A few random updates (and other random things)...

I painted chocolate brown stripes in our bathroom...

The kids played like crazy in a large box...

Dress up is awesome...

We got a dog!  His name is Max and he's half black lab, half American bulldog.  He's super sweet.

Bennett loves playing in his new car...

Aiden can make his own PB&J...

... and the kids love raking leaves.  :)

The end.

New Year's at the Jones'

This year we went to Ben and Amanda's a New Year's eve celebration.  J bought packs of fireworks that he and Ben lit off after we had a delicious dinner.  The kids' reactions were priceless..

I just love that we all live so close together now.  It was fantastic to celebrate a holiday together with all the kids, enjoy each other's company, laugh and have fun, and then drive to our home ONE mile away.  Awesome!!!

Audrey turns FOUR!

Can you believe it, friends?  She turned four!  I can hardly believe it myself...  I still remember (with clarity) the feeling I had the Christmas Eve of 2007.  Audrey dearest was overdue and I was so so so sad that she hadn't come the day previous.  I knew that if she came that night or the next day, I'd be in the hospital on Christmas day.  After months of waiting for our darling baby girl to arrive, I was finally induced in the morning on the 26th.

Fast forward FOUR years and she's turned into a beautiful young lady who adores animals, the movie Tangled (this year's theme for her party), calling her baby brother "Bennett catootie", drinking juice, eating pretty much anything, her best friend Baillie, coloring, and snuggling.

She had a blast at her party this year as I'm sure you'll see from the photos below!

 Audrey was so thrilled when, Baillie, her sweet friend from school arrived!

Donut tower!!! 

Rapunzel was peeking at the party guests.

When the guests arrived, the kids had lots of Tangled coloring pages to choose from.  Even the boys loved it!

I'm not sure what the boys were talking about here, but it looks intense!  

The donut "tower" was really fun.  Audrey loved it and even though they didn't reach the top, they were still so heavy that the bottom doughnuts started getting squashed.  Ha!

Beatrice colored several sweet pictures for Audrey.  Aren't the girls cute in their tiny tiaras?

 

Enjoying the doughnuts!

After chowing down on breakfast goodies, the kids played the "get Tangled" game where one person stood still with their hands to their sides while the other teammate ran around and around tangling them up with streamers.  Seriously, one of the best games I've ever organized.  Cheap, easy, and the kids had a blast doing it!

Even busting out of the streamers and cleaning up the pieces was fun!

Singing "Happy Birthday" to the sweet birthday girl!

Pretty sure Adalae was mimicking that scene in The Little Mermaid while Audrey opened gifts. Doesn't she look like that?!?

Thank you, Auntie Landy, for the darling jewelry box!  She loves keeping all of her treasures in there.

The magic golden flower... 

Happy Birthday sweet darling!  We love you!!!