New Ventures

We had a quiet week that led up to a busy weekend here.  A lot of the usual chaos and activity during the week... we played, worked on learning some more, and tried to keep the chaos to a dull roar.  Baby sister keeps working on her walking skills, and is easily traversing while holding onto things.  On occasion, she will stand for a split second as well.  She loves to jump, and has put in several hours jumping too!

 The older girls helped me clean house in preparation for Alora's family birthday party on Sunday.  They had me laughing one afternoon, as I checked over the basement after they had helped pick up.  I found their toy washing machine loaded with fake money and got a good chuckle out of the hidden joke in that situation!

 On Saturday, we went to the Kids and Family Expo in Grand Rapids with Uncle Andy and the Sebrights.  Our entrance was free, compliments of tickets I won on JQ99 earlier in the week.  It was a lot of fun to let the kids wander, collect stuff, and just enjoy some of the fun exhibits there.

 Face painting was a big hit...

As were the bounce houses, free chocolate milk, free books and photo booths.  We really enjoyed being able to get out with some friends and enjoy some time together outside of the house, where the kids could burn some energy.

Unfortunately, we had to say farewell to Captain this week.  After 7 long years in our fish tank, he went to swim in Heaven.  There was some discussion about death for a short while, as the girls tried to process it out, but they handled it well and are already making plans for new fish.  Ezri wants a girl fish :)

Big Personality

It's been a week full of personality around our house!  And a week of learning... Tierney has learned her first sign, "milk" and is now proudly displaying her skills to anyone.  Ezri has begun working on some early reading, learning some words and reading some simple stories as a part of her schooling.  She is quite proud of her ability to read!  Alora is working on her letters and loves to listen to the letter songs each week.

Tierney is quickly becoming an experienced climber, having conquered Ezri's bed, the girls' table, the TV stand, and much more, she added the dishwasher to the list.

The little turkey is all over the place, under things, on top of things, inside things (the refrigerator)... I can't keep up!  And, of course, she thinks it is just hilarious any time she gets caught.

We've caught up from our New Years and short illness and bounced back full of energy.  Alora is full of action again, but a sweet side is beginning to become more apparent when it comes to Tierney.  She loves to Mommy her, wanting to carry her around and help much like Ezri does.  She is also developing a peace-maker quality, stepping in to defend either sister from discipline or come to the rescue if there are tears.

During a bath this week, Alora was eager to help wash Tierney (who wanted nothing to do with sitting still)

And was so excited that they each had robes to put on together.  

Not to be outdone, Ezri's personality is large as well.  She is beginning to pick out her own clothes and loves dressing up (big win with the dress-up clothes for Christmas!).  I am forcing my Type-A personality to shut-up and let her wear whatever makes her smile, and it is somewhat freeing.  I love her enthusiasm and find myself wishing I was so brave as to not care about the opinions of others and wear what makes me happy.  Love this kid!

We've been breaking up the cold, stuck inside days with some forts and tents.  The girls have enjoyed this, and want a new one each day.

We had a weekend filled with friends and activity.  Friday night, Alora went on a bedtime strike and continued to come out of her room, asking for things and doing anything she could to stay up.  After a while it got quiet.  When Alex checked on her, this is what we found...

Saturday, we had an absolutely beautiful winter day, with temperatures in the mid 40's.  We took advantage of the awesome day and spent a good portion of the afternoon sledding with our friends the Sebrights.  This was Tierney's first time in the snow.

 She, as usual, was all smiles and ready for the adventure!

 Alora was content to be pulled around.  She loved to go down the hill and then wait until someone came to her rescue.  Silly kid!

 Ezri was all in, up and down the hills, full of excitement and just having a great time with her friends.

 Tierney, who only napped only a tiny bit in the morning, was wore out not long after we got to our sledding spot in Sandy Pines.  So, all bundled up nice and cozy, I held her until she fell asleep, and then placed her in her sled for a nice little fresh air nap.

 While Tierney napped, we entertained ourselves with some snowman building.  The snow was perfect for this, and soon we had big, heavy snowballs.  Stack them up, add in some sticks and the individual style of the builders, and soon we had quite the little snowman family.

 It was a perfect day, and an all around awesome weekend filled with friends, laughs and fun.

Happy New Year!

2014 is in the books for us, and what a year it was.  So many special memories, family trips, new babies and puppies, new friendships, growing business, and through it all, a God who has blessed us beyond what we deserve!

We celebrated the new year with our friends Andy, Jay & Becci, Tony, Kathy, Travis & Emmett, Scott, Dawn, Kenny & Graycelynn.  The kids watched a movie together and then settled down (eventually) for a slumber party.  The adults spent the evening eating far too much, playing games, laughing and just enjoying the great company.  As midnight came and went, we continued in our fun, well past 2:30 before we called it a night and our guests either went home or settled in for a big sleepover.

After all of the late nights between Christmas and New Years Eve, our girls were quite exhausted in the coming days...

Even Tobi and Sadie have been a bit more subdued, Tobi allowing Sadie to nap by him on more than one occasion.  I believe he might finally be warming up to her!

 Once we all caught back up on sleep, the girls were right back to their fun and games.  They have enjoyed playing with their new toys and creating new games.  One such game they have been playing is Frosty the Snowman, based off of their favorite movie this season.  We have had many "Frostys" built in the past week, complete with children dancing around and singing :)

 We celebrated Barky's Birthday this past week as well.  On Monday morning, Ezri woke and declared that it was his birthday and that we needed to have a party for him. We started his day with a bath and some grooming.  Then, we had a tea party, complete with little cakes and "purple tea" in his honor.  Ezri was quite proud, making him a card and upgrading his house with new blankets.

 I believe Barky enjoyed his day!  He sure is a special member of our family :)