Making Rainbows!

What are you guys doing this President's Day?

It's raining here

so we decided

to make rainbows!

Tae kwon do

My tough guy started tae kwon do a couple of weeks ago and is loving it!

I love hearing him address his instructors, "yes mam" "yes sir"!

I also love that he is getting all of this discipline and confidence while having a great time!

Snow!!!!

Okay, since we have been back a exactly a week and it has been almost a month since my last post I feel I need to blog! I miss getting my blog on. If you notice the more kids I have the less blog entries that happen...must be related:)

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Beaver Creek, Colorado where we got to see TONS of snow!!! This year the weather was perfect, up to the 30's during the day and lots of cold nights that brought in the snow (and cuddle time)! I am realizing that I am putting a ton of pics on this post but please bare with me!

We stayed at the same cozy spot we did last year. Ski in/ ski out, the only way to go with kids, and an ice skating rink a few steps from our door.

Walter opted out of ice skating to just play in the snow. Haven't gotten much here in Kansas this winter so this was a hit with him.

Each night after a long day of skiing we hopped right into our pj's ready for game time or movies.

They loved having their own little room!

Miss C loved the snow and mountains much more than last year. Because the temps were so much warmer during the day this year playing in the snow was fun :)

That is until her big brother threw a snowball at her :(

This little guy did a fantastic job on the slopes this year. Two full days and one half day of ski school and he graduated from the "magic carpet" to the gondola and greens. Seeing my little boy snow plow down almost made me loose it! I was shocked at how well he hung in there, it helped that each day the bakers came to the base of the mountain to pass out the yummiest chocolate chip cookies ever!

It was also fun for him to meet another little three-year-old named Walter. Their instructor, who has been teaching there for 14 years, had never had a Walter come through and got two in one day!

This little cutie got to enjoy the cookies too. Her favorite part of the trip was the gondola. She continuously asked to go "UP UP UP". I loved each trip because she would get so excited once in the gondola and this is what came next...

this is her nervous face. Even though she had done it a hundred times I still got this face each time we started to move up the mountain...

thank goodness it was always followed by fits of laughter!

and when we got these two together the laughing never stopped!

Kyle spent a lot of time with Miss Middle getting her to perfect her turn. She would get so much speed on her way down the mountain and then just snow plow. By day three it clicked and she was using her turns to slow her down. She also perfected her chair lift ride, which is amazing to me since I am still working on mine!

Making silly faces getting ready for the Thursday night lights on the mountain. Night skiers, fireworks, and fun music!

Can't believe we all made it in a picture. You can't even imagine what we went through to get this accomplished.

Her little face seeing the fireworks in the night sky: priceless

Yes, I had to tint this picture. If you saw how pale Kyle and I actually are it might scare you. Thinking we look much better yellow...maybe?

Isabella shocked me with her skies on. She had no fear! My first born, who is overly cautious at everything that she does, was fearless on the mountain. Skies pointed downward at all time, hockey stop kind of fearless. She was even able to go up with Kyle and tackle some blue slopes Daddy style. Says she wants to try snowboarding next year...WHAT? So proud of her!

This last pic is just to sum up how our trip home went.

This little chick had had it and I think we were still a good 4-5 hours left in our drive.

What I love most about this trip is that the kids and I get my husband for one full week in one of the most beautiful places I know.

Our bags are finally unpacked, the ski gear is tucked away until next year, and life is getting somewhat back to usual.

I already miss the mountains!

Father/Daughter Dance

Isabella had her annual date with her daddy last Saturday night.

They got all dressed up and headed out to the Girl Scout Father/Daughter Dance.

She was so cute when she was getting ready, telling me that she wanted to make sure to wear something that she wouldn't get too hot in. She said it was just too hot last year after spending all night on the dance floor.

Her dinner of choice for her fancy night out...Jersey Mike's!

Not too many years left of this little one getting excited about her daddy showing off his dance moves in front of friends :)

Next year he will have two dates for the dance... Miss Margaret is catching up way too quickly!

This daddy will be on cloud nine!

Crafty!

My first Pinterest craft complete!

Just a couple of hours with my BFF, our husbands away for the night, our kids running around like crazy people in their pajamas, a few glasses of wine, and voila!

LOVE!!!

Lil'Stinker

Last week, as I was in the living room listening to Isabella read and finish up homework, I noticed that my other little busy people were awfully quiet...

This is what I walked in on. Miss Caroline almost jumped out of her diaper when she looked up and saw my face. For a moment I freaked because I thought it was a sharpie, then I realized she had gotten ahold of a dry erase marker.

She definitely keeps this momma on her toes!

Update!

It is about time I got on here and gave you all an update as to what has been going on around here! I really thought things might slow down here after the holidays but once Christmas break came to an end we dove right back into school, swimming lessons, choir, dance, indoor soccer and the list goes on and on!

Isabella is still loving first grade!

Between doing science experiments at school and the tire swing, this girl is in heaven! She has been practicing for the last week on her first speaking part in this week's all school Mass. She is very excited but nervous all in one. I keep telling her to just imagine everyone else is in their underwear... she thinks I'm weird! Margaret almost dies laughing at this because, "Mom, why would people go to church in just their underwear?" Okay not the best vision to give my children in church, hoping she doesn't get up there and start laughing.

Think positive thoughts for her :)

Caroline is just loving life!

Poor thing gets toted to this place and that place to pickup, drop off, sit and watch for an hour here, play for a little bit there. It sometimes feels like a marathon getting all four in and out of the car. I recently sat and counted how many times I have to buckle or connect a car seat in one day...28 times today folks. And that was just between Caroline and Walter because, thank goodness, the other two can now do it themselves! I really shouldn't complain here because we have been blessed with some awesome weather this winter which has made getting around so much easier. Freezing temps, snow, and stuffing babies who have puffy coats into car seats is not my cup of tea.

Okay back to Miss C...

She kind of thinks she just runs things around here. Sometimes I just watch her interact with her siblings and in her own little language she tells them what to do... and they do it! I don't know how she pulls it off because I ask them to do things in simple English and they don't seem to understand. Something about this little girl has us all wrapped around her little finger.

Her (my) New Year's resolution was to give up her paci. Although she was only allowed to have it when she was sleeping she was still growing more and more attached to it each day. I knew that this needed to go, she had already had it longer than I allowed the others to have it and I just feel the longer you wait the harder it is for both mom and baby. I started out by snipping the end of the paci with the idea that each day I would snip a little more until it was gone. First day she put it in, took it out and said "boke". She then walked it to the trash can, threw it away, then asked for another one. I then realized that this was not going down how I imagined. Day six was our magical day, it finally clicked and she realized it was "boke" and no one was going to fix it! Six days of no nap, six nights of interrupted sleep, and we both survived... and I won this one :)

Congrats to my baby girl, she is paci free!

My next challenge is to get her to sit on my lap during Mass instead of behaving like a crazy orangutan. I look around at other children her age who just cuddle with their mom and fall asleep while Mass is being said. What am I doing wrong here? She is literally calm until we hit the pew and then for the next hour she is going bonkers!

Margaret is just plowing through Pre-K.

Kindergarten couldn't come soon enough in her eyes. Mine, on the other hand, will be shedding tears like crazy next fall as I send another one off into the big bad world. She has started a new dance class and is very excited! After her first class she asked me, "Mom, do you think I can be in the Nutcracker and still be a doctor?" Of course!!!! Yes, she is my one who has talked about being a doctor since she could basically talk. I am so thankful that we have sugarcoated this road of long, exhausting, expensive, and did I mention horrible hours that one must endure to become a doctor. She doesn't think twice when she says it. She wants to work at the same hospital as her daddy, fix hearts, and eat lunch with him everyday! She says I can stop by and eat too! Thanks :)

Little man is hanging in there with all of us girlies.

There are times in the afternoon when we are all being crazy and I notice that he has wondered up to his room. When I peek in he is usually on the floor with about 150 Hotwheels. He loves to line them all up in perfect rows. Each one has a strategic place, he knows when one has been taken. He names them, talks to them, and probably thinks they are his brothers! I am so thankful that his preschool class has five boys, two girls. Even though he has learned to karate chop people, burp and fart at the table, and tell me that only daddy's can fix things I know that he needs his boy time!

We are now all caught up!

Hopefully I can get back in the swing of things here... I have missed bragging about my kids:)