Well, I'm only two months behind; I guess that's not so bad for me...
We celebrated Brendan's 10th birthday with his friends at a pool party at Grandma's house. We had a blast! Most of the time was spent with the partygoers pelting each other with beach balls. Of course, Donathan was the initial instigator; he was out to get Pete. Not sure where all this pent up agression came from! I think it's a boy thing...

easter 2011

True to form, I got almost no pictures of Easter in the Park. Everything turned out wonderful. We had a little bit of rain on Sunday morning, but by the end of service, the sun was shining and it was beautiful. I'm guessing there were over 1500 people there and many responded to Jesus. That makes all the time and effort totally worth it! Always such a blessing to be a part. Of course, afterwards we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's for some yummy food, fellowship and Easter Egg Hunt.

(These pictures are all out of order, but I am too lazy to fix it!)

decade

Our little boy has hit the double digits! We celebrated last week with Grandma and Grandpa. The pool party with friends was postponed seeing as how all three kids got sick. It seems to be coming a tradition for us :) Anyways, we had a great time and next week we will have the crazy party.




Brendan's gift from Daddy: a cajon. That means more banging around the house!


From Grandma and Grandpa: a trip to New York! (I think I will have to stowaway on that one!)


Books from Auntie Debbie and Uncle Jeremy; perfect for our bookworm.







Time for the Brendan update. He is still doing karate/jiu jitsu and loving it. Daddy has also been teaching the kids tennis a couple times a week and he's doing great. Still loves playing the drums, whether it's a full set, djembe or now, his cajon. He told me he wants to serve the Lord by playing drums for worship, so we will see what comes of that! He is excelling in his schoolwork, although he has inherited his dad's gift of very creative spelling :) We just started learning Koine Greek this past month and he's doing really well! I really enjoy homeschooling him and being able to discuss a lot of different topics. I think we both enjoy history the most. He is at the age where he loves telling us corny jokes and has inherited my gift of sarcasm. Hmmm. Guess we both need to work on that one. It's very strange to hear yourself come out of your kids! Daddy has been teaching him to sail and he loves it. I think it must be in the blood. We are hoping to get him started in a sailing program this next month. He is very much like me in that he could read all day once he gets started on a book. It drives Mackenzie crazy because she just wants to play with him! He loves building legos; definitely takes after Daddy's imaginative/creative side. He is a good big brother. Of course, like all siblings, he has his moments. We sometimes call him the "third parent," as he likes to correct his sister-one of those areas we need to work on :)
We are so thankful for our son and the joy that he brings to this family. I love how each of our kids are so unique. Can't wait to see what the Lord does with each of them!

essays

So I thought I would share some essays today for your reading enjoyment.
(All spelling will be left as written by the authors.)

Mackenzie's Expository Paragraph: My Favorite Foods

I have two favorite foods. These foods are spugety and green beans. My first favorite food is spugety. I like spugety because it tased good, very good. My second favorite food is green beans. Green beans make me say thank you to mommy. My favorite foods mak me want to eat.

Brendan's Narrative Essay: In the Jungle

"Is this one? No, it's not. Wait! I think I found one! Yes, I did." It was a foggy morning, and John was looking for valuble rocks that he could study in a jungle that he had found.
"OK, I think I should be heading...where's the mark?! I left it right here! Oh, I should've stopped." So he started walking the direction that he came.
"I know I went this way," he thought.
"Boy am I hungry; I wish I had something to eat," he said to himself. He checked his watch; it said it was two o'clock. So he started looking for food. After about one hour, he found a banana tree, so he ate a few, then continued to find his way back. Then, suddenly, the ground gave way! He had to save himself! He grabbed a vine just in time.
"I wish I could get up here-"
"Hey! CUT!!!!!!!!" shouted the director.
"You're supposed to say, 'there,' not 'here.' You need to practice a little more, OK?" he said.
They were making a movie called "The Lost Jungle."

the beginnings of the family band...

winter activities

I have been remiss in keeping up here, so here is a snapshot of all our activities these past couple of months.

We have intermittant days of warm weather, so we took advantage of that last week and went to the beach for the first time this year. It was a little windy, but it was fun.



Earlier that day, we went for a boat ride. Kylie wasn't feeling that great, so she took a nap. Mommy enjoyed the cuddle time!




At the park, Kylie decided to push her baby in the swing.


Daddy has started teaching the kiddos to play tennis. They love it! Even Kylie is joining in.




Tea party time. What a good daddy:)



While Daddy was at the Pastor's Conference, I took the kids to the Skating Rink for homeschool night. We haven't been in a long time, so they were troopers as they tried to figure out how to skate again. Even Kylie tried and did okay, but my back was in a lot of pain after that night since I had to support all her weight! She also discovered some chapstick that day and in between her skating time, spent the rest of the night applying it to her lips! Silly girl...



We went bowling after church one Sunday and kept company with the special needs bowling group. Fun times...



This is a glimpse of Kylie's activities during the day. She excels at leaving a mess wherever she goes. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to clean anything.

december birthdays

Well, I'm a little late on this post, but late is better than never...

First birthday up: Kylie's #3! We were going to have a small party with some of our close friends, but our whole family ended up getting sick, the week before Christmas of course, so Grandma and Grandpa were the brave ones to come over to celebrate with us. We didn't even have dessert! I'm sure this is the last year that she'll go for that!

Eating her favorite meal


Her present from Mommy and Daddy. If you were to see it now, it usually has about 3 purses hanging off it, 2 babies and a plethora of small toys in the bottom basket.


Her gift from Auntie Debbie and Uncle Jeremy-she was quite happy with it!


I guess now would be a good time to give a Kylie update. Oh, where to begin...I can't figure out where this child came from. She is nothing like me or Donathan! She has such a spunky personality-super sweet and super feisty. She is friendly and outgoing, unless you ask her to be, and then her stubborn nature kicks in. And boy, is she stubborn, with a temper to match. She is very intelligent, and she's great at being sneaky when she knows she's being naughty. She is affectionate and is mostly a mama's girl at this point, and I am enjoying every snuggle I get. She alternates between playing well with her siblings to antagonizing them, which is true of all siblings I suppose. All three of my kids sucked their thumbs and each would have something else to go with it. Brendan sucked his thumb and twirled his hair. Mackenzie sucked her thumb and rubbed her nose. Kylie developed a habit over this year that is unique to her: She sucks her thumb and has to rub someone else's thumbnail at the same time, and she's very particular about it! She loves to sing and do "ballet" which is any kind of dancing. And if she had her way, she would wear ballet dresses 24/7. I have to hide them if I want her to wear anything else. She is still the pickiest eater I have ever encountered. No, really. But Donathan has decided to win the food battle, and you should see what it takes to get a bite of food down her...
I can't believe my baby isn't a baby anymore. I'm looking forward to watching her grow, but I'm also a little sad that those years are over.


Next birthday!
Poor Donathan gets jipped since his birthday is a few days after Christmas. But since the prior weeks were so busy, it was nice to just kick back.
We spent the afternoon at Riverside Park shooting off rockets and watching the kiddos run around.


Daddy and his girls


Lighting the birthday candles. No surprise there...