The Doctors Wife

Turning Five

We celebrated Hannah's 5th birthday with an art party! Hannah loves to paint, color, anything artsy so this was the perfect party for her! It was a lot of fun watching all of her sweet little friends paint. I was planning on having our baby-sitter to help out, but she couldn't come at the last minute so I was a little frantic trying to make sure that all of our guests had aprons, canvases, etc. so I didn't get very many pictures of the kids in all of their painting glory, but I did get a few of some of their masterpieces.

I had an apron for each guest and fabric markers for decorating while everyone was arriving. Then each child painted a canvas- and boy do these kids love to paint! My precious parents ended up taking the canvases to our bathroom to help them dry with the hair-dryer! The bottom picture is the marble painting- Hannah LOVES to do this, so we had to do it at her party and Mike helped all of the kids with this. We also had water-colors and crayons out, but I didn't get any pictures. : (

We did a fruit "rainbow" and Chick-Fil-A trays, for snacks. Hannah asked me to make her cake, so we made tie-dyed cupcakes and a rainbow layer cake. I didn't get any pictures of the cupcakes, but they were so cool! I think we'll make them again soon, so hopefully I'll get some pictures! I was really nervous about how the cake would turn out, but in the end, I was happy with it and Hannah loved it, so that is all that matters to me. 

What's a party without noise makers?

Sweet birthday girl!

Here is the cake cut- I thought it was delicious! 

Opening presents- Hannah loves Lalaloopsy and had been asking for the mermaid! Thanks Paige!

For favors I just tied tags around water colors, with their aprons, canvases and various paintings, everyone's hands were full when they left! I am a believer that favors should be either consumable or useful!  It was a great afternoon and we had a blast celebrating with friends and family. I can't believe that my little girl is five!!

 

3

Somebody turned three last month, and it just blows my mind how quickly my kids are growing up! Here is the little birthday boy on his actual birthday:

Just a hint of mischief! ; )

He was sooo excited to blow out his candles- he had been practicing! This was such a fun birthday because it was his first birthday that he really "got" it and was so excited about everything!

And that my friends is called concentration! Mike did a very excellent job of very discreetly "helping" him blow out the candles so he wouldn't pass out!

We had his party at Little Gym and this year it was a dinosaur party. David is so into dinosaurs and I found some really cute, colorful dinosaur things and I was really happy with everything!

We have a local bakery that does amazing cakes- and they are so yummy! I thought they did a great job matching the invitation and David LOVED his dinosaur cake!

He was so excited! They had such a fun time playing and it was such a fun party!

Love that sweet boy! I had fun planning his dinosaur party and David loved it too! I just can't believe he's three! It seems like he was just a baby, and now he is just such a little boy! 

 

 

Well, Hello March

I cannot beleive how fast this year is flying by! January was a blur of rotating sickness Christmas clean up, getting back to a routine and party prep, February was busy celebrating Mike and David's birthdays, Valentines, starting up  working out, and  the beginnings of a deep spring clean/ de-clutter. So far March, ehhh. Hannah was sick last week and we had a little scare last week when a man was trying to evade police in our neighborhood, and later this afternoon I'm taking the little man to the Dr. because I suspect he has pink eye. (and if you know me, then you know that pink eye ranks really high on my freak-out-o-meter) We have had a lot of fun over the past couple of months and I am going to try to share some stories/pictures (I have been informed by my Mom that she is completely over the lack of updates/ pics of the grandkids!) but things have been so busy and I LOVE what Sarah over at Memories On Clover Lane said, "Sometimes it's a matter of staying caught up in life, or caught up in blogging, and life feels better to be caught up in." (Do you read her? I just love her perspectives on motherhood- she is a favorite read for me!) Every time I think things are going to settle down and I'll have more time for blogging, it just doesn't happen, but I really miss having posts to look back on, so again I am going to try to find a balance. We have had really nice weather (minus the crazy wind) and I am just itching for spring and summer! I have been srting through the kids clothes and putting away the heavy winter things and pulling out warm weather clothes (yay!) and have also been trying to get a plan for spring break/ summer together. So things around here have been busy, but (mainly!) good.

 And because my Mom has been missing pictures, here is a completely random one of David, he is all about carrying around radom things, and he has formed an attachment to Portrait of a Lady that he nabbed off of my night-stand. He carries it around, sleeps with it, and "reads" it. He will sit and look/ turn the pages. This kid cracks me up!

Love this little boy!

Party Girl

Hannah LOVES parties! I think she may grow up to be a party planner because she is just into parties, themes, etc. For the last couple of years she has asked to have a Valentine party, and I always say no since it is so close to David's birthday, and planning one party at a time is enough for this Mama! ; ) Well, this year when Hannah asked, I finally gave in. We invited a few of Hannah's sweet friends over to make Valentines, and it was such a fun, sweet little party! 

Girlfriend loves a theme, so we picked zebra, pink and red, this was a great theme because I had lots of things on hand to work with.  I set up the coffee table in our living room with Valentine- making supplies and bags for each girl. 

I think balloons are one of the easiest, cheapest ways to set a "party" mood!

I tried to keep this party simple- we had cupcakes and milk. I also had kisses scattered on the table, and Hannah gobbled them up! I had a little heart-charm necklace as a favor for each girl (that's what's in the zebra "purse") 

This little man was happy to have a house full of girls!

The girls were so sweet making Valentines! This was the perfect age- they made their cards and the mamas got to chat!

It was a fun party and I hope it becomes a tradition!

 

A Milestone

One of the reasons I have been a little scarce around here lately, is that David is now paci-free! He has done pretty well, although we have had a few late nights and apparently no paci= no nap! So between no naps and the holidays, my free time has been non-existent! The paci fairy brought David some neat dinosaur stuff and we made a specail trip to Build-A-Bear to celebrate our big boy. David picked out a Snoopy (he loves Snoopy!) and found the cutest Woody costume for him to wear. Hannah was very sweet, saying "Oh David, I'm so proud of you!" she picked out a pink Hello Kitty with (of course) a pink princess dress. The kids had such a good time, and I am happy that my little guy is 100% paci-free! 

 

Christmas Catch Up

We have had so much fun this holiday season! We enjoyed Magglio and all of his antics and this year we added a fun advent calendar and had so much fun with different activities/ projects each night!

I really hope that Hannah and David grow up with great memories, and I hope that the holidays are a particularly special time for them. I want them to enjoy the fun of the season, but my deepest wish is for them to embrace the love of Christ. 

This year's advent activities (not in order) so I can remember next year!

1. Add a new ornament to the tree (this year we added a ballerina and a Woody)

2. "Elf" the neighbors

3. Write a list for Santa

4. Go to the Christmas Train 

5. Watch It's A Meaningful Life

6. Make Oliver and Sophie holiday treats

7. Go look at Christmas lights

8. Decorate a gingerbread house

9. Pick out a gift for Daddy

10. Watch A Charlie Brown Christmas and pop popcorn

11. Pick out gifts for a needy family from our church

12. "Rudolph" Daddy's car

13. Christmas craft (foam Christmas trees)

14. Watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas

15. Make Christmas cookies

16. Pick out Jesus' birthday cake

17. Read the Christmas Story and play with nativity puppets

18. Open and read a new Christmas book 

19. Give a gift to Ms. Meggie (our babysitter)

20.  Go see The Nutcracker and add a nutcracker to our collection

21. Have Christmas ice cream for dessert (peppermint chocolate chip- they didn't like it!)

22. Do a good deed for someone (without them knowing)

23. Open gifts from each other (they were so sweet picking out gifts for each other)

24. Shop for groceries for a family in need

I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas!!

All Aboard!

The Christmas Train!

We took a little trip to ride the Christmas Train- it is so neat! It was our first year to do this and I hope it becomes a family tradition. It is an amazing Christmas village with all kinds of activities, we took a carriage ride, rode the mini train, rode the carousel, visted Santa, had dinner, rode the big Christmas train, and had so much fun! There were carolers and lights every where, so the ambiance was amazing. The best thing is that the Christmas train tells the story of Jesus, the real meaning of Christmas.

On the mini-train- they had so much fun, David was so excited to ride the "chugga chugga choo choo". Their sweet little faces were lit up the entire night, and it was such a great family night. I took a ton of pictures, but this was one of those nights that I hardly got any with them both looking at the camera without having a goofy look. Evidence of said goofy looks:

Yeah....he was very excited! We had so much fun and they are both still talking about it and I hope we will be able to get tickets next year!

 

 

 

Elf On A Shelf- Magglio is back!

Last weekend our Elf, Magglio came to our house. He comes when the Christmas decorations are put up- we think it's because the decorations make him feel a little more at home. ; ) I saw the cutest idea for a breakfast here and knew that I had to do a version of it. Her breakfast was adorable and I LOVED her letters, (googly eyes?!? LOVE!) so of course I had to steal borrow the idea. Here was our "North Pole Breakfast"

 

Hannah loved it and was super excited that Magglio brought them their very own snow globes that they could touch as much as they wanted. (because there is no touching Mommy's)He also brought some coloring books, stampers, and stickers and little reindeer notebooks to put their stickers in. (David had his eyes closed in EVERY shot I got, so no pictures of my little man, but he was very excited). This was a really fun way to welcome Magglio, and I think it will become a fun tradition. 

Magglio has been up to some new tricks this year. The last 2 years he has just moved around from spot to spot, but this year (thank you pinterest) he is stepping out of his shell. One night he dyed the milk his favorite color...

Hannah thought this was great and loved it even more when we got home later in the day and he had moved out of the fridge (too cold) and onto his favorite spot at the top of the tree.

Last night he had a little tea with Woody and Heidi:

They both thought this was fun, and Hannah was especially excited because he used her "good dishes" that are put away and only brought down when David isn't around. Magglio doesn't do something this elaborate every night, but he has a few fun things planned that he will do every few nights. What about you? Do you have an elf that visits your house?

 

Thanksgiving...

Just a little late! Hannah and David were both pilgrims for their school programs this year and they were precious! I think I ended up with more video than photos, which is kind of a shame since I am terrible with the video camera! Here are a couple of pictures of my little pilgrims:

 

We also started a new tradition this year- I saw it years ago on a blog and knew that when Hannah and David were big enough I wanted to do it... A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving! We love the Charlie Brown movies at our house and the "feast" that Snoopy prepares is right up Hannah's alley!

I put the popcorn inside the paper-bag turkey, and Snoopy wore David's pilgrim hat. : )

Daddy "carving" the turkey

Hannah LOVED this, she thought it was so much fun! We actuallly got her to try a few jelly beans, she wasn't too crazy about them, but at least she gave them a try! (Yes, her pickiness even spreads into "treats")

David loved having dinner with Snoopy and I think this will be a fun night-before Thanksgiving tradition!

David is drinking "green juice" - Bolthouse Farms Green Goodness or Naked Juice Green Machine are our favorites- thought I'd add this in, otherwise I know I'll get questions asking what in the world is in his cup!  ; )

The Charlie Brown feast is popcorn, jelly beans, toast and pretzels if you've never seen the show

My Heart is Heavy

The past few weeks have kicked me down,  and my heart feels heavy. We have had family and friends pass away, have had friends and family lose loved ones unexpectedly, lose jobs, lose babies...it has been a tough couple of weeks. Today Mike and I attended the funeral of one of his friends, he was 35 years old and died so unexpectedly- he leaves behind a wife and two children, the youngest is just a baby and I am heartsick for this sweet family.

Hannah and David both knew this friend...he was admitted to the hospital on Thursday and was in pretty rough shape. Friday evening before bed, the kids made get well cards. He passed away Friday evening just an hour or so after they were in bed.  Saturday morning the first thing Hannah did was find her card and ask me if he was better...how exactly do you explain death to a four year old? I told her that he was better, because he had gone to heaven to be with God, and when you are in heaven, you are completely better. I told her we miss people when they are in heaven because they are no longer here with us, but it is a wonderful thing to be with Jesus and be completely better. I wanted to keep my explanation simple and short, Hannah is at an age where she asks a million questions and my emotions were raw, and I was not completely awake for this conversation, (she literally got her card first thing out of bed) and I didn't want to go down the slippery slope of "old" age, and being "sick" because I feel this is really tricky to explain to this age without opening up a fear of dying, sickness, getting older, etc. Thankfully, she accepted my answer and seems to be okay with it. 

My prayer is that all of our friends and  loved ones who are struggling and grieving feel the love and peace of Jesus,  that happier days are ahead, and the comfort of God surrounds them in a way that sinks them deep in the fullness of His love.  If you are struggling or grieving, it is my prayer for you too. It is almost Thanksgiving, and even with everything that we have been dealing with, we have so much to be grateful for, I am blessed beyond anything that I deserve.  I pray that you all have a Thanksgiving that is full of love and hope.