cuddles

All of my kiddos are little cuddlers. You can often find us like this when we are watching a show together. Luckily we found a way for them all three to fit with me! (Usually daddy has one or two and I have the other one or two, but sometimes they all want mommy!) I'll take the cuddles as long as I can!

girlie girl

Both of my girls have been very girlie so far. They still love to wrestle with their daddy and play in the dirt outside, but they LOVE princesses, pretty dresses, pretty hair, etc. 

Norah's favorite thing to do these days is to put on a pretty dress and dance to her music (which is actually the CD that we took a lot of our wedding music from). She tries to be so graceful, and twirls around. It is just adorable.

basketball and a visit

Brianna and Kris came to visit us last weekend. James was coaching his high school team in our area, so Brianna and Kris drove up to see us and to see his game. They brought Samuel with them (Kris' best friend's son), which was fun for Joey and Kylah too! It was a fun visit!

Brianna and Joey go way back. (Joey had a major crush on her when he was about 3 years old). I think the crush part has passed, but now he just likes to hang out with her.

Brianna is such a good sport with the kids. She plays with them and even jumps on the trampoline with them.  What a fun aunt!

After a relaxing morning, we headed to watch one of James' games. The kids had a blast cheering his team on. It was adorable how into the game they got.

The girls love their Uncle James!

After watching James coach, we headed to Joey's basketball game. This was his second game so far. It is so adorable. Most (all) of the kids really don't know what they are doing yet, but they try so hard. The look on Joey's face in this picture is about what he looks like the whole game. Half smile and half determined. I love it!

A few pictures from his first game. Again, the smile.

And, yes, he is about a head taller than most of the other boys he plays against. I think we have a tall one.

The girls are more interested in snacks and playing on the LeapPad than watching the game.

After the game, we headed to meet up with James again for a late lunch. Aunt Kris and Norah sang some songs together. Here they are doing The Itsy Bitsy Spider. What a fun aunt!

It was a quick trip for them, but we had a blast!

gymnastics date

 We had a fun girls night last weekend. Andrea, Meredith and I took our three older girls to watch Arkansas gymnastics. First we stopped and ate some yummy Mexican food.

 I love watching the wide-eyed looks on the little girls' faces as they watch the big girls. (and the cotton candy was pretty fun too!)

What a fun mommy-daughter date!

and a warm day

After all those cold days and snow, we were so excited to have a sunny 62 degree day on Sunday. After church(and a nap for Norah and me...), we headed out to meet Joe on the trails. Joe is training for a marathon in March, so his long runs are on Sundays. This day he was running 18 miles. Joey wanted to ride his bike with Joe for the last part of his run, so we met him at mile 13. Joey was pretty excited!

I took the girls on a flatter part of the trail to ride bikes. How cute are they?!

And look who we met on the trail coming towards us?! We were pretty excited to see Joey and Joe, and we all gave daddy a high five!

One of the reasons I love living in Northwest Arkansas is the beautiful days mixed in with the winter days!

a few snow days

We have had quite a few snow days this winter so far. I think the kids have had 10 snow days, which means they will have to cut short some of their other breaks. They think it's fun now, but I think they would have thought warmer weather breaks would have been fun...

Anyway, we have still managed to enjoy more snow days together. Since the temps were right around 0 degrees, we didn't head out to go sledding.  Instead, we painted rainbow nails!

On one of the snow days we had Connor with us (Connor spent the night at our house, and Kylah spent the night at Audrey's house). I had to work this day, so Joey and Connor got to spend the day at my office. They seemed to have a great time watching a movie, playing Yahtzee, playing the DS, and drinking a lot of hot chocolate. Oh, and I put them to work putting a shelf together for me. :)

After all that hard work I took them to Steak 'n Shake.

 On another snow day, Meredith and I decided to brave the theater with all seven kids and took them to see Frozen. They loved it. Well, six of them loved it. Andrew loved the beginning and then got pretty tired.... :)

It was fun to see Norah experience her first movie on the big screen. She loved it (and loved the popcorn and Skittles...).  After Meredith and I paid for our kids and ourselves we were reminded why we don't do theater movies very often!

This wasn't an actual snow day, but this picture was just too cute. She is half dressed as a princess and half dressed as Superman/snorkler. Love her!

Dolls and Science

After our fun week at my parents' house, the kids got to spend some time in Kansas with Joe's parents. Joe and I had to work, so Joe's mom met us partway on our way home from Ohio to get the kids. That's right, Joe and I had the house to ourselves and peace and quiet! It was a great break. I was definitely missing the kids by the end (not sure that Joe was....)  :)

Joey got a new game for his DS from Nana and Grandpa, as well as a fun science experiment kit (see more about that below...)

Kylah got a real American Girl doll from Nana and Grandpa. Joe's mom is wanting to get all of her granddaughters American Girl dolls as they get old enough, and since Kylah has been talking about one for the last few months they thought it was time. She got to go to the store with Nana and pick one out. I love the one she picked (Isabelle), and it looks so much like her! So now she has a real Cabbage Patch doll (her Hannah Patch doll), and an American Girl Doll! I'm not sure she realizes how special that is yet!

She of course loved playing with the huge bag it came in too.

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We spent a fun day today with the Matchell's. We always love spending time with them, and our kids play so well together. Norah doesn't have a playmate her age, but all of the older kids are really good about letting her join in on their fun and including her (and she loves Brian too...)

Joey, Jakin and Anna worked on science experiments for quite a while (the gift Joey got from Nana and Grandpa). I had done a few that morning with him, so Joey was more familiar with some of the parts, and these kids did these experiments all by themselves!

They made a mess, but it was worth it! :)

Love letters

  A few weeks ago Joey and Kylah started writing letters (all by themselves). I guess they were in the mood to write, and they were obviously in the mood to share some love! I love it, and I'm so glad I have pictures of these so I can remember them forever! (and to show Joey and Kylah when they are fighting...)

This first one if from Kylah to Joey: "I love you. You help me learn. To Joey." 

Adorable!

These are to Kylah from Joey: "I love you very much Kylah. You are a very good sister. You help me learn a lot about singing. I love you very very much. Love Joey."  

Priceless.

Joey decided to include Joe and I in on the love.

To Mommy From Joey: "You are a very good mom. I love you very very very very very very very much. You are a very smart mom." 

I mean, really; it's just too much cuteness!

And finally to Daddy from Joey: "You are a very good Dad. You help me learn a lot about basketball. I love you coaching basketball for me. Love Joey." 

I love it!