Project 52: September 14-20

Colt is officially pulling himself up all the time! And the three bigger kids get SO excited every time he does it.  His favorite hang out is definitely under the table.  He can fully stand under it for now...but probably not for long! 

 

 

Came out of the kitchen one day to see this!!

We had fun playing dress up this week:)

 

 

We started a new unit in tot school and this week was brown bear.  The kids wore theses masks every spare second they could.  They love crawling around on their knees growling like bears and roaring like lions.

 

What a fun daddy they have!  The kids got a new squirter toy this week from a children's program held in our community center.  They all lined up with cups on THEIR heads and daddy squirted them.  But they sure liked to be in control of the water too.

 

 

Enjoying our LAST free cookie coupon from Subway! It sure was fun using them each week when we went grocery shopping.  We got twelve coupons when we went to the Diamondbacks game in June.

 

 

Friday night I hosted a Sole Hope shoe cutting party.  I'm hoping to get more details on a blog post with more pictures.  It was fun and a great way to fellowship with girlfriends while serving others.  I would encourage anyone to check it out and host a party!

 

Saturday was a fun day to play outside.  Colt LOVES splashing, so he got a bucket all to himself.

 

Someone is getting so big and strong!

Saturday evening we went to Gilbert's Constitution Fair.  It was so great! We had never been, but it was a great time for the kids with a lot of games (and candy!) and puppets and a magician.  They loved to see some fireworks too.

 

The Best of 2013

**better late than never, right?  Again, a post started long long ago and just now getting around to finish:)  Pretty crazy to look back and see all the changes in just one year!*


What a year we have had! We are thankful for the blessings poured out on us this year by our loving Father.  It was a year of change and additions, that is for sure! Some highlights:

January

Mimi visited!!

      

Raelynn turned 2 years old

Celebrating Mommy and Raelynn's birthdays

 

February

Happy Valentine's Day

 All of the Van Engen's visited!

March

Easter!

April

We traveled to Ethiopia for our first trip to appear in court and meet Elliana.  We also found out we were expecting baby #4!



(our announcement to the Frazey family during a slideshow of our trip)

May

Raelynn's first haircut and Declan learns to stand in his crib

 

 

 Mimi visits

One of my favorite pictures I have of Raelynn

June

Mommy and the kids visited Michigan


We bought our first house and announced our pregnancy using the house as a background.

July

 

 We found out we were having a BOY!

Elliana came home forever!

Declan turned ONE!

We MOVED!

August

We took it slow.  Were blessed with meals brought to us and adjusted to three kids and a new home.

 

Daddy and his helpers shoveled rock out of the backyard

 

We painted

 

Declan went from crawling to climbing on everything

 

 

 

 

September

Elliana learned to "kiss" and would stick out her tongue

 

 

 We ventured to the zoo!

Made more progress on the yard

Had a welcome home shower for Elliana at Grandma and Tank's house

October

We heard Voddie Baucham and had to get a picture of him with Elliana.  He was the first person to hold her in public! (she cried and we were happy:)

Pumpkin farm

We have grass!

Halloween 2013

A princess, a ladybug and a dinosaur

November:

Elliana turned ONE!

Putting up our Christmas tree (first time we've ever done it before Thanksgiving, but we had planned to have a new baby by then...)

December:

Last picture before going in to the hospital.

December 10, Colt was born!

And then there were four...

Christmas pictures (Colt three days old!)

 Christmas morning

December 28 we celebrated Elliana's referral day with Ethiopian food!