Need Prayer...and LOTS of it

Just wanted to take a brief moment and ask each of you to pray for me. Due to circumstances and all involved, I can't be totally open and honest with what is going on. But I can say that I am just going through some trials right now. I need the strength to persevere, and wisdom to handle whatever comes my way. Thanks girls! I appreciate it more than you know!!!

Playing Catch-Up...again

Well, once again I find myself behind the 8-ball with my blog...so much to catch up on! Here are some highlights:

Jaelyn turned 5! She's been begging to get her ears pierced for over a year now. I gotta say, I thought it might be a passing craze, so I would pinch her ears so she would know what it felt like. But she never changed her mind, so we took her on her birthday to get it done. She was such a trooper and didn't cry at all!

She wanted to have her party at Bounce U, which was a BLAST! After bouncing, we went to Friendly's for ice cream cake...it was such a great night!

We also FINALLY painted the girls room! It took me forever to decide exactly what I wanted and what color...and on and on :) So, we picked a weekend and dedicated it to finishing it...and the girls LOVE it!

We have since hung curtain panels on either side of the closet that can be easily closed by the girls. We used to have bifold doors and they were kind of heavy for the girls to move. I kind of thought the curtains would also help soften the room up a little bit since they only have one window.Lots of storage for lots of toys!!We are still working on getting stuff on the walls, and I am in search of a white mirror (i'm thinking round??) I did get 2 accent lamps to use with the pink lamp shades to put on either side of the dresser. We're gettin' there... :) I'm open to any fun suggestions...:)

Happy Valentines Day...a little early:)

We took the kids to get their annual Valentines picture to hand out to family...

and then we got one of just Zane:
All the girls got a Valentine pic of them dressed up as cupid and I was hoping to get one of Zane in the same get up (Jared was not at all thrilled about this)...but, lucky him, picture people no longer has the cupid get up so we settled for the "I Love You" heart:)

The Cutest Pink Eyed Boy...

Zane had his 6 month check up today...he weighs 14 lbs. 11.4 oz and is 25 1/4" long. That was the fun part of the visit...the not fun part was finding out the poor kid has a sore throat, double ear infection and pink eye in both eyes. And he got immunized on top of that! Our hearts ache for the little guy b/c he must feel so miserable! Hopefully he will be on the mend soon...

Happy Half Birthday!

To our litte Zane...who's not so little anymore...and is 6 months today! Where has the time gone?!? Zane is now sitting up practically by himself, trying desperately to blow raspberries, and eating rice cereal! One thing I have not slacked on is taking his monthly block picture...so here's his 6 month:

And then after sitting so nicely...this is what any baby would do when you put blocks in front of themAnd I couldn't resist this one...I LOVE Zane's eyes and I'm pretty convinced they will stay blue...my fingers are crossed anyway!Happy Half Birthday sweet boy! We love you sooooo much!

Playing Catch-Up

Seems to be the story of my life these days! Yes, I know...I've been totally absent from the blogging world...not on purpose but somehow, time just gets away from me! I had all these great posts in mind but putting them off for another day turned into another week which turned into another...well, you get the idea. But to quickly recap...our fall literally FLEW by I think! Once school started...it was onto Halloween...onto Thanksgiving...and then onto Christmas! Our Thanksgiving was spent in Missouri with family we hadn't seen in almost 2 years. It was a very looonnnnggg drive out there but we had so much fun once we were there. I would say I'd post pics but in reality, I prob won't get around to it:)

We had a great Christmas this year, all the kids were really into it. Some of the highlights were going to pick out our tree, making our traditional reindeer food (and of course the mess that goes along with it:)), Christmas jammies, and waking up at 4:30 a.m....yes that's right 4:30 a.m. This year I FINALLY convinced Jared to sleep in and let the girls wake us up b/c we all know they are early risers anyway...and what do they do? It was fun anyway...we did stockings until Zane woke up and then did everything else. Here's some fun Christmas pics...and a few of my favorites:)

In their jammies anxiousely awaiting "Santa"

We have no boy toys so Zane had to have this toolbox...which he LOVES!

This is what getting up at 4:30 will do to you:) Side note, this was just minutes before Taegan promptly sat up and got sick all over my poor Mom, not fun...not fun at all!

I am now vowing that I will no longer go months without blogging...but I may need a nudge every now and then:) I do love to do it, and I think it will be beneficial in the long run when I go back to scrapbook...but ya know.......that whole time thing, gets me every time:)

Zane's Bumbo Experience...

We recently got out the Bumbo seat for Zane...and after a few minutes in it, this is how we found him:

Our Big Little Man

Zane had his 2 month check-up today...he weighed in at 11 pounds 7.5 ounces and measured 23 1/4" long! We are praising God for a wonderfully healthy little boy!

Firsts...

I love to keep track of all of thge "firsts" for the girls...and Zane, (Okay, must take a slight side trip here...it's so hard not being able to just say "girls" anymore!) Anyway, Kaesyn had a first yesterday...her first haircut! She did great! Joyce just trimmed it up a little bit...nothing major:) And as I'm posting this, I realize I didn't take an after picture, bummer...

Please Don't Feed Fingers to the Horses...

...Always a good rule, but ESPECIALLY at The Land of Little Horses which is where we went on Sunday since the girls absolutely LOVE anything to do with horses. They had so much fun grooming and feeding the horses! They also got to take a pony ride, which was probably a highlight for each of them. The weather was gorgeous and we had a wonderful day having fun as a family! We must have looked very relaxed and at ease b/c someone even came up to us and told us that we made having four kids look easy! We kind of just chuckled about that later:)

*Notice the cowgirl hats have made yet another comeback...the girls LOVE these things! As soon as we told them where we were going, they immediately went for the hats:)

Zane's first horse ride:) Okay, so he didn't really "ride" but it still counts for something...Okay so Jared will prob kill me for posting this pic...but I just had to, it's so funny! (I'm just glad he didn't get any pics of me trying to lasso those bull horns:)It was way harder than it looks!

All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth...

That's what Taegan will be singing this year:) She FINALLY lost those 2 front teeth that hung on all summer!

My Little Man...

Zane is growing up so fast! I don't know, with him being the last, I was hoping time would go by slower so I can really enjoy the baby stage...but it seems to be flying by! We took him to Penney's for a photo session which didn't quite turn out as expected (long story), so I took pics of what I wanted myself.

Check out those baby blues:) Let's hope he keeps them!!Zane is 2 months old now!!!

School Days

Taegan started first grade this year...where has the time gone?!? She was looking forward to the first day of school weeks before it got here! Every year I make a sign for the first day of school...Jared is a little embarassed by it, but I'm thinking I will want that picture for my scrapbooks! He jokingly said that the girls will be seniors and still carrying a sign...and who knows...maybe they will:)

Taegan and her friend, Lindsay, had on the exact same dress and headband for the first day. They got lots of giggles about having the same outfit on:)These are Taegan's best friends: Ella Hixon, Grace Hilsher, Tae, Haley Witmer, and Lindsay Nicklas. We are so thankful Taegan has such wonderful friends!!

Jaelyn started K4 this year, she goes Tuesday and Thursday all day. She was very excited for school as well!

We can't wait to see what Jaelyn will learn this year and who her best friends will be:)

I'm Back!!!

After a brief blogging hiatus, I am back:) We have been crazy busy trying to get in some sort of routine with the start of school and all that comes with that, as well as the start of cheerleading for Taegan.

Since I never finished blogging about the beach...I'll just post some of my favorite pics.

We rented this suri 2 mornings and had an absolute blast! We had so much fun riding on the boardwalk and did lots of laughing as a family! What great memories!!

My 2 men:) Zane looked adorable in his swim trunks...thanks Aunt Tish!

Jaelyn wanted to be a mermaid:)

What a fun time at the beach!!!

Beach Fun!

Who was I kidding by thinking I was actually going to post blogs from the beach?!? Anyway, we have been to the beach and are back now and it was an action packed, fun filled 4 days! We left on Sunday for Rehoboth Beach...after packing endless suitcases it seemed:) It's exhausting packing for 6 people! When we arrived on Sunday, we were happy to find that we could check right into our hotel (which was right on the boardwalk...super convenient!)...and then it was right out to the beach! The girls had a BLAST! Since I am not really a fan of sand UNLESS it's at the beach, the girls were in their glory. They were totally covered by the time we headed back up to the hotel! Here's some highlights:

After we were done on the beach, we headed out to the boardwalk. We did a little shopping, played a few games, and took in the beautiful scenery:
On Monday, we headed to a place called Jungle Jim's. Jared took the girls on go-karts, we did the bumper boats, and played some mini golf. There was a water park there also, but we decided that since we all couldn't do anything, we weren't going to spend the money on it. But we will for sure be returning in future years!

(I have no idea who the people in the picture are)This was the ONLY ride Kaesyn enjoyed...she would not get on the go karts and she hated the bumper boats! But this lion, she loved:)

Okay, hate to do this but we have to scoot out the door so I will have to finish blogging about the beach a little later! More to come!!!