5th Birthday

We invited the regular cast of characters over to our house for a (surprise, surprise) PRINCESS BIRTHDAY PARTY!

Before her friends came over she was able to open one present early.

Our beautiful princess was ready for the party!

They played kiss the frog prince. Adorable!

Then had a freeze dance party. Crazy!

L was VERY impatient for the yummy looking cupcakes!

We had a princess lunch with triangle sandwiches, cheese sticks, pretzels and grapes.

Then PINK cupcakes!

C's friends and family knew just what to get her for her birthday!

Everybody had a GREAT time!

Thanks for celebrating with us again this year!

Christmas

We had SO much fun on Christmas day that we didn't really take any pictures. Only a few on our phones. The kids were thoroughly spoiled and had a blast opening everything and then playing with it all the rest of the day!

I got a NutriBullet blender and the kids enjoy my healthy smoothies as much as I do!

The big kids got gift certificates for Christmas and they were burning a hole in their wallets so we went the next day to use them. They really enjoy picking out their own gifts.

I couldn't believe the weather we had for Christmas! NO SNOW!! It was even warm enough to go for a walk and play outside in our light jackets!

 

 

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve the little elves got to open a special present...

Christmas pajamas!!!

... and a new toothbrush!

 

Notice that there are no presents under the tree. We got a box of goodies from Aunt Jess a few weeks before Christmas and I attempted to put them under the tree; the two older kids kept pulling them out and organizing them into piles and comparing size and shape of presents. The younger one didn't quite understand the pretty boxes and kept piling them up, like stairs, to reach things on higher shelves.

Ball Corp. Adult Holiday Party

Christmas Eve, Eve (Dec 23rd), we got to put on our fancy clothes and go hang out with adults at Matt's adult holiday party. In four years, this was only our second time going to the adult party. Last year it was on a Sunday and the year before I was 35+ weeks pregnant, so we were really happy to go this year. We hadn't hired a babysitter at bedtime yet, so we hired TWO to make sure all went smoothly. Thankfully it did!

(I love my little photo-bomber!)

At the party there was dinner, dancing and a comedian, and we enjoyed it all!

Blue Belt

K has continued to work hard and excel at Tae Kwon Do. At the end of December he earned his blue belt, his 4th advancement. The Master promised that "the easy belts are in the past" and that now he will have to really work hard. I'm glad he still loves it, and I love seeing him learn and grow with this sport.

YMCA Christmas Party

The YMCA preschool program that C is in does such great holiday parties! It's so great that the families are so involved, including siblings!

Santa even came for a visit! (end of video)

C got this great book from her teachers!

And her first set of Legos from Santa!

L got some cars from Santa! Thankfully he wasn't scared of Santa at all.

Ball Kids Holiday Party

Until this year, the Ball holiday kids party had been on Sunday so we hadn't been to it before. But this year we did, and we had a blast!

It was at the bowling alley and everybody got their chance to bowl.

Hilariously, L won the jackpot THREE times on this ball machine.

Then C won the MEGA JACKPOT on the same machine.

The "boys" loved the bumper cars.

And Santa was even there!

 

We are so glad that we got to go this year!

Victorian Streetwalk 2014

We enjoyed the annual Victorian Streetwalk with the kids favorite face painter.