Ben is One!

Our baby turned 1 in late July. It's hard to believe. He almost doesn't feel like a baby anymore. Today he is almost 18 months and BUSY. I think that babies are busy from when they start walking (Ben walked before 1) until around 2 1/2. That has always been the magic number with our kids, where things start to click and they really understand the word no (but do they ever fully?), don't go into the street, if I tip this chair it will fall backward, if I throw this spoon it will be taken away for good.

He is happiest when he is in the presence of Katie and Matt. He misses them terribly when they are at school. However, I love that alone time with Ben. We play with his blocks, read 5 books that he is very attached to, in a specific order mind you, roll the ball back and forth and we love playing in Katie and Matt's room while they are at school. They would freak out if they saw what he gets into! He is easy going and always game for whatever the family is going to do, because he has to be! haha! He loves to dance. That is one thing are family does all the time- we dance! We turn the music up loud and get down! I will turn on a CD (such as %100 funk) and if Ben is in a different room, he will come running so fast to dance. It makes us all happy, shakes off the winter ick, gets the kids moving and all of us laughing. Next time you see Matt, ask him to show you the helicopter dance move. It's only a matter of time before Ben will be doing this move with him. He LOVES Matt and already follows right behind him with cars in hand. I wish he loved food, but he is just a peanut! He is only 21 pounds right now! He is just not that into food. So be it... I am sure that will change some day and from what many tell me, someday these teenage boys will be eating all the time! yikes!

Ben is a cuddler! I hope he stays this way forever because l love his hugs!

Happy 6th Birthday Katie!

Katie asked to have a baking party. I love to bake and I love that our kids love to bake with me. They each grab a stool and step up along side me to begin baking whatever it is we are going to make that day. It's great quality time with them spent talking about their days at school, telling knock knock jokes or just putting on music and dancing while we bake. So, I thought hey, I can pull this off! As you will see, I made each girl their own cake to decorate. Each girl took home their special cake to share with their family. We followed this up with the traditional party games once again. And this time, there was a get down dance party at the end. It was crazy fun in our home once again that night,but we like crazy, it fits us.
There are ALOT of pics here becuase I wanted to show some of their creations.

Happy 4th Birthday Matt!

Hot Wheels- Beat that! That was the theme of Matt's party. I can't even remember how many 4 year olds we had here, but I'm thinking 9 or 10? What a great time! Now that was a lot of energy in our home that night, but we kept them busy with good ole traditional party games! They played hot potatoe, musical squares (yes, squares, because 10 chairs would not fit in our living room!) and pin the race car on the track. As you will see, it came down to 2 girls (Libby and Ava) for the final hot potatoe round. Libby has plans to marry Matt! =) Matt glowed the whole night with a big grin on his face. It gives us such joy to see him having fun with his friends!

By the time we got our kids to bed and cleaned up, Kevin and I gave each other a high five and collapsed onto the couch. And we realized we had to do this all over again in about a month....

A few fall moments worth posting...

The fall season is a busy time of year. With the start of the school year, holidays, birthday parties and more holidays, I feel like we don't catch our breath until January. So, here are few pics I wanted to share of fun and special moments. This is Matt's first year of pre-school. He LOVES it. He does NOT make "crafts", he makes "projects" because "Mom, boys don't make crafts!" Katie is in 1st grade and I would say the most exciting part of first grade is how her reading has just taken right off. Katie would say it's getting to have 2 recesses!

Halloween is always fun! Ben was a cute bouncing Tigger. Kevin and I did a Halloween 5k dressed like this. Yes, Kevin ran in a business suit! It was hilarious! Even better, we both took 2nd place in our age groups that morning! The kids thought it was great that we dressed up to run a race. They were shouting, "Dad's going to bite the blood now!" (a little blood capsule of course). What a kick they got out of that. This will now be a Halloween tradition for us!

Next, I will post a few pics from their birthday parties and that will bring us to only pics from 2010 from here on out. (I think)!

Happy New Year!

Yes, I have started a blog! I know, I am still not on facebook. Baby steps and everything in time- maybe when Ben is in pre-school? I am hoping that with this blog, I will do a better job of posting pics and giving little updates about our family. My aunt likes to give me a hard time that she nevers sees pictures of Ben and wonders what he looks like. I used to be better at sending them out, but life got even busier. So now I can upload a few pics every now and then with a little post- and there you have it! I hope you will check on us every once in a while! Life is fun in our home. Kevin and I often say that we feel like we are "Living the Dream"- hence, the name of our family blog!

Happy New Year! We are looking forward to what 2010 has in store for us!

Christmas morning fun!

Katie woke us at 4:45am to let us know that Santa came to our house and had brought them sleds and shovels. We let her know that it was still nightime and that we would not be opening gifts until morning. So, at 7am (with a strong cup of joe) we started opening gifts! The kids are just so much fun! Here you will see Katie's excitement over her American Girl bunk beds, Matt is all about Hot Wheels and loves his new MSU football jersey (he has worn it everyday since Christmas) and Ben crawling into his Tonka truck. It was a wonderful day, spent in our pjs, playing with the kids. We even had a special candlelight dinner which the kids loved! I wish I had pictures of the kids from the night before. They participated in the Children's Mass by carrying gifts for Jesus and the star of Bethlehem. Such precious memories!