Because a tree like this deserves it own post!

Another lovely tree this year :) Picked with love by Piper from the woods surrounding our house!

Half of a Decade

I cannot believe five years have passed since we welcomed Cohen into this world! Five is such a big number, halfway to 10. Cohen is such a loving, tender-hearted soul. Don't get me wrong, he is "all boy", but he has so much love in his heart. He loves going to the nusing home with his granddad and hugging and loving on the residents; he is notorious for loving on his grandparents and he is alwasy right on time when it come to snuggles and love around the house.

Today we had a wonderful day celebrating as a family. Cohen started off the day with a trip to the meat market with his dad. Next, we were all off to Toys R Us to pick out his special gift. He chose a pack of realistic-looking dirt bikes with 2 drivers, little helmets and kickstands. So totally Cohen!

Next was Funigans where we played and ate junk food for lunch! Here is the birthday boy gearing up for a pinball game: A spirited game of air hockey with Daddy:

Abe looking closley for more Skee Balls! He was throwing them all over the place, no where near the intended target.

The brothers teaming up for more pinball:

Bowling with Piper (who is striking quite a pose in the first pic):

And climbing the rock wall:

Both kids were climbing experts! They flew right up the rock walls and rang the bells at the top about four times in a row. This was Cohen's first successful climb!

Lastly, we had pizza and cake with Poppy. Poppy always calls Cohen "Poppy's little, big man." Cohen seems to love the nickname and always showers Poppy with hugs and kisses. What a special day to celebrate an awesome kid!

Picture Day

Today I tackled the seemingly impossible task having professional pictures made. I had wanted only to have one decent picture of all three kids together where everyone was looking at the camera and no one was crying! Well, I was pleasantly surprised with the results! The group pics are not perfect, but I cannot expect perfect at my kids' ages. And their pictures alone are awesome! All and all, it was stressful but worth it!

Keepers Meeting

Piper and I are getting our girl time lately at her Keepers at Home meetings. Yesterday the girls made picture frames with popsicle sticks, paint and simple decorations. As basic as that sounds, they enjoyed it so much and got so creative. We also took the left-over birthday cake and shared it with all the girls.

Party Pics

Piper and her much loved Nana!

Piper with her dog-themed birthday cake.

Good picture of my Dad and youngest sister, fondly referred to as Aunt T, by my kids.

Abe and Daddy. Abe woke up about an hour in to the party and was thoroughly stressed-out by the crowd. He was happiest in Daddy's arms.

The birthday girl with so many presents!

Piper and her pinata. I put all the kids Halloween candy in the pinata and threw away what wouldn't fit. My kids do not function well with candy in the house. They constantly ask, "What (healthy) do I have to eat to get a piece of candy?" It drives me bananas!

The candy gathering mayhem.

This picture struck me as funny for some reason! Poor dog!

Happy Birthday Piper-Girl!

Tuesday was Piper's 7th birthday! We are having a celebration at our house this weekend mostly for family, but I wanted her actual birthday to be special too! We took the day off from school work and started out to Toy R Us, where she picked out her birthday present.

Then we were off to Chuck E. Cheese for playtime and lunch. There was hardly anyone there, so it was super-nice!

Abe didn't like the rides that moved. It kinda surprised me because the older two always loved them!

Costume Contest

Piper has won the costume contest at the church "Fun Night" for the past 3 years. This year as she was getting on her ladybug attire (pictured below), she asked me if I thought she would win this year. I shrugged and said I didn't know (of course) because you never how extravagant the other kids' costumes will be.

Well, low and behold, she did win yet again! After the contest she came to show me what she had won and I kiddingly tapped her on the belly and said, "Girl, you're 4 and 0!" and she looked at me very sincerely and said, "Well, I knew I was cute." There was no sarcasm in her voice, she was plainly stating "the truth" as she saw it!

She obviously has no self-esteem issues!

I have thought about her statement so much since, and although what she said was very prideful, the world is going to try its best to drag down her self-esteem. We are constantly told we are not cute enough, tall enough, thin enough, whatever. I pray she can keep that positive outlook on herself, but she will have to learn to control the prideful statments!