How Fast is 7?

Let me tell you, seven is very, very fast. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was dressing a newborn baby in BLUE, buying the first Tonka trucks to grace our home, and marveling at what a joy it was to have a son. Last month Josh turned seven. His grin makes me melt. His laugh is contagious. He is funny, tender, inventive, hopeful, good, and the messiest eater I've ever met, but I can live with that. He brings me such joy and gives me balance in a world of hair bows and lip gloss. He is a strong little guy at the core to be able to hold his own with 4 sisters (soon) flanking him on either side. I love that I have soccer balls, Pokemon cards, Mario Bros. Wii games, and hermit crabs in the mix. He is by far the best surprise I have ever received (we didn't peek at his gender on the ultrasound.) And I love him.

He loves cheese omelets, so that is what I made for his birthday breakfast. I took a few of his close friends---Ryan, Harrison and Talmage---to the bowling alley and then to Wendy's for dinner. They were so fun to bowl with. All of their poses, slides and awesome moves made me laugh, besides the fact that with the bumpers they all had strikes and spares and were quite the little competitors. He also got a special visit from his cousin Bryce the night before his birthday. I am so thankful for Joshua. I am glad it was a Happy Birthday, Bud.

Happenings with my Girls

Madelyn got her ears pierced in March. She loves them. She had previously not wanted to, but came to me in March and said she now did want to. It has yet to be 8 weeks to change them out, but she is getting excited to wear different earrings.

Alyssa has been part of a storytelling troupe at school. They met once a week for an hour or so after school. Recently they put on short plays for a school storytelling night. Aly played the role of Demeter in the Greek play of "Demeter and Persephone". This is her practicing on stage with Zeus.

This is my little cowgirl, dressed up for cowboy picture day at preschool. She also is big enough to make her own bed now. I took a picture of her very first ever "I made the bed myself. Come see!" Her number one favorite chore is doing the dishes, though. She asks me all the time if she can help me do the dishes. Even though it is mostly to play in the water, she actually does get right in there and scrub them with the brush or dish cloth! I stand beside her and I load the dishwasher as she hands the rinsed dishes to me.

As promised

I mentioned that I would post a picture of my niece's son, Kayden. He are two recent shots. The first when Madelyn and Alyssa held him during a visit. I loved seeing them with him. It makes me excited about having Chelsea in our home and what a good help my children will be in caring for her. Then here is a picture of Kayden in his blessing outfit after we got back to Ryan and Lecia's house. (He didn't don the shades during the blessing of course.)
Then I just liked this shot of Mike, so handsome. He is a great dad and husband.

Celebrating Green

I am going to make an effort to catch up on a bit of blogging. I'll start with St. Patrick's Day. It was Josh's turn to make a leprechaun trap (all my kids have done this in first grade.) He made a pretty cute one that would require the leprechaun to follow the signs, climb the stairs and try to get the golden gift on top---but with only a bit of colored tissue paper as a top, the leprechaun would surely fall in! The little green guys outsmarted us, again. Instead, my awesome hubby surprised the kids with yummy clover cookies for a treat---Josie loved hers! We enjoyed the evening with my family having our annual corned beef feast.