Christmas 2013

Christmas 2013 was awesome.  Ang and the Qshurst-Mcgees came to town, Ruth and Mom both had the entire week off work, Richard came home each night to party.  It was all so fun and festive!  And we didn't even have to pack or travel!

It was so much fun to have Angela and Ruth and I all together.  I just love that my sisters and I are close.

We had an epic Nerf battle at our house.  Richard bought dozens of guns and hundreds of ammo.  The kids shot the adults, the adults shot the kids, teams lasted ... minutes before turning on each other.

Christmas morning we Worths stayed at our house to open presents.  The kids were pretty good about taking it slow opening presents and enjoying each other's happiness.

Asher really loved his "Inventors Kit". "Look! My very own blue tape!" he cried.

Any time we were hungry we just headed to Grandma's.  Massive amounts of pies, mashed potatoes, cookies, ham, etc.  We were stuffed for a week straight!

And love abounded.

A perfect Christmas.

Sammy's Big Boy Bed

There's an "extra room" in this house that doesn't count as a bedroom solely based on it's lack of a closet.  So for a few months it was my craft room (a dream come true for me!).  But one Saturday in April, it turned into Sammy's new big boy bedroom.  Everybody pitched in to move all the boxes of craft stuff out, Daddy assembled this bed we already had, we moved in the one other piece of furniture we have for this room, made the bed, and Sammy was all set!

All the kids felt that they needed to try out the new bed.

 Here it is looking all actually put together.

 And here is the happy little big boy (looking very little in the that big bed!).

We didn't force Sammy to move over to this bed because we didn't want him to feel kicked out of his crib.  We just invited him to try it out at every nap and bed time.  After 3 days he tried napping in it and did a great job. It took another two days before he willingly tried it at night.  But after that he was all in and he hasn't gone back!  The xuxa (pacifier) did make the move with him - but that's next on the list of things to go!  (Right before diapers)

What a big boy!

Isaiah's 6th Birthday

I'm afraid I did a pretty poor job of taking pictures on Isaiah's birthday this year.  He did have a very fun, family filled birthday though.  He started the weekend with a father/sons campout with Dad and Asher.  They got back around 10am - dirty and tired but very happy.  The real partying began after lunch when Aunt Karen, Uncle Jared and cousins Jessica and Joshua showed up.  Grandma and Aunt Ruth came over, too.

 We started with presents (we've discovered this works for us).  Jessica and family gave Isaiah some fun games!

 Isaiah was also very excited about the Batman watch he received from Mom and Dad.

 Then we all swam in the still-bathwater-warm pool for a couple of hours, gorged ourselves on pizza, then ate cake.  Isaiah requested a puppy dog cake.  Since he's made this request several years in a row now, I was running out of clever ideas.  So I did puppy foot prints made from Oreos.

After that Isaiah requested some Wii playing and we played until bedtime.  It was a fun-filled day that made this little boy happy.  And I do love to see that smile!

Asher's 7th Birthday

We packed Asher's birthday with as much fun as possible!  He woke up to a pile of balloons on the family room floor and his new goldfish.

The goldfish had arrived the evening before when Asher and Daddy went to the pet store together to pick one out.  (*Goldfish #1 died within 24 hours, but Goldfish #2 has been living strong for a month now)  

 Then we headed to the Perot Museum of Science.  Asher could not have been happier.  We even managed to leave Sammy with Grandma and Grandpa so that Mom and Dad could focus on the big kids.  It was a great morning.

 Below, Asher designed his own light show and then projected it onto this spinning wheel by cranking a lever around and around.

 Here is Isaiah and Daddy racing a T-rex (and not doing too bad!)

 Below Naomi and Asher are racing a Cheetah.  See that Cheetah? No? It was long gone before they basically even started!

 Then in the afternoon it was cake and presents.  A fish themed cake in honor of Goldie - the new fish.

 And Grandma and Grandpa joined us for the present opening portion of the party and won the "best present" award with a remote control car.

These days of making all my little ones dreams come true are long, exhausting days.  But I do love doing it for them.  There SHOULD be one day a year where all your dreams come true!

Graduation Day

Today Isaiah graduated from speech therapy. They had to do a reevaluation when we moved to Texas and the conclusion was, he doesn't need any more speech at this time. He still makes a few errors, but they're "age appropriate".
We're very proud! He really did work for this. He earned it.

89 degrees

Easter 2013

Our first Easter in Texas. ... I think there's pretty much going to be a year's worth of "First in Texas" experiences, so maybe it's not that big a deal...  

We dyed eggs on Saturday afternoon while Sammy was still napping.  Grandma joined us for the fun.  We were able to do it outside in the gorgeous 75 degree weather.

Sunday morning was a beautiful, but wet, morning.  The kids looks smashing in their coordinating outfits.

And Grandma A even bought an "Easter dress" for Baby Girl!  Silly, but sweet.

 We hosted Easter dinner since it was also a party for Grandma A's birthday.  I made these bunny cakes to do double duty as birthday cakes.

 I think the birthday girl was pleased.

It was a lovely, calm, family-filled, spiritual Easter weekend.  Just exactly as it should be.