My 35th Birthday

A few days ago I turned 35!  My kids always try to make it special for me.  This year they made me breakfast!  I was informed to sleep in, which I had no problem doing since I was about 12 weeks pregnant at that time!  It took them a long time to make the breakfast, but they learned some important problem solving skills in the process!  They said that when they discovered there were no eggs they started to panic. Luke ran over to the neighbor's house to see if they had any, and they didn't.  He then snuck into my room to get my phone and he called Aunt Rachelle.  Rachelle and Bren have chickens now so we get some eggs from them sometimes.  Rachelle hadn't left for work, so she brought some by.  Whew!  They didn't know what they would do without eggs because they need them for the pancakes and wanted to make scrambled eggs.  Addy make the most delicious and beautiful gluten free pancakes and Luke made some scrumptious bacon.  I'm not sure who made the eggs, maybe it was a team effort.  I was so surprised at how nicely they arranged the plate, it's better than IHOP!

Kitchen Before and After!

Since we moved in we have been slowly updating our kitchen.  Here are some before and after pictures of the progress.  We are pretty much done.  There are a few more things that we would like to do, but it will be awhile before they make it to the top of the list. 

This is a picture of the kitchen the day we put an offer on the house.  

This is what the kitchen looks like now!

Before.

Ahhh. Much better! The dishwasher is not going to run much longer.  We will eventually replace it with one that matches the fridge, but until then, we are going to let that dishwaser wash as many dishes as it can. We would also like to get new flooring throughout the house.  That won't happen anytime soon!

Office area before.

Office area after.  The tv on the wall is like a window through the garage.  Wecould not see cars coming down our driveway before, but now we can!  And I can watch the kids playing basketball or riding bikes while I'm making dinner.

I love walking into this kitchen every morning!  

Chloe's Funny Faces!

I have almost zero pictures of Chloe smiling, it just doesn't happen much, especially when she sees a camera. So I was thrilled to catch these pics of her being silly! These were taken on her third birthday. 

Mail from Nana!

The kids are always excited to get a package from Nana!

Christmas in February!

Balloons are so fun!

Nothing better than blowing up a balloon and popping it to find money inside!

Addison's basektball team

Addy finished up her basketball season last weekend.  She learned a lot this year and I had a fun time coaching.  

Brooke's Birthday and Addy Donates Her Hair!

We celebrated Brooke's birthday last weekend. 

Chloe always cuddles up with Grandma Bonnie.

Brooke requested white cupcakes with white frosting. 

At AWANA Wednesday night it was Superhero Night.  Addy was Queen Elsa, Brooke was Supergirl, and Luke was Batman.  Chloe didn't dress up, but she was cute for the picture!

I had been telling Addy she needed to get her hair cut.  She never wanted to even get a trim.  I knew it was time because she couldn't comb it out herself and it was really hard to wash.  I told her I was going to cut it a little because it just needed it.  

She was worried about how much.  I said, "I don't know, a few inches at least.  Or you could cut 10 inches off and donate it and it would still be pretty long."  I showed her the pamphlet from "Children With Hair Loss" and after seeing all the little girls that had wigs she knew that she wanted to donate her hair to help make a wig for a little girl that had lost her hair like Brooke.  

Here is the before picture.  

And after... She never regretted it.  She said it felt so good when I cut it off.  She felt so much lighter.  She didn't realize how much her hair was weighing her down!  She couldn't stop running her fingers through her silky smooth, freshly cut hair.  

To cut it off, I put it in 5 small pony tails.  I adjusted the rubber bands so they were all even, and cut just above the rubber band.  Then I needed to even out the ends a little.

It's the next day and she is still glad she did it, but it is taking awhile to adjust to not having to pull her hair out of her coat every time she puts it on!  

January 25th 2016

Today was a fun day.  Addy had basketball practice and Chloe and Brooke came along and played in the gym.  Luke came too and played with the team. Chloe likes to use a ball for a chair and just sits and watches.  

After basketball practice we headed home for dinner and then we had 4-H.  It was the new member induction.  Luke is now officially a member of the Cloverleaf 4-H club.  

When we got home from 4-H the kiddos had a little energy left, so they went downstairs to ride "bikes and scooters"  They are all getting pretty good on wheels!  It's fun to watch them.  Addy usually is down riding with them, but in the evenings she likes to wind down with a book, so that is what she was doing when all this craziness was going on.