Forte/ Windes Pictures....

It's not too often that I have my family all in the same place.  I wanted to take advantage of this moment and get a picture.  I am very thankful for everyone in this picture.

My Mom always says that if you stick me in the middle we all look like brother and sisters.  I think she is right.  If you take me out I don't think Aleisha and John look anything alike.  But I think I have a mix of both.

Opening Presents!

This of course is Andrew's most favorite part.  And is seemed to be all of the other kids favorite part too.  They all were so close.  Andrew even had two of his buddies arguing about who was his best friend.

Happy Birthday to Andrew!

Andrew was so excited about his birthday cake.  Here he is with his big cousin Michael and best buddy Nick.  We don't have a full video showing everyone in the room, but you can hear them.  It was so sweet to see everyone standing and singing.  And you can see in the beginning of the video how special Andrew felt. 

My buddy Sara stepped right in and helped me with the cake and ice cream....because once the song was over the kids were almost climbing the table asking for some.

Star Wars Lego's

Nineteen kids fit on this tarp to watch the movie on the big screen.  What a perfect plan...and it was Andrew's idea.  James was nervous about spills and stains and I don't think we even had one.

I think the adults enjoyed the movie also.  It was pretty loud in here with James' awesome surround sound.

The Birthday Boy!

So excited to wear his brand new Lego Star Wars shirt.

Time fly's.  I know I keep saying that and have probably mentioned it in each of the kids birthday posts.  But it is so true.  This is my baby.  My little boy.  He's getting too big.  I am enjoying today but sometimes it is hard not to think back and wish they weren't getting older.  If only you could freeze time.

Andrew having a seat with Papa!  I think they were having some deep conversations.

Time for a Lego Party!!!

Poor Andrew will never have a big summer birthday party.  So we need to make his party as fun as possible.  At this point he doesn't seem to recognize the difference.  Eventually we will be needing to have his parties somewhere else.  But for today we crammed 50 people into our house.

Andrew wanted a Lego party so he and I worked hard all week to get everything prepared.  Last minute he asked for C3PO and R2D2 characters.

Lego straws, Lego men, and fun Lego cakes.  (thank you Bethany for the fun square cake pan and for all of your help)

And we also decided to invite some of Andrew's friends to sit and watch.

Sleepover with Cousins

The Goshen Beans made it up to Muskegon for the night before Andrew's big party.  We had planned for Brooke to sleep in Addy's room but the birthday boy was feeling left out.  So I moved all of Addy's stuffed animals and set up a spot for Andrew.  I remember sleeping this way with my cousins.

The kids were very excited to sleep together.  And thankfully they did sleep.

Not as if the 10 or more inches was enough.....

Living on the corner of the road means that you get the most snow plowed and pushed at the end of your driveway.  This is actually our neighbors drive because I had already shoveled ours with the help of two generous neighbors.  James was able to get out before the plow went through.

But I must add that James felt I could just plow through this and not have to shovel.  He wanted me to wait until he got home.  We disagreed on the van's capability of doing this.  I chose to shovel before I left for fear of getting stuck...but of course he still stands by the thought I could plow through.

And I also must add that yesterday 2/27/13 (in real time) we got another 10 or more inches of heavy snow and he tried to plow through it after shoveling just a bit.....and he got stuck, and I mean stuck.  It took an hour of shoveling under the car and laying salt to get him out.  I think it's hard for James to realize that we don't have our four wheel drive Jeep anymore. 

Play date with Jersey!!!

We have been looking forward to this day for awhile.  Adeline has her friend Jersey coming over to play for the afternoon.  Jersey is in Addy's class and was also on her soccer team.  We had a very fun afternoon.  First we got the homework out of the way, then we read their new library books, they played in the playroom and Addy's room.  Once Andrew woke up he got to play with the girls and they were very nice to him.  We drew and colored a lot of pictures telling stories.

After dinner we all played Mouse Trap!  Jersey had never played Mouse Trap before and she sure seemed to like it.

This was a pretty fun day!  Can't wait until the next one!

Ice Cream and Presents....

After we left the palace we went for a ride to get some ice cream.  Andrew was very excited to sit in his new seat without a back.  Now that he is 4 and 40 pounds he is a "big" kid just like Sissy.

James found this cool bag that came with a fun card.  Star Wars Lego's!!!

There are no pictures of Andrew opening his gift because when he did he was not happy with what was inside.  I am glad he responded this way with my gift and hopefully won't with anyone else's gift.  It was just another Star Wars Lego but it was some guy he didn't want.
Instead James took him to the store and they were able to find a Darth Vador Lego!!  We have been looking all over for this but it seemed to only come with the Millennium Falcon which is $140.  But James found it along with a Lego watch for $15.

Pizza Time

This place was packed.  We only had enough for each kid to have one slice, and one drink.  Thankfully we didn't run out and had about five pieces to spare.

Little Cheers

Every Saturday for the next eight weeks we will be dropping Adeline off outside this door of the community center and picking her up forty-five minutes later.  We are not allowed in until the last Saturday where they will have a performance and show us all of the cheers they have learned.

Kangaroo Palace

Today our church rented out Kangaroo Palace for a few hours for fun and pizza.  We signed up to have 40 kids there and ended up with 76.  It was crazy and the fullest Kangaroo Palace has ever been.  Adeline invited her friend Chayse to come with her.  They both needed to leave in the middle to go to their first cheer-leading practice.  That's right, cheer-leading.  It is the most inexpensive form of dance that I could sign Adeline up for.  It's nothing big, just a time for little girls to learn fun little cheers.

Adeline and Chayse

Andrew and his best buddy Nick

Andrew had a hard time when we showed up because he just assumed that since it is his birthday, this would be his party.  We kept reminding him that his party is next week and that we'll have a week long celebration.

This is not a good place for Ryan Corbin.  He is so anti anything like this.  Here he is holding up one finger to three girls at the top of a slide (one being Sophie) letting them know that only one can go down at a time.  What I loved was Sophie's response when she did go down by herself but on her back,  head first.

Andrew really wanted me to go down with him.  According to the owner his 400 pound friend can go down the slide so I wasn't concerned about breaking anything.

Me and the birthday boy!

Fun shots of the palace

After Adeline's cheer practice we brought her and Chayse back for pizza and more play time.  Adeline was very happy because then she got to see Maya!