Party Girl...

I walked into the dining room and found 

Angelina with a party hat on her head,

watching the kids playing outside...

When this girl smiles and giggles 

and it's like she fills the whole room with sunshine!

Her smiles is contagious...

For Daddy's birthday this year,

the kids wanted to have a little 

birthday party for him...

so we had grandparents and aunties over

for cake.

And not just any ol' cake...

ice-cream cake from the Dairy Queen...

Jon's birthday is the only time of the year 

that we allow gluten and dairy

in the house...

so he splurged this year!

Happy Birthday Daddy...

{even though Angelina thought everyone came to 

watch her!}

St. Patrick's Day Celebration!

St. Patrick's day is a 

huge thing around here...

for one, we are a mostly Irish bunch

and for another...

its a perfect excuse for a parade in the 

middle of winter!

 

{wordless post, just because!}

Baby Mama...

This little one is quite the 

little mommy...

She loves her baby 

and loves to feed her baby lots and lots!

She loves to make her cry and 

say "mama" constantly...

and she rocks her baby and lovingly 

gives her baby a bottle.

She is particular about which doll she chooses too...
she prefers Elsie's 
American Girl Bitty Baby...
but if she can't have that one,
she always chooses either the doll Elsie gave 
her for her birthday or Elsie's Ethiopia baby.
We are trying to talk Daddy into 
buying Angelina her own 
Bitty Baby for her birthday...
I think she would love it!

Such a good little Mama...

Boy at Play

Winter was too long and too cold this year...

and a certain little boy had 

far, far 

too much energy!

So one day we took a trip to the 

local Dollar Store and found some 

dried peas and lentils...

and this little guy

{and his sisters!}

played with the dried food

and little cars all 

afternoon!

 

Sometimes I have a hard time wrapping my 

head around boy things...

when Elsie gets bored I tell her to 

pull out the craft stuff or the dolls or paint her nails...

and boys just don't get into stuff like that!

Boys need to keep busy...

they need to get wore out physically and mentally.

James loves to be building,

hauling, destroying...

he never just plays...

in his mind he is truly working,

doing big important man jobs!

He is an awesome boy...

I love the way his little brain works!

Big Brother, Little Sister...

My kids have an incredible bond...

They have a deep love for each other...

don't get me wrong,

they can fight like they really might 

kill one another,

but their deep bond and love is always there

in the tender little moments...

 

James and Angelina have a 

very special and unique bond...

he lives up to his role as 

Big Brother...

Angelina views him as her 

hero.

I hope that never changes!

James hates Angelina's nap time...

more that once he has snuck in the

bedroom to wake her up because he says 

he gets lonely without all three of them together!

I think I have the 

sweetest little kids around...

Craft Wall

I have slowly been working on 

re-decorating the house.

I have always been drawn to the 

more country/cozy look

with the deep red, black and yellow.

But suddenly that just seemed too dark 

and just didn't fit our family anymore...

so we {ahem, Jon}

painted every room in the house,

White!

So open, so clean, so fresh...

I am totally in love with white!

I am pretty much just using black as an accent colour...

and keeping things simple and stream line.

Our only wall decor consists of 

black boards or 

children's artwork.

My favorite spot in the house is the 

Craft Wall.

We have a huge cork board that 

takes up most of a wall in the living room...

and the whole thing is covered in

the kids art work!

~

Soon we will be putting our house on the market

again with hopes of it selling this summer...

but part of me will be so sad to leave

our perfect little house!

Phone Girl

This girl is quite the little character.

Love seeing her little personality develop and 

shine through a little more each day.

She thinks everything is funny...

she always has a smile that lights up

her whole face...

and a little giggle that can be heard a room

or two away.

~

One of her favorite things to do is hide from us 

by crawling up on the bed 

and nestling way back in all the pillows

on the bed...

she blends in quite well...

sometimes if it wasn't for her little giggle,

I would keep on looking else where for her!

 

Chances are,

if she is hiding,

it's because she stole my phone.

She truly thinks that phone is hers!

She knows just what buttons to push to 

make the phone turn on

or make Siri talk to her...

it really is amazing to me...

she is only one and a half, for gosh sakes!

As soon as the phone rings or makes 

a notification sound,

she looks up with big eyes and says,

"Ohhhhh"

and insists you must take the phone!

What I find even more amazing,

is she never ever hands the wrong person the phone...

she even knows my sisters boyfriend's phone...

and everyone in the family has the same type 

of iPhone!

Most of the time when she has my phone,

she requests music...

so we turn Pandora on for her...

her favorite is

Selina Gomez station.

If Taylor Swift comes on,

she shoves the phone at me and whines

until we skip to the next song!

This girl knows what she likes!

And then she dances for awhile...

If she is sitting, 

she just wiggles her upper body and 

moves her hands around over her head...

I have seriously never seen a baby 

move the way she does!

And when she is done listening to the music,

its back to hiding among the pillows!

Love that girl...

Love Party...

Better late than never...

Well over a month late,

Our Valentine Party pictures!

 

We had cupcakes, rice krispie bars,

candy hearts, popcorn,

red soda, Jello...

all the important sugary foods needed for a party!

We decorated all fancy this year...

we maybe went a little crazy with the balloons and 

streamers...

but that's the kind of things that good memories are 

made of!

Angelina and her two little friends 

sat at their own little table...

they devoured their cupcakes,

smeared frosting all over 

and maybe forgot all manners and 

ate of each other plates even...

it was adorable! 

Little boys and Valentines parties 

don't always go so well together...

so they would run to the table for a bite or two,

then back to the living room to play...

because that's just the way boys are!

It was a loud party...

probable due to having 4 little boys under 3!

The house was trashed,

toys and popcorn everywhere,

kids had sugar highs going on,

but they had a blast...

they dropped into bed exhausted!

And most importantly,

they have even more awesome memories...

and those awesome memories are really the 

only thing that matter...