17 years for us!

May 22, 1999

17 years

6 kids

3 dogs

5 cats

multiple fish

4 addresses

8+ cars

10+ jobs

love, laughter, family

us

...and one of my presents...

My sweet Cale got me this mug, purchased with his own money at the Santa Shop at his school.  I love coffee and tea, but I love this boy more!  Cale is one of my best presents!

It's my birthday!

My birthday happened in a busy week of basketball, work and the girls' preschool program.  Honestly, it didn't really feel like a birthday with all the business.  But, we did have cake-a requirement, of course. I got to attend a concert (preschool Christmas program-where my gift was that I didn't have a little one to watch and could focus on the performances-that's been a long time coming) And, I got a few pictures.  Selfies galore.  

The kids were all worn out anyway from the preschool Christmas program that night.  I know they got cookies there and then we came home and had cake.  My present to them-sugar and more sugar.

Me and my boys.

Kinley was a fan of the cake-had to sample the frosting to make sure it was good.  Made from scratch with homemade purple frosting.  Purple-my favorite color and the color of royalty.  Cale volunteered to frost the cake for me.  One candle-a lady never tells her age.  The kids sang happy birthday with energy and were happy to be up eating cake after bedtime.

Sweet moments for my birthday.  

just for fun-google name memes

step 1: go to google images

step 2: type in you name and the word "meme"

for example: "tracy meme"

step 3: enjoy!

and that wraps up birthdays for 2014

My birthday was the last birthday of the year for our family.  We get a 4 month break now (well, less than that now) until Andy's birthday.

This birthday came in the middle of a week of sickness and work.  All the kids were sick that week with fevers, I didn't feel well either, there were still practices for the healthy kids and I worked 4 days that week.  We still managed to make time for some cake.

Me and my cake, made by Andy.  Thank you boys for the rabbit ears.  I'm sporting a new hat that Andy found for me.

Kella, modeling my new oven mit.

birthday pic with the hubs.  I have my new scarf on that Andy got me.  He also got me (us) a new teapot. Yea!

Liam needed to be in on the love.

Nice and simple,  It's what I like.  So thankful for another year.

my bday pics, part 2

My birthday was on Tuesday this year.  The weekdays are busy for us.  This day, Andy had basketball games in the evening and Cale had basketball practice.  I also got Kinley's 6 month photos taken that morning.  We squeezed in time to celebrate, no worries.

Andy got me a couple scarves and some gloves that I can wear and text with.  Magic, I know!

Those gloves work!

I made my own birthday cake.  Cale and I agreed on a recipe I found in one of my cookbooks called chocolate covered cherries cake.  It's a "dump cake" that was so easy to make.  4 ingredients: cake mix, 2 eggs, can of cherry pie filling and almond extract.  The cake was so moist and I covered it with a chocolate glaze.  I put some candles on top, enough to make the cake look pretty but in no way representing my age.

 

I would say the kids enjoyed the cake.

 

Even mother nature gave me a lovely full moon for a gift.  And, I got an awesome photo with my camera!  Happy birthday to me!

pics from my bday

In honor of my birthday, we like to go out to eat together as a family.  I can't think of a better way to celebrate than with the ones I love best.  This year, we went out on Sunday night, a couple days before my actual birthday.  It worked out since I had worked the past two night and didn't feel like thinking about what to prepare at home and we needed to make a run to the grocery store anyway.  It wasn't tough to choose what I wanted-mexican, and Cicero has a very nice restuarant that is perfect for our family. 

It's my birthday dinner, of course I took pictures.


Kinley did pretty well. She was entertained by what was going on around her and we brought some food for her to eat.

pretty sure Liam ate mostly chips and a couple chicken nuggets

 

 

 

And, here I am on my actual bday sporting 2 of my presents-Fred the tea holder and around my neck is the Tom Baker Dr. Who scarf.  Very cool.

the girls

I'm a little behind on blogging here.  I have a chance for a moment to get some pictures loaded.  Here's the first ones of just us girls taken a few weeks ago.  I have to say that Kella does sometimes get a little jealous and want me to put Kinley down or hand her off to Andy.  But, Kella is a little helper and will get a blanket for her sister or a pacifyer if Kinley is crying.
 

 

 

a few pics from Kinley's first week

Kinley's first week...
lots of sleeping (during the day)
lots of holding (by Daddy, Mommy, Grammy Pammy and even some of the brothers held her for brief moments)

 

 

 

@ Ewan's last tee-ball game

@ the boys' last day of soccer camp

1 week old-sleeping

more hospital pics and coming home

I had a lot of down time with Kinley in the hospital.  Andy was able to go back home each day to see everyone and help out if needed.  What do you do with a baby that just wants to be held while she sleeps?  Take lots of pictures.
 

 

a rare, actually sleeping in her bassinet picture (yes, 2 days old with a hair wrap)

 

 

 

Daddy got some holding time in, too

 

Sunday night-time to get out of here!

 

hates the car seat...

...liked the car ride

The boys wanted to stay up till we got home.  I thought it was because they were excited to see Kinley (and me).  Maybe they were more excited that Grammy Pammy made a cake and they would get a piece.  Liam called it Kinley's birthday cake.  It was okay not to have candles because she was "zero" years old.  We did have to sing "Happy Birthday" to Kinley.  I will say that at bedtime, the boys' favorite part of the day was that Kinley got to come home-so maybe they do like her better than cake.

 
Kella was excited that there was a little baby.  All the kids are adjusting pretty well.  Kinley is so little right now that she is kind of just along for the ride and hasn't done anything to interrupt the status quo.  Hopefully, this continues as the weeks go on.