Turning 5 is hard work!

SO hard to believe that the honey that made me a mommy is already 5!!! The time has gone way too fast! Sabrina has been our bright, sweet, thoughtful, talkative, energetic little buddy from moment one! Her quest for knowledge is unending and her passion for life can be so contagious! We are so blessed to have had these 5 years with her in our care!
Thisyear since she was a "whole hand" we told her she could have a friend party. She has recently developed a love for gymnastics and wanted to share that with her friends so we headed to a gym for her party! It was so fun to see all the kids running, jumping, tumbling and burning off the sugar from their cupcakes! :)


We also had parties with both sides of the family.
At the Hoogland party we celebrated with dinner and an ice cream cake....the cake was stored in a freezer in our barn that was not so frozen and as a result, the cake was....welll.....a MESS! Thankfully Sabrina did not mind a bit :)


With the Iversons we headed out to Alpen Rose for brunch. The girls always look forward to spending time with their cousins! After, we came to our house for cake and gifts.



Lastly, we celebrated at home on the actual big day. We made a homemade confetti cake (her fave) and had the dinner of her choice: Ham loaf and corn, applesauce and rolls (not quite as crazy as in years past, although until the day before the menu was ham loaf and pancakes!!)

The birthday girl with her little sisters. :)

Cannot wait to share the next year with you Brina-Bo! :) You are a treasure!

3 months

Oh my sweet Emeline is 3 months old already! Oh my how this time with has has flown! I'm so loving having a little peanut again and adding two big ones to the mix actually has been really fun. Don't think there are not moments of crazy, but seeing the big girls grow in their new roles has been really entertaining! Watching them both "nurse" their baby dolls has been hysterical and we have regular baptism services around here...the most interesting ones are the ones that take place while they are taking a shower!

Emeline is has become a very predictable and content baby. She sleeps 12-13 hrs at a time and eats 4 times a day about 6 oz. each feeding. She is very temperature sensitive with her bottles. SHe likes them HOT which can be a challenge when we are out and about... (so if anyone has found a bottle warmer that plugs into the car or a can coozie for avent bottles, point me in that direction!). Emeline smiles often and easily and hands out a giggles every so often, but you have to work for them a little. She rolled over tummy to back at 2 months, but doesn't do it very often. She likes her tummy time and has a very strong neck and back. She is slowly creeping towards 6 month clothes which is way sooner than my other girls and makes me sad that she's getting so big so fast, but such is life. At the same time I'm daily thankful that she is a good eater and is growing healthy and strong! Such a blessing!

Tomorrow will be 5 years ago that I became a mommy, (Woah.) and my middle sister is looking ahead to starting this phase in her life in April. Each time I see her and her lil belly bump I cannot help but be so excited for her to experience the richness that children will bring to her and her husbands life. I think In some ways I didnt really become "me" fully till I had children. You finally let o of some of those selfish and childish pieces of yourself and begin to really examine what you want to impart upon your children and what parts of yourself need to me "refined" so you dont pass those parts along. Sure its hard, unglamorous, and chaotic at times, but oh my. Wouldn't trade it for the world. So thankful that God gave us Eme to savor this experience one more time!

Lil Turkeys

Oh how I love my lil turkeys and Thanksgiving! It just may be my favorite Holiday for oh so many reasons. Our day usually goes like this...huge lunch with the Knotts, some family bonding, then heading over to the Hooglands for some bowling, leftovers and then BINGO as a appetizer for Christmas! Its lots of food, family laughs, and tradition. All things I am so thankful for! :)

The big surprise this year was how much ANabelle LOVED bowling. Not too much gets a huge rise out of this one, but she has caught the bug! She was giddy EVERY time she went up to bowl and would shake and dance the whole time it rolled down the alley and then huge Celebration when it hits...no matter the pin count. It never got old!
I tried to capture it a bit on "film" but even pics wouldnt do it justice.

Baptism

November 20th was such a special day as we promised our sweet girl back to the one who knit her together! :) We were so blessed to have so many family and friends around us!

Saucy!!!

What a difference a year can make! Last year we picked apples in the FREEZING cold and this year we were all..."glowing" by the end of our trip to the orchard on an 80 degree day! Two other differences this year, Emeline and Auntie Kate! We are SO SO happy Kate and Austin that they are living close by now so that she can join us on all our fun excursions!





We picked and picked...and overshot a bit on our haul this year. We maybe misremembered what we had done in the past and got 3 bushels this year (6 bags!!). It didnt seem like that much, until we got home and started making the applesauce!

But of course we had to make a pit stop at the pie pantry before we began all the hard work!

I didnt post any pics of the process because its a heavily guarded family secret...

no really it is!


Or maybe we all were so gross after 6 hrs of steam in our faces and 57 containers of sauce that I thought some of the ladies may shoot me if I posted them!

Pumpkin Patch

This year we took the girls to a patch not far from our house to choose their pumpkins. It was a little muddy and cold, but we got the job done and the girls enjoyed looking for just the right one.

We all worked hard to carve them...the girls drew the faces they wanted or (used stencils for the shapes) and Brad and I cut them. We teamed up on Emelines pumpkin, but I'm sure next year she'll be able to get more in on the action!

Fall Fiesta

The last couple years, our friends the Anemas and ourselves have thrown a fall party at our barn. This year, we had all the kiddos dress up in their costumes which made it that much more fun :)


We started the night with a hay ride from "Farmer Tim"...one of the perks of living in the sticks!



Then we had pizza and a bunch of fall treats.

Then we had a candy hunt outside and a fire out by the fire pit. The we brought the kids in to do some fall crafts...A ghost and a spider :)


At the end of the night, the kids were so hopped up on sugar they began an impromptu dance party :)

We're so lucky to have such a fun group of friends (with some awesome kiddos) to spend time with! Can wait till next year!