Happy Birthday, Katie!

Today is my cousin Katie's 23rd birthday.

Here are some facts about my wonderful "baby" cousin:

1. She is an avid reader. I can always count on her for a good book recommendation. And she is a very gifted writer, I might add.

2. She is super smart. She was a valedictorian in high school, finished her college education early and with stellar grades, and is currently in law school at Fordham University in New York City.

3. She loves to travel. She spent an entire spring semester studying in France soaking up the culture and the language.

4. Katie was not born on the last day of February of 1988 because it was a leap year. We all wondered if she would end up with a 2/29 birthday!

5. She and I are two of twelve cousins. I am fourth in the line up and she is tenth.

6. Katie used to have sleep overs at our house when she was little. She and I would share a room and I remember that she snored louder than any little kid I had ever heard. Then she had her adnoids taken out and the snoring went away. :)

7. She has always reminded me of Belle from Beauty and the Beast because she shares the same love of books (and she is both smart and pretty!)

8. Katie is adventurous when it comes to food. She will try anything!

9. She has a great sense of style, and always looks so effortlessly put together.

10. She is beautiful, both inside and out!

Happy Birthday, sweet Katie Elizabeth!

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Me, Tanda, Nikki after church this morning

Hannah swinging away

Leah giving Brother a push

"Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."

Romans 12:10-12

You Scream, I Scream

We all scream for

ICE CREAM!!

Today started off by sleeping in until 8:30! That's right, all three of my children slept late which was a miraculous event around here. I actually got a full eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. Wahoo! I made some french toast for breakfast and washed it down with some cranberry-apple juice (we were out of orange juice. gasp!) Then I went about the process of getting everyone dressed and ready to head out to a birthday party. Our friends' son Hayden had his third birthday today and celebrated with a moon bounce and a cookout. The kids had a blast jumping on the moon bounce with their friends. Then we headed out to visit some new friends of ours, The Daggs. We only recently met them and their precious son, Kannon. Kannon is the same age as Lucas, but during the birth process, his brain was deprived of oxygen and as a result he is now severely disabled. He requires 24 hour care, and it is hard for his parents to get out of the house. So we came to them instead! I got to hold and snuggle that sweet boy while we chatted with his mom and dad who are amazing people by the way. The last eighteen months have been so very difficult for them, but they have handled it with amazing grace and incredible faith. So glad we had the opportunity to meet them!

On the way home, we stopped at Braum's for some ice cream. Hannah and Lucas went for a classic flavor-- chocolate. Leah usually goes for vanilla, but this afternoon she decided to take a step out of the flavor box and go for Birthday Cake! It is a crazy blue color with bits of real cake mixed in. I'm sure it is off the charts in the sweet category, but she loved it (as you can see by the look on her face!).

Now we are home. Lucas is asleep and the girls are watching Megamind. I love full days like today.

What did you do on this fine Saturday?

For Every Good Photo....

There are about ten or more that look like this.

Or this

Sometimes, I just don't get the perfect smiles that I was hoping for. But I am glad that I end up capturing a slice of "real life" in the process.

Shake, Shake, Shake.....

Shake, Shake, Shake...

Shake your booty

Shake your booty!

We are still doing dance battles a few nights a week around here, and we love it! Lucas likes to jump up and get into the action. Even the cats come out from their hiding places to see what their crazy humans are up to. I love the look on Ellie's face in that last picture of Leah dancing. She looks shocked at what she is seeing. I love having fun family time together!

Special Message

This is why I love working with kids. They know when you need an uplifting word. After my students had left for the day, I turned around to see this lovely note on my dry erase board. My second graders at Sunset Elementary School are the best!

ABC Book

Monday morning the girls came up with a great idea for a project. They wanted to create their own ABC book to give to Lucas! I thought it was brilliant! They immediately got right to work setting out a big stack of paper in the middle of the kitchen island. Then they grabbed all of their crayons, colored pencils and markers and set right to work. "I'll do A and you can do B," Hannah told her sister. "And then we can switch back and forth," Leah agreed. On each page, they write the upper and lower case letter then draw all sorts of pictures of words that start with that letter. Sometimes they ask me to help them spell the words and sometimes they spell things phonetically. It all works. They have been taking their time and working on their book every spare moment they have.

Leah hard at work on the letter J page

Hannah discussing what to draw for the letter K

They just got home from school a little while ago and they are at the table, eating a snack and working on the letters U through Z. They already have plans to make a number book and a rhyming book next! I love watching them work together on their ideas. I feel like I need to sing a Wonder Pets song at this point (sing it with me if you know it), "What's going to work? Teamwork! What's going to work Teamwork!"

I am still debating how I am going to put this book together in a creative way. But I promise that when it is finished I will post some pictures.