Fourth of July!!

So I LOVE the Fourth of July! Yummy breakfast, parade, playing outside all day, picnics or bbq's, and of course, fireworks on the greenbelt! It's probably my favorite holiday. (yea, I like Christmas, but when you factor in all the stress of Christmas plus the snow... I love the Fourth!!) I was scheduled to work at 1900 on the Fourth, but lucky for me, a girl I worked with wanted to switch, so I worked the night of the 3rd and got to go to the fireworks. Granted, I was too tired to go to the parade and was falling asleep during breakfast, but all in all it was a great day! I'm so grateful to live in this great country. I may not agree with everything our government does, but we still have so many freedoms that others aren't so lucky to have. I'm grateful that I was born into this great country and know it was preserved by our God to be a land where His gospel could be unfolded. GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.!!!

Bri and Katie... is she bored? :-) not likely, it was an awesome show!

Maser, Mom, Cami, and Lorynne as the show begins!! Cami is already mesmerized! She loved the show and wasn't even afraid of the noise!

Sparklers before the show...



Lorynne looks a little apprehensive...

Matthew's head, part of Mason, Katie, and Brett and Andrea sparklin' it up.

Matthew, Katie, and Maser

Cute Clara after face painting... she didn't want to hold still!

Cute cousins! Mason, Andrea, Lorynne and Sydni

Everyone gets licorice on the Fourth of July!!

She did love them... this is a face of loving them!!

This is the excited "dumb smile" she inherited from her dad. (that one is for you, James!)

I'm not sure what this is.... I guess all that pent up excitement trying to get out!!

Cute baby!

My boys. Aren't I lucky to have such handsome men in my life? :-)

Kaitlin's Preschool Graduation

Kaitlin had a fun year in preschool and learned so much!! She's so ready for kindergarten!!

Her very own self portrait... She did pretty good!!

Katie and Kiler... he's our neighbor and one of her best friends... he likes to play with her, but I'm pretty sure he wants to branch out in his career - right now he's stuck being the prince.

Cute song... they were going on a lion hunt. :-)

Here she is eating her curds and whey (is that how you spell it?) Anyway, she got to be little Miss Muffet. Kiler was the spider, but Lorynne took this picture, soooo....

It's still hard to count on fingers...

Katie and her friend Savannah.

Cami is 6 months old!

Ok, I love this baby. She is such a snuggler!! But she's also so grabby (she pulls hair and grabs faces until they bleed!) and LOVES to jump! Here she is a day before her 6 month birthday! (hey, she's the 4th kid, she's lucky to even have a picture close to her 6 month birthday!)

Dance Depot Dance Recital May 2009

OH SO FUN! How cute are these girls? Kaitlin loved being dressed up, of course, and Lorynne did too, but she said after I put the mascara on her "mom, I look scary!" Yeah, they had quite a bit of make up on, but they were on stage in the Civic Auditorium and I didn't want them to be washed out!! Then we couldn't really get a good picture of them anyway... go figure. We did get a video and if I can figure it out I'll upload it. Lorynne's dance was "Here We Go," and Kaitlin danced to "Twinkle, Little Star." Mason loved trying to do the dances, too! Funny boy. The girls did GREAT and they weren't even scared! (until the end and Lorynne got lost in the mass of people) I'm so happy to have dance over with for this year, but am excited to start them up again in the fall. They made so much progress with Brittany and Laurie, and so quick! Kaitlin learned how to skip (she's a darling little skipper!) and Lorynne is so close to being able to do the splits! I love these girls!

By the way, I know you can't see them dancing, but those pictures are just there so you know they really did dance!! I didn't just dress them up!

Happy Birthday, Kaitlin! May 10, 2009

Katie, Katie, Pretty Lady... She's my sweet, tenderhearted little princess! She loves playing with Polly Pockets, Barbies and dressing up. She loves her sisters and although mostly just tolerates her brother, I know she loves him just as much as the girls! She loves playing pretend, but if you're playing pretend with Kaitlin, you can bet that you will be the prince and she gets to be the princess. Kaitlin idolizes her big sister, and smothers her little sister. Her favorite color is whatever Lorynne's favorite color is, but I think it really is purple! Katie is sweeter than sugar (when she wants to be), and loves to be loved. She loves to play outside, rain (and when I say rain, I mean snow, because that's mostly what we get!) or shine! She is a fashion diva (as seen in the last post) and loves to coordinate her OWN outfits, regardless of what anyone else thinks about it. She's independent and does what she wants, she actually reminds me a lot of her mom, whether or not that's a good thing depends on the day! She loves to make people smile and be silly, and is a great singer! :-) She's my sweet girl, and I can't believe she'll be going to kindergarten this year!! I love you, Katie girl!!

For Kaitlin's birthday we went to Leo's Place and played and ate pizza. Once agian, no pictures... this time I forgot my camera, but here're a few of her "real" birthday the next day.

Mason blew out her candles the same time as her... she wasn't super thrilled about that. Sorry, Katie. We should have re-lit them for her. And look at Mason's smirk... naughty boy.

Happy Birthday, Lorynne! April 19, 2009

Little Miss Lorynne, 7 years old!! She is such a great kid! Her favorite color is purple and blue (light blue, not the "boy" color!). She loves crafts and drawing, and is really good at it. She also loves to play outside and with her brother and sisters. She loves to swim and ride her bike. She'll tell you her best friend is Maddy or Clare or Hallie or Audra (the list could go on and on, the girl has friends!) but her REAL best friend is her sister Kaitlin, and she's lost when Katie isn't around. Lorynne is also very perceptive and is good at keeping the peace. Most of the time. She especially watches out for her mom, and when I'm having a bad day will offer to take over as "mom." ("Do you want me to take the kids outside, mom?" "I can wash the dishes, mom." "Do you want me to change Cami or help Mason get dressed?") Lorynne is always trying to be good, and is a great example to her whole family... including mom and dad. She can be shy around a lot of people, but she has such a sweet spirit and I'm lucky to be her mom!

For Lorynne's birthday we went to Jackson to go swimming. They have a fun rec center swimming pool that has a couple slides and a shallow pool for the kidlets. No pictures, but lots of fun memories. Here's a couple of her and her cake... she wanted a chocolatey chocolate cake!! Oh, and one of how Kaitlin dressed herself... apparently she was trying to make some sort of fashion statement that I didn't pick up on...

Santa Monica Pier

These pictures are of us at the Santa Monica Pier. Bri and I had so much fun going on the ferris wheel a couple years ago that we decided to take the whole family this time!

Mason LOVED seeing Grandma Anndra and Grandpa Dennis' face as they came around! That smile is priceless!! As I looked through my pictures I wished we would have taken a picture of them coming around, and can't believe we didn't! I guess we were too busy watching you come around and around again!!

Then we all enjoyed some cotton candy. (who doesn't love pure sugar!?!?)