Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all!! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas filled with fun, family, friends, good food and mostly praising God for the baby in the manger.

One of my best friends, Alissa, took some pictures of the kids during Kai's one year photo shoot. We were hoping to get a good one of all four.. but as you can see, Kai did not want to have any more pictures of him taken. The other kids were getting quite frustrated... as you can tell from Cole's look..."mom????!!!!??? Can you make him listen?... I am bored...." Needless to say.. we did not successfully get a picture of the four kids together. Maybe someday...

Yep.. Five Kids!

We are excited to announce that we are adding a new baby to our family. We are due on the fourth of July! The kids are super excited and are already praying that it is a girl. Madison is really hoping to have someone to sleep in her room with her.. smile. She is hoping for bunk beds like her brothers. Love that!! We are feeling especially blessed this Christmas season!!

Walking on the Lake

The kids had a blast over Thanksgiving walking on the lake at Grandma's house. It was amazing how it froze this year. Completely smooth and see through. They even saw some fish... well that is what they said anyway... smile. It is awesome. Just like a giant ice skating rink. The kids ran and slid for hours. It was so much fun!

Cole's Favorite Present!

Cole got the coolest present for his birthday. A remote control car that drives on the walls and the ceiling. He loves it!! (And so do his parents.. even if it is really loud... smile) It really is one of the coolest toys ever. Kai is terrified of it.. and screams whenever Cole turns it on. But other than that.. it is a hit! Thanks Grammy!

Cole's Fourth Birthday

A little belated on getting this up.. his birthday was the 18th of November... oops. Someday I will actually get things done on time.. someday.. smile.

Our Birthday Boy!! How can it be that you are already four years old??

We love you Awesome!!
(The only name he will respond to.. when asked what his name is.. not Cole.. Awesome. Who can resist?)

Having a blast at Chuck E Cheese. He was insistent on having his party there so that he could dance with the big mouse... smile. Mind you when "the big mouse" came out to dance with him.. he ran and hid.. smile.

Which one first...??

When all was said and done, he had a blast and that is all that mattered. Not that we did not get a picture of the cupcakes.. or the whole crew.. or even our four kids together... Nope. Just that Awesome had fun. That is what really matters!
Happy Birthday My Four Year Old Boy!

Kath Family Party

We got to go to my aunt and uncles to celebrate some momentous occasions. My Grandpa turned 90.. and my grandparents celebrated 60 years of marriage... WOW! It was so much fun to be all together. My uncle and my grandpa share a birthday so we got to celebrate his birthday together too. It was so much fun to be all together!

The Cake... do you think they could get and more words on it??

Grandpa reading his cards.. they were SO funny!!

Grandpa and Grandma JellyBean (as the great grandkids call them.. smile)

Can you only hope to look this good when you are 90 and have been married 60 years!! What an inspiration!! Love you guys!!

Our Little Ballerina and Tap Dancer

Madison loves to dance. She is enjoying ballet and tap SO much! We got to have a visitors day for both classes and all got to watch them perform. She was so excited to have us watch, especially Daddy. It was so sweet.

Working at the bar...

Concentrating very hard on getting her feet in position with the right arms at the same time.

When she concentrates, she sticks out her tongue. It is so cute!!

Madison with her good friend Loren. She loves dancing with her.

Working on getting those steps just right in tap class...

Is she not the cutest tap dancer you have ever seen???

Halloween 2008

Halloween was so much fun this year. It was the first year we splurged and got the kids all costumes. They were so excited. They each got to pick out what they wanted to be. It was awesome to see what they all picked. (OK... so Kai had a little help) The costumes have been on most every day since Halloween, so we consider them a pretty good investment... smile.

Anakin Skywalker ... The force is with this one...

Our beautiful "snow" bunny. The costume started out as just a bunny but then Maddie decided to add her snowflake tights to make it a snow bunny. She is so cute!

Optimus Prime... Mischievous three year old in disguise.

The cutest Yoda I have ever seen.
When he walked you could not see his feet under the costume. It made it that much cuter!

The best picture of the four... after about 60 bad ones.
I just can't seem to get them all looking in the same direction. How do people do it??

Grandma stopped by to trick or treat.
The kids were so pumped to be able to show off their costumes.

We headed to church for a slimetime party.. which the kids loved.
Then trick or treated at about six houses on our block on the way home.
All in all.. an awesome night!

The Birthday Bear

For each kids first birthday, we have gone to the candy store in the mall and stuffed them a birthday bear. The child whose birthday it is gets to pick out the bear... or their big brothers and sister... and then we stuff it and each get to put in a special heart. It has been one of our most favorite family traditions. Each kid has a different bear and they love them! Kai's stuffing of the bear was delayed a little from his actual birthday... the store ran out of bears. Go figure. But we finally got it done. There is not a very good picture of the bear with Kai, but hopefully someday there will be. The kids were mad we would not buy them all the candy in the store... let's just say this was a very short trip to the mall... smile. But we got the bear.

Kai picking out his bear... notice that he is not going towards the bears... there was candy next to them he was WAY more interested in... ha ha

The kids got to each push the pedal to fill the bear with stuffing. So fun!

Our attempt at a picture.. can you tell things were not going so well at this point?!?

One last try... please for mom??
Yup... still didn't work. Oh well... we got the bear.

Shopping at Home Depot

Aren't they cute? They were being so good in Home Depot that I had to stop and snap a pic.
The other two boys were helping daddy with the wood...

Updates....

I thought that since it has been a while... I would update on each kid. Things are going great for us. Busy... but very good. We have our house on the market and are praying for a quick sale. Trying to keep a house "showable" with four kids is no easy task... smile. I will try to update more regularly in the future... try being the key word. Love to all.

Enjoy the pictures!!

Ethan

Ethan has really grown up in the past month. It seems like someone has flipped a switch and he has turned in to a young man. Whoa... it is weird to even think that. He is growing like crazy.. eating all the time... and learning so many new things. It is awesome! What a fun stage!

Ethan reading to Daddy and Kai. It is great to listen to him read. He does an awesome job!

What do you want to be when you grow up Ethan???
A monster truck driver... quick.. take my picture! Someday I am going to be famous... (huge grin)

Ethan ran the mile at school. It was so much fun to watch him run. Mom even got in the run with him and ran a couple laps along side him. It was awesome!

After the race with one of his best buddies, Wyatt.

Hanging out on the front steps with the pumpkins... oh, and Dad too. smile.

Love this boy!

Maddie

Madison has been loving being in lots of activities this fall. She does gymnastics on Tuesday, Ballet on Thursday and tap class on Friday. Her favorite is tap... due to the loud noises you can make with your shoes... smile. She is also loving Kindergarten and is starting to read on her own. It is so much fun to watch her learn all these new things.

Madison's kindergarten class went to the pumpkin patch. It was so much fun. The day was gorgeous and the kids all had a blast. Madison enjoyed getting to take lots of pictures with her best friend, Ally. She is pumped to scrapbook them all... that's right... start her early. smile.

Cole

Cole has been having a great time just being three. He is such a funny kid. I love it! He is always trying to make everyone laugh. It has been great to have some time just hanging out with him in the mornings. We have been having so much fun together!