Golden Birthday! Masie's 4 on the 4th!

Our little cheeser turned 4 this year.  Her little personality is sure starting to shine through that cute little smile.  Having her birthday on a major holiday has always brought for interesting celebrations but they have always been fun.  She really wanted to have a balloon fight so I bought that amazing quick filling balloons and had at it in the back yard.  She was in heaven.  Of course we had pancakes, opened presents and then got ready for the day.

 Some friends invited us over for a Bbque and a little celebration.

 We hung out and played games and chatted and then headed down to a nearby baseball field to watch the fireworks.  It was a perfect view without the mess of the crowds.

 Happy birthday to this spunky firecracker of a 4 year old.  Our family wouldn't be the same without you!

Last Day of School 2016-We have another Graduate!

Yes it's true!  One more has graduated from elementary school!  Micah is officially a Middle Schooler, not sure how that happened.  He is really excited to be done with elementary school and onto bigger and better things.  He is such a hard worker and loves to learn. 

 Mrs. Bentson was a great transition teacher for Micah.  Moving after school started is always hard on everyone, but we were fortunate to have some awesome teachers help with the transition and she was one of them.

Malia loved Mr. Eckoff.  He was great and really knew how to keep her on task.  She is our little social butterfly that gets easily distracted by her friends.  He always seemed to be able to reign her back in. Thanks for a great 4th grade year!

 Micah will miss Parkview, at least we still have Malia there for a couple more years.  It has been great!

I couldn't forget these two.  They are always by my side relishing in their siblings accomplishments!

Unfortunately I didn't take last day pics of the older girls, but they didn't mind, lol.

Visits and crazy kids

Towards the end of January my parents decided to head out  again to visit their grand kids.  They first stopped at our house for a few days before going to visit with other kids.  It was having them for a few days.

Uncle Billy had 2 business trips to take to Minneapolis and visited with us the first time and crashed at our house the second.  It's always great when family has to come see us, lol.

Oh and we took him to Costco for a Usinger Brat.  They sell them in the food court and are the best Brat around.

Masie found a purple marker and apparently has watched her older sister putting on makeup a little too much.  She was upset when I first discovered her. so I tried to lighten up her mood with some selfies.

 

 Kaders is notorious for falling asleep on the way home from church.  It doesn't matter what we do to try and keep him awake. We yell at him, startle him, sing really loud.  His internal nap clock goes off right at 12:15 on Sunday's.  I mean, not even a lollipop will keep this lil dude awake. 

Masie's 3!

Since Masie's birthday will always fall on a holiday, we have to be more creative how we celebrate.  Since we will always be out doing stuff in the evening on her birthday we try to let her open her presents in the morning before the chaos ensues.  So I made her her pancakes and let her enjoy her presents.

 Later that afternoon we went to the Bland's again for a barbeque and fireworks.  And of course I offered to bring the dessert for our little Patriotic Princess.

 Maybe next year she'll start understanding how cool it is that her birthday lands on such a fun holiday.  I will never get tired of making a patriotic cake for this little firecracker.

Kaders 9 months

We've really become creative in how we get this little guy to sit long enough to get any shots done.  This time it was the binky and a bell.

 It didn't last long though

 We got at least one of his cute little toothy smile.

 But he was more interested in the camera than cooperating.

 And this was the best we could do.  legs were not going down for this one, at all!

 Especially when he found the cord blinds.  (Don't worry, this bed is not right next to the blinds except for these pictures because of the lighting)

 One more wiggly legged stinker

 Before he realized just what he was lying next to.

 And...we're done.

  Love this kid

 And so are the blocks.

 We had to get at least one bath shot.  These two love baths.

Masie's 2!!!

We quickly made some friends in our new ward and were invited to a 4th of July party at their parents house.  Of course we had to celebrate Masie's Birthday while we were there so I offered to make some cakes, and of course it's the 4th of July so I HAD to make them patriotic.

 Our cute little firecracker!  Hard to believe she's 2!

 I'm so glad I got this pic.  This was one of the first times that Masie met Aww-Bee (Aubrey).  They became best buds and would ask for to see each other all of the time.  Age didn't matter, they just loved to play together.  

 Happy Birthday Sweet Masie!!!