Emma’s 11th Birthday!

Emma Victoria is 11!

We had an ice cream party to celebrate Emma's birthday on Sunday, February 19.

Emma set up her doll's ice cream truck in the center of the table and wrote a birthday message on the chalkboard sign on its side. 

The kids loved the piñata in the front yard!  

The kids also had a marshmallow relay and played "pin the cherry on the ice cream cone" outside!

We blindfolded all the kids when they came inside, and then played a game where they each received a spoonful of an unknown ice cream flavor.  They had fun trying to guess what each flavor was!  I don't have any pictures, but it was funny!  Dave ran to our fridge and put tomato paste on a spoon for one of Isaac's tastings, ha!  Their favorites were orange sherbet, coffee ice cream, and cherry ice cream. 

A gift for Emma 

Birthday pancakes!  #11

Emma told me that this would be an easy year for me to make pancakes since it was just two straight lines.  :)

Roses are red, violets are blue

Your wish is about to come true

Happy Birthday to our daughter who makes us smile

You've been asking to get your ears pierced for awhile

Your gift is a special day with mom to have it done

Saturday is the day, it'll be so fun!

This is the poem we used to surprise Emma with her birthday gift of getting her ears pierced!  Emma and I went to La Lobe to have her ears pierced on the Saturday after her birthday while the boys were at Frontier Camp.  It was such a sweet time together!  She was so brave and didn't cry, but she did want me to hold her hand.  

We celebrated with Sprinkles cupcakes after her ear piercing!

She also wanted to stop and show the Davis girls her new earrings.  Annika was babysitting, and it was fun to share this sweet memory with all of them!

 

January 2023

 2023 began on a Sunday!  What a joy it was to begin the New Year playing in orchestra!

And, the lyrics were so fitting for starting a new year!

O Worship the King, 

All glorious above, 

O gratefully sing 

His wonderful love;

Our Shield and Defender, 

The Ancient of days, 

Pavilion'd in splendour, 

And girded with praise.

I got quite a laugh out of Titus coming to church on January 1 without shoes or socks and in shorts!  Ha!

The kids went back to school after a gloriously long and wonderful Christmas break.  

Titus may have become even busier after the kids were back at school...

trying on shoes...

trying on hats....

climbing...

reading...or at least rocking and holding books...

going on runs with Mom...and even falling asleep in the stroller...

and napping.  Oh these days go so quickly!

We celebrated Tex being with us for two years on January 16!

I went to a fun Escape Room party celebrating Ashleigh's birthday!

I couldn't believe it when I picked Josiah up at school one day and he had two holes in his shirt. 

"I cut holes in my shirt so I could itch my stomach without lifting my shirt so no one saw my belly button."

Josiah made this in art class in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Josiah had his "Aesop Fables and Friends" festival at school.

Josiah got sick one night and threw up a lot.  He spent the night on our floor, and Tex stayed right by him on the chair and on the floor.

We had a very fun roller skating party with the Countryside Children's Ministry!  On the way home, it snowed a bit, and it was an exciting end to a very fun night. 

Josiah preferred running in his boots to skating!

Isaac enjoyed rollerblading at the skating party so much that he used some extra Christmas money of his to order his own pair!

The kids "pampered" me using "tools" by giving me a foot and hair rub, and it was relaxing!

I went blonder!

In January, the kids also started Upward Basketball with Dave as their coach, Emma started the first phase of her orthodontics, Emma had two teeth removed, and Isaac auditioned for All-Region band!

We had a week of ice to end our month of January!  School let our early on Monday, and we didn't go anywhere until Friday afternoon.  It was a delightful week of all being home! It sleeted so much on Monday, and Titus was intrigued by the sound of the sleet.  He stood by the window watching, and he also noticed how cold the panes were.

Both Emma and Isaac helped in the kitchen a lot during our week home.

Isaac set up some "school" for Titus, which was so sweet.

Titus also discovered the toilet paper and Windex while we were busy with school.  My mom reminded me that this picture is like the cover of "Love You Forever."