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!!!!

Drawing with Dad

Rob came up with the idea to start drawing things with the kids.  When we have time in the evening before bed, he pulls out his computer or my ipad and they look up something easy to draw.  The kids love it.  Especially Sadie.  And I love it when they all sit at the counter while I'm making dinner and draw away.  Its fun to be so close together but have the kids occupied and not "helping" too much.  :)

He recently downloaded an app so one of them can use that while the other draws on paper.  Then they switch.  It is a fun activity that I hope we can continue for a long time!

Do you want to build a snowman?

We haven't seen the new movie Frozen yet, but we have listened to the music on YouTube.  We love the songs, especially the one called "Do you want to build a snowman?"  So naturally, when it snowed recently, we just had to build a snowman.  Usually the kids don't make it to the end of building a snowman, but this time the snow was perfect consistency and we made a small snowman, so they helped until the end.  It didn't last long because the weather was pretty warm the few days after we built him, but it was fun. 

 Winter wonderland.

 Emery loved this little snowman!

 Putting the finishing touches on.

 Say Cheese!

 Funny face.

 Then Zac decided to give the snowman his gloves.  :)

 Now he is done.  Zac was so proud!

Then we saw the garbage truck.  We love that thing!

 

 Then the kids decided to have races down and up the driveway.  I thought it was funny because Zac's hat would fly in the air.  

It's like he has wings.  :)

It was a fun time.  We haven't had too much snow this year...I'm hoping we get a few more storms so we can take the kids sledding.   Of course the last three snowstorms have been on days when I have Dr. appointments so I have had to drive around town and deal with the traffic.  I would rather just not drive anywhere and take the kids outside to play!  Although if the snow storm is waiting until my next appointment, we should get a storm on March 10.  :)

Picking Dad up from work

Every Monday and Tuesday and every other Friday we have to give Rob a ride to work.  I drive Sadie and her friend to school those days, so I need the car.  It is not the kids favorite thing to do...Sadie especially doesn't like having to pick him up after school.  It sure will be nice when we can get another car!  But for now it works.  And I'm  so grateful that we can carpool with our friend so we don't have to drive Rob to work EVERY day.  :) 

Anyway, when we pick Rob up from work it is about 4pm. Zac never takes naps anymore, and Emery has started to not nap (since we took her pacifiers away!  boo!) in the past few weeks.  So this is usually what ends up happening:

 Sadie is the only one who always stays awake.  :)

 Closer look...you can't really see it, but he was totally drooling.  

 How can she sleep in that position??!

And this was just yesterday.  It is really hard when they fall asleep because they are SO grouchy when we wake them up when we get home.  Still trying to figure out how to keep them from falling asleep.  Because even a 15 minute nap in the car will keep them up for 2 hours at bedtime!