Kitty Soft Paws

Family movie night was Puss in Boots.  After the movie the kids went upstairs to get ready for bed.  And this is what James and I came up to.  Adeline had tied a tail around her waist, put on some shoes, and my favorite socks on her hands.  James grabbed the camera and asked her to pose.

Lincoln Park Crew

I think at least once a month Lincoln Park has an assembly.  In each class they also have a drawing with their "crew" (good behavior) tickets.  The kids will either get a small toy if their name is drawn, snack with the Principal, or a t-shirt.  Today was Addy's lucky day.  She got her name drawn for the t-shirt.  She was so proud and so excited to wear it tomorrow for the school assembly.

What a big girl.

And of course Andrew needed to have his picture taken also.

Aunt Betsey's Droid

James convinced Betsey to not throw her droid phone up against the the wall with frustration once she got her iPhone but to instead send it to us.  Neither of us use the phone because it would require a data plan but James made it so that the kids could play games on it.  They spent probably a good hour taking turns playing angry birds, some motorcycle game, and they also took their own picture and distorted it. 

You can see Adeline wearing her crown with Rapunzel dress but I also wanted to show you all just how long her hair is.  She wears this EVERY day.

Time to wake up

Yeah, so James for some reason pulled out this gun he has probably had since his Youth Pastor days and let the kids play with it.  Well.....one of the kids fell in love with it and calls it his "shooter".  It doesn't "shoot" anything but when you pull the trigger it lets out a very loud/rapid machine gun noise.  Andrew even slept with it in his bed the night before.  AND decided to come into our room first thing in the morning and pull the trigger.  That's one way to wake up on a Saturday morning.  Lucky for him Daddy and I found it to be pretty funny.

Movie time

When it got late all the kids laid down with their own pillows while I popped the popcorn.

Aliyah got a bath before hand so I got to see her hair all curly.  Super cute.

Time for fresh air

We bundled the kids up and took them outside for a fun walk.

Check out sweet Adeline with Aliyah holding hands.

Some time at Nana and Papa's

The kids and I headed down for the day to see Nana and Papa and their two guests for the week Michael and Aliyah.  The kids instantly hit it off playing pretty well together.

Andrew with his Papa

The above shot is one of the best shots I have seen of Aliyah.

She is beautiful.

Now, I got the one I wanted with both girls looking.

Thank You Grandma Kay!

The kids special Valentine's Day bags from Grandma Kay.  They were filled with candy and little Valentine monkeys.

Thanks Grandma!

Valentine's Day Hair

I wanted to do a heart braid in Addy's hair for Valentine's Day.  I had an idea of what it would look like but hadn't attempted it yet.  First I did a practice round with just a regular french braid style.  It was okay but I thought maybe the inside out braid would be better.

So I gave the kids a bath and with half dried hair I braided Addy's hair.  I was very happy with how it turned out.  And she was very excited to go to school and show everyone her heart braid.

 And this is how it looked after.....love it!

Watching Andrew play with his toys

I credit much of Andrew's creative imagination to his sister Adeline.  Adeline who was laying off to the side on the couch sick with the flu was not up for playing.  So here we see Andrew in his own element.

Opening some presents...

Adeline got to sit with Brooke and help open her presents.

After Brooke was done it was Gabby's turn.

I love the skirt.

Brooke and Gabby's Cousins

Both girls with all of their cousins!

Gabby and Brooke Birthday songs

Gabby woke up just in time to celebrate the birthday cake.

She was having a lot of fun playing peek-a-boo with Marissa.  It was so cute to watch.

Gabby is holding a pretzel in the picture above but it kind of looks like she is sticking her finger out saying "no, no Marissa".

I am just assuming Gabby was given a bath after the party.

Scooping up Mermaids....

There were two fun games for the kids and each game resulted in some sort of present.

First the kids dug in the sand to find hidden toys.

And then they began diving for Mermaids.

Two very creative, entertaining games.

Brooke and Gabby's Birthday Party

It's a beach party theme!  With Brooke's birthday in January and Gabby's in February they will probably never have a actual beach party.  So Bethany decided to have an "indoor" beach party.

We had foot sandwiches, 

flip-flop cookies, 

and very yummy sand and water cupcakes.  They were delicious.

This was the first time we had been to Josh and Bethany's house in Goshen.  The place was filled with both Bethany and Josh's families.  This is the first birthday celebration with everyone together (besides Betsey)

"Can I sit in my big boy seat?"

This is what Andrew has asked me everyday since we put him in his new seat.  He anxiously waits for the car to stop so that "he" can push the button to release his seat belt.  The baby seat really is officially gone.