A pair of 5's

My babies are five. Five! How and when did this happen? It seems as if my younger two are getting bigger at a much faster rate than their older twin brothers. I'm not liking it.

Stella and Isaac turned five on January 02. It was a fun day. They woke to their birthday tables decorated with presents, party hats, and cake. The kids (all four kids) got to have as many pieces of cake for breakfast that they wanted. If you know me, you know how hard this is for me to allow. But, hey, we only have kid birthdays two days a year.

Stella and Ike had preschool on their birthday. I've never had a child have to go to school on their birthday before. Who knew it was so much fun? They took birthday treats of homemade suckers and Batman cupcakes to share with their classmates. Later that night we went out of for dinner then came home to open one more present that the UPS man delivered right as we got home.

The following weekend the kids got to celebrate turning five with their friends. We went to Pure Entertainment, an inflatable jump house type of place. This was the perfect place to let the kids run like crazy and get all hopped up on sweets. Thank you to all who came to make the birthday party extra special and so much fun.
  

       

Santa and a Christmas Program

We love Santa! He makes us all happy.




Stella and Isaac sang their little hearts out at their final preschool Christmas program. It's always so entertaining to watch the little ones perform.

Snowball fight!

If there is snow our kids boys will play, and play, and play. The boys couldn't get enough of the snow we got. Unfortunately, because of where we live it is usually short lived. Stella liked the snow, but not enough to want to play in it all day with her brothers. She lasted about five minutes in the snow then decided being inside where it's warm is a much better deal. She's got it figured out.



  

Halloween and Christmas

I'd love use the excuse that I was just too busy to post something over the last few months, but honestly, I just didn't make it a priority. I have been extremely busy. (I know that's a weak excuse.) It seems when I had a free moment I felt like just sitting. So today I will post what I should have done months ago.

Halloween:
The kids were characters from the animated show LEGO Ninjago. I made the costumes myself. I used duct tape to make the tops. Yep, duct tape and yes 100% w.t. Hey, for one night it worked. The kids LOVED them. Mission accomplished.







Christmas:

We started celebrating Christmas 10 days before Christmas by having "our" family Christmas. We took the kids to Kobe Steakhouse for dinner. It was the first time the younger two have been to a Japanese restaurant. They had no idea the tables lit on fire. They were terrified. It was somewhat funny to the rest of us.

After dinner we came home to open presents. It was a fun night. From the parental point of view my kids made me very proud. It was nice to hear all four kids say an unprompted thank you when opening gifts. They were truly grateful for the gifts they received.

A few days later we headed to Nebraska to celebrate Christmas with our extended families. It was a lot of fun. Santa managed to find us even though we were miles and miles from home. We got to spend a lot of time with family, which unfortunately meant a lot of hours in the good ole minivan. We were kind of sick of being in the van, but our hearts were happy.

Coloring new Christmas t-shirts.


Christmas at Papa's and Mimi's house.


Sledding behind the golf cart is definitely at the top of the fun list of things to do.


Papa and Mimi with all their grandkids.


The tradition of decorating Christmas Cookies and swimming in the "round and round."



Cousins.


Great Grandma Porter with her "greats and grands."