This was the sweetest first birthday anyone could ever dream up!

 

So thankful for special friends and their little miracles!

Hudson is one of our heroes, for sure! So proud of this super strong and resilient kid! There was not a dry eye in the room during his visit with Santa, whose compassion knows no bounds. #typenone

 

The middle sissies get a turn in the spotlight!

  

Rose very seriously requesting a Baby Alive doll, which was the first time I’d heard about it. Since Finley’s party, she has talked about nothing else and forgot everything she wanted in the past. It is tunnel vision for that doll. Oh dear!

I promise she’s such a good girl!

Harper, Finley, and Hudson make a great team!

I’m so proud of our girls!!! They are good through and through.

Smash cakes are the best!

Happy birthday, Finley! xoxo

 

The girls both won the best Grinch story and picture from their class, and their story and art work was displayed in the cafeteria as a special reward. Anna Kate’s Grinch is the one on the green construction paper, left picture, and Noelle’s is the picture on the right. If you click to make them big, you can read their little stories. They did such a great job, and we were so proud of our girls!!!

 

Party days are crazy because all the grades hold their parties at the same time, but it’s a ton of fun too! 

Noelle’s class did an ornament exchange this year, and Anna Kate’s class did a book exchange.

Cayla, Lila and Anna Kate have had so much fun in the same class together!

 

We’re so thankful for such sweet and loving teachers. They have been a huge blessing to our family this year!

 

Anna Kate crafting and Noelle with her super sweet computer teacher.

Although I missed Anna Kate’s book exchange, I did get to help her with a few crafts. I missed Noelle’s crafts this year but caught her ornament exchange. They both had such a great time!

 

Jaycie and Anna Kate and Emerson, Noelle and Weeko – sweet friends!

We ended the day stopping by to wish our biggest cheerleader a Merry Christmas!

Field Trip fun with Cutie Kate and her 1st grade friends to see “Frosty” the musical—We loved it!

 

We had an awesome night with Santa and our neighbors at our annual Christmas party!

Anna Kate delivered her Christmas list to Santa, as arranged. She was so happy!

 

Rose adores Mrs. Claus!

Shelby, Rose and Katie

 

Anna Kate and Malia and Cameron and Noelle

 

Noelle and sweet Mrs. Claus and Julia with the big girls! What a fun night!

 

  

Harper, Lucy and Rose have had so much fun being in the same preschool class together this year! We sure are thankful for sweet little friends!

Rose, Roman, Lucy and Harper

I wish I had time to post the video of all this! Check out a tiny clip on Instagram if you need a laugh! They were adorable tonight!

Sassy friends after the show!

 

Noelle and Emerson and Rose being Rose!

 

Noelle had just come from school and Leading Ladies, but she was so excited to cheer on her baby sissy. Rara was even able to come watch Rose sing her little heart out! It was a wonderful night!

Ava, Gabby, Georgia, Noelle and Hannah had a blast making these cute gift bags with scarves inside for the residents of a local nursing home with their awesome girls group called Leading Ladies. We practiced how to introduce yourself and make conversation with a new friend you don’t know very well yet.

 

The girls were really excited and loved every minute of their visit!

 

The conversations were priceless, and we can’t wait to go back and catch up where we left off. The lady on the left is Mrs. O’rear, and she said she’s been called Mrs. “O” lots of other stuff throughout her life. She was hilarious! Everyone was so sweet and kind!

I asked the nurse if everyone had gotten a scarf, and she smiled so mischievously and said, “No everyone.” and held out her hand. It was awesome! I’m almost certain I’ve cut up in a grocery store line with her or somewhere, but I still cannot think of why she looks so familiar. Service is so important and so good for the soul, and my absolute favorite thing to do with the girls! We’ve had so much fun getting to do several projects with their friends this Christmas season!

Santa Chuck Lee and Mrs. Claus came to kick off the holiday season with us by reading books, taking pictures, having tea and snacks, bringing us Taylor, our elf, and leaving us looking so forward to Christmas with Santa’s truly amazing performance of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas!

 

 

 

Picture time! Jax listened to the entire story time, until the mouse came out, but wanted right back in on the action during pictures. He’s the best dog, and perfect for our girls to love and care for when Poppa and Rara need attentive dog sitters. Isn’t this a great looking bunch? We love our Santa and Mrs. Claus so much!

 

Rose on her very best behavior!

 

Our Santa took the frustration out of Christmas for Noelle and filled it with love and magic! She truly does have a Santa that loves and cares for her, and she knows it. It’s a real relationship, and we are forever grateful!

  

Precious penguin time with Mrs. Claus!

 

Anna Kate fell apart this year because she did not know what she wanted for Christmas. It was like being called on in class and just not knowing the answer. Of course, Santa to the rescue! He knew we’d be seeing him the following week, so he told her she could take all the time she needed and give her list to him then. That made it all better! 

 

Mrs. Claus had a bag full of furry friends! The girls loved bonding with her and her little buddies!

 

We made Santa hats out of strawberries and whip cream for our brownie treats! Santa did a great job on his!

Who could it be? Look how excited the girls are!

It’s Taylor, our scout elf! The girls were so excited to see our silly elf had returned!

Santa made sure to talk to the girls about helping out around the holidays and being good girls. I sure am thankful for that!

Although I was still a little under the weather, I cannot tell you the joy our sweet Santa and Mrs. Claus bring into our lives and our home. Thank you guys from the bottom of our hearts! xoxo

I love Rose’s first little school project so much and totally forgot to post it! For anyone who has never had this project, the students bring home a blank turkey and they have to disguise it any way they would like with the idea that the farmer will hopefully spare it for Thanksgiving. Of course, I helped her at this stage in the project game, but she worked really hard on it and did a great job!

 

The Tiger cheerleaders had an awesome end of season cheer party to celebrate their first season!

 

Lots going on in our world right now. We care so much for those hurting and in countries that are torn apart by war and violence.

 

We finally got to have Emily over this fall! It’s so hard since she’s moved, and we miss her a lot, but it’s always so great when the girls can be reunited! They made up a really cute play one afternoon. Anna Kate was the director, Noelle was the queen, Emily was the princess, and Rose was the maid, lol! They’re so fun and creative!

  

Mom made a banana bread that was delicious over Thanksgiving. I wish I could get our littles to stop sucking their fingers!!! I’ll tell you what, you will definitely see baby #4 in mittens with a paci all.the.time. I cannot let that little baby find those fingers!

 

Rose squired whip cream all over the kitchen, of course!

  

 

 

These are a few proofs from Rose’s tap photo shoot that I finally got around to taking! Better late than never. She’s a doll baby!

 

I love this!

 

Jackson lives across the street, and his mom got this super cute picture of him and Anna Kate at Halloween. Since it was on my phone, it was a little late getting here. Okay, this next picture is just so funny. So Rose fell down and cried her little heart out. The big girls brought her a pillow, blanket, ice pack, water, and wash cloth to help her feel better. When I walked in, the entire family was gathered around her making sure she was okay. It just cracked me up so much. We all see her as our baby. I think we will just have two babies, because I don’t see an end to the big girls mothering Rose.

 

Clarissa’s boyfriend, Greg, got in a riding accident in the desert and broke his back and several bones in his legs. You remember, the cutie that just came to visit us in Texas last month? They live in California, and he is at a hospital in Denver still recovering and will be for several more weeks. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. He’s such a great guy, and we love him like family already!

 

Front and back of Anna Kate’s card. I love how she wrote “Open it” and then there’s a Christmas scene on back.

 

The girls doing a little black Friday shopping! We love shopping the sales but mostly enjoy just being out in the hustle and bustle!

We had a fall that came on slowly this year but was beautiful once it got here!

 

Mike makes us his perfect steaks every couple of weeks, and it’s by far our favorite meal!

The girls were so excited to spot a 1989 on their Cotton Patch booth. They sure do love Taylor Swift!

I thought of this idea to announce baby #4 super late in November and no one had pumpkins anywhere! I was really surprised because it was the week of Thanksgiving, but I learned this year, if you don’t buy them in October, they’re gone. A worker at a produce shop said, “Your best bet is your friends’ front porches.” So that’s what we did. I rounded up 5 but couldn’t find a 6th. Rose had one from school that she had painted and I thought, “Well, that does look a lot like Rose!” But my poor baby! I couldn’t do that to her. Finally, I thought, I’ll just scrub that pumpkin as hard as I can and see if the paint will come off. It did, and we were back in business. This is just a little back story of how the pumpkin announcement came to be!

 

Anna Kate had a blast at Brylee’s swim party at a hotel! The girls have been so good to me this fall. I have been extremely sick this fall, and they have been my little nurses and helpers. I give my all to them, but they give it right back to me. They are such little love hearts! And I am all better now, and it feels so good, especially going into winter break! 

 

Noelle made this cute turkey in crafty club, and Anna Kate wrote the cutest paper at school about our Florida trip from last summer. She remembered it so well!

Eden had a Pajama Party themed sleepover for her birthday this year. Her mom rocked it out, as always. The girls had so much fun making smores, playing games and sleeping under this amazing tent!!!

  

We all agree Eden is one of the cutest kids in the world!!! Happy birthday, Eden! We love you!

 

Anna Kate and Sydney had fun at their 1st grade play! Here’s our #4 pumpkin, glowing in the dark. The back left side was a little rotted before I even started carving it. #gross This project was a labor of love for our newest little pumpkin Pond!

Rose had the cutest place setting at her Thanksgiving feast at school!

 

My Mom (Rara) made this beautiful centerpiece out of old book pages, candlesticks and ornaments. She’s super creative! Rose is such a ham!

 

When Mike cuts us apples, something like this always happens. This was his version of a turkey. I love him with all of my heart! Noelle took this when Rose was giving me a hard time about wiping her nose. I guess you could call this picture real life!

 

The Ladybugs had a great end of season pizza party to celebrate their first soccer season. Getting a trophy was such a big deal for these girls, as most of them have older siblings with lots of trophies. The second Rose got home and was showing her sisters, the ball got knocked off the top of her trophy. She said, “Mom, don’t worry. You can just hot glue it.” So that’s what we did.

 

Selfies after cheer competition at Cheesecake Factory!

I’m so thankful for these healthy, sassy girls!

Go Tigers!

Here was the awards ceremony at competition. All the teams together made for a very colorful gym!

 

Cheering squad for the cheering squad! Noelle’s hair has stayed so blonde over the years. I have people ask me all the time in public if I color it. The answer is, “Heck no!” No, I don’t. She just has really unique, gorgeous hair. Lucky duck! And she curls and styles it all by herself. She watches YouTube tutorials a lot and is really interested in style, makeup, fashion, all of it. Good for her. She’s always been interested those forms of art, and she’s really creative with the ideas she has and the things she tries. Her talents are specific but hard to quantify. She’ll keep expressing herself her way and doing her thing. She’s so awesome, and I’m so proud of her!!!

 

More cheer and soccer! This fall was crazy with games and practices all over the place. Doing this with a newborn will be crazy, I’m sure, but we’ll figure it out!

 

Speaking of figuring it out, leaning on friends is the key with multiple kids. I have friends in each of the girls grades that trade and swap pick-ups with me, and I don’t know how I’d do it without them. These are a few of my very best friends, and I am so thankful for each one of them! 

 

Rose’s friend, Harper, had the cutest princess party this fall. Rose was in heaven! Happy birthday, Harper!

 

The Paris attack was really hard on all of us. It’s very healing that there are so many good people out there reaching out and sharing love on social media. It touched me to read all of the well wishes and healing thoughts and prayers for Paris.

 

We are ready for Christmas! Bring it on! xoxo