Lukie turns 2!

I can't believe my little Lukie is two! We had a really mild birthday for him this year. Grandma and Grandpa Mineer were in town to see Evie and visit great-grandma, and Grandpa bought Luke an ice cream cake for his birthday.

By the time it got home Luke and the boys were already in bed, so we had ice cream cake for breakfast the next morning and opened presents with Grandma and Grandpa.

Luke was terrified of the fire on the cake, but once the candles were blown out he dug right in.

Kale's finishes kindergarten!

Kale finished Kindergarten in June and his program was so adorable. His last few weeks were filled with field trips and fun activities. He loved kindergarten, and is a great reader, writer, and counter!

Here is Kale and his teacher Mrs. Stephens.

and his best friend, Olivia. They have been friends since the very first day of school.

Here they are getting ready to 'perform'

She's here!

We welcomed Evelyn to our family at 8:09 am on April 28th. This labor was a lot longer than the other three, and, unfortunately lasted all night long :( My doctor this time wanted me to come in at 8 pm on Tuesday night to start labor, expecting that I would sleep all night, wake up in labor, and then labor for a few hours. Well....he should have listened to me because he was wrong. The medication they gave me to trigger labor actually started me contracting right away instead of the 6-8 hours he expected, and I spent the next six hours laying in bed waiting for my water to break. Finally at seven thirty in the morning my doctor came in for rounds, broke my water, and she was ready to come within 20 minutes. Even though I've known since December that she was a girl, I cried when it was official. I think a part of me just wouldn't believe it until I saw it. She was so alert in those first minutes, and when they laid her on my chest I said hello to her, and she turned her head and looked right at me.

She was awake for over an hour, just checking out this great big world. My best friend and sister-in-law was able to be there for the delivery, and was so special to have her there. The following day Mark brought the boys in to meet her, and they were so excited.

They came flying into the room, and Kale wanted to hold her immediately. He got to feed her a bottle, and thought it was so funny when she sucked his fingers.

Luke was a little intimidated by her but once we put her on his lap he was all smiles.

Jack was a little indifferent. He was excited to see her, but not too interested either. It is so much fun to have a little princess in our home!

watch it grow

Easter

I only have one shot of Easter for some reason.....Compared to last year it was a very quiet holiday.

First Tooth Fairy Visit

Mark and the boys spent the week between Christmas and New Years in Montana, while I stayed home alone and worked. When they left Kale's tooth was pretty loose, and every night on the phone I made sure Mark new how upset I would be if he pulled it out while he was in Montana, because I wanted to be there for the experience. So...when they got home I was so glad to see he had no holes in his smile. Then the night they got home, New Year's Eve, while I was at work, I got a picture message from Mark, and this is what I saw when I opened it.....
oh, I was heartbroken! I mean, look at that face!! You can tell he was upset, but trying so hard not to show it, but excited all at the same time, and I wanted to hug him so bad! Kale doesn't do well with pain at all, and I know losing a tooth can sometimes hurt just a little, but for Kale a little is a lot. I found out later that those tears dried on his cheeks weren't from the 'pain' but from the anticipation. He had bitten into an apple and his tooth was basically sticking straight out the front, so he and Mark yanked it out, and the waiting, and having dad's big fingers in his mouth got him a little nervous. But he made a point to tell me that it didn't hurt at all :)

Kale turns six

Kale turned six this year, and every one of his birthdays makes me cry. For some reason his are harder on me than the other boys' birthdays. Must be because he's my first, and by the time Jack will turn six it won't be such a big milestone for me. This year we had a small present/cupcake party at our house, just the five of us, but then we met the Mineers at Chuck-E-Cheese's to play, and then to Arctic Circle for ice cream and cupcakes a few days later.

Mark and I were really excited about our present for him....we finally got that boy a Nintendo DS, and he was so excited. I just couldn't capture it on camera though.

I think Chuck-E-Cheese was designed with boys like Kale in mind (and his dad, of course) These guys could have played for hours and hours. And I was surprised at how much fun even I had.

Here's the little dudes chillin at the Cheese

...and the big kids at the Circle....

.....and the big boys too!

Happy Birthday Kale, we love you so much!

Christmas, 2009

Christmas was fun, and low-key for us this year. This was the first year we weren't within driving distance of any grandparents, which was fun and sad at the same time. It was nice to not have any company or go anywhere, but kinda lonely. I also had to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas day this year, so we celebrated a few days early. We had a talk with Kale and asked him if it was ok if we called Santa and re-scheduled, and he said, 'no problem!'

Here is Kale playing with his favorite toy, his legos. This kid is so in love with legos!

And here is Jack with his favorite toy, a new train set. It's great because the trains are battery powered and drive around the track all by themselves.

And here is Luke with his favorite present, a barrel of cheese balls. He pushes the barrel around the house and snacks all day long.

Here are the boys in their Christmas pajamas from Grandma Wendy. This was the first year I didn't know what they were going to look like, so it was fun for me to watch them open them as well.

All dressed up for church!!

Oh....and we have another Christmas surprise as well........we are pregnant! We found out in August that we were expecting, but decided to keep it a secret from everyone until we were able to find out if it was a girl or a boy. My entire family came down the first weekend in December for my niece's baptism, and we told everyone over lunch that we are expecting a little girl in May. We are all so excited, and a little anxious about what a little girl will bring to a house full of boys!