great's 88th birthday celebration

posted by mommy and daddy

we all drove to albuquerque in may to help celebrate greats' 88th birthday. we started her birthday day off right with all the boys (daddy and gampa included) bringing her a large coffee and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. later, the girls picked greats up and took her to lunch and to have pedicures (minus eloise who went back home to take a nap). the day ended with a surprise dinner with good friends at greats' house. we loved celebrating her throughout the entire day.

happy easter 2016

posted by mommy and daddy

for easter, we all got dressed up for church and planned on going to an easter party with some friends from church. however, the boys experienced some attitude issues that ended up making us miss the event. so we decided to have our own egg hunt in the wonderful colorado snow.

cute easter dress

cute easter smile

serious easter face

owen and eloise...evie was upset so protested the pic

hunting for eggs on a snowy easter

navigating the snowy terrain

the colorful eggs stood out against the snow

happy new year!

posted by mommy and daddy

since we were out of town for a couple weeks at the beginning of december, we ended up far behind in all things christmas! as such, we didn't send out cards or a letter this year. so we figured we would post a few fun family pics of us spreading joy along with some updates. we are thankful for all that happened in 2015 and look forward to the blessings God has for us all in 2016.

everett: became a big brother, is now an awana cubbie (with daddy as his leader), homeschools with owen, rode a scooter, got chase at build-a-bear, attended his first building workshop with daddy, quickly potty trained, and hit his first golf ball.

eloise: was welcomed into this world, loves baths, has four teeth, started sitting up, enjoys nursing and eating real food, went to her first balloon fiesta, and had her first girls-only outing with mommy and grammie.

owen: moved up to kindie sparks in awana, took swim lessons this summer, started kindergarten at home, began cloverleaf options program, has his first loose tooth, chose stormfly at build-a-bear, is learning to read, and learned how to ride on two wheels.

christmas eve service 2015

posted by mommy and daddy

since we stayed home this year for christmas, we spent time with our church family on christmas eve attending the family service. this service is always fun and meaningful for the kids as they all get to participate in the telling of the nativity story by dressing up as angels, shepherds, or wise men. this year, the boys chose to be shepherds. they were amazing at being patient and listening to what they were supposed to do and truly enjoyed having such an important part. the service always ends with the congregation singing silent night and lighting candles which is so meaningful, and the boys were thrilled to each have their own candle!

nicely dressed for service
(pay no attention to the non-dress shoes!)

goofing around

eloise's first christmas eve service

all ready to spread the good news

a real donkey!

angels, shepherds and wise men

cute little shepherds

listening to the nativity story

silent night

owen loved holding his candle

such an special night to be a part of

eloise's baptism

posted by mommy and daddy

eloise was baptized on sunday during our church service. gampa, grammie, and greats drove up from albuquerque for the weekend to be part of this special event in her life. we feel so fortunate and blessed that her gampa was able to perform the actual baptism at our church since he is an ordained minister. he bapized both of the boys when they were also around 6 months old. it is always so special that he has been the one to perform this sacrament. the dress she wore was the same one in which her cousin emmaline was also baptized. we finished the day with a fun cookout and a trip to high point creamery for some amazingly delicious ice cream. it was a blessed day that we all enjoyed very much.

eloise meets the family

posted by mommy and daddy

eloise got to spend some quality time with her big brothers and grammie and gampa at the hospital. like mommy and daddy, they all were in love with her and could not wait for her to get home.

safe in the arms of mommy

our first pic together with our daughter

siblings

loving brothers with their new baby sister

big brother owen

big brother everett

grammie and gampa with their newest granddaughter

gampa and eloise

owen loves his baby sister

siblings

welcome to the family

protective older brothers

easter fun with friends

posted by mommy and daddy

we celebrated easter with some friends from church and we had a blast. there were a ton of kids and lots of yummy food. owen and everett got to run around in our friends large yard and then everyone walked across the street for an easter egg hunt at another friends house. all the dads were in charge of hiding the eggs and did a great job. great weather, terrific food, wonderful friends and celebrating Christ. what a wonderful day.

lots of eggs filled with treats

it was madness once the kiddos started searching for eggs

everett was an egg finding machine

enjoying the fruits of their labor

according to owen and ella, they are best friends

best friends enjoying the day together

owen and jesse swinging on the tire

the big reveal

posted by mommy and daddy

thanks to josh and kristi for coming over and taking such amazing pictures for us as we surprised the boys with the big news. mommy had surprised daddy during a special date night on friday...and he was really excited!

the big reveal is finally here

it's pink! unfortunately, we didn't think of the fact that owen &
everett would be lost behind the balloons in the back of the box.

there are the two big brothers

it's just what they wanted, a baby sister

we're all very excited

our little princess is on the way

of course we had some time for goofing around

what a wonderful day