Baking and Hiking:)

In our down time we have been watching "The Great British Baking Show" with the kids on Netflix.  It is technically a reality show, but not at all like American reality cooking shows.  This one has very real, average people who are kind to one another without the drama.  All of the challenges are normal baking without ridiculous twists and unrealistic time constraints. It is a great family show, all of our kids love to sit and watch from start to finish.  As a result, we have been baking some things that we wouldn't normally  take on.  One episode had the contestants making swiss rolls, so we looked up a recipe and everyone helped to make it.... it was easier than I thought! A more recent episode made some tarts and the kids got right on that and made these individual tarts with fruit.  They are becoming pretty good bakers:)

Last Friday, Shannon and I took the kids for a last minute hike at Bradbury Mountain State Park, followed by a shopping trip in Freeport.  It was supposed to rain in the afternoon, so we hurried to hike, but it didn't rain a drop all day! The kids were really good sports in the stores and waiting in the car while the adults took turns shopping;)

Easter 2016

Easter was the day after Audrey's birthday party this year, so my mom stayed for the morning egg hunt and left for my sister's to celebrate with Trey and Lily. It was a pretty big bummer when we were hiding the eggs the night before that my dad wasn't around to do that... it was one of his favorite jobs and has done it for the kids each time he was at our house for Easter.  James was feeling better this morning and humored us enough to get dressed up for pictures, but he didn't make it to church opting for a nap instead.  He participated in the egg hunt, but didn't eat any candy, so we knew he wasn't 100% yet.  We had an absolutely beautiful day to enjoy having an Easter dinner with friends.  Happy Easter!

A Sword Called Excalibur

Noah and James have been participating in the Children's Theater production of, "A Sword Called Excalibur".  The theater group comes in at the beginning of the week, the kids audition, then practice for several hours all week after school time.  James was a groundhog and Noah was a knight.  They had a great time all week practicing, staying up late and hanging out with their friends.

The weekend was a bit crazy to say the least.  On Saturday morning James woke up vomiting... super disappointing... he missed Audrey's birthday party and the play! Noah also missed Audrey's birthday party because, thanks to some poor weather and school being cancelled the day before, play practice was moved up on the day of the play to start when Audrey's birthday started.  But, in the afternoon we got to attend the play and all of the kids did an impressive job!  We filmed the parts that James would have been in to show him and Noah did a wonderful job as knight #2.  The kids both loved being in the play and are looking forward to participating again next year!

Audrey's Birthday Party!

Audrey picked out a fire breathing dragon cake at the library, but didn't want a dragon party. Instead, she was insistent about having a bunny party (like last year) with a purple fire breathing dragon cake.  Despite her face in the picture above, she did love the cake.  We dyed Easter eggs since Easter is tomorrow and we haven't gotten around to that this year.  We also enjoyed lots of bunny treats.  Thank you to all of Audrey's friends and family who came out to celebrate her turning 3!

Audrey Turns 3!

We officially don't have a baby anymore... or really a toddler anymore... Audrey is certainly a full fledged threenager;)  It is amazing how we went from years of hauling around diaper bags, changes of clothes, pacifiers, burp cloths, sippy cups, snacks, strollers, etc. to barely remembering the wipes.  Audrey is certainly growing into an amazing, strong willed, imaginative little girl.  She continues to refer to her older brothers as "my boys" or "my Noah, my James, my Ben"... This is probably because she knows that they would do anything for her. She knows what she wants and is not afraid to say what is on her mind. She loves skiing and participating in anything her boys are doing.  She can't wait to take swimming lessons and start soccer.

She has such an amazing imagination!  She is becoming a really entertaining storyteller and the other kids ask her to tell them a story.  Most of the stories are of bizarre dreams she has, but thinks they are very real and gets quite offended if anyone tries to tell her that they aren't real.  The stories she tells most are of "France the Dinosaur". He has been a main character since she could talk it seems like.  Lately she doesn't like France, "He is bad because he gets into my closet and puts on all of my pretty clothes, takes them off the hangers and makes a big mess.  But that's ok, Mommy will fix them."  She also has a set of monkeys  who won't stop jumping and fooling around and get off her bed. Happy Birthday Audrey, we can't wait to see what year four will bring!

Noah's Ghost Party!

Our kids spend lots of time around their birthdays looking through the cake books and picking out exactly what type of cake they would like, which is how they decide on a theme.  This year Noah picked this ghost cake and then decided on a ghost party.  It was quite interesting to plan since, as it turns out, there aren't a lot of things that are only ghosts and not other Halloween themes.  Luckily, at the same time anything white with two black eyes drawn on it passes easily for a ghost.  We fought ghosts outside with silly string, battled the ghost piñata and took nerf guns to defeat some ghostly shadows in the house.  Noah had a blast playing with all of his friends and family!  Thank you so much to all who could make it:)

Noah Turns 9!

This guy is half way to begin an adult today!  I truly can't believe how fast it has gone by. Noah has grown into such an amazing, caring and thoughtful little man.  He is like a third parent to his siblings and is very considerate of everyone around him. His current passions are skiing, bike riding and creating with legos. He loves teaching school to his siblings and is excited to play more violin in the coming years.  

Last week he started asking me when he would be able to babysit to make some money.  I tried to dodge the question a bit just saying that he had to be older, but he wanted a firm answer...  We looked it up I told him that he had to be at least 11, but most people are older. He then asked what he could do to practice and get ready (he is a bit of a planner). We looked into a babysitting class, but you have to be 11 for that... I finally broke down and told him that he was likely ready to be a babysitter now, had lots of experience and usually did a better job than most parents, but just wasn't legally old enough... we settled on him keeping an eye on the kids as a way to practice while Gabe and I were out in the yard or busy doing other chores... maybe he doesn't realize that he has been doing this for years...;) Happy 9th Birthday Noah!