Superheroes, Anna, and Sno-Cones!

These two are a RIOT together!!  It is SO much fun having kids close together in age!  So thankful!

I promise she's yawning...not crying in my lap!!

He TOTALLY loves Baby Anna (which sounds alot like "nana" when he says it...same word for banana...)

Caleb loved seeing Anna too...so gentle and always checking on her in the midst of whatever he was doing

Running errands is always more fun with cousins!

Anna is very well protected!  I got these costumes at Target in their after-Christmas sale!  Caleb has been playing dress up with his and he told me when we bought it that we should get the blue one (Iron Patriot) for Joseph - so they could be brothers!  I was going to save it for his birthday at the end of the month, but when we decided  to come visit, I HAD to give it to him early because I KNEW they would love playing in them together!  And I was right - he didn't hardly want to take it off all week!  :)

We had a great little routine down!  After lunch, the little boys would lay down for their nap.  Kelli would feed Anna and then hand her off to me and SHE would go lay down for a nap. The big boys got to stay up and have some play time by themselves and I got to have some Anna time before it was time for her nap!  We LOVED it!

Uh oh - this is how I found Judah after his nap.  Apparently he pulled over half of the bookshelf's contents into his pack and play.  The four boys were all sleeping in the same room...so sometimes it took more than a few minutes for them to get to sleep :)

After asking ALL morning about this, Aunt Kelli pulled out the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine for a fun afternoon snack.  Joseph and Uncle Scott had found this treasure at a yard sale recently and were so excited to try it out.  It was a lot of work, but the boys thought it was great. :)

Going to visit Baby Anna!

As soon as Baby Anna was born back on the 26th, I sprung into action trying to figure out some days that I could get down to see her!  Mom was able to go the first week of April and then we made plans to drive down after she had to leave.  I decided to go during the week when my older kids would be in school to make it easier for David.  He was gracious and went in to work early and came home early when the kids got home on the bus.  I took Caleb and Judah with me, planning that they would keep Sam and Joe entertained :).  And my job would be to keep Kelli and Anna happy!  We left EARLY that morning (4 am early!) and the kids slept for the first few hours.  It makes such a long trip seem a little easier if you can get there early enough in the afternoon!  We got there a little after 2 pm and the boys went RIGHT to playing in the playroom!  :)

After naptime was over, we walked down to their park and I got to look at Anna some more - she is so precious!

Judah became quickly obsessed with Baby Anna

There she is!

Baby stretches are my favorite!

She looks SO different than the boys - she was a few pounds bigger than them and has dark skin and dark HAIR (they were both so fair and light from the very beginning!!)

Gentle Sammy :)

Callie's Sous Chef

Callie got a new outfit for Marie Grace at her party - it's the cutest little outfit with pot holders and an apron!  :)  Aren't they the cutest little chefs ever!!

THE party!!!

Callie has been waiting for this day for her WHOLE LIFE!!  :)  We always say that she is lone extrovert trapped in a family of introverts!  This girl wanted a REAL party this year (we don't generally do BIG parties) and she wanted to be able to invite EVERYBODY!  We decided to have a FROZEN party because the DVD was going to be released that week and thought it would be a super fun theme to do.  And she was allowed to invite ALL of her little girl friends from school and church - she was beyond excited!  :)

We started off by making dresses for "anna" and "elsa" out of toilet paper and streamers...

We did a "falling snow" game outside with balloons too, but no pictures of that.  It was a little...busy...trying to keep track of 17 girls!  Easier than boys in that they aren't wrestling on the floor, but there was drama and crying and lots and lots of high pitched laughter and squeals!  :)

Getting some food

Watching Callie open her presents - they oohed and aahed over everything :)

Then we settled in to watch the movie!  Even the boys (who were told they had to stay upstairs for the party) were allowed to come down to watch with us :)

Does this look like a room full of fun or what!!!

It was a really fun theme to do - all blue and white and silver!  Blue finger jello was "Kristoff's Ice Cubes"

Donut holes were "snowballs" - you can also see the giant marshmallows that were dipped in white chocolate and silver or blue sprinkles...and i even found pretzels dipped in blue yogurt!  If it was blue, I grabbed it!

Frozen grapes and pretzel sticks that were "Snowman Arms"

Here's some "snowman noses" (carrots) and "melted snow" (ranch)

We ate pizza while watching/singing along with the movie

Did a little "pin the nose on Olaf" game...they were pretty darn good at this one!  (Thanks to Josiah for drawing Olaf for us!)

We made some SNOW for each of the girls to take home (homemade play dough with glitter in it)

the cake!

Watching everyone sing to her

Wait!  Gotta make a wish!

I did a jello poke cake so that it could be blue and white too!  :)

We had a GREAT time celebrating Callie!!  Lots of exuberant, squealy, high-pitched fun!  :)  Totally different than any party I'd ever thrown for the boys!!

Callie's soccer season

Another soccer season has come and gone.  Callie didn't have the smoothest of season - her coach had to step out after the first week and then the next few weeks were kind of a juggling game between parents before another assistant coach took over.  She was a trooper though and had fun in spite of the chaos!  :)