Finding JOY in the Journey

The Wedding!

Brittany is married!!! It was such a wonderful day full of family, fun and happiness. I am sooo happy for her!!!

Normally I don't like collages because they are so hard to see. If you click on them they get bigger. :)

Several months ago, even before Brittany was engaged, she asked if when she got married I would make her a cake with fondant figures. I didn't know if I would have time, but decided since she gave me plenty of warning, I had no excuse. My girls are great helpers mixing the colors and here Kelsi was mixing the cake batter. We had a lot of fun. I am so happy for my sister!!! She married a great guy and her kids adore him.

Cousins!!!

Kelley drove with her kids 18 hours to come home for the wedding. Her kids have not been home for 2 years and it was WONDERFUL to see them! Thanks Kelley! The cousins took up right where they left off. They adore each other. We had such a delightful time together with pirate parties and a trip to This is the Place and just BEING together!!! Cousins are the best! I grew up really close to my cousins even though we lived far apart and I am grateful to see the love these kids have for each other.

Happy Easter!

Baby Animal Days

We have a pass to This is the Place Park and it is about to expire. Since it is spring break this week, we decided to go. Little did I know that is was Baby Animals Days and they had TONS of stuff going on. It was quite fun. We invited Jessica's friend Abbi from school and her family to come with us.

Friday night party!

We had a really fun and entertaining evening tonight. We had a pizza and movie night. Kelsi mixed the pizza dough and then I let each of the kids (well- Jes and Kelsi) roll out a pizza, spread the sauce and add toppings. I helped Kelsi some, but Jes pretty much did it by herself. There was some squabbling over who could stand on the stool, but over all it was REALLY fun. While Jes was making her pizza, Kelsi helped clean up the crackers Devin spilled all over the floor, and then she cut up all of the strawberries and lettuce (with a table knife) for our salad. DJ went to the store during this and bought ice cream, cheese and picked up Tangled from Redbox. We had a GREAT time watching the movie, eating our pizza and salad, trying to keep Devin from grabbing all of our food off our plates or drink from ALL of our waters. (For some reason he ended up back in the high chair to finish eating.) We snuggled on the couch, ate a little ice cream, and danced to the credits music. What a FUN night! I was a little busy to take pictures, but I did get a couple.

My favorite moments: I gave Devin an olive. He took it, immediately put it on his finger and held it up to show me with a very proud grin. Then he popped it in his mouth. Wonder where he learned that from...

At one point, all three kids were on the stool. Kelsi was trying to reach something, Jessica was supposed to be spreading her sauce, but instead she was holding Devin's arms to his sides trying to keep him from grabbing everything as he was leaning over trying to lick the sauce off the dough.

The other day we were driving in the car and I asked Devin where his nose was. He pointed to his nose and said "no.." Then he proceeded to stick his finger up his nose, laugh, say "no.." and snigger again and stick it up even further. Oh boy.

Quote from Kelsi earlier today: I was showing her pictures from her baby book, including pictures of her blessing dress that my mom made. She asked who made her born dress. I said "huh?" Then I realized what she was talking about. I said "No one. You didn't have any clothes on when you were born. Where would you get clothes from in my tummy?" She replied matter of factly. "Grandma Bear."

Oh- and my kids have most of the words to "Friday" memorized. We had a great Friday night tonight partying partying Yeah!

Family Pictures from... uh.. October?

Pregnant and Barefoot in the Kitchen

Snow Days

Who says that Gingerbread houses are only for Christmas time? The girls asked to make some today and I thought why not? We had lots of Graham crackers and royal icing is REALLY easy with Meringue powder. This was a GREAT way to use up the leftover Valentine candy. :)

Some Fun Random Pics

I am just going to type everything at the beginning. I don't know why my text is always messed up. Ideas?

Happy Winter everyone. How are you fairing at this time of year? We are just chilling and having fun. I am so enjoying this stage of each of my kids. Jessica is in Kindergarten and loving it. I love helping in the classroom and doing homework with her. Her teacher is FANTASTIC!!! We had some fun with curls yesterday and her hair is still remarkably curly today. (These were from yesterday)
The picture in our car was after Devin's birthday at my parents. This is my favorite way to arrive home which is why we always bring pajamas and toothbrushes wherever we go at night.