Sister love

It's moments like these that my heart is so full it could burst. Watching my 9 year old on the floor playing tea party with her not quite 2 year old sister. Patience thinks Anna and Serene are about the two greatest people on the planet and it makes her day when they want to play with her. Sometimes she is locked out of the girls room when they want peace and quiet to read or talk but they still dearly love this little girl and she feels it. I'm overwhelmed at how blessed I am to have these five kids! 

Mommy party

Yesterday my kiddos spent all day upstairs working, working working telling me they had a big surprise and to not come up. They also asked if I would help them make a cake. We did make a yummy chocolate brownie cake and has it ready for after dinner. 

Turns out my precious kiddos were planning a party for me. A party just to celebrate "the best mom ever" they said. They had each made cards, they worked hard on precious homemade decorations and even got all dressed up in their best clothes. 

My heart is so full right now. As a mom sometimes you feel like the hard work goes unnoticed but my sweet kids do care so much and their love is so very unconditional. I adore these little people and the life we spend together!! Come to find out, this entire thing was my four year old little boys idea. He said "you the best mom ever and I wanna have special party for you"....

I'm just amazed at their little hearts, full of love, so giving and caring... I'm so happy to be their mommy!! 

A poster that said "this party is for mommy"

Paper lanterns 

Sooo precious!! 

Lots of hanging decorations!!

Valentines Day is always a favorite day in this house. We do a fun meal and have a big scavenger hunt for the kids where they find a "treasure box" full of goodies…. this years box had candy, valentine pencils, nerf guns, beads and string for the big girls, superman action figures for the boys and a puzzle for us all. Jimmy took the day off and took the big girls ice skating and to lunch at our new favorite little English pub here in town. It was such a great day and filled with memories! This day can never pass though without me saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little niece Charlotte…. a Valentines baby, how fun is that??!! She's 2!!

Happy 6th and 9th to our big girls!!

We celebrated the big girls birthdays with their friends in January this year and it was so fun. We had a GORGEOUS day with temps around 68 degrees and so the kids enjoyed playing outdoors the entire time. I think the SMORES table was the big hit of the day though! =)

How is it almost March?

I've never gone this long without blogging… UGH! I hate that. I feel like blogging is my way of keeping a record of our families life. I DO NOT scrapbook and I never will… I'm not that creative and I certainly don't have that kind of time with raising five kiddos and homeschooling. NOT GONNA HAPPEN. So my blogging is a quick way to keep up with it all and Jimmy always has a blog book printed for me at the end of every year so keep the record permanent. So all that to say, there is sooo much catching up to do. SO much! So here goes! I'll start with a super fun trip we took to a local museum that has life size dinosaurs who move and rawr at you! It was so fun and the kids loved it… especially our dinosaur guy Rivers! He was thrilled! Even though it was really cold we had a great time and enjoyed a picnic there too. So grateful Daddy took a day off to go with us too!

Serene's yearly doctor visit

Serene had her annual NF visit back in November and it went wonderful. Again we got great reports. Her vision is fantastic and the rest of her checks out wonderfully. NF kids around this age can start to show signs of learning issues as they enter school and this is where we have really seen good things with Serene. She has not only shown no signs of learning issues but has actually excelled at learning. She reads well, writes well and does well in math. So thankful to the Lord for this being a non-issue for her. This summer she will go back to children's for a series of evaluations that are commonly given to NF kids between 6-7 that check things like learning capabilities and general brain functions in regards to ease of learning. Even though she is doing remarkably well we still feel like since I am her educator that this would be an VERY valuable tool for me to have to know where her strengths lie and where she might be lacking. This a very extensive two day evaluation that will give us tons of great info especially for our home education! All in all though she is doing GREAT! So grateful for her health and her continued growth!

Anna's 9th birthday

Somehow in the midst of Christmas craziness I forgot to blog about Anna's birthday… so here are a few picture highlights of our precious first borns birthday! We love this girl so much and can't believe how grown up she has become this year. Such an amazing young lady with so many talents.