Happy 8th Birthday Aubrie!

Birthday number 8 is a big deal! This little girl is truly moving to the middle ages of being a kid! How do I just keep her 8 the rest of her life?

Deciding on just the right birthday party, was probably one of the more difficult decisions Aubrie has ever made. Finally, we found a good fit, we agreed on a craft party where the girls made their own gum ball machines.

Each one turned out adorable, and so unique and fun!

Most of these girls have been coming to Aubrie's party since she was three! These girls have logged a lot of party hours together!

They have had impromptu screaming contests, dance parties, serious giggling fests ... and this time a paper throwing parade!

One thing Aubrie has never had at her party; however, is extended family. Lucky girl had her wonderful Aunt Lauren and Grandma T. here to help celebrate this year!

American Girl scrapbooks, Barbies, books ... it is all so exciting.

Of course there is always a cake, always made by mom. This one was so simple and fun that Aubrie actually did most of the decorating! Another first!

We could never have a birthday without lots of Teyah kisses.

Lunch at the American Girl Doll store, and amusement rides at Mall of America top off the perfect birthday celebration!

8 things about Aubrie:

1. Aubrie is a perfectionist in every aspect of her life except keeping her room clean!

2. She is a deep thinker and easily understands people and social situations

3. Aubrie loves to be the center of attention

4. She is brilliant

5. She is an impeccable speller.

6. Aubrie loves words. She loves to make list after list of baby names, hard words that she knows how to spell, cast lists for her pretend shows, detailed bios of her American Girl dolls, Christmas or Birthday wish lists ... I find papers all over the house of her creations.

7. Loves any and every extra-curricular activity and usually succeeds at them because of her work ethic, brains, and coordination

8. She loves home-cooked, hot food. She will eat just about any dinner I make and will even eat thirds of it but refuses cold sandwiches, packaged food, or just about anything you could think of to put into a lunchbox.

If only I could be more like Aubrie! (;

We know drama

The kids have had a handful of performances that we dutifully and proudfully took a plethora of pics. Aubrie and one of her best friends, Alexa, had some exciting moments in both their school musical about dogs and "The Wizard of Oz."

They have been creating their own plays for years, so to be in two organized performances this year is pretty much the coolest thing ever. Aubrie designed her dalmatian costume all by herself!

Alexa's exuberance is adorable!

"The Wizard of Oz" play had auditions on Monday, then two college students taught them the play in just a few days, and they performed on Friday and Saturday! It was a busy week for her, but so, so much fun!

These songs will be stuck in our heads for years to come. Now they will be stuck in yours too!

Here's the performing duo again, but this time it is the Nutcracker! They loved performing as angels in the professional ballet production. They long to be professional ballerinas, but were so thrilled to be "Ballet 1" this year.

But we can't forget to talk about my little mouse too! Ellie was by far the cutest little mouse, who squatted the lowest and scurried the fastest. She liked not being the smallest mouse this year, with a year under her belt. She adored the mice who were even littler than her.

And Dave and I played the part of proud parent so well you may argue we were typecast...Ha, ha, ha!

Christmas Angel

The littlest angel knows how to bring Christmas cheer to all.

Teyah is the biggest hugger and kisser and walked right up to the grandmas and grandpas at the resting home and laid a big fat one on each of their lips!

She was not intimidated by their wheelchairs or wrinkled skin. After kissing this sweet old grandma, Teyah actually made her cry. The lady said, "I am never washing my face again!"

Teyah certainly has a talent for cheering people up and is so loving! She was so proud of the fact that she was an angel for her first Joy School nativity. She told anyone and everyone, "I am an angel!" Let us all hope for her angel side to overcome her three-year-old devilish side real soon!

Christmas 2010 -- one of surprise and adventure

Slightly behind, but never too late to post Christmas pictures! Our plan for Christmas was to spend a nice, relaxing quiet Christmas at home this year. But at the last minute, it turned into quite an adventure!

My whole family was planning on being together for Christmas, everyone but us that is. Plane tickets were beyond expensive, and we weren't about to make that drive again in the winter after our last trip four years ago (that tale includes a nasty stomach bug, a pregnant puker, and a blizzard. Remind me to tell it to you sometime. It's a doozy).

But, we started to feel bad we weren't going since it has been so long since we have all been together, and my mom was especially excited to show off her new addition/remodel to her house (doesn't it look lovely!).

So, we got the great idea to drive all the way there and just show up without telling anyone! It was the best surprise ever! And, even more fun that we got to keep surprising people as each of my siblings and families showed up!

My mom has been wanting to have a family picture for years and years, but as much as we try, we just can't all seem to get together at the same time. So, the first thing my mom said after getting over the shock of us showing up was, "we have to get a family picture."

Santa was able to find us in Utah and even spoiled them rotten.

These cousins (plus Autumn and Sydnee) had a blast and never argued even once! We all fit nicely in the new addition.

Nobody became too sick. And, it was a perfect, memorable Christmas!

We also had a surprise Christmas present that we brought home with us. My cute little sis Lauren came back with us to live! This has been one of the greatest things that has ever happened to our family!

I'm so happy we made the long drive!

Minnesota Idol

Check out this TV commercial that aired on our local Fox station....you just might see some future American Idols being interviewed...

Thanksgiving Getaway

For Thanksgiving, we joined Dave's family in sunny California. As you can see from the pictures, the number of little people in his family is growing each year. Our kids loved getting tossed through the air by "Uncle Maughan-ster".

On our trip, we did a little bit of bowling,

A little bit of staircase sledding,

and A LOT of eating.

Aubrie loved hanging out with her cousin, Taryn.

Teyah gave lots of kisses to her cousin Kent. She had been talking about seeing her cousin, "Tent" for weeks leading up to our trip.

It was fun to see cousin Becca too.

So much to be thankful for!

What a year!

Ky boy has gone from this sweet, helpless dark-haired newborn...


To this blue-eyed, blond-haired, one-year old, spunky monkey!


It was only appropriate that our climber have a monkey cake for his first birthday (and with blue eyes).


He wasn't so sure what to think of it all, but he was also really tired since the only time our whole family could gather to celebrate was after his bedtime.


But he certainly loved his hammer toy!


And his car from Grandma T.


None of the girls were so into using utensils this early, but Grandma reminded me that it too is a tool! (;


Ellie 'gave' him a candy cane for his birthday and this might have been his favorite part of the day.


We love this smiley, happy boy!

For the baby book:
-Kyler is 19 lbs 11 ounces (10th percentile) and 28 3/4 inches tall (10-25th percentile). Both percentiles came up a little this time
-He says: more, dada, mama, banana, uh oh, and today he tried to say snow (believe me there was a lot of it)
-He loves cars: driving them and pushing them
-He is always happy and smiles at everyone anytime of the day. He is such a flirt!
-He is a total snuggler, especially to his mama. He wants to hug and snuggle throughout the day. He even pats my back sometimes when he hugs me! So sweet.
-He plays 'so big,' claps, and waves bye-bye
-He crawled and cruised really early (5 months), but is not walking yet. He seems capable, but still wants to hold on to a finger for stability.
-He climbed over the baby gate and Pack and Play by 7 months!
-He is a good eater, not too picky yet. He drinks from a bottle or cup, but not so sure about whole milk yet. He only wants to use his right hand to eat and has done this since he started eating food at 6 months.
-He has already had two surgeries (supraglottoplasty and ear tubes) and a 10-day hospital stay for RSV in January.
-He has had around 6 ear infections that we know of (2 came in the past month after his tubes).
-He had a stint of torticollis right, which was caused by the pain of his reflux. Because of this, he had some physical therapy.
-We also think the torticollis was the reason for his left hand being slow to develop (pincer grasp, etc), which caused him to have occupational therapy to catch it up to his right hand.
-He has had horrible congestion since May, which the doctors can't seem to agree what's causing it, but recently it was discovered that his adenoids are large. Perhaps the reason for the ear issues and congestion. Probably another surgery in his near future.
-He's taken a ton of medication this year, antibiotics, nebulizer medications, reflux medications, etc.
-Through all of the sicknesses, surgeries, medications, and times of not feeling well, he has been so, so happy and smiley and very determined. What an amazing little boy he is. Here's to hoping for a healthier year! (: