here's what else is going on with Baby Jake:
*Wearing size 6-9 month clothes
*Wearing size 2 diapers but only until they run out, and then we are moving up to 3's
*Smiling and cooing with occasional belly laughs (usually at Brooklyn)
*Holding his head up very well by himself
*Eating every three hours during the day
*Consistently SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! (Hooray! However, he is trying to get up at 4:00am but just a little shake of the pack-n-play and a paci plug, and he's back to sleep.)
*Not sure about weight (My guess is about 18 pounds. Yes, you read that right. 18.)
*Loves the glider
*Still swaddled at night, and I am on the hunt for a larger Halo Swaddler SleepSack
*Still has not needed formula
*Is so friendly when people talk to him
*Has lost most of his hair on top and its being replaced by a small amount of blonder hair...unfortunately, he still has darker hair in the back and around the sides, so he has the "old man" look going on
*Still suffers from reflux and takes Zantac twice a day
*Is a quieter sleeper, but still grunts and poots a bunch
*Is really learning to swat at and grasp at his toys; loves rattles and stuffed animals

THIS is American Idol!

So, we have started watching American Idol as a family. It's great that all 4 of us can sit down and watch a TV show together. Brooklyn has really gotten into it.....maybe too much. :-)

Way Back When-esday!

This week's Way Back When-esday picture was taken at one of our "Girls Nights" while the boys were off playing poker. This was January 2008. Brooklyn (almost 4), Zoe (2 1/2), and Allie (just turned 2) were playing with babies all night, but I'm not sure why they decided to line their chairs up in the kitchen. But, of course, they were cute, so I took a picture!

Oh, Happy Holiday Weekend!

Here's two reasons why I loved this three day weekend (and REALLY love my sweet children).

Brooklyn told me this weekend that she learned about Martin "Lunar" King at school. When I asked her what she learned she said, "Some people have orange hair and some people have purple hair, and that's OK."

Jake turned 12 weeks old today and as a gift to the family he slept until 6:30am. That means we went 9 hours last night (9:30pm to 6:30am). Yay!!!

So many babies!

When I started my "Oh, Baby" list on the righthand sidebar, I knew there were a few more that I would be adding as soon as their pregnancies went public. I didn't know just how many more babies, though! I've even been surprised by a few of them myself. :-)

Congratulations to Jami and Joni on their newest additions, and best wishes to Marisa, Caroline, Beth, Elizabeth, Page, Loryn, Kristen, Chrissy, Anna, Holly, Jennifer, Mary, and Angela on their pregnancies.

Please continue to pray with me for these sweet babies and their families. I get great joy celebrating each pregnancy and birth as I update and add to my list, so please let me know of any others.

Jake's Special Day

On Sunday, January 3rd, Jake Edward was baptized at First Lutheran Church's 6:30pm Shout service. It was a beautiful ceremony performed by Pastor Charlie (who also baptized Brooklyn and gasp, ME!). Jake did great. He stayed awake the entire time and just stared up at Pastor Charlie. I was so afraid he would start having gas issues and scream from gas pains or start "tooting" during the service, but my prayers were answered and not a peep came from anywhere in Jake, top or bottom. :-)

Here is Jake with his big sister and his God-sister, Allie.

Jake, Brooklyn, and our God-daughters, Allie and Zoe The God-Family....Henzlers and Johnsons

The Johnsons

With Oma and Opa

The Baders

Sweet precious Jake wearing his Uncle Eric's baptism shirt. (It was a bit too chilly for the short overalls.)

God Bless Our Son! What a privilege it is to be this special boy's mommy!

Fun with the Fam

Last weekend, Brooklyn had a great time with all her grandparents (and of course, Uncle Eric). First, she went ice skating for the very first time. She did an awesome job, but unfortunately our visit was cut short when they had to clean the rink with the Zamboni. By the time it had finished, Brooklyn had lost interest and was ready to get her skates off and leave.

Then, we had Chad's parents over for dinner and played some Band Hero on the Wii. Brooklyn, Gramma and Pops made the cutest band. :-)

We are so lucky to have such great (and fun) grandparents for Brooklyn and Jake!