Eight!

Happy Birthday to our first-born. I cannot believe he is 8-years-old today. How can this be? We are so proud of this boy. He is growing up so fast, and growing into such a special young man. He is smart, cute (don't tell him that-it's not cool!), outgoing, theatrical, thoughtful, God-loving, high-maintenance, loving, goofy, energetic...I could go on, but these are a few of the big ones. This kid is going to go far. Can't wait to see where that may be!

chopped

I just had to tell someone about it, since I'm not on facebook anymore.
Ava broke my heart.
She begged and pleaded.
She made me cut her hair.
It is sUPER short! way shorter than we planned.
I'll show you what it looks like when she gets home from school. I was too sad to take a picture last night. I'm such a weirdo. I remember feeling this same way the last time she made me do this!

Well, what do you think? Ava giggles every time she passes a mirror!
(okay, so I maybe went overboard on the after pics, but seriously, how do you choose?!)

Thanksgiving Photo Shoot

five

happy birthday my sweet boy. we love you!

It is Mr. Kade's birthday today. I can't believe my baby is five. Sniff, sniff. We had a fun birthday party for him this weekend (far-away grandma and grandpa even got to come). I'll post more pics soon. 

I don't know what I'm going to do next year. I may cry everyday for a week or more. But today I am going to have fun with my little buddy and focus on the fact that he is here with me now. I need to go bundle up, because I'm pretty sure his next request is going to be a nature walk...off we go!

It was fun to have my parents here for part of the week. They were in Kansas babysitting my two nephews while my brother and sister were in Africa. It was a treat to be able to have cousin time as well as grandma/grandpa time. Today they had to leave, and apparently, by the pictures, Kade wasn't too happy about it!

A sign that you have been married a long time: you make the same silly face!

Grandpa, Kade and Henry had fun building a marble run.

Hangin' with G&G and our cousins

Grandpa helping Kade build something with is new workbench.

Big Bro helping Kade build his new lego set.

What is Kade thinking about at this moment?

The motion in this one tells it all.