Pizza, Kiddo Style

Blaise and Addi made their own pizzas last night, Ethan just wanted to eat the black olives that we used.

We took canned biscuits and flattened them out on the pizza stone...

They then put pizza sauce and their favorite toppings to finish off their baking.

Here is the completed product. Addi likes black olives on her pizza and Blaise prefers the extra cheese. This was a fun project and I hope to have a hands on cooking night more often.

Climbing Machine

Ethan got his first "big boy," chair from Santa Clause. Now all three of our kiddos have their own official chair. He loves to climb up, down and over, rather than sit. This is not surprising, he is our busy boy. I hope to get pictures of the other two and their favorite gift tomorrow.

One Year!

We took Ethan to his One Year Appt. today and yes, he is in the 95-100% in all of his stats. Whew... I think we may have an offensive tackle in our future. He has been VERY fussy the last couple of weeks, not to mention the eczema that has suddenly invaded his whole body, we finally found out he has a milk issue so we stopped the whole milk yesterday and we have our sweet, even tempered Ethan back. I took advantage of his temperament today and tried to take his one year pictures. Most were blurry due to his excessive movement, but I was able to salvage 2 out of 20. If you are a Mom to a boy, you probably know what he is doing in the top picture..yes, he found his jewels. He was occupied for the moment so I started snapping.

Happy Birthday Ethan, we love you!

Snow in the Northwest

I still can't believe how much snow we have here in the Northwest. We have at least 7-8 inches. As soon as it started to snow, Addi begged to make a snow angel. Here is her attempt (above) at making a snow angel.

She was so happy to be outside playing. I played with her for a while and then John switched with me so I could take pictures.

John felt Addi needed a little help making a snow angel, so they both made one together.

I can't begin to tell you how beautiful it is here. It feels like I am on vacation every time I look out a window. Blaise flies back in the day after Christmas, we should have plenty of snow left for him to make his own snow angel as well.

Here is our snowman complete with his own cherry tomato eyes and carrot nose.

Birthday Party

We celebrated Ethan's birthday a few days early since Blaise is flying out tomorrow to visit his Dad for the Holidays. I still can't believe my little boy will be one in 5 days. Where did the time go? I can't wait to take his one year pictures, I have some great ideas! We bought him a walker for his birthday, although he is currently taking some steps, he can use this to fine tune his walking. Any day now he will be running around the house.

Once he figured out what the cake was, he eventually tried to grab every bite, especially between his fingers.
We vowed to make sure that Ethan has a great birthday and that it does not blend with Christmas... but, this cake is SO cute!

Christmas Party

We had Blaise's annual Christmas Party with his friends the other night. It was really fun to hang out with 12 little boys. Out of the 12 boys, all but 4 live in our neighborhood. It is really nice for Blaise to always have friends around to play with. We never have a dull moment around our house, it is always filled with boys, boys and more boys! Back to the party... they ate pizza, went on a night hike, and had a gift exchange. I'm sure they slept very well that night, they played non-stop they whole time they were here.

The Rock

I saved the best for last, John..... I can remember like it was yesterday that we were set up on a blind date by my good friend Christy and her husband John. It has been great ever since. John is such a blessing and he makes our family strong and whole. He is such a wonderful father; he changes diapers, cooks, cleans, gives baths, reads to our children, but most of all, he spends so much time with Blaise, Addi and Ethan. He is patient, speaks kindly, and reminds them to count their blessings. What a wonderful father our children are blessed with. I know because of him, they will stand tall with confidence, know family is important, and remember that faith is what your foundation is built on.

As a husband, I can strongly say that John has made me want to be a better person. He is the most honest and patient person that I know. He lets me work through my struggles and listens without trying to offer quick solutions. He is the rock of our relationship as well as our family, he truly lights up our house when he walks in the door every day. I am blessed to have him by my side and look forward to many,many years with him!

My Sidekick

Where do I start with our oldest... Blaise. He is very special to me because he made me a Mom. He is a very affectionate, caring, and sensitive soul. He loves life, and will find fun in everything he does. He loves to play, run, laugh, and engage. He wakes up in the morning with a smile on his face and literally goes to bed the same way. He reminds us to never take life too seriously; laugh, live and enjoy. He loves his younger siblings as much as they adore him. He has library day every Tuesday at school where they can check out 2 books, he always comes home with a Dora book for Addi. Ever since he was little he has loved to build things, anything. He can take tape, paper, and a paper plate and construct a building. He will spend hours building various locomotives out of Lego's. We cleaned out his bedroom several weeks ago and he had at least 10-12 boxes in which he had built cities, buildings, garages, etc. He has a vivid imagination which I know will take him places when he is older. His main food group right now is Cheez-itz..the boy can eat Cheez-itz! It is funny, because when I was pregnant with him, I would eat cheez-itz first thing in the morning to ease the nausea. He is missing a tooth in the picture, which is now coming in. He is so excited, it has been about 6 months without his 2 front teeth. What a blessing he is.. our sweet, nurturing soul.

Free Spirit

Today I will introduce you to our Free Spirit, Addi. She is such a charm, and is her very own person. She takes the term, "Daddy's Girl," to a whole new dimension. Seriously, when she wakes in the morning, her first words are, "Where's Daddy." After I explain that Dad is working, she says, "I want my Daddy back." She adores her Dad, as does everyone else in the house. She loves to sing on and off throughout the day. Her favorite songs are, "You are my sunshine," "I'm a Little Teapot," Christ the King," and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." You can usually find her curled up somewhere with a book reading the pictures, or working on a puzzle. She has learned to use her manners, so it warms my heart when I here her say, "Please, and Thank you." She is our social butterfly and loves to spend the day with her, "friends." Wednesday is her favorite day b/c she has playgroup and I can barely get her to sleep the night before. Anytime someone falls or hurts themselves, she is right there asking, "you OK?" She loves ketchup on EVERYTHING, especially her fruit, which I have to say is not very appetizing to watch. Addi makes my day fun b/c she wants to help with everything from cooking to cleaning and everything else in between. Before we call it a day, we have a family prayer where each of us gets to say what we are thankful for; Addi has added her own touch. All of us say "Amen," she says it again and then yells "AAAAHHHH." We have no idea why, but that is what makes Addi so special. To end the day, she likes to fall asleep in her bed surrounded by all of her friends (stuffed animals). Before I go to sleep I go in and check in on her and I have to search for her, to only find her face surrounded by at least 10 stuffed animals. She is our precious soul.

Places To Go..

I thought in an attempt to revive myself, I would post several entries about each member of my family over the next several days. I will start today by posting about our youngest of the bunch. His given name is Ethan, but I've heard several AKA's since he has been born. Some of which include.. "Little E," "Eth," "Little Chunk," and "Pork Chop." The last two were probably because of his healthy status and legs full of rolls. He is my busy boy..literally, he is active from the time he gets up until it is bedtime. He does not even have time to nap, OK, maybe he naps, but it is only for 45minutes to an hour. He also likes to wake up between 4:45-5:15. He has to always be near someone, and then he loves to smile at whoever is near until they smile back. He loves to cuddle and will hang on tight when you pick him up. When he is tired he will nuzzle on your chest until he is comfy, and then try to fall asleep on your chest (but will immediately be awake and become alert if you try to lay him down in his bed by himself). He is in his happiest moment when he is held. Blaise and Addi never really wanted to be held or cuddled, they wanted to get down and play, but Ethan would stay in mine or John's arms all day if he could. When John walks in the door, Ethan immediately crawls as fast as he can to the door and raises his arms, as to say, "now hold me." And, of course, John holds him while he eats supper and then on and off for the rest of the night. He is such a happy and content baby, my heart melts every time he smiles up at me. He has taken a couple of steps so I'm guessing within the next week or so he will have me running after him.

Santa Visits

I feel like it has been forever since I have posted. I am currently making a list of my New Year's Resolutions, and one of the resolutions will be to increase the post on my family blog. I want to post 3-4 times a week, this will be such a wonderful way for the kiddos to look back at fun times. I will definitely need to learn to better manage my time before the first of the year.

We had a fun weekend, packed full of Santa sitings. On Saturday we went to the MOMS Club Christmas Party where the kids sang carols, made crafts, and visited with Santa. Santa brought all of the Children at the party a book. We love books, so we were excited to read our new books Saturday night before bed.

Last night Santa made an official visit to our house. WAHOOO! It was so much fun. We heard him outside singing carols. We opened the door and there he was, the jolly Santa himself. He brought a few fun gifts and talked to the children about good behavior and how to have fun this Holiday Season. I could have stood there all night and watched the looks on their faces. Addi, who is very loud, kept repeating, "HELLO SANTA CLAUSE." Blaise was in awe, and could not wait to rip into his gifts. I'm posting a few pictures from last night. We hope that this will be a family tradition, I think John and I enjoyed it as much as our children did.