Happy 6th Birthday to our Kali girl!

Our sweet, silly, fun-loving, energetic Kali turned 6 on November 3rd and we had a great time all weekend celebrating! On her actual birthday she woke up to decorations and presents from us. She was so excited she could hardly sit still and eat her yummy pancake breakfast made especially for her. SO we figured with her party on Friday and a family celebration on Sunday with the Stacy fam that we let her open her gifts before school. She was so excited and loves her new scooter and doll. I took McDonald's to Kali for lunch at school and she was feeling pretty special to have Mom and her baby sister Lilly there with her. Kali's choice for dinner was Skipolini's, an Italian/pizza restaurant that has a playground out back and very yummy food!





On our way to Skipolini's for dinner in Dad's new truck. Kali got to ride in the front seat and as you can see her doll "Sophia" came along too. She loves her new ballerina "My Generation" doll. (not to be confused with American Girl Dolls...because that's what she really wanted but I refuse to pay for those ridiculously over priced dolls).
Kali is our silly face girl! Seriously she cracks me up sometimes when I'm trying to get a good pic and she pulls some crazy face. SO then Zach and Madelyn started being silly as well.

Even Lilly wanted to join in on the fun. Haha! Love this girl!

I LOVE these kids!

The PARTY!

Friday night was the big Birthday party with 6 of Kali's friends. It was super simple but the girls seemed to have fun. As they got there I just had a little craft all set up for them to decorate with glitter glue, stickers and jewels and the girls went to town. Once everyone was there we played a few balloon games, Freeze dance, and then had pizza. After pizza all the girls got their nails painted. While waiting to paint nails they played Just Dance 2 on the Wii. Once all were glamorous with freshly painted nails we had cupcakes, opened presents and before we knew it was over. Short, fun, simple, cute....my kind of party! Kali had a blast and loved having her friends there to celebrate with her!






I had a little help from one of our favorite babysitters, Alex. It was great having her there especially with the nail painting part :) Thanks Alex!!




We were missing Kinsey from this picture who had to leave a little early. I'm bummed I didn't think about it before she left. Super cute pic though!! These girls were all so sweet and fun!
Happy 6th birthday to our Kali Girl!! We love you so much and can't imagine life without your spunky fun personality in our family!! We are so proud of you and hope this next year is an awesome one!

Halloween 2011

We had a fun Halloween this year and the kids came home with more candy than I know what to do with...lucky us! So here are a few pics of the fun evening of costumes and trick-or-treating. And yes, Madelyn insisted on wearing the same butterfly costume for the third year in a row. And yes, Zach is wearing his same dragon costume from last year. Kali came up with her own costume after I bought the hat at the Target dollar spot. Gotta love hand-me-downs and kids who don't care about having the latest and greatest and coolest costume...Or maybe I just never took them down the Halloween isle so really they had no idea what was out there. haha!! Happy Halloween!!!!!!

Mark's 50 miler!

He's amazing. I can't believe he actually did it but he did and I couldn't be more proud of my amazingly awesome hot husband! On October 15th Mark ran in the Rockin River 50 mile race from Auburn to Sacramento CA and he did awesome! We were able to meet him at mile 41.5 and cheer him on, give him some fresh socks, ice cold Gatorade and a clean shirt. The Shouse family joined us in the fun and Scott was kind enough to run with Mark the last 8.5 miles to the finish. That was seriously a huge lifesaver and I know Mark appreciated the company and support to get his tired legs to the finish! April and I took the kids and waited for them at the finish so we could cheer them in. Thanks so much Shouse family for all your support! Mark finished in 10 hours 49 minutes and qualified for the Western States 100 miler which was his main goal...although pretty sure he wasn't feeling like running 50 more miles after that! Who does that?! Way to go Mark! I am so proud of you!! Here are some pics of the big event :)

31 years!

Last week on the 28th we celebrated my 31st birthday. Amazing how fast time flies and how I am finally starting to feel old! I had a great day celebrating by going to lunch with my awesome hubby and then he stayed home for the afternoon so that I could go get pampered with a mani/pedi and then an amazing much needed massage! I came home fully rejuvenated and in time to see my sweet kiddos and blow out all 31 candles that they insisted on putting on the awesome chocolate "volcano" cake that Mark made! It really tasted SO good and I am so proud of my sweet husband for even making me a cake (even if it was collapsing!!). The kids LOVED putting the candles on and watching me blow out my bonfire. I then got to leave and enjoy the evening with the ladies at Enrichment night at the church and afterward celebrated with MORE dessert at the Cheesecake Factory! I really feel so blessed to have such amazing friends and the BEST husband who knows how to make me happy! 31 years and I have so much to be proud of and grateful for! I love my sweet family so much!!
The video was taken by Kali...for your enjoyment :)

Madelyn's first Preschool Field Trip!

In September, Madelyn's preschool took their first field trip to the Old Town Pizza Factory right here in our little town of Lincoln and it was so fun! They first took the kids on a tour back in the kitchen and showed them where the pizza was made and then they had the table all set up for them to make their own little personal pizzas. The kids LOVED this part and were so proud of their pizzas. While their pizzas were cooking they had a fun coloring page and then we had a pizza party and the kids all got to eat their very own pizza. Madelyn loved this part and wasn't quite sure what to do with the cooked pineapple that she put on her pizza. haha! She did take it off and ate just the plain cheese pizza. Miss Jane does such a great job with these kids and Madelyn LOVES going to school (especially with her little friend Taya)...she would go everyday if she could!! We are looking forward to more fun field trips in the future!

7 months and sitting!

Our sweet Lillian is 7 months old now! How time flies!! She is finally sitting up on her own and loving it!! She still isn't quite crawling but VERY close...it's only days now I'm sure until she will be full on mobile. For now though, I am enjoying every minute of this sweet little girl and what a fun age this is! She brings a smile to my face even on the tough days and I am so grateful for this sweet little blessing in our home. We just love her to pieces!!