Date night: Broaway show!

I'm super excited this year that we bought tickets to two Broadway shows in Portland. Dirty Dancing and Cinderella - this first one, Dirty Dancing, brought out all the cougars who were all out in their gangs of lady friends. They hooted and hollered through the entire show. I was DYING the entire time, even Kyle thought the whole spectacle was amusing. God bless this man for enduring such silliness for me :) The show was actually great, and I am not above saying the lady-folk in the theater that night were a little CRAY CRAY... Ha ha! So awesome.

Happy 9th birthday Marin Elise

My oldest turned 9 years old!! This year, we wanted to do something extra special to celebrate, so we SURPRISED her with a family trip to Great Wolf Lodge (indoor water park extravaganza)... Two days before the Sunday departure date, we gave her a little wrapped picture frame with the Great Wolf logo on it.

Her sweet heart is so good - in her nicest voice, she says "oh! wow thanks Mom, a picture of Great Wolf. How nice. I've always wanted to go there." - I am dying of laughter, so I ask her "so... why do you think we gave you this?" - she says "maybe so I can look at this picture and dream about going there?" - I say "um, baby child... we are TAKING you there for your birthday!!!", (screaming, screaming, laughing, happy faces)... then I say " you even get to miss school on Monday!"... (pause, confused face)... she says "why would I miss school"?... I say "because we are spending the night"... (louder screaming, crazy happy faces... apparently she didn't realize it is called Lodge for overnight purposes)

So, after that fun reveal - we left Marcus with Nana & Poppy, and took our big kids to Great Wolf, where we had the time of our lives. So, so much fun. I love water parks... the last time I went was pre-kids in California... It was SO MUCH FUN!! Marin and Kyle even took a late night trip back out to the water slides after the rest of us were pooped. This was the perfect time to give her this experience, she was smiling from ear to ear the entire time.

On her actual birthday, later in the week, we started the morning with Cookie Crisp birthday cereal, and then we all surprised her at school in the cafeteria for lunch with donuts and birthday candles and singing. I like big displays - ha ha! She was embarrassed and super delighted at our "big" family storming her lunchroom! That night, we honored her request for a 'TV dinner' (uhhhh....) which thankfully turned out just meant dinner on the couch with TV trays, watching a movie (Polar Express, I guess Christmas never ends!). Ha ha! I was going to just die if we had to buy real TV dinners. I asked her to please give me her SECOND food choice, and she said sushi. And a frozen ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. For a moment I was bummed this would be the first birthday without a home-made cake, but I decided to look on the bright side - she gets her dream cake, and I get a year off! It WAS a yummy cake :) A pile of little presents to end the day, and she was very very tickled by all her little surprises. Sometimes your kids surprise you with the "little things" they love the most :) I love my girl so much, and feel such delight to be her mother. Last year in the single digits - WHAAAAAAAT!!!!!!

1. 

   Crafty Madeline promptly made a princess hat out of Max's birthday hat & wrapping paper. Ha ha ha ha!

Little Moments

A few little/big moments with my younger three... 

Max is showing such depth and empathy. His friend Jack with leukemia is nearing the end of his treatments. Max has been praying daily for him to be healed. The other day, we were praying for Jack, and Max said "Holy Spirit heal him! Holy Doctor of Heaven, please heal him!" ... I was laughing and crying at my compassionate & intuitive son. Also still showings signs of being a little little boy... falling asleep sideways on a trip to the store! His tender heart continues to teach me every day.

Madeline Marie got new glasses. She looks so much older!! Very stylish choice, young lady. I love the tortoise shell & mint green front, and flowers on the side. It was kind of sad saying goodbye to the purple rhinestones, they have been the source of many friendly comments over the past two years. Also she is experimenting more with sewing. I showed her basic needle & thread skills, and she often can be found rifling through my fabric scraps and creating something fun. Brainy Smurf, for example, has been transformed into a flower princess queen with hand-made cape, colored with pen drawings. ALSO... one of her new years resolutions was to jump-rope every day! She is awesome. We gotta get our energy out somehow during these winter months!

Little Marcus is still the character - playing dress up with home made knight's armor that Daddy made for Max, and borrowing a friend's viking helmet. Also, putting all other children in this family to shame with his Angry Birds skills (eye roll from here to kingdom come). Thankfully he is not sneaking the tablet and hiding from me in the bathtub anymore, but all this kid needs is 5 minutes to learn a new game. WHAT. Don't get me started on the different screen time reality he is getting from the older kids!!!!! Don't even get me started.

Togetherness

A few moments of "togetherness":

Little Sis/Big Sis/ Mom necklace that Santa put in my stocking this year.

Sibs wrestling

Sibs "napping"

Bike buddies gotta snuggle

Merry Christmas 2014

Merry Christmas to all!! We had a nice long two weeks of holiday vacation, with Kyle off for most of it with us. We packed in the fun times this year, it is sooooo exciting to get a taste of "big kid" freedom that we are now experiencing. Marcus is our little caboose, and we all rally to get that rascal to understand all the fun :) Such a blessed season in our family life. High on our bucket list for our family time, we did lots of fun cooking projects with the kids. Cookies (of course), gingerbread house decorating, Gran's rosettes. home made pretzels, breakfast in bed for Mom (sooooo sweet), Marin perfecting her scrambled eggs, chocolate chip banana bread, chocolate covered pretzels, and a whole bunch of other things I forgot because it's now mid-January :) Marcus was the official taster.

Extended family time - Christmas week with Kyle's side, and New Year's week with my side. Lots of trips to Vancouver and Portland, and a houseful with my family here. Lots of walks, bike rides, eating, laughing, presents, togetherness! I loved every minute!

Marin writing down her prayer request at The Grotto

Prayer Request tree at The Grotto