SURPRISE!

We went to Maine to spend 8 days with my parents. My grandfather is not having a funeral and his burial isn't until spring, but I wanted to be home. Not being near family is really starting to wear on me and my heart longs for the place that I will always call home. I am so thankful we homeschool and have the flexibility to pick up and go. So, we packed up the van and headed 1,100 miles east with everyone and the dog! It was a great trip and I am so glad we went. Thank you for all the prayers. I have truly felt them these last two weeks.

Last Thursday my princesses turned 4! Thursday was also that day we had to drive home. I felt like a heel that my girls would be strapped to their car seats for 18 hours on their special day. But we had no other choice.

Because my parents are awesome, they decided that we would celebrate the girls' special day while we were visiting. Monte had to leave on Monday to head back to Indiana, so we did it a few hours before he left on a jet plane.

Here are some pictures of the BIG surprise!

The girls are obsessed with the Disney princesses, so of course we knew we couldn't go wrong with this DQ ice cream cake. YUMMY!

The decorations...

Princess Hannah in total shock! She is still getting used to missing a tooth and her hands have been in her mouth a lot lately. Oh sickness, please stay away.

Princess Chloe was excited too, but she doesn't show it like our drama queen Hannah!

I am not sure what they were looking at in this picture, but I love their faces!

I seriously cannot imagine my life without my girls!

Happy 4th Birthday my beautiful princesses!

The Birthday Fun...

The night before each child's birthday, we let them open their gifts. This move is totally selfish on my part. My kids can be pretty intense and get very excited about things, hence I've gone through their whole birth day in the past completely miserable because they would ask every 10 minutes if they can open their presents yet. Because Monte is usually at work, the answer is always, "When Daddy gets home." Having them open their presents the night before is my solution to not going insane on their birthday!

This year Papa (Monte's Dad) sent John a chocolate, chocolate cake from his restaurant and we ate that after opening presents. {Thanks Papa}

My sweet John boy getting ready to open his gifts...

I think he likes it...

Such a ham...


The day of his actually birthday was jammed packed. As with every birthday, we took the day off from school. He had the whole day planned and we had a blast!

The first thing we did was go to Chuck E. Cheese. We used to go here often, but now that they are older, school takes a lot longer and we just don't have the time. I guess it makes Birthdays more special.

Then we went to the mall and John went on the jumping trampoline thingy before going to Build-A-Bear.

For dinner we went to Steak n' Shake. I really don't know what it is, but my kids are in LOVE with that place. Here they are after dinner.

Here is John and his SECOND cake!



One thing I do to help save money, but still make the kids feel special, is signing them up for birthday clubs.
Chuck E Cheese - 20 free tokens for your birthday AND 1/2 birthday
Barnes N Noble - You get a free cupcake AND can make a free online book *very neat*
Toys R Us - $3 giftcard
Build A Bear - They always send some sort of coupon

Birthdays are such a wonderful time to celebrate the birthday child. It is completely their day and we spoil them rotten *not with material things*, but with experiences, just being together and having fun!

John said over and over again, that it was his best birthday ever. That warms this momma's heart!

John Douglass

Tomorrow we will celebrate our first birthday of the new year! John will turn 8. He has been counting down the days since Christmas {not that I noticed or anything}. I love setting a whole day aside for the family to celebrate the birthday child or children in the girls' case. Trust me, he has the whole day planned. I am sure I will be blogging all about it!

We have decided to forgo all parties this year. With the boys being so close in age, they have a lot of the same friends. What a pain to be invited to 3 parties a year, maybe 4 if they have a younger sister too. I am trying to come up with creative ideas for next year. Any suggestions from my wonderful friends will be taken into consideration!

We just got our first scanner for Christmas, yes I do realize it is 2011... thank you very much! So, I thought I would take a moment to take you all down memory lane.

Here are pictures of John Douglass through the years...

At 4 months old...

6 months old...

1 year old...

At 18 months...

2 years...

2 1/2 years...

3 years...

3 1/2 years...

4 years...

5 years...

5 1/2 years...

6 years...

7 1/2 years...

This is my favorite picture of him in 2010. He LOVES his cat Alex!

John is amazing boy! He has NO fear and loves danger {I am so thankful we haven't had any broken bones and only one fall out of the 2nd story window}. He has always been very independent and pretty strong willed, but we wouldn't want it any other way. He is probably our most competitive child and doesn't like second place, at all. But he also loves BIG. He loves animals and praying for people who are less fortunate than he is. He was the first to ride his bike with no training wheels and he was the first to loose a tooth. His favorite subjects in school are science and reading. We love you John and are so thankful that we get to experience life with you! Happy Birthday John Boy!

Isaac's birthday celebration

As I collapsed into bed last night, I started thinking that maybe we are doing too much for each child's special day/weekend/week... but I will admit... it was F-U-N!!

It all started this past Saturday...

Isaac wanted a military themed party. My boys are obsessed with anything having to do with the armed forces, so of course I was not surprised. Here is the cake he picked out. Oh and a big shout out to Sam's Club for the uneven writing. I was NOT a happy camper, but I managed to keep my composure (as best as I could) since it was his party day.

The one and only game that we played during his party. I think you all know by now, I lack creativity. Thankfully they made up lots of fun games on their own!

All his friends that came!

Because I don't get out enough and I tremendously enjoy tormenting my children... this year he got relite candles. I am sure I laughed harder than the kids. As you can see they smoked a lot, seriously cracking up just writing this! Sorry Isaac, I am sure you'll give me relite candles on my 70th! :)

Yesterday Isaac turned NINE!!!!

*Side note* We take the day off from school when there is a birthday during the week. The whole day is about the birthday kid, but we all have a great time.

Isaac had the whole day planned out. He is OCD like that. I have no clue where he gets it from? It started with him wearing his new shirt (It says Adoption Rocks with the Ethiopian flag in the middle). This is the only thing he wanted from us. He is a precious kid and I love his heart!

First stop was Chuck E Cheese. We were the only ones there! Another reason we love homeschooling!

Josiah hit the jackpot!

Then Isaac wanted to eat at Steak n Shake. He was just a little excited!

We then took a trip to Toys R Us so he could spend his birthday money. Of course he bought only Lego's (his other obsession). Next we went to the 75 cent theater to see "Cats and Dogs" (do not recommend it if you are over 15... just sayin'). Then we went and picked up these cupcakes so he could give them to his soccer teammates at practice...

After practice we raced home so he could watch some new Lego show on Nickelodeon (I was at my daily limit for having to endure kid shows so I didn't join him for that one, sorry buddy). He had a great day that ended with him snuggling in bed with us telling us all about the fun he had. We love you Isaac and I thank God for you each and every day!

LOOK WHO IS THREE!!!!!!!!

CHLOE DESALECH

and...

HANNAH AMARECH

(no she doesn't have a headache, she is just into doing some crazy posing lately)

The beautiful Birthday girls

Their party invitation

We had their party last Sunday (2/14/10) at a gymnastics facility. We had Josiah's birthday party there the day after we came home from Ethiopia, so I thought it would be nice to go back and the bonus is not having to clean up after.

My first attempt at making the birthday cake

Having fun...

Blowing out the candles. I had to explain to them why there was fire on top of their cupcake and that they had to blow it out. How cute is that?

I am new to the twin thing, so I wasn't sure how to do the birthday song. We ended up signing it twice, so each girl could get a moment of individualized attention.

Chloe's turn...

Chloe and her friend, Beza

As you can imagine the girls have been so excited for their birthday. It has been the talk in our house for many weeks. I have often wondered if they truly understood what it meant to have a birthday. If you ask them how old they are, they will tell you that they are 6! I think we have finally gotten it through to them that they are 3. I am pretty sure they didn't celebrate their birthday in Ethiopia, so for me this party was a big deal. It was 3 birthdays wrapped up into one. We had a great time and thanks to everyone that was able to be there!

Today is their actual birthday. We are going to enjoy the afternoon at the Children's museum and then finish our day at a Ethiopian restaurant.

Happy Birthday Hannah and Chloe, we love you and you have richly blessed our lives!