12 weeks

Gabriel was holding Eden in these pictures. He can get her to smile and laugh better than any of the rest of us.

Park Day

Trying to take full advantage of the nice weather we've had this week, we headed to the park today after Gabe finished up his school work. It was nice to get out of the house and let everyone run around to burn off some energy.

You can go ahead and get a good laugh out of Alena's outfit she picked it out herself. She loves this "bug shirt" that was Gabe's and every time it's clean she wants to wear it.

There were some other little girls at the park that Mya had a great time playing with.

Gabriel loves crossing the monkey bars and here I caught him in mid-swing.

No picture of Eden from this little outing; she was asleep in the sling the entire time.

Pictures of the boy

I feel like there's been an absent of boy pictures on the blog lately. Not sure why, I guess Gabriel is off doing something else when I have the camera out. Today, however, I went out and got a few shots while he was playing in the mud. (We moved our sandbox and now instead of playing in the sandbox they just play in the dirt/mud where the sandbox used to be. Go figure.) We were all so very thankful to see the beautiful sun today and the kids spent a lot of time outside. It even warmed up quite a bit this afternoon, but Gabriel still insisted on wearing his hood up. He told me it makes him look like a Jedi.

First Hairbow

Mya and Alena are always bringing me bows to put in Eden's hair, but I haven't ever put one in because I like the way her hair curls right in the front. Today, however, her hair was pretty flat on top so we tried out the hairbow. It looks pretty cute if I do say so myself.

Silly Girls

Alena just can't stay off of/ out of all the baby gear. At least she can't do much damage to the Bumbo seat.

Nae gets them started early learning the ins and outs of the Ipod.

I have a feeling these two are going to be trouble in a couple of years.

These are Eden's startled eyes which we see a lot. I wouldn't know why.

This picture cracks me up. It looks like Eden is giving Alena the evil eye. "Hey! Get off my Daddy it's my turn to be held!"

One more Birthday post

Mya's birthday party was today she called it her "Friend's Party" and on Thursday that was her "Family party." As you've probably figured out by now, Mya likes things low key and so her parties are quite simple. She invited two friends and only wanted to play dress up and eat cake. No crafts, no games makes it very easy for Mommy.
It cracks me up how my kids mix up costumes. Here is the Cinderella dress with a cape and a lei; I think she pulls it off, though.

Hmm, I don't think Alena looks anything like me.

Eden enjoyed a little of the festivities before taking a nap.

Sam and his best buddy Bun-Bun.

The two Lego loving big boys who spent most of the time doing guess what - playing Legos.
Anna Claire and Alena are only 6 weeks apart. They can be the best of friends and the worst of enemies but here they are in a friendly moment.
I love, love this picture of Mya and Ellen and I'm so thankful that my kids have such wonderful friends.
Mya's birthday weekend is coming to a close but I think she's thoroughly enjoyed turning 4. I hope it's a wonderful year for her.

Birthday Pictures

Mya's day started off with this card from Gabriel. "I love you so much with all my heart." He really can be sweet.
Then at lunch time we met Nae and headed to Centennial Park to take some pictures. Since we have our nice good camera now, Nae wants us to take pictures of the kids and not go have professional ones done. So, we went to the park and took lots of pictures to try and capture some that were frame worthy. We got a couple that I really like and it was a lot less stressful than the picture studio. We did start with the easiest subject, however. Mya doesn't try to run off, she was very happy to have her pictures taken, and she really tried to give us a real smile.

I love this one of Mya and Gabe. Alena was not in the picture taking mood (big surprise) and Eden stayed asleep in the stroller.
I also like this one of Nae and Mya but I'm going to do a little photo editing to take out the NES on Nae's shirt :)

There was also a good one of me and Mya but for some reason I can't get it to flip the right way. Here's one of Mya by herself.

And, here are the answers to the birthday questions. I love to go back and read these and see how their answers have changed over the last couple of years.

How old are you today? four

What is your favorite color? yellow

What is your favorite food? pizza

What is your favorite book? Owen

What do you want to be when you grow up? a ballarina

Where is your favorite place to eat out? Sonic

What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? cook

What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? cook too

What is the best thing about having Gabriel for a brother? he plays with me

What is the best thing about having Alena for a sister? doing puzzles

What is the best thing about having Eden for a sister? to play with

What is your favorite thing to do with your friends? play in the yard

What can't you wait to do when you get bigger? read by myself

Where is your favorite place to visit? my friend's house

What do you love about going to Mathu and Pathu's? playing with Savannah

What do you love about going to Grandmama and Grandaddy's? doing stuff with them

What is your favorite thing to play? Princess

What thing do you most dislike doing? playing stuff that I don't like

What is your favorite part of the day? when it's cool and I can go outside

What would you do if you could stay up all night? do stuff that grown ups like to do

Where would you go if you could go anywhere in the world? my friend's house

What makes you happy? God

What makes you sad? Bad stuff

What do you wish you could do? watch tv

What would make this the best birthday ever? the best presents

Birthday Girl

Has it really been 4 years since this little girl came into the world?

Happy birthday our sweet, beautiful Mya we are so glad that God gave you to us.

We love you! Daddy and Mommy

Little Smiles

I have tried many times over the last few weeks to get some good pictures of Eden's little smiles, but finally today, I got a couple that were pretty good. I love the way her whole face lights up when she smiles.

Guest post from the 1 daddy with 3 children.

We missed you this weekend, but we've all survived.