it's still winter here

 Izzy has had several viruses this winter, the last being just last week.  She had a fever of 103, and then three new teeth popped through.  Now she has six little teeth to bite her sisters with.

 The upstairs bathroom has been something Evan and I have wanted to update since we moved in.  It's like a deep dark cave.  Painted a nice flesh color. Ugh!  We wisely have some people doing the work for us.  We are replacing tile surrounding the tub as well as the floor, repainting, adding new lights, putting up bead board, and putting in a new vanity and sink.  I can't wait. 

 Bathroom demo.  Oh my. 

 My sister Amy sent me this purple shirt and she knows that she will probably never see it again.  I love this color.  My sister and I send clothes back and forth to each other.  It just makes my day to see a fun package in the mail from her.  It's her hand-me-downs and they are fabulous.  And I have this purple vest to wear it with.  Too much purple? Never!

 Tile for floor and funky accents that will be added to the tile surrounding the shower.

 One afternoon we watched Maya perform her new yoga moves at school.  She tried to not act so excited that we were there, but she was grinning like crazy.  And the other girls had the time of their lives seeing her locker, desk, and classmates.

 Zoe could stay outside all day, just like Maya.  Here she is in her all-purple glory, eating all the snow on our deck.

 Maya FINALLY one of her top teeth that has been a bit wiggly since September.  The root was the longest I have seen on a baby tooth-GIANT!  She pulled it out herself and was thrilled when the tooth fairy remembered to pick up her tooth before the next day began. Sometimes the tooth fairy forgets here in Minnesota.....darn that tooth fairy.

 Izzy showing off her comb-over and her little bottom teeth. 

 The tile so far on the bathroom.  Such a welcome change from the flesh colored tile previously. 

 Brynn is into barbies.  She follows after her Mama in that regard.  Oh barbies....such good times!

The buns and me. 

we still officially have snow here in minne. blech.  i am not-very-patiently awaiting spring and all it's glory. 

we started re-doing our bathroom.  it's has been a huge process and i am thankful to not be doing it myself.  i like projects that get done in a day or so.  and the decision making!  i am happy that this is the only project we are doing this year.  thank goodness.

izzy is nearly crawling.  she just pulled herself up to the couch today!  but she gets herself into trouble all the time.  i have to keep my eyes on her all the time, and she is not even crawling! 

zoe is my little helper.  she loves our one-on-one time when brynn is at school.  she loves to go places and hates it when we get home.  

brynn is going to a neighborhood pre-school and also one through the park district here in minne.  the park services here are amazing.  she learns all about nature, animals, and is outside doing something fun like snow shoeing every week.  

maya is busy reading to izzy every day after shool.  it has been fun to see the reaction that izzy gives her sisters, especially maya.  she loooooves her maya.  

and evan and i just celebrated 10 years!  oh my!  we are planning a trip to ireland in a few weeks and i can hardly wait.  we were thinking of going somewhere warm but then decided to go to ireland at the last minute.  can't wait to see the green hills, the cliffs of moor, and sheep! 

hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Izzy at 7 months

Izzy Buns is huge.
It freaks me out that she is already this old.
She loves me, Evan, her sisters and a guy named Larry at church.
She stopped being swaddled and sleeps with her arms raised above her head.
She has long wisps of hair near her ears, and the rest is pretty short, I am debating whether or not to trim them.
She has stopped nursing, except at night.  It makes me sad, but she loves to be fed a bottle by one of her very eager sisters.
She is insanely happy with solid food.  We have a baby food grinder-which all mama's should get-and she eats everything.  She has tried pizza, wonton soup, pasta, cous cous, and spaghetti to name a few.
She gets personally offended when people talk to her that she doesn't know.  Especially at stores when she is in her car seat.  She starts wailing.
Got her two bottom teeth this month.  Grins with her mouth open and shows us her teeth, she is so proud.
I love nibbling her chin.  
She hasn't started crawling, but is perfecting the lean.  She will lean completely over then roll to her back. 
She makes us all happy.
We love her.

Christmas Love

Brynn and her beloved horses moments after arriving at my parents.  She made a beeline for the playroom and we didn't see much of her for most of the stay.  She was just happy to be playing barbies.

Ahh, linkin logs.  These were out every day we were in Wellsville.

In our Christmas plaid!  I made the girls have plaid this year, and although Evan thought it would be a little crazy, I really liked how their outfits turned out.  Too bad this is the best picture we have in our Sunday best.

Lizzie + Maya.  These two were pretty much glued at the hips.

Brynn + Aunt Amy-her favorite person besides Grandpa.

Little goober face.

Little cousins in their new matching jammies.

Izzy + Grandma.

Val + Zoe + Chad.  This is moments before Chad and Val rubbed their hands on Zoe's head to see how long she could stand it whilst watching something on the iphone.

Izzy + Grandma Dean.  We had such a wonderful time seeing her!  So happy she could make the trip up to visit us.  Izzy has a sweet come over in this picture.

The piano received lots of attention.

Izzy + Aunt Carly.  Izzy loves Carly second to me. :)

Kyle, Sophie, Brynn and Maya playing Sorry!

My Dad turned 60 while we were in Utah.  For his birthday my Grandma gave him all sorts of funny gifts: depends, nose hair trimmer, pee bags, hair color.  It was hilarious.

Lovin' life in Grandma's cozy chair.

Ali + Aunt Carly.  Ali and Izzy are just two months apart.

Izzy + Emily.   Emily loves my kids and they love her.

Goobers.

Ali.  This picture was captured by Parker. Love it.

Ahh, the beautiful Wellsvilles.  Most beautiful mountains in the world.

Nerf gun party on New Years eve.

Little sledders.

Carrying the sled.

Parker + Ali.

Aunt Debbie + Grandma Dean.

Whose neck is bigger???

Maya and me.

New Years eve.

Oh, those cheeks!

My brother Chad and I are vest twinsies.

Yeah, I know it's Valentine's day.
Happy Love day everyone!  But I am posting some Christmas love today. 
We were homesick for family and mountains, so we road tripped it out to Utah. 
We saw bright skies and dry roads-which is kind of unheard of this time of year.
The girls were amazing-as in we stopped only three times in 13 hours the first day.
We had a fabulous time.
Saw lovely people, ate delicious food, and made wonderful memories.
The girls went sledding every day we were there.
We had a white Christmas! The snow was so so beautiful.
Izzy had her first sledding experience.
My sister and I went to a midnight organ concert on Christmas eve.
Nerf gun party for New Years.
Plowing snow with Grandpa on the four wheeler.
The whole family was together for three days.
It was the best.

A small miracle

A friend snapped this picture of our family at our favorite place to pick out pumpkins.

Izzy only has one eye showing, and my hair is ahem..kind of bouffy, but it is a picture! 

It was FREEZING in the picture.  And we didn't bring enough warm layers.  You would think after living in Minnesota for four years we would have learned..... 

My friend Kathryn who took this picture, and I met here at a park when I was pregnant with Brynn and she had just had her second daughter.  Now between us there are seven kids!  We have managed to keep this tradition running for four years and it's one of my favorites.  After the patch we went to panera to get some hot chocolate.  You should have seen it: Zoe was under the table with Kai who is her age, and then the other four girls were going and getting water, straws, napkins, and running amok while the adults just visited and chatted and acted like we didn't know whose crazy kids they were! 

Sometimes you just have to do that. :) 

Izzy in pink

Oh Izzy Buns, we adore you.
We love your laugh, your crazy hair, your dimple and how your eyes light up when you see us.
And for the record-her hair has no product in it whatsoever.  It just does that every single day.

At the patch

And for a second year in a row, their dreams came true!
We visited our favorite pumpkin patch and rode horses, played in hay and rode in the little cow carts.
And finished the day by getting some delicious apple donuts of course.