Taylor's Graduation

 

Taylor graduated in December from UCCS with a Master's in Business Administration with an emphasis in Management. What a haul it was. He started when Katie was 18 months old and ended just before her 4th birthday. We have had two more kids, and two more pregnancies, which are almost harder on us than the actual kids. He has gone to class at least twice week, sometime more over breaks and summer. He has spent countless hours studying, at naptime and when the kids are sleeping. He always made sure to make the kids a priority. We are still, 4 + months later saying randomly to each other.  "do we have any plans for tonight" "just homework" and then laughing and dancing around like crazy. Even the kids get in on it now. We are so glad he has his Master's. He learned a ton and it was a very valuable experience. We are also overjoyed that it is behind us!!!  Here are the pics of the celebrations!

The crew of people waiting to see Daddy walk.

We brought a few Way to Go Daddy signs.

What sign would be complete without scribbles and hearts?

My Mom got Taylor a cake complete with him scaling the MBA mountain and the family cheering him on!

He did it!

I like Katie's thumbs up in this one.

Yay!

Cheesy pose.

It was so great that Great Grandma got to come to celebrate with us.

A nice one.

The presentation of the long-necker alumni award. Did you know that for a short time the UCCS mascot was a giraffe?

Way to go babe!!

this girl

I love this daughter of mine so much. She brings so much joy to our lives. She loves shopping, and clothes, and nails, and hair. She is kinds and adores babies. She wants me to have 100 babies. Here are a few Easter day shots, as well as a quick photo-shoot before her nap. The light in my bedroom at naptime is awesome!

 Matching head tilts.

 This girl and bumpy blankies. She has recently switched from "the blankie" to any blankie with bumps. She actually has a giant piece of fabric that is pink with bumps and that is her favorite. All three of the kids rub it on their lips when they are sad or tired.

She's five.

5 years ago God blessed us with this sassy sweetheart. She has made our lives indescribably more joyful.  She wakes up every morning with a smile on her face and excitement for the day. She has one of the most nurturing hearts I have ever known. If only her brothers knew she was trying to love them and not mother them to death. This morning we were laying in bed and heard her wake up. She said, "goodbye 4, I'm 5 now." Then she said, "oh my gosh, Levi, my pants don't fit anymore! I grew last night!" She is brave, and silly. A good friend with a sensitive heart. She is thankful and loves people fiercely. She takes time to warm up to new situations and people. She wants me to have ten more babies and would honestly probably love it. She starts Kindergarten this year! Five years with her has flown by!

 Opening her Hello Kitty bike pads that Levi picked out for her.

 The stable our friends gave to us and I have been holding on to until her birthday.

 We went to the zoo after Cracker Barrel. Of course we had to feed the giraffes.

 Walking out to see the elephants. Note the bike gloves at the zoo.

 Sillies.

 The carousel.

 Gray is just about ready to join them on the horses!

 Curling Kate's hair, love her face in the mirror.

 Love her.

 Birthday dinner with the grandparents and Aunt Emi.

 Gray telling Grandpa something very exciting.

 Levi showing Gray the awesome disco ball.

 She wanted an umbrella so bad.

 She also got this wierd food you mix together and make mini-gummi food. She watched a youtube video and has been wanting it every since.

 A big girl backpack for school. Waaaaaaaaaaa.

 So excited for her cake and candles.

 Posing with the cake.

 Blowing out her candle with her hair dryer. So Katie.

 Glitter Tattoos with Nana.

 So nice.

 Levi and Katie having a dance party in their room.

 Cracker Barrel for breakfast.

 The cake. She switched at the last minute from Hello Kitty riding a dolphin to this. I like this better:)

She chose dinner for the night. Chicken Alfredo, corn on the cob and peas. What a fun day with family. I am hoping to docuement some of her likes and dislikes in another post!

Happy Birthday sweet girl!

skiing

We took Katie skiing a little while back and after that trip she told me she didn't want a birthday party, she only wanted to go skiing again. Sounded great to us! We were joined by Nana, Papa, Grandpa, Aunt Emi, Uncle Dan, Connor and his friend, and Adrienne. We had a great day and Katie was flying down the mountain by the end. Her goal was to make it down the mountain 3 times since last time she only went twice. She went down 6 times! We are hoping for many more ski birthdays in her future!

 Driving up. Jammies, hot chocolate and a new nail salon game on the Kindle. She also got to watch Ever After for the first time.

 with Aunt Emi

 Katie and Grandpa

 Mommy and Kate at lunch break.

 One of the highlights of her day was her lunchable.

 Through the trees with Daddy!

 On the lift. Everytime we got on she would find where we were on the map.

Getting some air.

2013 Snapshot

This post has been saved in my drafts folder for weeks, for when I have time to add pictures. I don't have time to add pictures and I want to post it before we are half way through 2013! Already life is changing. Edits are in green!
Time is whipping by faster than I can believe and when I saw this idea on another blog, I knew it was a quick and simple way to record where we are, at least for a little bit. So here is where we are in 2013:

Taylor finally graduated from Grad School and we are so excited for the coming homework-class-meeting free year. It is still amazing. Time with him every night to play and have fun is amazing! So thankful we made it!

Katie and Levi have trouble going to bed EVERY  night. We have tried lots of things but they still are up there playing in there beds and running around. We have even tried sitting in the room with them and they are awake for hours. We should probably drop afternoon naps, but I'm not ready for that yet. Still bad. Praying for a bigger house with rooms of there own for each of them!

I just registered Katie for Kindergarten!  She got into the school we had picked and I am so excited. She is ready for more social interaction than just her brothers!

We joined Villasport and it has been such a blessing to our family. We go to the pool, classes, and I love just walking on the treadmill. The kids love the playcenter and are always excited to go and sad to leave.

Levi loves watching movies. He would watch television all day if I let him.

He is also super-focused. I have to physically touch him to get his attention if he is busy.

Katie loves all things hair, nails and beauty. Her hair is so long and I think I should cut it but can't bring myself to do it.

Katie and Levi are best-friends. They play pretend all day long and are getting better at working out their fights.

We are going to try and sell our house for-sale-by-owner in the next month and are packing up the house to stage it. We will see what happens!  The sign is in the yard. Praying for the right buyer in God's timing.

I still go to playgroup every Monday. These girls and their kids are such an amazing blessing in my life. They are my sounding board, encouragment and best-friends. I love that our kids have been playing together since they were babies.

We meet once a week with a group of families from church and, similar to playgroup, these families are such an encouragement to walk through life with. We have 13 kids between us age 6 and under. There are 5 families we meet with. We recently added worship and prayer time with the kids and it is the sweetest time together.  We just added Baby Logan this week and love him already!

Grayson is tiny. Off the charts tiny and we are trying to fatten him up. If he wasn't such a horrible teether and would stop getting the stomach flu in between bouts of teething I think I would be more successful. Gray gained 1 lb and 1 inch. We are going back to check him in about two week again. I think he is really starting to grow though. Lots of naps and some 12 months clothes don't fit him anymore.

Thanksgiving and Grayson's baby dedication

Apparently I didn't have my camera around much during the month of November. We celebrated thanksgiving at my folks house. The kids loved that Garrett was home from college.

 Our thankful tree, corn fingerprint crafts, and ever-shrinking countdown until Daddy was done with schoool!

 We dedicated Grayson at Vanguard church too. Our head pastor Kelly Williams prayed a prayer of dedication over him and us as his parents. The significance of this event for us is that we are commiting to follow God in our parenting of him, to prayerfully guide him in the hopes that one day he would choose to follow Christ on his own. The church body and our families also pray for us and walk this journey with us. I love that Levi is peeking at the screen.

 Praying with our family and friends. My good friend Laura led a prayer in a more intimate setting.