Welcome!

This blog began as we documented our adoption of our third child, Caleb. It is now an eclectic journal of our often amusing lifestyle with 4 young children.

We do try to "keep it simple" because our lives are obviously busy enough! We try to hold true to what we firmly believe is the most important: family, friends, and faith.

We hope you enjoy our everyday happenings!

12/16/09

December at our house

Last Saturday was Meghan's birthday. It is hard to believe that she is already six years old. As everyone seems to know, kids sure grow up fast!!!!!!

Meghan even got to see Santa on her birthday.

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The kids with two of their cousins.
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Ah yes, the ballerina birthday cake.

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The big birthday girl. Happy Birthday, Meg!



Visiting Santa.
If you look closely, you can see Keith holding Mariah up. It was the only way she'd go by Santa!


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The eldest three were okay with Santa. Caleb would go by him as long as Jared went, too.

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Meghan was a bit shy, but still did great with Santa this year.

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Jared wasn't a fan of sitting on Santa's lap this year...so he just stood in front of him.



These two are really turning into little buddies.


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Oh, this is so disgusting! That's ketchup on Mariah's cereal. She insisted on having it. You will notice that the ketchup was in the small bowl, I couldn't put it directly on the cereal, but she had no problem doing that. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!!!!

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Mariah decided what to wear. What an outfit, huh?

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Meghan got a really cute personalized apron for her birthday. Maybe one day, Caleb will let her wear it.

12/4/09

Christmas Pictures

We took the kids to the Picture People last weekend to get their pictures taken. Here is one of our favorites!


Honestly, I may be biased, but aren't they just beautiful?!?!?!?

11/13/09

I love seeing how these two have turned into such buds. Don't get me wrong - they still argue A LOT...but they also are inseparable.

11/9/09

Singing In the Rain...or not?

It was 70 degrees out, not a cloud in the sky, and here are the two goofballs...parading around the neighborhood!


11/4/09

Mariah likes to do anything that the "big kids" get to do. We let her color, and as you can tell, she enjoyed it completely!







And really, what's a family blog without a messy eating shot or two?





11/3/09

Clean Up, Everybody Clean Up!

Mariah has quite the fascination with keeping things clean. Hopefully this will continue when she is older so that she can keep up with the housework! If you listen carefully, you can her here say "go go go" as she is cleaning off the table. And when she is finished, she asks for more! :)


11/2/09

Halloween Fun!

Halloween was a lot of fun at our house this year. Here are a couple of pictures from the big event!


Modeling our Halloween T-shirts!

Mariah, the Queen Bee

Mariah has been sick with the croup and double ear infection, so she couldn't go trick-or-treating this year. By the time I got back from taking her to Urgent Care, it was time to go trick-or-treating, so if you look at some of the pictures below, you'll see that she's just wearing her winter jacket. Thankfully she's not old enough to know the difference, Daddy dressed her up after we left and she was happy as can bee!


The Big Three Trick-or-Treaters!




10/13/09

I am making an honest effort to update more often. Here are some of the latest pictures from the last couple of weeks. Enjoy!!!

Let's take a moment to thank all of the firefighters out there!
They came to daycare and school to talk to the kids about fire safety. Too bad they didn't know that awesome fire hats, mixed with swimming goggles, causes this:


Meghan loves art, can you tell?




Here is Caleb and McKenna, our neighbor. I don't think she's ready to have Caleb as a boyfriend, huh?



I love her expression..."yeah, I'll smile, but hurry up and take the picture!




Okay, this is a little disgusting. It's bologna on their faces!
(Keith's idea!!!)


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And apparently, Keith has a hidden talent for adding "bling" to Mariah!

10/8/09

Happy Birthday!

Today is our neighbor's 2nd birthday. We are so fortunate to live in a subdivision with lots of young children...and many of our kids go to the same daycare as well. Mariah and Caleb's friend turns 2 today, so I videotaped a little "ditty" for her to enjoy.

(Mariah says nen-nah for McKenna)

Enjoy (and never mind my signing...)


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10/7/09

Retail Therapy

Anyone who is the parent of a 3 year old boy would appreciate this shirt. It was one of those shirts that screamed "CALEB" as soon as I saw it.
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How fitting that he was running around with Mariah's winter hat on when I took the picture! :)

9/9/09

Unauthorized Use of a Scissors

Here's what happens when Meghan decides to give her brother a haircut. And yes - today is picture day at daycare. Sigh. Quite honestly, it is the funniest thing we've seen in a long time! :)





Is this hilarious or what?

9/1/09

Quick Pic

I am obviously way behind in blogging. I hope this will hold you over until I can post a decent update. :)

8/10/09

Mariah

Mariah's new fascination is arranging things. She spends a lot of time taking apart my cupboards and then lining the tupperware up on the floor. She must take after her father (thankfully), because I am NOT organized!


Rearranging the pantry. Notice how the cans are lined up:
(Like how she trashed the rest of it?)


As you can tell, she hasn't figured out what a can opener is!



Extra fiber...just eat the box!


Oh oh, she figured out how to open it!



What a cutie, huh?



Even when she resembles Cindy Lou Hoo!

8/9/09

Visiting Family Up North

We just got back from spending 5 days visiting my family in northern Wisconsin. Keith, unfortunately, couldn't get off of work so it was me and the kids for the week. Thank heavens I had willing relatives to help me with the crew!!!!



Meghan lost tooth #2 on the last night





Good thing the Tooth Fairy found us, anyway!







The biggest attraction was the reclining seat. It can hold 3 stubborn kids who won't give up their seat when it needs to...







And as long as the recliner is around, the couch is apparently useless!







I managed to get a couple of pictures when the kids were getting along. Aren't they great in their matching shirts?







I LOVE this picture!



And yes, a more typical pose...





Mariah and my dad, AKA Fishing Grandpa






Mariah, my dad, and my grandma. (Great Grandma to the kids)





Caleb, 9 1/2 months

Caleb, 9 1/2 months
Here is a great picture of Caleb we took during our visit trip.

Caleb, 4 1/2 months old

Caleb, 4 1/2 months old
This is our favorite picture from the group we received with our referral.