Alison's Birthday!

It is now a yearly tradition to decorate gingerbread cookies for Alison's birthday.

We had a fun afternoon with new friends carrying on this birthday tradition.

It was a Hello Kitty overload theme.

 and yes, don't be confused.  This was from December.  I'm a little slacker.

and my camera died halfway through the party.  But I managed to get some okay pics of our family celebration once Nick got home from work.

I can't believe she's 5.  Where has my memory the time gone?

the time change is hard on all of us

the proof:
9:30 AM - Kitchen doorway

9:40 AM - Dining room floor

the day before she turned 5

The day before Alison's birthday - the PreK classes had a short Christmas concert.  It was pretty cute!

Here she is waving to us when she spotted us!

FIVE GOLD RINGS!

3 French Hens

I don't know who this boy is, but there was no mistletoe in sight.  Oh boy, are we in for it.

Her wonderful teachers, Mrs. Edwards and Mrs. Gibler.  They make me want to be a preschool teacher - they have so much fun!

November. More fun that a barrel of monkeys.

It had a been a while since we had a siblings-on-the-couch picture.

I really can't believe how much she's grown up since we moved.

I also can't believe it's been 6 months. And that Maggie is almost 7 months old. I had a little photo shoot with her a couple of weeks ago around her 6 month check up.

Andrew 'helped' me can some apple stuff and made a magnifying glass out of a ring and the magnet lid grabber thingy.

A nightly routine.

Some leaves changed color.

Pretty soon Maggie won't look so out of place in this picture.

And Nick and I went to the ball.

negligent

I realize I've been a slacker around here.  I wouldn't be blogging much on my other blog if I didn't have sew & tell every Friday. 

So here's a few pictures as penance.

my canning helper

baby legs!

post bath - they love her!

tractors are fun!

meow!  woof!

the trick-or-treating posse

awwwwwww. . .

a day in the life

Andrew and Alison playing dentist. 

hey! and they're flossing!
This is a new game for them.  They had been putting stuff on the treadmill and then all of a sudden I heard them talking about who was going to be the dentist.  The funny thing is, this looks just like the chairs at their dentist's office! (minus the pillow)(and the quilt).

Sweet sweet Maggie.

In a vintage dress.  And by vintage I mean one of my dresses.  From when I was a baby.  Yes, that baby (the dress) is 27 years old. or something.

before and after

It looks pretty good here.  But it was so long that you can see how far we had to sweep it over!!

still cute!  And a lot cooler too.

and just because.  What a ham!

for my mom

I know I haven't posted pictures for a while.  Here's a few to tide you over.

 On the way to Grandma Jan's aka Green Grandma.  Little did we know how sick this little guy was.  Hand foot mouth.  Need I say more?  It was a painfully exhausting interesting weekend.

Family pictures were taken.  I looked sleep-deprived and exhausted.  Same thing? No.  Often go together though! But Maggie and Andrew looked cute.  So did Alison, but she was too busy running around with Erica.  AND it was a million degrees outside.

Maggie's first amusement park ride.  In the 100 degree heat.  This is why she is naked.  It was SO hot.  More pictures of our day at Busch Gardens to come. I think I lost 5 pounds that day in sweat alone.

I have pictures of Alison and Andrew like this too.  They all have the same profile and sleep the same.  I love it.  They look so angelic!

First good smile caught on camera!  AACK! So cute.  She giggles now too.

We've been spending a lot of time at the beach. It's the first thing we did when David came to see us.

Andrew would NOT go any further.  It took him another month to go in the water again.  We've cured him though.

Alison can't get enough of it!

I blogged about this on my other blog, but here's Maggie with the sweet quilt my blogging friends made her.

Disclaimer: most of these pictures are from June.  The last one is a little more current.  The other kids aren't changing as quickly as our little Magpie.