He's growing up

You can tell how many 4+ year olds we have in our home by the # of beds made in the morning. This is one of the big responsibilities that our children get to assume when they turn four. It's like a rite of passage. Kamden came out of his room when the alarm went off the next morning after his birthday saying, "Mom, I made my bed this morning because I'm four now." How awesome is that?!! I think he did an awesome job for his first time. I did have to fight my desire to go straighten it up throughout the day though, but I didn't want him to think he didn't do good himself. I have found that it is much easier to add responsibilities to our kids on their birthdays because they actually get excited that the extra chores mean they are bigger. Now, I'm sure they'll catch on in the next couple of years, but I am not going to stop the momentum now :)

At first Kamden just wanted a small party in our backyard, but somehow it morphed into a Spiderman pizza shindig at the local park. We had a great time though - the best part I thought was that his party was very laid back like Kamden. His favorite birthday presents were his Leapster and Bakugans. I have now joined the group of moms who are walking billboards for the Leapsters. They are awesome - very educational and very entertaining at the same time. They keep the boys occupied when they are needing to sit still somewhere - like the car - for long periods of time. I don't know who is enjoying the Leapster more - the boys or mom? :)

Much needed getaway

We have some precious friends, Trenton and Franki Haizlip, who blessed us with a two-night stay at a hotel on the River Walk this past weekend. In order to make this happen, I had to supplement formula for Brynlee to go along with her normal mama milk. I was a little nervous thinking that she would refuse a bottle because she hadn't had one in so long and had never had formula. Well, she didn't mind at all, so we quickly dropped the boys off with E. and Papa and Granny stayed at our house with Brynlee and Gracie. Keith and I were SOOO needing some time together just to reconnect and have fun after a couple of intense weeks.

We had a blast. I love that we have been married for close to nine years, yet we still love every moment we get to spend together. We still look so young that I think some people thought we were newlyweds - ha - if only they knew we had four kids already! This was our perfect Saturday: sleep late, grab breakfast and have a long quiet time, work-out together, get ready and have a really long lunch on the River Walk, go see a movie, shop a little, eat dinner and ride the boat on the river.

Thank you Trenton and Franki for blessing us with this hotel stay!

Gracie

We brought home Gracie on February 28th. She has since grown to twice her size! She is beautiful and very playful. Though we had thoughts of wanting to get rid of her the first couple of weeks, we are now enjoying this newest member of our family. She is crazy excited for half the day, but we can already tell that she is going to be an awesome family dog. She has dug out of our backyard a couple of times already, but she just hangs out in our front yard until we return home. So, it looks like she's getting pretty attached to us like we are to her. Here are some cute pics we've taken as she's bonded with the kids.








Keith and I have gained a little wisdom thru the process of getting a dog that I would like to share with all of you. It is this: NEVER make a big decision like whether or not to get a family dog after your whole family has had the flu for two and a half weeks. You see, we had all passed around the flu for that amount of time and were just really craving some fun. So like any rational people, we thought that a dog would help with that "fun" we were so desperately wanting. Well, let's just say I now know that I don't think rationally AT ALL after dealing with sickness for an extended period of time. She is truly a lot of fun though :) - as an outside dog!