Monkey See, Monkey Two!

So excited to share Nate's birthday party pics!  It was fun looking at them again!  Our boy loves his stuffed monkey!  The one we took all his monthly pictures with the first year.  He sleeps with it every night and nap time.  And he loves anything that has a monkey on it--he has a pair of monkey pjs he sometimes refuses to take off!  So, I figured we'd go with a monkey theme.  It was all kinds of fun!

I made a few printables for the party after I purchased some cute and very inexpensive clipart from the Painted Fairy on Etsy ( http://www.etsy.com/listing/98417972/clipart-buy-2-get-1-free-lovely-cute-boy?ref=shop_home_active&ga_search_query=monkey ).  Then I was pretty much able to pick up a few things from the Dollar Tree and  pull some things from around the house to use for decorations.  Easy and super inexpensive!

"Monkey See, Monkey Do....Our little Monkey is Turning Two!"

Nate did NOT let his monkey stay up there for long! haha

And although I got all sorts of grief for not making his cake, a friend from church made this precious cake for Nate.  I gave her the design I wanted and she did a buttercream transfer (I haven't done one of those yet) and it was perfect!!! And it was absolutely delicious!  She has a cake business called Cake Deconstructed.

Could not get this little guy to slow down for a second but as you can see I got him a shirt with the same design.  I took advantage of a special offer from Vistaprint.

Playing with the water/sand table he got from Nana and Papa C.

We had some "themed" food at the party--a pizza monkey bread and some monkey bread minis--both were so yummy!  The minis were great because I was able to make them ahead of time and then just stick them in the oven before the party.

Our little monkey had a great birthday!  Can't believe he's such a big boy now!

Cold Soccer Season

We had our 3 big kids playing soccer this spring season.  Probably a big reason I've been absent from this blog...we were at the soccer fields 4 days of the week between all their practices and games.  Having 3 playing made for lots of overlapped practices and games...sometimes having to get creative in how to get everyone where they needed to be!  They all enjoyed it though and looking back it really did go by fast....although we were relieved to have some free time back once it was over!  

They're first Saturday of games was March 2nd and it was COLD--as you can tell from the pictures! Most of our season was actually pretty cold...finally warming up towards the end!

The first day of games was one of those times of overlapped games.  Brannon's game started in the middle of Elissa's so I stayed for Elissa's and Matt to Brannon to his.  I managed to get this shot of Brannon before he took off for his game.  I think our little B had the best time this season out of all of them!  He had a bike wreck towards the end of the season and sprained his wrist.  He was NOT happy about missing a couple practices and games.

We went back and forth about signing Elissa up because she didn't want to have much to do with it last year.  We'd have to bribe her to get her on the field for practice and games...wasn't a whole lot of fun for anyone.  But she was insistent that she wanted to play.  I'm glad we went ahead and signed her up because she had a great time!  I hope you can see in the pictures how she was practically dancing over the field!  It was so funny!  

 She loved when she got to kick the ball in!

As soon as Elissa was done with her first soccer game we took off for a birthday party for a sweet friend of her's.  I'm so glad we did!  This party was so much fun for all the girls!!!!  They got all dressed up and they did their hair and nails.  Then they had a little fashion show.  I think their favorite part was getting to ride around in a pink limo!

When the party was over it was time to grab some lunch and rush to the soccer field for Blake's first game!  Elissa and I actually watched the game from the car...it was even colder than it had been in the morning!  Oh, and where was Nate during all of this?  Thankfully, warm and snug at home with my mom!  Thanks again mom!

The cold didn't bother Blake too much!

Few days after these games....yeah, snow!

Brannon's 8th Birthday

Like I said, I'll be playing catch up for a while.  These are pictures from Brannon's 8th Birthday.  He wanted to have a fishing party again!  I feel for this sweet child!  He LOVES fishing and camping and wants to do those things for his birthday which happens to be in the dead of winter in February!  Of course, living in the south sometimes the weather is warm enough to do that...you just never know!  We still had fun with the fishing theme though!  

I was able to use a lot of the same decorations from last year but I tried to change it up a bit.  

I saw this idea on pinterest with candy and a number candle in a jar.  I used red Swedish fish for Brannon's jar.  They all enjoyed digging into that jar for the next few weeks :-).

 My favorite was drapping our china cabinet with a fishing net and covering it with pictures of our sweet boy from over the years!

My sweet 8 year old!

Yummy cookies & cream "bait cup" cupcakes!

I'm glad that this boy will be able to do LOTS of fishing soon when we head to NC for vacation!

Bad blogger!

I can't believe how bad I've been about keeping this blog up to date!  This has been a crazy, busy, and wonderful year though!   Can I give some excuses?  I mean besides the 4 cute kids? ;-)

In September I started coordinating our MOPS group at our church.  This was something I was really nervous about doing but I am so thankful my husband and close friends encouraged me to go for it!  God has blessed our group and it's been so wonderful to meet so many new moms and to be a part of something like this!  If you don't know about MOPS, check it out!  MOPS stands for Mothers Of PreSchoolers.  You can check MOPS International's site www.mops.org or you can check out our group's page at www.fbcdmops.com

Because of my experience with MOPS I ended up submitting a resume at our church for the position of Preschool Director.  I have now been the Preschool Director at First Baptist Church of Dawsonville since January.  I'm still learning but I've loved serving at our wonderful church!

Spring for us was full of soccer, soccer, and more soccer.  Not sure what we were thinking signing up 3 kids!  Ha!  It was a lot of fun really and the kids enjoyed it.  Not sure what it will be like when Nate is old enough...and we know he'll want to play!  He wanted to play out there this year!

More recently we've been busy getting ready for VBS!  Last week was a wonderful VBS at our church....even though I only made it to the first night before I snuck off to San Diego with Matt!  That was a chance I couldn't pass up!

Between all of that we've had some trips, parties, and other exciting things for our family!  So, I guess I'll start playing catch up and start sharing some pictures from the past few months over the next few days!  Even if there are very few people reading the blog....I like the idea of looking back later!

Be back soon (promise!).  :-)

Sharing some favorites...

Thought I'd quickly put a couple recent pictures up on the blog.  January has slipped through my fingers.  I can't believe it's already February!  

Nate is growing up so fast!  I can't believe he'll be 2 in March!  He's talking up a storm.  He can tell us exactly what he wants....or doesn't want!  He watches everything we do and is learning so fast.  He really seems to surprise us with something he does or says everyday.  The other night when we started saying the blessing, he bowed his head and closed his eyes with the rest of us....well I of course had to yank my phone out of my pocket and get a picture!  I figure God wouldn't mind me capturing this precious moment!  He also loves to say prayers with his big brothers and sister at night!

Elissa is going to be a flower girl in Matt's cousin's wedding in the spring.  We went to try on and order her dress recently.  She LOVED the dress.  The one they had to try on was about 2 sizes too big for her but she did NOT want to take it off.  They measured her and we ordered the right size but the whole way home she kept asking why we didn't bring the dress home.  I explained we had to order the correct size and they would mail it to the store and we'd pick it up.  She apparently stopped listening at "mail it" because she went to the mailbox 3 times that afternoon looking for it.  I think she understands now, but she's still anxious to get it!!!  I think I'm going to have to hide it once it does come in...she'll want to wear it everyday!  The picture doesn't really do it justice!  It's a gorgeous, glittery dress for our beautiful princess!

Of course my big boys don't let me take their pictures very often anymore!  We're starting soccer soon so hopefully we'll have some fun, action shots soon!  'Til next time! :-)

Merry Christmas!

In some ways I feel like Christmas has snuck up on us but in others I feel like we've been getting ready for a while!  Elissa is in the children's choir at church and they've been preparing for the Christmas Cantata and the children's Christmas program since August!  The Cantata was last weekend and it was absolutely beautiful.  The adult choir and the children's choir did a fabulous job!  There was a live nativity to go along with the music.  Blake was a part of that!  Great way to get in the Christmas spirit!  The children's choir will have their own special program this Sunday and I'm so excited!    

Decorating the Christmas tree...he doesn't like me to take his picture 

When we ask Elissa to smile for the camera this is what we get most of the time now. :)

Checking out the Christmas tree...please excuse the messy floor...we weren't done yet ;)

Not a great picture but this is Blake in our church's cantata.  He was the "Standard Bearer" for the Red King --he carried the  king's flag.  He did a great job...even if he forgot his hat ;)

Elissa during one of the songs the children's choir performed during the Cantata.

Nate's expression in this picture is just too funny not to share! Such a funny boy!

 After lots of sickness and bad weather kept derailing our plans for Christmas pictures, we managed to snag a few pics before church one morning.  I have to say...even though our "photo shoot" didn't last 5 minutes (we had to get to church on time, right?)... it was one of the most fun and easy photo shoots we've ever had.  The kids were happy and cooperated and we were all laughing at the end instead of throwing our hands up in frustration!  And I think I got a some of my favorite pictures of them that morning!  

Matt was giving me bunny ears (after we asked the kids to stop doing it to each other).  I love this picture of them giggling!

My four biggest blessings:

Love all these sweet faces!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!