What a week...

Sick kids, sick parents. Whoa. Totally tired looking back at this week........ I'm happy to say, we almost never get sick. Realistically, none of my children have needed antibiotics or medications for illnesses. We have had our occasional head cold and coughs, but this week.... Yuck. Again, no physician needed, but it's beginning to wear on me.

Especially Moose. This poor kid... He has become the amazing velcro child that clings on like glue and stays. I have spent countless hours this week holding, comforting, soothing, nursing, rocking, bouncing, singing, walking the halls. This kid is intense!

Heres what a brief glimpse into my morning looked like!


Ahhh yes.... My dear Moose looks SO happy doesn't he?

 I mean really.... That is such a SAD face. I cannot let him cry, ever. Hence why the pictures are quickly changing....

 Yep, I'm a sucker for this little man. He is pitiful when he's sad and I can't help but snuggle him LOTS

And trust me, he REALLY likes to snuggle.

And in my experience as a mother... Snuggling a sick child leads to beautiful moments like this where you fall in love completely and get intense amnesia that they just were screeching their little heads off at you. 

Ahhh.... Bliss. He's asleep in his bed now. Time to tackle the kitchen and make lunch with my other little helpers :)

Art work, March 2011.

I've been overwhelmed by the amount of coloring projects my dear children create every single day. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE THEM, but at some point, I have about 100 papers on my desk and need to weed out some of them. I hang up many of them, but even still, those need rotated through.... and then it occured to me, I take pictures of everything else, why not try digitalizing their art too? 

And now I can share it ! 

Aurora is barely three, but makes the cutest faces already! She is always so proud of drawing people! 

Oh man, how can you ever stay angry at a 5 year old when you have a sign like this hanging in your kitchen?!

Aurora is going through a "no white" phase. She covers the page COMPLETELY.

I think my kid is ready for spring... this is Daunika and her friends, but the rain comes and she is holding a umbrella. Very cute indeed.

 I'm seeing a theme.... It really is spring.

Art by Daunika, age 5: Josh, Daunika and Aurora playing.

Adult friendship issues are impacting my childs' friendship......... yikes. And to think, I thought I had processed it all with her, but for about 2 weeks, she wrote a billion letters like this to her friend Joshua. Heart breaking. She was trying hard to understand the loss of friendship, but she couldn't really because it didn't have anything to do with her. Poor kid.

Very detailed coloring by Daunika :)

Aurora playing with coloring our family pictures. Very sweet.

Aurora art, age 3: "This one is ME!"

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Happy St. Patty's Day!!! 

Did you know a Leprechaun visited our home last night? 

And again this morning? 

This morning the girls woke up to donuts and beads! They were so excited! It was a really sweet moment, and apparently they tackled their dad screaming the apricot had left them beads and turned their oatmeal green too! Yep. That's right... They ate GREEN oatmeal and if you ask them, magic happen and they missed the leprechaun turning the oatmeal right in front of their eyes ( I barely pulled this off! yay for baggy sweatshirts keeping the magic strong for our kids!) The shock and awe that spread across their faces as suddenly the ordinary meal became magical. 


Then of course we couldn't stop there. Since the day started with magic, we colored some great pictures, then took turned telling stories with what could happen in the magical land of the leprechaun and fairies homes. It was super cute and so fun!! According to Daunika, fairies are always sparkling and so they girls got to dive into moms make up case for face glitter! They LOVE it. 

Fabulous morning. 

I hope yours started almost as great at ours did!! 

 Note: if you push the hats down and point out their ears, it has a really cute effect and I convinced them they were turning into leprechauns! oooooooooooo the fun!!!

One One One!!!!

ONE? Oh my. Our sweet boy, our baby is one now! Time seems to be speeding up. 

One year ago, another sweet baby joined our family. This pictures captures his squishy newborn self. Newborns are usually skinny and tiny, but not our boy. at 10 lbs 10 ounces and 24 inches, thus little man arrived with cub to pinch!

The first year is so amazing. Our Declan has gone from a squishy newborn who was so calm to an amazing speed machine skinny little man. He cannot sit still, he must investigate everything and there is no slowing him down, ever! 

We had some wonderful friends over for a joint party with his older sister, and Declan loved his new gifts. A car? Yep! This kid is really a boy. He really gravitates to things with wheels.

A crowd encouraging me to tear paper for once? OH YES! 

But hands down, Grandma takes the cake - She got books. Moose loves to read. He will sit for nearly an hour at a time and flip over and over and over again through books. Luckily, we have a TON of them! 

What would a first birthday be without a messy cake? 

Oh yes. 

Pure bliss. This kids smile is so infectious. You simply cannot look at that picture and not smile along with his joy. 

Yea... Bath time anyone? 

To think, I was worried I wouldn't know what to do with a little boy. I remember thinking, I am the mother of girls, what could I possible do with a boy? The answer... Fall in love with him totally and completely. He is so FUN! I can't wait to see what the next year and new chapter  of having a boy will bring. 

Life is so mysterious and never fails to deliver JOY. 

Three is a FABULOUS age!

Aurora has been 3 for about a month now, but we just had her party last night! 

Three short years ago, Aurora Danae joined our little family on a snowy morning. She is rambunctious, silly, funny, quiet, pensive, explosive, thoughtful and sweet. She was so lovely and isn't so amazing to look back at our Aurora as a newborn. 

And oh how she's grown! On Auroras birthday this year, we woke up as a family and made pancakes! She had been asking me for over a week to make pancakes for breakfast and what a better time to deliver that than on her birthday! Then we decided to let her open her presents from Grandma Leslie, Grandma and from us. 

My awesome mother in law has the best knack for finding AWESOME childrens books. They aren't the mainstream common books, but you can tell she thought about really knowing our kids and finds a perfect fit. So sweet. 

Later that day, in our tradition, Aurora got to decorate her very own cake! Had to start with coloring the frosting of course!

And who doesn't believe that sprinkles are the best? 

And she was absolutely thrilled with her creation. 

But wait! Theres more! 

What is better way to celebrate such a sweet child than to have a gathering to love on her! We had a great potluck to celebrate and have fun together with friends! 

She had a blast with the air compressor and helping dad blow up balloons. 

She asked for purple and yellow heart cupcakes.... I delivered. 

And of course, there was gifts! 

And a cupcake, just for her to wish on :) Who says you cant have birthday wishes twice? I think so. 

Ahhh.... Bliss. 

Our awesome friends were here until almost midnight and Aurora had a BLAST! I'm so glad to have a beautiful daughter to celebrate.

  She really is something FABULOUS to celebrate!