Little Photo Snippets

September is nearly finished and I have not done a fantastic job at all of keeping the blog updated. I think part of it is because I didn't think we did anything too out of the ordinary, but after looking through these pictures below, I'm reminded that part of the reason for the blog is to treasure the memories that come from the normal days. So here's a little snippet of our life over the past few weeks. 

 Avery set up her fairy dollies in the splits. 

She's such the sweetest sleeper! She'll cuddle animals and dolls all night long. 

She's certainly at the age where anything remotely interesting is an opportunity to "take a picture!" She constantly says "Hey mom! Take my picture!" and poses accordingly.  This particular morning she had stacked up some unicorn stamps into a tower. 

And on this particular evening, she styled her own hair using items from an old Kit-n-Caboodle of mine that we found in my parents' garage. 

Sometimes, I ask the boys to smile for me so that they'll be in my camera roll too! :) 

I guess I'm super afraid of being late to dance class, so we inadvertently always arrive significantly early. We get a good parking spot and relax in the truck until it's time to go inside. What a cute smile!

She bought a diary this summer and loves to write and draw in it. 

Progress on the land! We had a temporary power pole installed (via Aaron) and shortly thereafter, the power company came by and installed our real power poles on the property! Improvements!

While checking out the power pole, we spotted a baby watermelon far from the patch!

Kindergarten is hard work!

Being an old puppy is hard work!

Avery needed to make an "all about me!" poster and include a photo of her pet, so we grabbed a couple new shots!

Storytime with Dad is always fun!

We enjoyed going to a birthday party at church for one of our friends!

Flinging around a sticky dinosaur back and forth with Dad was a high-light as well! 

Oh the magic of the lighting aisle in a hardware store. :) 

And that's it for September Photo Snippets!  We celebrated my mom's birthday and Aaron's birthday this month and we get a little bit of a break from our 5 week birthday string before we celebrate our wedding anniversary in early October. 

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba 

Unicorn Party!

We hosted a unicorn party for Avery on Saturday afternoon. It was so much fun! Avery LOVED it! 

Decorating her cake:

I ordered an awesome party pack from Amazon complete with everything I needed to host a party, including the tableware, cake decorations, invitations, favor boxes & candles!

I ordered some unicorn themed  party favors including these stamps. 

Here's a look at the party boxes & we filled them all a little bit with candy before the piñata time. 

The unicorn banner came in the party pack. I bought the "pin the horn on the unicorn" from Target. It came with a felt eye mask & sticker horns. 

The cake topper was part of the party pack. 

Avery had an identical set of hanging decorations for past birthdays but they didn't last much longer than 2 birthdays. So I ordered a new set but didn't want to hang them from the ceiling at church, so I taped them on butcher paper and hung it up over a children's church poster. 

In the empty spaces I filled in pieces of a quick impromptu birthday interview which I'll post below. 

After "pin the horn on the unicorn".... this was a blast! Every kid played (young & old!) And even one of my friends!

We also bought a piñata at Target and filled it with assorted chocolate & candies. The younger kids got to hit the piñata three times per turn and the older kids got to hit once per turn. Everyone loved this!

Three kiddos were super sweaty & pumped after the party! 

Avery's birthday interview:

***

Avery is 5 years old!

What makes you laugh: Popping a balloon.

If you had one wish, what would it be? To see a real unicorn. 

What's the best time of day? Wednesday. 

What do you like to learn about? Math. 

Favorite food: Applesauce & broccoli. 

Where do you like to go? McDonald's (I was thinking more like "the beach" but to each their own, I guess. P.S. I can count on one hand the number of times we have been to McDonald's in the last 2 years. )

Favorite thing to do: Have a birthday!

What's your favorite book? My Little Pony

What do you do really well? Play with horses. 

What do you want to be when you grow up? A ballerina.

 

***

I hope you enjoyed this little peek at her special day!

Until Next Time,

Much Love, Reba

Summer Fun, So Far!

 While I certainly meant to write more in May, it doesn't equate to the level of fun that we had as we closed out a school year and began another summer!  We love summertime so much and here's just a few snapshots of the fun we've been having lately!

Our town had a touch-a-truck celebration a few weekends ago.  Noah had a blast! Avery joined him for a few photos. Michael was present, but preferred to stay right by my side instead of venturing into the vehicles. 

The next day, a local church had a food truck party to kick off their VBS! We made a quick stop at the ice cream truck.

During Michael's last art class of the year, the younger two and I wandered around our downtown and tried out a "new to us" drink place. We ordered a pink flamingo in honor of one of my best friends (whom we call "Flamingo"). I especially appreciated the mantra written on the cup!

An unexpected few days of rain finished out our school days, and Avery enjoyed getting to wear her rain boots and jump in muddy puddles like Peppa Pig!

My mom made a delicious low carb berry pie to ring in Memorial Day!

Yesterday, I took the kiddos to the art studio for its 15th birthday party. All three of them made these really cool water paint portraits. They each chose three colors and squirted them into a tub of water. The art studio associate then dipped a piece of thick paper into the water, and when she pulled it out, the paint design was on the side that was pressed into the water! How cool!  I love these so much. They express the personality of each of my kiddos so well. 

(Avery's, Michael's, Noah's)

As I'm working on school work for myself at various points throughout the day, I try to do something fun with the kids to make sure their summer retains its relaxing atmosphere. This morning, we made a run to Krispy Kreme! 

Oh these kids. I love them ever so much!

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba

Kiddo Update

 It's been a while since I shared an update on my kiddos, so here we go!

Michael: 9 Years

Michael is such a joy to be around!  He LOVES to offer encouragement to others and gives the best hugs!  He is still a fan of video games and likes to try out new games with new scenarios.  He's an awesome reader and likes to read historical fiction as well as comic-esque novels.  I was struggling recently with figuring out what items I could assemble for an Easter basket for him since he's not a little boy anymore and doesn't necessarily like the trendy items of "big boys" so I had a thought to look up "tween Easter basket ideas" and I found SO MANY great things!  Now I'm super excited to give him his Easter basket (which essentially is a "Spring essentials" basket of fun things to do together this Spring and Summer!  

Michael is tall-- nearly 5 feet at 9 years old.  He wears Adult Small or Youth XL shirts, and size 14/16 pants.  His shoe size is now bigger than mine, and I have a feeling that he'll pass me in height within the next year.  

He still has the prettiest thick blonde hair and he's getting to the age of wanting to buy body washes that will smell good and stay scented throughout the day.  I used to think I'd dread the tween and teenage years, but it's so much fun to think about how he's really developing his own sense of style and preferences.  It blew my mind a week ago when we went to his endocrinology appointment and he was able to handle some of the medical preparations entirely by himself!  He's really shaping up to be a great person and I'm so proud of him.  I love you so much, Michael-buddy!

Noah: 8 Years

Noah is as spunky as ever!  He thrives on one-on-one time and will forever be my best independent player out of all of my children.  He enjoyed a recent solo trip to the strawberry patch with his grandparents and was quite the successful picker!  He still loves all things police and is constantly on the search for any new police car toys and still gets a thrill when we see police cars driving around.  When I searched for Michael's Easter basket items, I also found some great things for Noah and I'm super pumped to give him his Easter things too!  

Noah is still my most sensitive kid as well and struggles with whiny voices some of the time.  He just can't quite let go of not being the baby, even though he hasn't been the baby for over four years.  He benefits from quality time and words of affirmation.  He is doing fantastic with wearing his glasses, and a recent trip to the eye doctor determined that once he outgrows his eye muscle issue, he most likely won't need glasses ever again.  He's my brown haired baby and his smile still lights up a room, almost as much as his big light blue eyes do! 

Noah is pretty tall (although I can't remember exact inches), and he's skinny.  He can still fit into size 6/7 pants in the waist, but they're too short.  He needs size 7/8 pants for length, but wears a child small in shirts.  He'll be tall and thin when he's older.  He aims to please those around him and he gets continual high-achievement marks at school.  He's a blessing to be around and I'm so glad he's my middle child!  I love you so, my Noah boy!

Avery: 4 Years

Avery is a treat.  She's a sour patch kid for sure.  Sometimes she's super sweet and kind.  Other times, she's exerting her own method of spunkiness and sass.  Sometimes she's great playing by herself and other times, she needs constant company from whichever adult is nearby.  She LOVES stories and the show "Bluey" on Disney plus.  She is still utterly enamored with unicorns and mermaids.  She's a great pretend mommy to her beloved doll, Baby Pat Pat.  

She has been a stellar participant in ballet class and I feel like we've found her niche. She practices her moves and the proper terms when she's not in class.  She plays ballerina with her Barbie and we read books about ballerinas.  She demonstrates her new moves and likes to look back at video clips of her performances.  She has an upcoming recital and I'm really looking forward to it!

She is on the taller side of average, and wears size child small shirts but can easily transition from pants anywhere from size 5T to 6/7.  She loves dressing up, singing (real songs and made up songs), eating and baking sweets of any kind, and cuddling.  She has a few "must haves" at bedtime like wearing her hair in a bun and singing the same couple songs.  

It's a joy to be around her because it's a constant surprise of what she'll do or say next!  Avery, you're so sweet and special.  I love you!

Well that was fun!

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba