Halloween

To be honest, Halloween crept up on us so we finally got our pumpkin carved on Halloween day!  Better late than never!  

Gooey is always fun!

Ethan Jay drew a great face!

The cutest super heroes ever!

Sweet Pumpkin Pie Jayce stopped by to Trick-or-Treat!

Then we headed off to church for a fun night with friends.

Emma Ann almost getting the donut with no hands!

More pumpkin carving fun!

Evie Kaye drew a jack-o-latern face on a clementine, such a cute craft!

The girls loved decorating cookies (or biscuits as they are now calling them!)

Super Mini Hero to save the day!

Okay, so it sometimes takes hours to get a good photo of all 4 kids doing what they are supposed to do in a photo all at once, but this time, they ALL whipped out their best super hero poses the very first time, and no staging or help from Momma, this was all on their own.  So proud and excited!

Life Lessons

Life is tough!  Especially for a 5 year old little boy!  There's so much to learn and always a little sister around to annoy you.  As always, we have a loving God to forgive us and give us strength through all the trials of life.  And boy did Ethan Jay need God's love and strength and forgiveness for this.  He was not using his guitar as intended, think bridge from the ottoman to the couch instead of a musical instrument.  And as you can see the guitar did not fare well.  Poor fella, felt terrible.  He sobbed and sobbed and when we thought it was over, he moped around all day.  When it happened, let's just say, I was a tad bit angry!  But that very quickly dissipated as I saw my little boys heart broken all over the floor and it turned into grace and mercy.  How blessed I am to have been shown this own grace and mercy by my Heavenly Father so that I can model it for my own children.  As I look back at all of the lessons that I have learned in life (and are still learning!) it was never about math or reading but issues of the heart.  These lessons are always much more tough and I am so thankful that I can be at home with these little ones and walk beside them as we reach these lessons together.

Easton James ~ 5 months old

This little fellow is changing so much!  He has the most hysterical laugh and he is growing up way toooo fast for this Momma!  He has taken his paci somewhat, but he has also discovered his thumb!  

He loves to kick his feet up and throw them over on the edge of the cradle or over on Momma!

Sweet snuggles

He has really been enjoying hanging out on the floor with toys.  He can turn himself all the way around in a circle and has started to try and push himself around.

He loves sitting in his bumbo and grabbing at all of his toys.

There's that thumb again!

This time, his thumb and a pretzel!

Have I mentioned that Evie Kaye LOVES this baby!  I had him downstairs with me while I was doing some laundry and she came to keep him company.  I think she thinks that he is her own personal doll baby.  She quite enjoyed dressing him up!

He said, "What is she doing to me?"

He loves her anyways!

Grabbing on to Robert's hair!  

He is so sweet, when you pick him up, he actually grabs a hold of you and squeezes you tight and sometimes lays his head on your shoulder!  Oh, how they can get you!

This kid is crazy!   He loves to bang toys to see how loud of a noise he can make.  The only problem is if you are holding him, he is banging the toy on you!  Ouch!

More sweet love from sister!

Enjoying his mat.  See that leg up there.  He is really trying to go somewhere.

Look at that hair!

If my Momma won't give me a real bottle, then I will have to make do with this toy one!

Listening to some tunes!  He sat there for probably an hour listening to Robert play!

I really couldn't get a good picture of this, but he would take his hand and flick it to spin those toys and he just watched in amazement as they whirled around.  He sat there and did it for about five minutes straight without even looking up!  Now every time I put him in the bouncer, he goes right to twirling!

Listening intently to a story from big sister, Emma Ann.

Trying out some rice cereal for the first time.  I took dry brown rice and blended it in my blender into a powder and then cooked it on the stove with a bit of water, so neat!

He's not so sure about all that!

Big Brother helping out.

And Evie Kaye giving him some water from a bottle.

Look at this, poor fella, fast asleep in his bumbo, holding on to his paci and his ball!

He loves bath time, and he wants to be sitting up, splashing away!

Okay, what's up with this Momma not putting this baby to sleep?!?!  He's fast asleep in the highchair, again!

Yum, banana!  He has been having little bits of some bland foods and has really loved it.  He also loves to chew on any food that you give him, carrot sticks, cucumber, a piece of crusty bread!  But I really have to watch it, because this big fella got in two bottom teeth and can really rip things apart now!

Sweet Baking with my Girls!

We decided to do some baking and what's better in the fall, but pumpkin!  I had had this recipe for pumpkin cinnamon rolls for some time but had never tried them out.  So, we got out the mixing bowl and started mixing!

Nothing like a little cream cheese and honey to make it nice and gooey inside!

And the yummy final product!

Evie Kaye's Piggy Bank

We realized that Evie Kaye did not have a piggy bank and Emma Ann had just received another for her birthday, so this Momma said it was high time to get this little girl a piggy bank!  She and I walked up to St. Mary Church and she picked out one that is tin and looks like their dollar bills over here.  It's pretty neat because you can't open it except with a can opener!  We had a great time just the two of us and she could not have been more proud of her purchase!  We even put in a bit of change when we got home to make it complete!

I loved this precious time with my sweet girl!

Emma Ann's 4th Birthday Party!

Emma Ann LOVES rainbows!  She is constantly drawing rainbows and has a rainbow shirt that she insist she wears most days even if it is filthy!  So when it came to her party, rainbows it had to be!  I loved every minute of it and Pinterest and I were very good friends!

The food, edible rainbows!  Does it get any cuter than that!

I love this streamer idea.  Super cheap and easy too!

The kids made rainbow fruit loop necklaces, which were a yummy treat!

I loved these paper rainbows that I made in literally, one minute!

And a party is never complete without cake!

I love this smile!

I was so nervous slicing into the cake!  The anticipation was unbearable!

Look at that, AMAZING!!!!

Afterwards we went outside and drew with side-walk chalk.  There were quite a few great artists among us and even the parents did a few drawings!

I set up a display at each child's party with pictures of them growing up.  It is by far my most favorite thing at each party.  I love looking back through the old pictures and seeing how they have changed.  It breaks my heart and warms me all the way through all at once!

These were my dolls when I was a little girl and they have now been passed down to the girls and they love them.  Rainbow Brite and her helper Sprite are adorable and the girls have fallen in love with them.  I also found some episodes of their show on YouTube and played them for the kids and they loved them.  So at the party, I put one of the shows on for all the kids, it was a huge hit!

We gave Emma Ann these shoes and they are way too adorable!  They could not have been more perfect for her, purple and sparkly!

Emma Ann received this balloon from one of her friends and it quickly became Easton James' favorite toy!  Because it was filled with helium, it would float above and he would tug on the string and watch in amazement as it bobbed about!

And as favors, the kids all went home with some chalk to create their own rainbows with!