Warm weather in February!

 It has been unusually warm this February.  Like it has been in the 60's the past two days.  Crazy!  We are loving it though.  Shorts and short sleeves.  Nice.  Yesterday while the kids were supposed to be napping/resting, we were outside playing because it was just too nice to not be out there. 

 Zac re-discovered his shovel that had been buried in the snow all winter.  

 And he dug...for a long time.  :)

 While I read my book...yes, I am reading a hypnobirthing book.  Interesting stuff.  I am hoping to go all natural for this birth, so I am reading anything and everything I can get my hands on.  ha ha

 Then the kids found "treasures" and brought them to me.  Zac found this tiny nail.

And Emery found some sea shells.

 Then she had a meltdown because she didn't take a nap.

 Notice her hand on her eyebrow...I hope she never grows out of that!

On Monday evening, after we picked Rob up from work, we went to Thanksgiving point.  Since it was so nice, we went to the farm instead of the Dino museum.  The kids had a blast!  We met up with some friends while we were there so that was fun too.  We love our friends!

 Emery loved the pony ride even though she said she didn't want to do it.  

 Sadie wanted to ride on the biggest one.  :)

 Rob helped the kids feed the cows some hay.

 The wagon ride.  That was the only time I got cold because there was a little breeze.  Other that that, I was comfy in my short sleeve shirt!

 The kids in jail.  This was what they did when I said "make your best jail face."  ha ha

And Zac had this huge smile on his face the whole pony ride.  

I know we are probably going to get cold weather again soon and I hope we do.  We need more snow!  But while it is here, we will enjoy the warm weather as much as we can!

Beyond Glaze

For Zac's little preschool group we took a field trip last week to a place called Beyond Glaze.  It is a little doughnut shop with mostly glazed doughnuts with gourmet toppings.  They make them look fancy too.  We got to go behind the scenes and watch them frost some of the doughnuts.  That was really neat.  I think the parents liked it more than the kids!  I mean, they just wanted to get to the eating part!

 Here is the whole group.  There are five kids in the preschool group plus four more siblings along for the ride.  

 Here are all of their flavors.  Don't the all look so pretty and delicious?!?  They said their maple bacon doughnut was by far their most popular doughnut. Hmmm...maybe I'll try it someday...but probably not!

 They were kinda pricey, but we decided to get three to share.  Zac chose plain maple, Sadie chose the cookies and cream, and I chose the peanut butter and chocolate one.  They were delicious!

 Zac demolished his in just a few minutes.

 Sadie chatted with her friend while they ate theirs.

And Emery just stuffed hers in her mouth.  ha ha

Practice run

So before Sadie's birthday party, I wanted to be sure that the photo booth would work out ok, so I had the kids test it out so I could practice taking pictures before the kids got there.  (If you haven't read about her party yet...keep scrolling)

I want to take more pictures when the weather is good again because I just LOVE these!  I think they are so fun!  And I am still practicing with my new camera. 

 We have some cute kids!

 This just makes me laugh.

 Sadie got the idea to use the bow ties as hair bows.  Cute.

 All dressed up.

And this is my favorite picture.  It makes me laugh!

Sadie's birthday party

This year Sadie said she really wanted a birthday party.  I never really had birthday parties when I was younger...I remember having two I think.  One when I was little, and one when I was 16.  And I was happy about that.  I am not really a party person.  I liked spending time with my family and getting to choose what my mom made for dinner and having cake and ice cream.  Anyway, so i told Sadie she could invite three friends.  Of course, that list grew into seven friends.  ha ha.  It turned out really fun, but I already told Sadie we aren't doing another one for a few years...at least.  :)

 First we made some fun heart necklaces with tons of foam stickers.  They really liked this part I think.

 Next we did a little photo booth with props that I cut out of fun paper.  We set it up outside because it was nice weather and not windy that morning...but by the time the party started it was a bit chilly and windy.  Oh well, I think the pictures turned out great!

 There were so many kids that it was hard to keep everyone's interest on one activity.  These girls loved this part while the boys and a few other girls didn't.  Which is a shame.  I wish I had been able to get more funny pictures.  This was my favorite part of the party.

 Somehow, Rob ended up taking all the pictures...I was going to, but I had to run inside and stop Emery from opening all of Sadie's gifts, and then I had to help other kids with things.  But I think Rob did a great job!

 Good friends.

 I love the girl on the end with the mustache and the lips.  ha ha

 Then we went in and played a game with balloons.  The kids had to sit on them until they popped them.  Here they are laughing because Rob is demonstrating how to do it:

Ha ha.  Pretty funny.  We ended up not using the chairs because it made it really loud when the balloon popped, and we ended up having to bring out the toothpicks because these kids were just not heavy enough to pop them by sitting on them.  It was pretty funny.  

I didn't get many more pictures, but we decorated cupcakes and opened presents and played bingo before the party was over.  I think the kids had fun, but Rob and I were so tired when it was over!  Happy birthday Sadie!

Kids getting along

 I love it when the kids get along.  They like to play together most of the time which is really nice. It is fun seeing what their little minds think up. 

  I don't remember what they are doing here...but I remember they sat here laughing for about 20 whole minutes.  

 They like to make themselves beds and lay on the floor.  The especially like to treat Emery like a baby and tuck her in.  Emery loves the attention.  Sadie's bed doesn't look too comfortable here.

 Sadie can talk Zac into lots of things.  ha ha  Here she talked him into dragging her all over the tile.  He happily obliged.

 Fishing.  This kept the kids occupied for a long time.  They even came up with the idea to tie a refrigerator magnet to a string for their fishing pole.

Emery and Zac sharing a tray at snack time. And Sadie was doing something...not sure what.

Some days the kids do NOT get along this well.  But it sure is nice when they decide they are best friends.

Sadie's birthday

 Sadie's birthday was yesterday.  She turned six years old.  I can't believe it has been six years since she was born!  We had a really fun day that started with this:
 

 She got to run through these streamers when she woke up.  

 Then the kids decided I didn't have enough decorations up so Zac put these streamers up all by himself.  Well, I gave him the tape when he needed it.  He was pretty excited to show Sadie when she got home.  :)

 While Sadie was at school, I frosted her heart cake.  Then I made the mistake of leaving the stool over by where I stashed the cake...

 I caught her before she made too much damage.  

In the evening, Rob's brothers and sister and their spouses came over to help us celebrate.  It is always tons of fun and laughing when they all come over.  Here is what we had for dinner.

 Well, not this, but this was my favorite part.  Chocolate covered raspberries!  So yummy.  I am already dreaming of the next time I make these. 

 And sub sandwiches.  Yum.  I always forget how yummy good homemade sub sandwiches can be. 

 Then it was time for presents.  Crys and Alan got her these cute dresses and when we told her to hold them up so we could see this is what she did.  ha ha.  We eventually got her to open them up and show them to us.  And Emery was more than happy to model them for us!  Really cute.

Sadie wore this one to school today because it was perfectly pink for Valentine's day.  :)  But it looks equally cute on Emery here.  

Sorry, these are not in order...after school, it was raining, but that didn't stop Sadie from going outside and drawing a rocket, the sun and some planets.  And she even drew an alien in his spaceship.  

 Sadie's friend Halle came over to help celebrate and open gifts.  I love how they posed together with everything that she got.  This is a lego set that we spent an hour putting together this morning.  I think she likes it.  

 And of course some sticker books.

 Then we decided to get a family shot. This is hilarious.  Rob doesn't know how to do the timer.  Ha ha.  I love him!

 This is the only picture we took with the timer and amazingly everyone is looking at the camera and everyone looks cute!  

 Time for cake and ice cream.  She blew all of the candles out in one breath i think...not sure though.

I think she had a great day.  This was her birthday hat from school.  

Sadie is such a good helper.  She is a peacemaker and tries to help Emery and Zac work things out when they aren't getting along.  She loves it when Emery will let Sadie help her with something.  The other night, we put the kids down to bed and thought they were fast asleep.  Then Sadie and Emery both came out saying they had to go to the bathroom.  This was an hour and a half after we put them down!!  I asked her why they were still awake and Sadie said she helped Emery into her bed and they were laying down together just talking and stuff.  Ha ha.  Silly girls. Sadie loves to learn new things and loves being in school.  We love you Sadie!!!!