Happy 1st Birthday Evan Christopher!!

On Saturday, Sept 25th, we got to celebrate Evan's birthday! It doesn't even seem like it has been a year since this little guy has joined our family...we honestly can say he has been such a blessing and an amazing little boy, we are so lucky to have him!!


We didn't do anything too exciting for the big day. Chris had to work this weekend, so it was me and the kids. We had planned on going to watch Uncle Andrew coach the Simpson Storm against Buena Vista in Storm Lake, but it decided to rain all morning, with thunder and hail, so I decided that wasn't really ideal for 4 kids to sit in the rain to watch a football game. They were disappointed, but I told them I would take them to Play All Day, and that cheered them up! It is a place here in town with bouncy houses and slides and lots of fun stuff for the kids to do...we ended up having a great time...they have a special area for the "little" ones and Evan got to play and have a blast in there on his big day:) So CUTE!!






We stayed for a few hours, and then came home, and I made a yummy supper for Evan for his special day! We had meatloaf and mashed potatoes! This meal is one of our kids' favorites:) They all scarfed it down, yummy!!

We spent the rest of the evening playing and enjoying our birthday boy! I can't even believe that he is 1 already!! He is so fun and we are just loving this stage that he is in!!

Thank you to all for the great birthday wishes for our little guy:) We apprecaite it and love you all!!
Here are a couple of my fav's from his 1st few days of joining us in this world:)
We Love you Evan!!

Evan's Party

Yesterday was a big day for our baby boy!! We celebrated his 1st Birthday with a great party with our wonderful family and friends!! Evan actually turns one on the 25th, but Chris has to work next weekend, so it was time to celebrate yesterday...

He had so much fun, eating the yummy supper...opening the presents:) and diving into the CAKE!!

I can hardly believe that this little guy is already a year old...it just seems like yesterday that he was born, but yet it seems like he has always been apart of our lives...we don't know what we would do without him! we just love him SO much!! He is so sweet, and smart! He is a big boy, weighing in at 24 1/2 pounds! He is wearing 12-18 months in clothes...he has been walking for a while now, and loves to play with any toys! (he got a lot of great ones as presents that he is loving!!) He says momma, dadda, hi, byebye, and uhoh...it is so cute:) His new thing is to put a toy phone up to his ear and say hi, like he is really talking to someone! He is also figuring out his body parts...just tonight I said tongue and he started sticking his out at me and laughing! cutie pie:) HE is just too adorable for words:)

So here are some pics of the great party! We can't thank all of you who were able to make it enough for helping us celebrate this milestone in our little boys life! We are so blessed to have him, and wonderful family and friends that love him too!!

1st Day of Preschool

Today was the day! Ayden, Elliott and Ashley started preschool for the year:) They were soooo excited, and had AWESOME mornings...

This is Ayden and Elliott's second year of preschool, and they are now in the "big kid" class room known as Pre-Kindergarten!! YES, that means NEXT YEAR they go to kindergarten!! oh my...lets just take it one day at a time, shall we!! They both had a great morning, they have gotten so big and I am just amazed at how much maturity they have gained over the summer...don't get me wrong, they are still 4 year old boys in every aspect of the word, but you can definitely tell they are growing up!!

This is Ashley's first year of preschool!! She was so excited, NO TEARS!! She just gave me a hug and kiss and said see ya later mom!! AWWW, what a big girl:) She had so much fun today, her favorite parts were playing with the play-doh and getting to see the boys in the music room! CUTE:) they all get together in the music room for a little while to sing songs, so she was happy she got to see the boys...and they were happy to see her too!!

So all-in-all they had great days!! I am hoping that this year is wonderful for them and that they learn lots!!

We have a Ballerina!!

Ashley Jo is taking Ballet classes:) She is SOOOOOO excited!! She is taking lessons from Sandy Keane's school of dance, and had her first lesson on Wednesday!

She was so excited to go and just absolutely LOVED it...she didn't want to leave when we were done...but I promised her we can go back next Wednesday so that got her happy again.

Here are some pics of her first night!











The boys are excited for her and have NO desire to take ballet at all...HA! They told me that they were going to stay home with daddy while I took Ashley to ballet and help fix cars, because that's what BOYS do!! OH BOYS!! :)

Evan is a WALKER!

That's right...our baby is WALKING!! He has been walking around furniture for EVER, it seems like...but last week, he let go and did the walking thing all on his own! Now he thinks he is pretty big stuff! I will have to take some video of him doing this soon so I can show you all, but for now here are some pictures of our cutie pie!!

swimming lessons

The kids have started taking swimming lessons again! This is their second week, and they have so much fun...they absolutley LOVE the water and have no fear! It is great to see them progressing already, they are doing kicks and using their arms and going under water and holding their breath too! They are so excited to get to go to the "big pool" 2 nights a week...It is fun to watch them be little fish!