Charlie turns 6!!!

Charlie’s 6th birthday cake!

the HAPPY birthday boy on April 9, 2015.

Charlie’s birthday was over spring break so we celebrated by having the Hubbell’s over for a long playdate and a wonderful lunch. Drew was super happy to give Charlie his gift.

The friendship between these 2 is incredible. I love watching them together! Praying for many years of friendship ahead for these two.

Look at sweet Nora! Hanging with the big kids!

LEGOS!!!

I love the excitement between them.

Sitting down for a delicious lunch!

then for cake time!

the smile on his face says it all!

being away from family means there is always a little facetiming.

Nana & G pops arrived in time for dinner and cake. They came over to watch the kids for the weekend while Bill and I traveled to Chicago for his oral board exam.

opening his personalized Bible.  when he saw the dark box he thought it was chocolate at first!

he was semi excited and would tell me throughout the night that he was happy with his Bible gift.

then came the BIG gift – which he said was “dad’s gift”.

he REALIZED what it was! a REMOTE CONTROL CAR!!!

I think it was a little bit of a gift for bill too. the thing goes 30 mph

see Bill’s excitement?

I was happy to bring 1 car into our house versus 10,000 lego pieces.

more cake time!

What a fun day we had celebrating Charlie! Charlie at 6 is growing up so quickly. He reads, writes, spells, loves math, soccer, his sisters and his friends. At 6 Charlie is learning how to express his own opinions and debate VERY well. He has a lot of passion and will express it frequently! He spends every morning master building legos (we are working on only starting legos after getting dressed, teeth brushed, etc!). He is developing an increasing admiration of God, loves BSF, and is interested in God’s activity in the world. He enjoys teaching his sisters and playing with them. We are so thankful for you Charlie! We love you!

Easter 2015

Easter started with a little Egg hunt. Bill hid the eggs.

this photo just shows that we finally framed our cameo photo. love it!

We woke the girls up around 8:30 and Bill sat the kids down for the rules.

our biggest concern was that Charlie would tear around on the house and get every egg and there would be crying, wailing and nashing of teeth.

I had to snap a photo of Bill laying down the law! Rules: no running, no crying or everyone stops.

Claire’s hair pouf was incredible that morning. I have no idea how she manages to make her hair into a nest every night, but she does it!

the hair!!

the start…

Claire finding treasures.

there was 1 crying moment so everyone had to line up. ha! but that solved it and they did a great job and it was an enjoyable morning!

sorry – I couldn’t get over the hair!

checking out what they got.

we wanted a few photos before church – as you can see Charlie wasn’t pleased and had to take a break.

Charlie took a break in his room while us girls took a photo together.

love these 2 sooooo much!

Ellie & Claire – sorry for so many similar photos just loved the different smiles they gave!

real smiles

ready to try again – check out the crossed legs!

the magic just wasn’t there.

our best one!

I was trying to make them really smile so it wasn’t so forced. at least I had their attention!

SMILES! He is risen indeed!

we had a lovely Easter service at our church – Christ the Redeemer and then we out to Luna’s incredible breakfast buffet. It was OVER-the-TOP! I didn’t take any photos because we were managing the kids and mimosas and delicious food and enjoying each other, but I did snap this one towards the end. This made it feel like a holiday since we didn’t have any family we were celebrating with here.

After luna we came home for a bit and then headed up North to a family from churches house and had a MASSIVE egg hunt, lots of great fellowship and more food (of which we couldn’t even touch!). On the way home from the party, around 7, Charlie fell asleep in the car and we put him right into bed when we got home. I don’t EVER remember that happening before. So yes – we had a WONDERFUL easter!

During the spring break following Easter, Amy Alvis – Colin’s mom (a classmate of Charlie’s and a fellow CTR person) invited a few of us to a “Easter party” at a park. I envisioned 50 eggs thrown around a park and some jelly beans. yep – it was NOTHING like that. Imagine a pinterest party! Amy is so talented and invited us into this beautiful party she had planned for the kids and siblings.

crafts, packed snacks, take home gifts with carrot playdoh and handmade lollipops, the most delicious handmade cookies out there. seriously amazing.

she even had coffee & snacks for the moms!

So thankful for friends and new traditions in Spokane!