Bday Party!

Happy birthday Griffin!

Griffin entered our family 18 months after the twins. But it feels like he and I have always been together. Even though Elliot is our last child, Griffin will always be my Baby. When the twins were born I never knew what I was doing, and everyday was a new, exciting challenge. I felt overwhelmed a lot and unsure if I was, "doing this right." When Griffin was born I knew what to do! And that built my Mom Confidence. He was the BEST baby, and he brought calm to our crazy house. Now he is a wonderful friend to Miles and a constant rival for Caleigh. Elliot adores him, and they are the best of friends. He loves being her big brother. He is a great helper and a sweet friend. He has all his teachers wrapped around his finger and I'm jealous they get more time with him next year. Love you Griffin.

Mother Nature sure knows how to pile it on.

Heres a few shots before the latest snow storm, where we got 8 more inches. The funnest part of all this, is shoveling. It's not so bad, except the snow banks are getting harder to toss the snow over. Mike calls it our "snow storm exercise plan: 7 storms to a fitter you."

My concern...where does all this snow go when it melts?

A month long celebration

I am turning 30 tomorrow (put your presents in the mail, I don't mind late ones) and Mike is always so nice to let me celebrate all month long. 2 weeks ago he drove me to Portland, ME to buy my favorite makeup (not available online) which I now, know I can mail-order from Boise. Then last week he took me to Salem, MA to see the House of Seven gables. After the lonely tour (we were the only two) we ate at the Cheesecake Factory. I have been missing their avocado egg rolls, and chocolate tower truffle cake. He also took all four kids, to Target to let them pick out presents for me. He gives them free reign, so they pick whatever they think I will like. Last year was pretty good! All this should make turning 30 a little less painful. Love you babe!

Were sucking in our cheeks, so you all don't know how fat we are. See...he'll do anything for me.

Quote of the day

My handsome, smart, funny Husband, never gets enough sleep. And I choose that reason to dismiss most of the things he says to me.

I noticed it's funny to put "quotes" on blogs, so here is my new series of "Mike quotes" (I'll think of a better name later) Oh, and Mike, I warned you I was going to do this...

"What is that weird looking thing in the fridge? I tried to eat some, but I didn't like it."

Sniff, Sniff. So much for my baking skills.

"No baby, I Elliot"

Elliot lately is always saying, "hi, mom" all day long. I usually respond with, "hi baby" or "hi honey" but she they replies, "No honey (or baby), I Elliot." It cracks us up.

Elliot is growing right before our eyes. I finally broke down and cut some cute bangs on her. She really needed it with her hair in her eyes all the time. She looks so grown up.

We also moved her to a "big girl" bed. The toddler bed matches Caleighs bed perfectly, it's cute. It's always such a headache to move my kids out of their cribs. All the sudden they have freedom and they never stay in their beds. Elliot must have some invisible force field around her bed, because she rarely has gotten out and waits for us (me or Miles) in the morning. What a good girl.

Here's Elle showing off her new Owl pillow. She walks around, "hoo, hooing" with him all day.

More Winter fun

We found our sledding hill! The kid's school has a great hill that it's on, so once the snow covered it, we tried it out. We aren't the only ones who use it as a sledding hill, we especially love when we have friends there to sled with. It's perfect size, and it's a great work out to walk up. Luckily that doesn't faze the kids at all. They will go for-EVER until I finally tell them, I'm cold and want to go home. Caleigh is the craziest of us all. She flies down the hill, usually crashes, then yells, "I'm okay" before I even ask. So fun! I have to say, a good sledding hill makes winter bearable, and something to look forward to.

Caleigh going crazy, I love the crash at the end.

Miles likes to go down the steepest part. Yikes!

Snow Shoe'n

G & G Head got these great snow shoes for the kids for Christmas. They have been having lots of fun with them. I love watching them walk in them. Hilarious! Thanks G & G Head.

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Look at that cutie face. She loved opening presents and said, "thank you" after every one.

This is the "haul" of birthday presents. Wasn't Christmas just a week and a half ago?

Miles is trying to sneek a taste of Elliots traditional "PINK" cake. It's just a white cake mix with almond extract added and pink frosting with white chocolate "curls" on top. It's so easy and yummy. Since Elliot's birthday will always be after the holidays(and tons of chocolate) this cake will be her own birthday tradition.

For some weirdo reason Elliot's birthday pictures wouldn't enlarge when you clicked on them. I have no idea why that happened or how to fix it. I decided to just put on some of my fav's from the day and you can enlarge these one's for sure.

Happy Birthday "Wild Woman"-Griffin's nickname for Elliot

Sniff...Sniff.. My baby is 2. Yikes, I thought I had more time with the baby phase. I love the baby phase. Thanks Titus's and Huntings for celebrating with us.

We are so blessed to have little Elliot June in our lives. She is a little bit younger than the rest of our clan, and having her felt like starting over. She has such a sweet personality. She always "thank you" even though I have never taught it to her, and she is always smiling. She loves her sister and 2 big brothers so much. She has even learned to say all of their names, and relies on "Mimos" to get her up in the morning. She is in her own "baby" phase, and she loves dolls. She also loves "deedaces" (princesses) and screams whenever she sees them. Elliot has her daddy wrapped around her little finger, and I love when she gives me the time of day.

Knowing Elliot was our last, has made such a difference with raising her (so far). Nothing feels like a chore, like changing diapers, or midnight feedings. I was always happy to spend more time with her. She was a "barfer" for the first year, and even that, wasn't that big of deal.



Now we look forward to moving her to a "big girl" bed, and then in six months we are going to start potty training. Thanks Elliot for choosing me to be your "mamma" and for all the kisses.

The best intentions...

So...(Mike hates when I start my blog entries with "so") I was going to send out Christmas cards. I bought matching outfits for my kids, and even thought about going professional this year. But it never happened. The month slipped by me and I never got around to it. I love getting Christmas cards with updates in them. I have so many family and friends that are always on my mind that I really wanted to take the chance to connect with them. I am so sorry for anyone who feels like you were forgotten, if it makes you feel better, ...everyone was forgotten! So Merry Chris...forget it, I'll plan on doing 4th of July cards.