"Cheeeeeeeeeese!"

So I seem to have the smiliest child I've ever met.  And she LOOOOOVES to have her picture taken.  In fact, if she even hears the words "camera" or "picture" she says, "Cheese!"  Here are some of her cheesy smiles. (She went and stood by the back door asking me to take her picture :)

Sledding!!!

All bundled up and ready for fun! I know I'm biased but these are some cutie pies!!

Andrew ready to go!

David was all smiles!

Bella: "Whoa!" she said that a lot :)

Saturday morning I decided to take the kids sledding. This was Bella's first sledding outing, and I was a little nervous about soloing it with three little ones in tow, but a neighbor told me about some smaller hills in the area and we decided to check them out.  The hill at a nearby elementary school was the winner. It was great! The boys could climb it themselves, and by the time we left they could both send themselves off independently! Bella had a blast! She kept saying, "More!"  Winter in Michigan is long, and wet, and cold, so we might as well make the best of it!!

Neighbor Hang Out

the girls

the boys

music and dance show by the kids

Beckie flipping Molly upside down

the girls dressed Bella up. boy did she love all the attention!!

Last weekend our awesome neighbors joined us for pizza and some hang out time.  What fun!  The kids played until they couldn't play anymore (we even let them stay up until 10!!!) and the adults were just about talked out by then :)  We are so thankful for our new home and the wonderful people who live around us. Thank you, Lord, for caring about the details of our lives!

Soak It Up

While I was delivering our little Bella, the song , "Soak it up" by Warren Barfield was playing in my mind.

The chorus goes

Oh and the days go by so fast
And the memories they never seem to last
And I'm quick to see all I don't have
I need to change the way I look at all I look at
And soak it up, every little bit I can
Enjoy all my days, before all my days end
And whatever I get always let that be enough
And never forget to soak it up

Cause I can get caught up in this crazy race....

No I'd rather be living every second, living every minute of every single day!

Whenever I think about my birth experience with Bella (not the best on my end as you may have heard :(  ) I think of this song, and I can totally tend to overspiritualize things, but it was really like the Lord speaking to me in that Operating Room, to soak up all the joys in life, to live with my eyes open, my heart open, my arms open.  The other day this song was playing on my Ipod and I grabbed Bella and told her that this is the song I was singing in my heart when she was being born, and we danced around the kitchen.  She won't remember that dance, but I will never forget it.

My Little Shoppers

On Monday, I took the kids to Trader Joes to go grocery shopping. And for the first time, Arabella got to push one of the little shopping carts! It was so much fun. Grocery shopping is never as much fun as when you have three little helpers carting everything around for you and squealing with delight!  What fun!

Hemini Zoo :)

Natalie and I decided to check out the Detroit Zoo in the winter, so we bundled up the kids and off we went...and it was AWESOME!! The zoo was quiet, the workers were happy to see the kids and eager to educate them, and there were lots of indoor exhibits.  Biggest hit was the giraffes, which were indoors! Afterwards we took the kids out to lunch (McDonald's of course!), which was fun too, until Bella had a massive poop explosion and had to leave McDonald's NAKED!! Overall a fun morning, with a funny (in hindsight) and smelly ending :)