Kath's Confirmation

Kath was confirmed on May 22nd of last year....uff da! I'm behind!

Katherine, you are an amazing young lady!  Your devotion to serving God, often setting an example for me, is amazing.  You have truly taken ownership of your faith, not leaving it to Mom and Dad to tell you what to do.
I am proud of you and pray that you continue to search for Him throughout your life.

Love,
Mom

Happy 7th Birthday Nickles!

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday, dear Nicholas!

Happy birthday to YOU!

Almost daily I think of your entrance into the world, you decided to do things differently upon your debut and things are pretty much still the same.  You have us hiding our faces as we try in vain not to laugh at half the things you say, often right in the middle of some sort of discipline.  And your smile...there's really nothing that can wipe it off.  When the checker at the grocery store asked how old you are today, without missing a beat, you replied, "22"  and picked up a bag of groceries to carry to the car.  

I love you, Nickles ~

Love, 

Mom

Collecting sand dollars ~ 

Helping Mom ~ you've always been my little chef.

School work ~

Happy birthday little buddy!

Happy Birthday Dominic!

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday, dear Dominic!

Happy birthday to YOU!

One of my threee little bears...you're nine years old!  One of my favorite things about you is your wild imagination.  Daddy thinks that perhaps you need to live in reality more, but I love your "what-if" ideas and stories.  You are always thinking of a new way to construct some invention, that would make life either easier or super amazing!  And your swimming....you're becoming a master...especially your diving!  You must be half fish!

I love you Dom ~

Love,

Mom

Dom and an old sailor ~

Learning how to mow the lawn ~ 

You are growing up!

Hooray!

Now you are 9!

Christmas 2016

As I write this, I'm sitting at a ski resort that has received 300 inches of snow this year.  That's like, 25 feet!  So it feel like Christmas right now, despite it really being Lent.  If only I were sipping peppermint hot cocoa instead of unsweetened tea.  It may as well be hot water.

This past Christmas season was the BEST!  Perhaps because I put more into Advent, I got more out of Christmas.  I just didn't want the season to end...mid February I was still reliving moments of the season and contemplating making more cookies and just pretending it was still Christmas, which wouldn't have been to difficult since the tree was still up.  I guess it's a lessen for Lent/Easter this year; If I prepare my heart more thoroughly during Lent, Easter will be all that much sweeter.

Anyway.  Christmas.  Michaela moved home, which kinda made me feel like we turned back time a few years, which is awesome!  We skied and sledded and played games and skated and just enjoyed one another.

Getting a Christmas tree with one of our favorite families ~

Looking for a tree ~ 

Decorating ~ 

Distracted by all the snow while shoveling the deck ~
 

Cookie decorating ~

A cookie exchange arranged by sweet Stacy ~

Cousin moments ~ 

I've fallen in love with our view this winter ~ 

Like, DEEPLY in love.

The dedicated light untangler ~

My favorite part ~ 

We did everything humanly possible to be home every evening during Advent. 

My povatica pastry chef ~

The beginning of another epic snowball fight ~ 

Apparently, it was a stressful day ~

Night prayers by our Nativity set ~ 

And it appears as though two fell asleep.

Christmas with Shannon's family ~

games with the cousins

Finally, Christmas morning arrived!

Annika and her new bow ~ 

she has to keep up with her older sisters!

And all Daddy's girls are hunters....here's to practicing!

A drone with a camera!

Just what Michaela wanted....Beauty and the Beast.

Almost done with the first round.

We save gifts for the next 11 days, so we can stretch out the excitement for the full 12 days.

December's theme was, Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Nicholas got ice skating down this season ~ 

One of my favorites ~

And another favorite ~ Max loved skiing, "Fast, Mommy, fast!"

And one MORE of my favorites ~ Annika rips it up with her brothers.

Sigh.  And so the Christmas season ends.  

I truly soaked up every moment, even the chaos, and it was all good.

I guess it's a lesson for me to apply to every day life! 

The End

Happy 3rd Birthday Maximo!

You're so special.

Oh, so special!
God gave you to us.

It's no wonder that we love you so!

And I still cannot believe God gave you to us.  Every time you're snuggled up on my lap, I think of how I treasured being pregnant with you.  What we expected was certainly not what we got ~ how blessed we are!  You're not my little baby any longer, preferring to run with the big dogs....er....I mean big boys.  Naps are difficult to take when your big brothers aren't taking one.  You love to swim, even learning how to dive by watching your siblings.  You are just as brave as the rest of the boys, peeling off your water wings and jumping in the pool, only to plunge straight to the bottom!  One day you'll be cliff jumping with your big brothers ~ and all the doctors who weren't sure what your life was going be be like....all we have to say, is it looks like it will be pretty full!

I love you, little Mo ~

Love,
Mom

You love being in the middle of whatever is going on ~

Helping with your own birthday cupcakes ~

1 - 2 - 3!

There's always a lap available ~

When you don't want to get your fingers sticky!

Happy birthday, little buddy!