Declan's 1st Birthday Party!

Of course the pictures are backwards:(!!! Always happens to me. Anyway this is Lilah and Farrah hugging and dancing which is not normal behavior for them. Colleen told them they won't be seeing each other for a little while because we are going away. So they hugged very tightly:)

Declan and his new drool bandanna! So cute, and I could have used these the past year with all the drool that has escaped his mouth!

Opening a big dump truck from Uncle Tim!

1st cupcake! I think he liked it;0)

We celebrated on Sunday because we'll be in Mexico on Valentine's Day! Too bad Decs was not a happy camper that day. I think he was overwhelmed and extra clingy to his mommy. This is his ducky cake that Auntie Holly made him! She also make cupcakes and cookies. So adorable and tasty. Thanks again Holly:)

So here we are just 11 days away from MEXICO!!!! It feels like we have been waiting and looking forward to it for a long time, and we have been, for a whole year now. I'm pretty sure the kids will do great and won't miss us as much as we'll miss them. We are celebrating Declan's birthday a week early because we won't be here on the 14Th. He is doing so well right now. He's not teething at this moment and he's been sleeping through the night for a little while now:) He has 4 teeth. He still absolutely loves his sister. He actually says her name! He sticks his tongue out of the side of his mouth and says "La La". He can also say "ma ma" but only when he is upset and crying about something. He does say other sorta words too but who knows what they mean yet. His favorite time of the day is bath time. He LOVES splashing and standing up in the tub, both things he is not allowed to do. He's definitely not walking yet, still just crawling everywhere, and walking around furniture.

Lilah is registered for preschool come September! She is so ready for it. I would have liked to put her in last year but it just didn't work out with the whole car situation and me watching the store on Tues and Thurs. She will be going to the Central Heights Church preschool and she got to go there and check it out with me last week. I couldn't get her out of there! She's going to love it as am I! She still loves to change her outfit 50+ times a day. I get pretty frustrated with always having to pick up her clothes, and do up her buttons and ties. Its just a phase I'm sure?! Lilah is still in ballet and is really enjoying it. She loves dancing and twirling. She can go onto the computer on utube and finds princess and barbie songs and dances her little heart out to them:) Her and Declan both love really loud music, hmm, must be a trait they inherited from their daddy!

We sold our VW Golf on Sunday! Mom and I got a van before Christmas, we were just outgrowing the car. Its a 2001 Toyota Sienna and I love it! Aaron also got a newer car, a 2000 BMW. His civic died and was going to need a new engine so he found himself his dream car. Its a good thing I love him so much and just want him to be happy! And at least I get to drive it sometimes too, when I'm without the kids:) Vehicles, you love them and hate them. Thats all for now. I won't be posting until after Mexico but I'm sure I'll have some good pics!

I had to post something, its been too long again!

More Pictures

Of course these are out of order. I can't for the life of me figure out how to download the pics so they end up in order on my blog, anyway this is Lilah with grandpa and Jeanie on christmas day.

Lilah, Auntie Holly and all the presents!

Ready to go for a walk on christmas day. It was beautiful outside!

This is just one of the dress-up dresses Lilah got.

Mama Flo and Auntie Julie christmas morning.

Christmas Pictures

Christmas Eve! The infamous family picture.

Thanks for the lipstick mom! (It was supposed to be chapstick.)

New pajamas.

"What did you do?"

"No don't take my chicken away!"

Ahh, happy again:) He LOVES his chicken wings!!!

Me and my kids:)

Random pics from December...

This is Lilah's Christmas dress that she picked out with daddy from Winners! Its very pretty and she LOVES it!!! Here she is looking at herself in the mirror and doing her hair. I get such a kick out of her sometimes:)

A very wild hair day!

Aaron and I ready to go to his staff party! We had lots of fun. Its so nice to dress up and go out for a night on the town:) It doesn't happen very often.

Lilah and Cali decorating cupcakes with Auntie Holly. They were very tasty and Lilah and Cali did such a good job and had lots of fun:)

Big Decs by the Christmas tree! He's actually pretty good around the tree. He likes to point and touch but he hasn't broken anything yet:)

Lilah's gingerbread house. Its already gone... in the garbage that is! Just way too tempting for her.

I love these pajamas!

Lilah has a Christmas tree in her bedroom that she decorated all by herself. She now uses that as her nightlight.

He's on the Move!

Declan finally decided he wanted to move around! Here he is just days away from being 9 months old!!!

Blah Fall Days

Pumpkin carving last night.

At the pumpkin patch. Auntie Holly took some very cute pictures!

Enjoying the warmer weather.

Lilah took this picture of me. She's not a bad little photographer!

Big D!

Family photo. Its getting harder to get a decent pic.

This is Lilah's dance class. They all got to dress up in their Halloween costumes this past Tues. So sweet!

Lilah and Decs in her fort.

What is that on my lap?!!!

I guess its been almost a month since I last wrote on here. Time is just going by way too fast. We haven't really done anything blog worthy lately just the usual day to day things. I love fall but I don't love the rain:( Lilah does so much better when she can go outside at some point in the day. I started working out again! I will try to get to 3 classes a week and work on my bathing suit body because Mexico will come very fast! We are going with friends of ours in Feb sometime.

Lilah, well what can I say about Lilah? She still cracks me up all the time. Its amazing how the mind of a 3 year old works. She has been having more meltdowns than usual lately and I blame it on the weather. Her new thing to do is change her clothes like 50 times a day. Every time she comes out of her bedroom she is wearing something different! And there are clothes all over the floor. She always puts a dress on and nylons and emerges as a different princess. Last night Aaron and Lilah carved their pumpkin. She was so sweet and helpful, and did not like the feeling of the squishy pumpkin seeds. She also watched me make popcorn for the first time and I've never seen her eyes light up so much! She thought it was so cool. She loves going to her ballet class every Tuesday. She does so well following the teacher.

Declan is still such a happy boy! He LOVES his sister and his eyes follow her everywhere. He is still not crawling:) But neither was Lilah at his age yet. He's 8 1/2 months now. He has his 2 bottom teeth. He says "da da da" and "ma ma ma" "ba ba ba" and he can clap his hands. He generally sleeps 9 hours has a feeding and goes back to sleep for another 3 hours. He just can't seem to drop that 4/5 am feeding, and teething does not help. Thats all I can think of for now.

Fall Days

This is the bouncy thing at the Apple Barn. Our mom's group went there today, well three of us showed up anyway. It was lots of fun and the kids had a blast:)

There were no real pony rides there today so this will have to do.

Lilah wanted a little baby pumpkin and that's just what she picked. Except she calls it a "pumcorn". I think she's mixing up pumpkin and popcorn. I'd correct her but its pretty cute!

The girls loved the hayride.

The boys liked it too!

Playing in the bunny pen.

Lilah is taking a dance class Tues. mornings! Its called tiny dance and she LOVES it!

She also loves her outfit and would wear it everyday if she could.

Outside on a beautiful Sept day.

Kisses. Mercedes is the sweetest dog. She wouldn't hurt a fly.

Princess Lilah and Princess Farrah, best friends!

We celebrated Uncle Tim's 25Th birthday on Sept. 24Th. Lilah is so into birthdays nowadays:)

A little bit more summer

I was clearly ready for some fall weather but since we had a little more hot summer weather we took advantage. We drove to Jericho beach on Sunday with mom and met up with dad who was already out there. He was promoting our chicken for dog food at paws for a cause on the beach. It was a really beautiful day. A very long drive but nice to get out. We also stopped at Kits beach to play on the playground, but that didn't last long. We were all getting hungry so we went to White Spot for supper. On the drive home Lilah was singing and waving Declan's bear around and he thought that was pretty funny! He giggled away at her for a really long time:) It melted my heart. Lilah is very entertaining!

Aaron and I both have been having car troubles. His has been in and out of the shop for weeks now. They can't figure out why the brakes are wobbling, and the golf is having issues with the transmission. It has to go back to the shop on Thurs. Its a good thing we've been able to use Julie's car because she's in Australia for 3 weeks. We know we will probably need to get something a little bigger in the next while. The golf is just too small.

Yesterday Colleen and I went for her birthday pedicure:) It was fantastic! Then we went to Presto Cucina for dinner. Colleen's husband Travis came over with the kids to have dinner with Aaron. They picked apples from our tree and made apple crisp for us. I think this should be a regular thing;) Ahhh, I love a good pedicure!

What we've been up to...

We had a Neufeld get together yesterday. We got to meet Jacob, Andy and Cara's little guy. He's just 5 weeks old. Lilah was soo excited to see Sarah! They had a great time together.

Funny faces:o)

Lilah and Sarah. They were very sweet together!

Mama Flo and Auntie Marilyn. Lilah took this picture.

My cousin Lisa holding Decs and little Jacob. These 2nd cousins are just 5 1/2 months apart.

Decs and his best bud Keaton the other day.

Lilah has this obsession with blankets and hiding under them. Decs seems to think its fun too!

Brother and sisterly love!

Hanging out with the cows at the Russenburger farm.

Pretending to drive the tractor with Travis

This is at Hayward Lake.

I don't know what Decs is so excited about but it sure is cute.

Mom and Dad took Lilah to the Northwest Washington Fair! She had a blast and I had a whole day with only 1 child:)

She LOVED the merry-go-round. Thats one ride she's not scared of!

Popsicles!

Sitting so well in the bath. He just loves bathtime!

My little man is 6 months old today! Wow where has the time gone? I always say that. Declan is just such a good, happy little guy:) Lets just hope he always stays that way.?. He absolutely LOVES his food. Oat cereal, beans, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, and mum mums. He can't seem to get enough of it all. I will take him next week for his 6 month check-up and I'm very curious to find out what he weighs. He seems quite heavy. He has not been sleeping through the night the last month. I blame it on the 5 month growth spurt that so far has lasted a whole month! He is doing really well breast feeding at every feeding, thank goodness! The herbs and meds did their job.

Declan absolutely adores his daddy! I know they will be buddies:) He loves to grab and play with Aaron's face and hair. He has been sitting up on his own for almost a month now and he likes to play with his toys that way. He prefers that to lying down. He does not roll from his back to his tummy but if you put him on his tummy he sometimes rolls onto his back. I guess thats all I can think of for now.

Camping!!!

I assure you that's my beer not Lilah's;) So over the long weekend we went camping at Rolley lake. It was a beautiful campsite and it was huge! We fit all three big tents on no problem. It was a fun time had by all:)

Lilah, Farrah and Kayley plugging their ears while Colleen blows up her air mattress.

Stickers in the woods.

Coloring together. Usually doesn't last long!

Just chillin in our set up campsite. Time to relax!

Little Keaton! Oh so cute:)

Peeing in the bush. Yeah if one does it the other one has to!

That's about as deep as she willingly went into the water, and she's still smiling.

Walking back with our loaded stroller.

Drinking O.E. at the table. Hopefully they censor their conversation because Tyson is there!

At Hayward lake. I love how Keaton is peeking around Decs!

Bath time!!!

They were all pretending to be babies! Each in their own toy.
We had such a good time and the kids were all so good. It really was too short and I can't wait to go back there next year!

We have successfully gone 3 whole days now without ANY bottles!!! Yeah I'm so happy Decs loves boobie again:)

He's sitting!

He started sitting a few weeks ago for a couple minutes on his own! Now he does it for long periods of time without falling over. He's 5 1/2 months old:) Such a big boy.