Vivian is 3!!!

We had a great time celebrating Vivian's 3rd Birthday today!
Pancakes and chocolate milk for breakfast.  Mac N Cheese for lunch.  Brats for dinner.  We had a birthday party this afternoon with cake, ice cream, playing and presents.  She had a great day!
Vivian very much fits her name: Full of life!  She is also a great companion (meaning of her middle name, Ruth).  We are so blessed to be her parents.  Although sometimes challenging, she is a joy and so much fun!!!  She can now chew gum for a long period of time without swallowing it.  :)  She tries to do just about everything Shelby does; and she can do just about all of it!  She looks up to her big sister and it is precious to watch their relationship grow.  She is proud to be a big sister to Jared.  She wants to learn to ski this winter ~ she requested a snowboard for her birthday, along with a real horse and a loofah.  :)  We LOVE this girl!!!!

Jared was tired, but we wanted to get this picture anyway.  Cade is two months longer than Jared, but just as long as Jared!

Shelby had fun giving Chloe a piggy-back ride!  Chloe is two and lighter than Vivian, so Shelby had fun toting her around.  

Happy 3rd Birthday, Vivian!!!  We love you so very much!!!

Thanksgiving Blessings

 We really enjoyed our Thanksgiving Day celebrations with yummy food and family fun.  Shelby, Vivian and Jared are such great blessings in our lives.

And Jared is 7 months old!!!  

He is a super sweet boy.  He loves his sisters and enjoys watching them play.  He can sit up very well and that gives him a little bit of freedom.  He isn't rolling over yet ... but hopefully soon.  He may be getting some more teeth soon (slight fever, biting as usual and some fussiness).  

We all love him so much!!!  

A baby's giggles

Nothing like a baby's giggle to put a smile on your face!  Makes my heart happy!  Enjoy ~

Free!!!

Vivian was the most excited I have ever seen her when Daddy came home to take her on a date Monday night.  She knew about the date and was anticipating him coming home.  When he came home with the flowers she was so super excited!!!  Absolutely precious.  

They had a good time eating dinner, dessert and shopping for a shirt.  It was fun to see her excitement when she got home, too.  This sweet girl - I tell you what - LOVE her!

It has been fun slowly unpacking our toys.  We got out puzzles and the kiddos love it!  Fun to watch them by occupied for a long amount of time and get along so well and enjoy something they haven't seen in a while. (Vivian is wearing her new shirt in this picture, above.)

We love free things, I mean, who doesn't!?!?  We have been looking for a dresser for Jared's room and got a tip that our Holiday Inn Express was giving away their old room furniture for free!  They are getting all new furniture in their rooms and so we got: two night stands, two headboards, a table/desk and a dresser.  The dresser is pretty long, so it will fit in the girls' closet and Vivian's dresser is now Jared's.  The "new" dresser is in our living room right now, as we picked it up just before Josh was to leave (driving to Seattle to catch a flight to MN) for a week.  The drawers are in the girls' closet with clothes in them.  The empty dresser makes for a very fun play place!  

First it was puzzles.  Then...

This is the limousine, as they call it.  Our girls play mother/daughter all the time and now they have a limo to drive around in.  ;) 

They have also been climbing up on it, jumping off onto the couch or the floor.  Jared loves watching all this action!  

Footsy Jammies

The girls have been very excited that it has been cool enough in our house at night to wear footsy jammies!

We borrowed this scooter from some new friends and Shelby has been doing great on it!  All three kiddos have had fun.  Thanks Micah and Beth!

Jared decided to wear a cape, instead of a bib.

This 6-month-old boy is too big for the cradle now.  He's in his own room and doing great!

Our sweet Shelby-girl is finished with her Kindergarten curriculum.  She has done such a great job and we are excited to start first grade.  We celebrated with cookies...Shelby wanted a candle.  :)

Jared is 6 months old!

Oh how we love this precious boy!!!  Jared is 6 months old today and here are some pictures from this mornings' photo shoot.

Still sucking a finger or thumb when he gets a chance.  So cute!

We love this handsome boy and all the joy he brings our family!  He is starting to spit/blow bubbles.  He sits up well!  He doesn't roll over on his own yet, but we keep working on that.  As of last night he is sleeping in his own room and we are working on him sleeping through the night. He still drools a lot...the amber necklace didn't help.  :(  He is wearing 12 month clothes!  And tonight we found he is getting his two, front teeth on the bottom!!  He is such a good baby and we are excited for the next stages of rolling and crawling.

Here's the three of them at 6 months old; there are similarities but each have their own look.

Happy 11th Anniversary ... to us!

Today we celebrated being married for 11 years!  We went...

...bowling!  The girls stayed with a babysitter (Thanks Rachel!!!) while Josh, Jared and I bowled and went to dinner, then dessert.

We sure love Country Boys BBQ!!!  We ate dessert at Olive Garden and it was yummy, too.

Have we aged?  Just a little, but still lookin' good!  ;)

Side note: Thank you to everyone who is keeping Mary (Josh's mom) in your prayers.  God is good, all the time!