Party Pics

Yesterday was Abe's 2nd birthday party at his grandparent's pool. We invited only family and most of my family could not come or came and stayed a short time, so it was mostly Chad's family. Abe still had no clue it was his birthday but he did enjoy playing in the water, eating cake and riding his new tricycle. We had a basic menu consisting of hot dogs, cucumber salad, fruit and chips for lunch and cake and ice cream for the celebration. Piper had her friends Hannah and Emma come, so she was happy to be surrounded by little girls and Cohen was in his element with his cousin and best friend Elijah. Abe just went from person to person enjoying everyone.

Reading with Nana just as the party was starting:


Chilling on the stairs into the pool. Abe was not quite as brave this year as he was last year. I guess he is still warming up the the water.


Big brother giving the thumbs-up:


Some swimming instruction with big sis:


Riding on Cousin Brittney's shoulders:

He thought about jumping but didn't go through with it!

Taking a break with mommy:

Enjoying a juice box. Chad and I figured out he had about 7 juice boxes during the party, sugar overload!

Looks like his gift from Daddy & Mommy was a hit!

Abe Day

I have not been good the last few days with my daily wrap-ups, but nothing too thrilling has happened. Well,except for Abe's 2nd birthday! Friday was Abe's actual birthday but we celebrated with family today at Chad's parents' pool. The highlight of the party, other than Abe of course, was Piper's home-made cake!

She worked hard Friday night baking the cakes (they were from a box, but that's still a big deal for her) and woke up Saturday morning at 6am to decorate it! She truly exceeded my expectations and stuck to the project until it was complete. She loves to watch cake decorating shows on TV and asked me before she started if I minded if she did "some old-school piping" on the cake (she heard that on Cake Boss)!

Here are some pics of her hard work:

Wednesday

Yesterday was spent at home mostly. Hannah was here until lunchtime, so the kids enjoyed playing with her. We all worked on school assignments around lunchtime, even Hannah's mother sent the work that she would be doing this week if she were in school. I thought it would be harder with an extra child at the table but Hannah seemed to help Piper keep focused and I was able to do some additional work with Cohen.

After Hannah's mother picked her up we laid Abe down and leisurely finished schooling. Piper often wants to race through her work to get done faster, but yesterday was different (and more enjoyable).

It was so nice outdoors so we incorporated some outdoor time in after the written assignments were complete. Chad got home in the early afternoon and pressure washed the house which the kids loved watching! He kept setting off the home alarm and Piper and I would take turns turning it off while we worked on one more batch of strawberry freezer jam.

We did get out for swim team in the evening. The kids swam really well and did not complain about the cold water. I hope it is warming up, for all the kids' sake!

All over creation

We were all over the place yesterday. We worked on some schoolwork in the morning before heading to meet friends at the strawberry patch. We picked 2 gallons of berries and probably ate 2 gallons while were in the fields! Abe's diaper last night was a disaster from all the berries he consumed yesterday! After berry picking, our friends came back to our house to play for a short time. I had no groceries, so I had nothing but Chilly Willy's to offer them for lunch, that's awful!

After they left, Chad came home to watch the boys and I took Piper to visit her friend who had surgery this past Friday. After playing a few hours they simply could not part (of course!) and asked if Hannah could spend the night. I told them there was no way Hannah's mother would let her come but after a few minutes of begging the girls had talked her into it. I was shocked but we brought her home with us, pain meds and all!

We had to make a stop at the pool for swim team on the way home, where Chad met us with the boys. Hannah and Abe waited patiently while Piper and Cohen swam. On the way home, we picked up the groceries we had ordered online (awesome idea, thanks Jessie!). Being such a busy week, getting to the grocery store was not happening, so we tried the Lowes Foods to Go program and it was a life-saver!

I am hoping today is a little more relaxed because we have some schoolwork to catch up on...

Typical Monday

Yesterday was a nice, busy day. We spent the morning completing schoolwork and then Chad came home by surprise! The kids love having Daddy around during the day.

After lunch, Piper and I headed to her Keepers meeting without the boys (since Chad was home to keep them!). At the meeting, the girls made cards for a 4-year-old girl who is fighting Leukemia in a Texas hospital, family friends of one of our members. Piper loves any excuse to get out the art supplies and this was an especially good excuse. During the meeting, Piper recited her books of the Bible "perfectly" according to our leader and got to show off her weaving projects. She ended up with 6 badges for the year - swimming, decoupage, grandparents, weaving, bible memory and bible reading!

When we returned home, Cohen had gone to Grandaddy's house to "help him work". Chad said Cohen called Grandaddy and said he wanted to help him but he needed a ride over there. Grandaddy happily obliged and picked him up so I took just Piper to swim team. I am looking forward to the weather warming up a little more so my kids don't freeze the entire hour, I think it is making them a little more fussy about going.

And last night we made our calls to family members about Abe's birthday party Saturday. I cannot believe my baby is turning 2 already!

Visiting Baby Stephen

The kids and I spent the weekend visiting Aunt Ashley and Baby Stephen. We headed out of town after Piper's gymnastics class on Thursday and returned yesterday afternoon. It was chaotic with 4 kids at times, but we knew that ahead of time, so I think we were prepared mentally. Baby Stephen was absolutely precious and the kids (especially Abe) loved getting a chance to hold him.

Abe constantly asked to "hold Beeben" which is his nickname for Baby Stephen. Abe has always loved older kids, now I know he loves babies too! He swiped a few of Beeven's pacis and tried to get into all the baby equipment. He is used to being the baby, so he will have to adjust to being the big boy now.

Piper rarely stays on her feet too long these days. She took full advantage of Aunt Ashley's open living room to practice her handstands, cartwheels and round-offs.

We shopped Friday morning and grabbed some bargains at the outlet stores. That afternoon the kids rode bicycles outdoors and played until Nana and Aunt T came. They were supposed to stay the weekend with us but Nana ended having to work Saturday so their visit was cut short. We enjoyed them for the short time they were there and then Saturday afternoon took the kids to an awesome new playground near Ashley's house. Here are Abe and Piper in the "Candy Store".

And Cohen high above it all!

It was a really warm day and the park had no shade, so Abe spent a lot of time playing in and drinking water from the sprays on the side of the play equipment.

The rest of our visit was spent eating yummy food, riding bikes through the neighborhood and watching cartoons. It seemed like the fewer outings we took, the easier it was to manage the children.

We left Aunt Ashley's yesterday and visited one of Piper's friends in the children's hospital. She had surgery to remove a large tumor from her stomach area but she was up walking and even went to the rooftop playgound with my kids. The children's hospital was really cool with playrooms, learning classrooms, educational programming on a huge widescreen wall televsion and the covered rooftop playground. Knowing some children spend long periods of time there, it was neat to see how they catered to them and made the experience a little less dreaded.

Today should be nice although the weather is not looking great. We will enjoy it anyway!

Wednesday

Cohen jumped out of bed yesterday morning and asked Chad if he could go to work with him. When Chad agreed, Cohen was out of the bed and dressed within minutes and off they went. I took advantage of having only 2 kids and ran a few errands. When we returned home, Chad and Cohen were right behind us so we were able to get our schoolwork completed while Abe took a good nap.

We were expecting to have some baby chicks yesterday, but after checking numerous times, we still did not find any. I really hope something hatches because our broody hen has been sitting there for 2 months trying (unsuccessfully, at this point) to become a mother. I am going to send Piper down there as soon as she gets up to check today.

On a totally different note, Piper finished her weaving badge yesterday by completing a placemat. She had a good amount of help from me but the point of the Keepers projects is to spend time together learning new skills, so I do not think I helped too much. She also mastered reciting the books of the Bible for the first time, so we are going to practice all weekend and hopefully she will recite them correctly Monday for her Bible Memory badge.

Here is Piper with her completed projects, the coasters in one hand and the placemat in the other. (Because of the size of our loom, we had to make 4 smaller rectangles and stitch them together,that's why the placemat is so wild-looking. I think it has lots of character though!)