Welcoming family friends' new Baby!!! November 2010

We were blessed to drive out to some friends to spend some time bringing them a hot meal and welcoming their new baby! My dear friend now has 8 beautiful miracles. What a blessing that is!!! They are a neat family and we truly feel blessed to know them.
The newest member of their family is a boy, named Asher. As you can see, he is just precious!!! :)

Kyla's 11th Birthday....

On November 3rd, 2010, Kyla celebrated her 11th Birthday. :( WOW! It sounds unreal to even write that! It seems like she was just a tiny, snuggly baby that loved to be swaddled in a tight blanket and held so closely in my arms. (That ALWAYS calmed her down). Now, 11 years later, she is still my snuggly girl and I just love that! Kyla is such an affectionate child. She truly has a loving and caring heart. She is a very sensitive person. She really feels for others and I think that is a special gift from God. Kyla's has a great sense of humor and her smile and laugh are contagious! :) I am so thankful for that. :) She is really good with her little sisters and I am not sure where it comes from, but she is also very organized and tidy. :) (I know she didn't get that from me). :) Ever since Ky was born, she has always been very easygoing, calm and good-natured. She still is very much that way.

WARNING....THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH IS A BIT MUSHY, IF YOU AREN'T A FAN OF MUSH, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SCROLL DOWN TO THE PARAGRAPH AFTER THIS ONE.......
I started the day out with my usual Birthday cry....I don't know what it is, but I get teary-eyed each and every Birthday now.
I am so truly blessed to have each of my children and I love them all more than words could ever express. They are all such gifts from the God. It is so special that God gave us so many different personalities in our children. I love that. I love all my children the same, but there are different things I love about them. How wonderful to have such a diverse group of girls that I am blessed to love and guide to Him. I thank the Lord for these beautiful girls!!! Each and every one of them! I thank Him for giving them each their own special gifts to the world, which we get to enjoy in our family! :)

Sorry about that. I just have a tough time with the speed at which my children are growing. It is a tough one for me....
Anyway....Back to Kyla's actual Birthday...

We were planning a Birthday party for Kyla, but John had to go out of town so we had to postpone it. I feel absolutely terrible becaise it is now Dec 15th and we still have yet to have her party. :( Between germs and things floating around here and through our church, we still aren't sure when we will be able to have one. We are thinking of combining Kyla and Karissa's parties and going skating. :) We may be doing this either the week after Christmas, or the week after that. Anyway, on her actual Birthday, we went to my parents house and celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa and all of the girls. (As I mentioned, John was out of town, so he felt so badly to miss it). :( Here are some pictures from her actual Birthday and I will go ahead and post some from the combo Kyla/Karissa party after it happens. :)

When it came time for Kyla to open her presents, Katie insisted it was her Birthday, too. She was wondering where her presents were. Since she is only 2 and it is a bit hard to reason with her, we wrapped up a couple of things she hadn't seen in awhile. (I know we are terrible, but what are you going to do on short notice? She hadn't played with these, or seen them in forever, so we figured maybe she will buy it). :) Here is Ky and Katie opening a present. :)


Watching the presents being opened.




A pretty necklace from Grandma and Grandpa! :)


Ky and Grandpa! :)


Grandma! :)


Kyla with her yummy ice cream cake that Grandma made. She is so sweet. She even made a separate one that was Gluten-Free so I could have a piece, too. My mom is the best! :)


Of course when it came time to sing Happy Birthday' we had to sing it to Katie also and she blew out a candle. Ky was so sweet to share the limelight on her special day. :) Here she is helping Katie blow out the candle. :)


Grandpa cutting the amazing Ice cream cake! :)


Karly


Khloe


Kaylee and Karissa


I forgot to mention....When Katie opened her gift and saw the stuffed penguin, she was so excited and happy! She hugged it and said, "A pengin!!! Tanks!!!" She absolutely loved it and to this day, that penguin goes everywhere with her. It is her favorite animal to carry around and snuggle! :) You can't tell that from her expression in this picture, but she carried it everywhere. If she loses it, we all have to stop and look for him. :)


My sweet Birthday Girl and I

Reformation Night! :)

On October 31, our church hosts a Reformation night each year. The girls LOVE this. It is a lot of fun. The kids get dressed up in Renaissance costumes. (They LOVE this part)!!! :) The night starts out where one of the teens speak about a particular reformer so the kids can learn about his life. Once they hear this, the teens in the church (and many of the parents) have booths set up for the kids to go to with activities relating to the theme. It is sort of carnival style. They may play a game, or do a craft, or color, etc. They can get treats at each of the booths. The girls really enjoy this and so do we. :) This year, Kyla won a best costume award! :) Not too bad for a last minute Goodwill find. :) She was really excited! Karissa also won a costume award. :) I was so sad that Kaylee didn't win because she made her costume with her friend, Anna last year. I think she did a beautiful job! :) I thought all the girls looked adorable, but I am a bit partial. :)

Here are some photos from the night. :) I have so many pictures and it was hard to cut them down.

The girls are ready to leave...
Kaylee, Karissa, Kyla, Khloe


Since Karly wasn't in the above picture, here is one of her. :)
For some weird reason, I didn't get one of Katie before we left. I think she was being grumpy that night. :)



I thought this one turned out cute! :)


Karissa spent a long time curling Kyla's hair. What a sweet sister. :) I thought she did a great job. :)


Katie and her buddy, Felisity! :)


Karissa and Annie


Kyla and Michaelyn


I meant to take a picture of Kaylee and Anna together in their dresses and I was chasing Katie most of the time, so I didn't get one. :( Here they are separately, though. :)
Kaylee:

Anna:



Mingling...




Renee and Jeff...They were a crack-up! :) I honestly didn't recognize Jeff when he walked in without Renee. :)


Renee's littlest guy, Zeke. He looked so adorable sitting there, I couldn't resist this photo op. :)


He's cute!!! :)


I thought this was cute of Khloe! :)


Katie and Grandma! :)


Karly and her friends marvelling at all the candy. I was very worried because Karly is very sensitive to food dyes and additives. I had bought her some natural candies and she still ended up with non-natural candies. :( Let's just say it was a LONG night.
I felt so bad for her when she woke up with a food dye hangover. :(


More mingling....

Miscellaneous October 2011 Photos....

Here are some photos I just thought I would post. As I already mentioned, I didn't have a lot of school photos from Oct/November, but I do have some others. :) I will try to be good about posting more school photos. (I will have to be sneaky with my teens since they don't like having their pictures taken). :)

Khloe and Karly were so excited to be matching. :)



Khloe made a wonderful cake by herself. :) She even made it gluten-free so I could have some. What a Sweetie! :)



I had to include these of Katie...



Katie LOVES to be a Princess now! :) (I don't think I ever outgrew that). :)





Katie is developing quite a taste for Chamomile tea. :)

October: First Day of School Field Trip....The Zoo! :)

We started a tradition to take a fun field trip on the first day of school. This year, we decided to go to the Zoo. The girls were so excited because we hadn't been there in so long. :) The littler girls hadn't been there at all. :( So, we decided to not only go this time, but we bought a zoo pass so we could try to go again.


Here are the girls standing outside the gate before we went in to the Zoo. Karly was afraid that the animals were going to be running around without cages. We tried to tell her that wasn't the case, but she didn't believe us. Look at the terrified look on her face. Poor thing. :)


Awwww! They really do love each other. :)
(Kaylee and Karissa)


Kyla


Khloe


Karly


Katie Bug




Karly's hand (Her's is the smaller one). ;)


I Love this one. :)