Family portraits!

We went and had our family portraits done last week. Here are some of them. I sent them out in cards this year, but due to the snow I haven't really gotten them out, so they are kinda late. I figured that it is better late then never! The kids did great!

9 months!

Merayya turned 9 months on the 20th of November. She is growing so fast! She started to crawl the right way, and now I never see her army crawl. Here are some pictures of her from the last month.

Santa, Oh Santa!

To start off with....TODAY WAS MY LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo! I can't tell you how good it feels! I am officially a teacher. I will be subbing (here and there) around in Enumclaw...so you just might see me at one of your child's schools!

Also a funny story from a few days ago. I came home from school Monday, and Makyla asked if she had enough money for a Nintendo DS. She brought out her piggy bank and we counted it all up. There was $47 in it. She said "is that enough for a DS?" I said "no, not yet." She went into her room and got a little more change. She came out and said "now, do I have enough?" I said "no, not yet, you will need a lot more!" She went in one more time and got some more change. She came out with that and asked again "is this enough now?" I said "maybe you will have to ask people to give you money to save for the DS for Christmas instead of gifts. She said "okay" and dropped it for the day. The next day I come home from school and she says "Mommy, I am going to give all of that money in my piggy bank to church. I said "you are?" "What about the DS?" She said "Oh, thats okay, I am going to ask Santa for it." I said "well what if Santa doesn't have enough money for it?" She said "he will just take it from the store!" Honestly...where do they get these ideas from? Hmm....and about the DS...I don't think she would even know what to do with it...however, Mark would enjoy it so maybe we will get her one, who knows!

Makyla's 5th Birthday!

Right before the party. She was checking the door constantly to see if anyone was here yet! Opening presents

Opening presents with cousin Kayti's help!

Everyone is singing "Happy Birthday"

Yay! Blowing out the candles.

Last Wednesday, November 12th was Makyla's 5th birthday. We had a birthday party for her yesterday, the 15th of November. I cannot believe how fast time has flown. It literally seems like yesterday when I was waking up in the middle of the night thinking, you don't need to eat again, you just ate! The birthday party was at our house, and many family and friends came. I made the cake again, as I did for Mason's too. It was fun! As you can see, it is quite the cake for a birthday party, however, turning 5 is a huge deal! This is my 4th cake that I have made.

Makyla,

I remember the day that I found out that I was pregnant with you like it was today. I was scared, but I knew that we could do it. I believed that you would be a healthy baby, and every step that you would take I would be amazed. I still am amazed at how fast you have grown. We definitely have our challenges, but overall you are such a joy in my life. You have embraced being a big sister so well. Merayya is your baby, or so you call her! You love playing mama with her. I love your smile and how you are such a humble little girl. Not many things faze you. You are so smart. You just amaze us. Daddy said the other day that you did division! You said I have 6 pieces, so Mason gets 2, I get 2, and Daddy gets 2. I was shocked to hear it, but I know you and know what you are capable of. I am so excited to see how you grow in the years to come. I love you more than words can express.

~Mommy and Daddy

Update on my school!

I am finished in the classroom in 8 days! WoOHoo!! Then I just have an exit seminar on Dec. 3rd and I am official!

Halloween!

Trick or treating downtown The witch, butterfly, and Spiderman!

Makyla's class went to the pumpkin patch!

Mason carving his own pumpkin

Makyla carving her pumpkinThe whole gang (except me)

And here I am (see I was digging in too!)And the finished product. It goes Mason, Jessica, Makyla, Mark we didn't do one for Merayya. There was just a little uncarved one for her!

My first Halloween! I am a beautiful butterfly.

The witch, the butterfly, and Spiderman

Halloween was a lot of fun. We carved pumpkins the week before, and then on Halloween day we went to my old work (Enumclaw Insurance Group) and the kids trick-or-treated there. We all had fun and got a ton of sweets! Here are some pictures.

Mason's school

Mason is still loving going to school. The bus is his favoite part. Here is a picture of his first day of school in October. He has learned so much! He is saying more words. His newest word is room. He says to Makyla "my room!"

It's October!

Sorry everyone, I have been slacking on the blogging! I am half way through the quarter with school! I am so excited to almost be done!! Just 5 more weeks. They will be hard weeks, but just 5 more. Halloween is drawing near. Makyla chose to be a witch, Mason chose to be Spiderman, and Merayya wanted to be a butterfly (well actually, mom wanted her to be!). Pictures to be coming soon!

Mason finally started school earlier this month. He has started saying a few more words, one of them being "bus." Every day he is so excited when the bus picks him up he runs out to it.

More to come later....Merayya needs me!

Reindeer

You are probably wondering....reindeer, now?!? Well, this is a cute story from my school. We were walking outside at the school to go somewhere and a little girl from our class said to me "reindeer!" I looked over to the trees to see if maybe there were some deer in the field or something. I couldn't see anything, so I told her "no, there are no reindeer." That is when I noticed that it was nice and clear and what she was calling reindeer, was actually Mt. Rainier. Now every time I see the mountain I think of her. Mark and I got the privilege to go on a hike last Thursday before the cold weather set in. We went up and it was beautiful. I was a little scared that we wouldn't make it back to our car before dark, so I was booking it down the trail. I was right...we ended up walking the last half in the dark. I was pretty scared, but I kept watching Mark's white socks in the dark. I was glad to get back to our car and even happier to get back to see our kids.

Army crawler

I haven't updated about Merayya in a while. She has never learned to crawl the right way (if there is a right way!). She army crawls. Her tummy never leaves the floor when she is crawling around. Her clothes are getting quite the use in the tummy area! She has managed to crawl into a lot of things lately. She crawled into a basket of toys yesterday, and she crawled up the stairs yesterday. There is really only two stairs, but yes, she made it to the top and was crawling around in the kitchen! It was pretty exciting.

Mason's Birthday party

Mason blowing out the candles!Three full layers of lemon cake with custard filling. Sneaking opening gifts

Allowed to open gifts, finally!
The cake in all it's glory He was singing with everyone!

Here are pictures from Mason's Birthday party. He had such a blast. I was so caught up in the party, that I didn't take as many pictures as I usually do.

My 2nd cake

On Mason's actual birthday we went over to our friend's house for pizza and to watch Monday night football. I figured since it was his actual birthday and I needed some practice that I would take a cake to their house to celebrate. It didn't taste as good as I would have liked, but overall it looked great!

Happy 3rd Birthday Mason!!!

Yesterday was Mason's third birthday. I just can't believe how fast time flies! We are celebrating this next Saturday with a party. More pictures will be coming, but until then, I have some of the first pictures that we took when we got our digital camera.

Dear "my little old man,"

I can't believe how much you have grown. God has blessed us more then we could ever imagine with such a beautiful little boy. Everyday we laugh at how cute, daring, and funny you are. I can't wait until you can say more words and communicate with us. Then, maybe you will stop calling Makyla, grandma, auntie, and me all mommy!

Love you,

Mommy

My cutie pies!

Here are some cute pictures of the kids. I love them so much! Look how much they have grown!