Madelyn's 6! (oh and Halloween too)

 Our beautiful, blue-eyed, little girl just turned 6! Wow! She is growing up so fast. 

Madelyn was so excited on her birthday to go to the build-a-bear work shop. He brother's were almost as excited and thanks to Grandma they got to build some bears too. Madelyn being Madelyn, it took us over an hour to build a couple of bears and choose some outfits. So many choices, TOO many choices.  However, after some tough decisions she is trilled with her bear.  Being our ever practical child she asked for socks (with owls) and slippers (cause her feet get cold).

HALLOWEEN

The kids has a blast Halloween banking way, way too much candy in those plastic pumpkin buckets. We had to little lady bugs, Venom, and Darth Vader.  Madelyn was so excited that she and Claire got to match. She chose her costume based completely on what Claire was going to be, so fun to have a sister (finally!). 

The kids had so much fun at the Trunk-or-Treat, there were games, face painting, and of course candy.  Although, they spent so much time playing the games, they almost missed out on the trunk-or-treating.  Afterwards, they somehow talked me into at least going trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Apparently, there is a huge difference between going door to door and going trunk to trunk.  

Love that this picture captured all of their personalities.  Love these kids to pieces!

Claire LouLou

She's 1!

 The last year has flown by.  Can't believe how fast this little girl is growing up.  She has been such a sweet and fun little baby.  She is always ready to rough-house with her daddy and play with her siblings.  She is so happy and we love her big blue eyes that light up with her big smile.

 This is Claire's typical look, with her little tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth.  She has done this since she was a couple of months old. So cute and so Claire. 

 Claire loved her cupcake. She couldn't get it into her mouth soon enough.

She crawled all over her dad while he was trying to get her new little animals out of the package.  Squealing and pulling on the packaging the entire time dad tried to get them out.

We love this little girl. She is such a joy to have in our home.

Happy Birthday to Our Boys

Yeah it was about 3 months ago, but....

 Happy Birthday Daniel!

Dan turned 4 in July.  He's supposed to be our sweet little baby boy and he refused to wait one more year before turning 4.  Our Dan-the-man is determined to keep up with his older brother and sister, and can run just as fast and do absolutely everything that they can.  It breaks his little heart when he gets left out of something.  It's been an adjustment for him being without his two best buddies while Andrew and Madelyn are in school all day.  However, he loves his baby (Claire) to pieces.  He sits by Claire in the car and makes sure she doesn't cry.  He's her little entertainer, he keeps her laughing.  He is always making sure she is safe and not getting into trouble.  I expect soon enough he'll be teaching her how to get into trouble instead of keeping her out of trouble. 

This was one of his favorite presents (thanks Gma Risenmay).  It came in handy swimming everyday all summer.

 He ate the blue frosting off his cake and thought it was hilarious that he had a blue tongue.  

Happy Birthday Andrew!

We're having trouble believing this kid is already 7-years-old.  It can't seriously be 7 years since this little guy joined our family!  He was such a sweet and content baby and he still has a very pleasant and entertaining personality.  He really enjoys life and is always out to have a good time, but he is so good to include his younger siblings.  He's a great big brother and his negotiating skills come in handy when he is trying to settle disputes between the siblings.  He tries to keep everything fair and fun for everyone. 

 Andrew is obsessed with Avengers (not sure why, he hasn't seen the movie, must be school).  Needless to say, he was a little excited about the Avengers masks.  Good thing he was willing to share, Daniel and Madelyn were excited too. 

 Glad these two are such good buddies!

We love that we have two girls too!

Best Buds

Yes they are silly, giggly, noisy, rowdy, and 3 of the cutest kids ever. These 3 kids are great buds. They (for the most part, remember they are kids) get along great and look out for and take care of each other. Maybe it has something to do with not remembering a time when it wasn't the three of them together. It has been fun watching them all play on the same soccer team. Their individual little personalities come out big time.

Andrew loves to be goaly. Not sure if it has something to do with not as much running or if he likes that he is keeping the other team from scoring points. It might be that he prefers to throw the ball and not kick the ball. He knock a little girl to the ground when he through the ball down the field. Poor girl didn't know what hit her.
Madelyn is the cheerleader. Even though she is on the field, supposed to be playing the game. She runs around cheering everyone on, the other team included, and making sure everyone gets a chance to kick the ball. She spent the first game helping all the kids that fell down up and making sure they were okay.
Daniel is the one shoving the kids down that Madelyn is helping up. He is one of the smaller ones out there, but he doesn't let that get in his way. We had to tell him that flying elbows and pushing other kids wasn't allowed in soccer. He might be more cut out for football.
Claire seems so much younger than the other kids, but loves to be with them. She saves her biggest smiles for her big brothers and sister, and they take such good care of her. Little Dan-the-Man is especially protective of his little baby. Such cute kids, I don't know how we got so lucky!

Claire Louise

Our little lady is almost 3 months now. These pictures were taken when she was 2 months. I wish I could just keep her this age forever. She has been such a wonderful baby. She sleeps 10 hours at night, still takes lots of long naps through the day, and is such a happy baby. She loves when we talk to her and smiles and giggles. Such a cutie, it's this age that makes me want to have at least 5 more =)

Catching Up

OCTOBER 27

Claire Louise Black

6 lbs. 12 oz.

20 in.

Our baby girl arrived on the 27th. We were all so excited for finally have her here. The kids especially, they have been asking for months when we could get the baby out. Unfortunately, we called her "the baby" for so long now that she has a name the kids still call her "the baby." Madelyn loves to hold her little sister, as long as she is asleep. Daniel just likes to look at her and pet her head, and Andrew looks in on her when she is sleeping, just smiling down into the crib. We love her to pieces and are so glad she has join our family.

HALLOWEEN The kids had a great time this year trick-or-treating. They got to go to a haunted forest and trunk-or-treat for the Ward on Saturday with Aunt Michelle, while Mom was in the hospital. They also got to go trick-or-treating on Halloween with Aunt Karma and Uncle Kraig, while Mom stayed home with the baby and Dad went to work. It's a good thing these kids have such great aunts or it would have been a real bummer Halloween for them. Andrew was Frankenstein, thanks Aunt Leslie for the costume! Madelyn decided awhile ago that she was going to be an Asian Princess. I'm glad we found the right costume, so she was a happy camper. Daniel was told he could either be a cowboy or Spiderman. Somehow he ended up as Spiderman in cowboy boots. Claire even got in on the holiday spirit. Andrew decided before she was born that because she was going to be born before Halloween we should dress her up as a pumpkin. Because she would fit inside the pumpkin and we just needed to cut out holes for her head, arms, and legs. We compromised.....thanks again Aunt Leslie.
NOVEMBER 2

Happy Birthday Miss Madelyn Paige.

This beautiful little girl turned 5 this year. We love this little lady to pieces. She has been so much fun to watch this year as she has started preschool and dance lessons. She continues to her daddy's girl. She cries and cries when he is working late and can't tell her goodnight before she goes to bed. Madelyn is our little clothes diva, she loves dresses, skirts, and leggys. Her most exciting birthday present was clothes from Grandma and she has been wearing a new outfit everyday since, she loves it. We love you Maddy-girl, just don't grow up too fast!

The kids had a blast playing in the leaves with Dad. Ryan took the kids outside one day, so Mom and Claire could sleep. They raked up all the leaves in the yard and made a huge pile to jump in. The kids thought it was the best afternoon ever. Daddy thought it was a lot of work for a few minutes of fun, but at least the kids helped gather all the leaves together, before they played in the pile and spread them all over again :).

Happy Birthday Andrew

Andrew turned 6 this year! I can't believe how fast the last 6 years have been. Andrew is loving school and comes home full of stories about friends, recess, and the bus ride. I'm not sure about the learning and classroom time because he never has much to say about that part.

Andrew has been so much fun to have in our family. He continues to amaze us with his unique descriptions of life around him. He loves to talk and he loves to learn about new things. He is constantly asking questions and trying to learn anything he doesn't already know about. Andrew is especially interested in how bodies work. He was so excited to see the Bodies Exhibit at the museum this summer. He was fascinated, we had to drag him out when the other two kids couldn't handle any more. We love this little guy!

We don't usually do theme birthday's but for some reason this birthday was all about the Angry Birds. Andrew loves this game and he was so excited with my attempt at Angry Bird cupcakes. He was also trilled with the stuffed Angry bird and the decals he got. Pretty sure they were the favorite, until he opened the cash from his Aunt Leslie. He was on top of the world with his $6. We made him put some in his savings account and pay tithing before he could go pick out some toys at the dollar store. Funny how kids think being able to buy their own toys is the best thing in the world.

Happy birthday Andrew. We love you!