OCTOBER

October came and went so quickly-- it always does; I think because it's my favorite month and there's too much we try to squeeze in.  We didn't manage to visit a pumpkin patch, carve jack-o-lanterns, have a bonfire every weekend, or make caramel apples, BUT we all went trick or treating for the first time as a family (not sure how we didn't manage it before now, eight years in) which was very exciting for the Deterding girlies.

Jane Elizabeth turned three!  More on that later.  Here is our birthday morning tradition of Carlson's donuts and gifts from our family:

That night we had friends over for a bonfire:

Jane and her little twinsie-friend, Jordan:

Halloween was an exciting day!  I went apartment-shopping with Aunt April, and then Mom Mom and Poppy came down for a birthday dinner (for Mom Mom) and then trick or treating in our friends' town home neighborhood, where you get a completely full McDonald's bucket after doing only one pass of one street.  We're all about getting the most bang for our buck.

I present to you, a pumpkin, a sheriff, a colonial girl, an explorer, and a bat.  All but the bat are courtesy of the dress-up bin in Avery's closet. Awesome.

This is sweet-- Grace bought Mom Mom a box of new, sharp, glorious, Crayola crayons because Grace remembered her mentioning that it was her favorite thing to get as a girl.

Leah's Seventh / Evie's Golden First Birthday Party

Your "golden" birthday is the birthday when your age matches the date of your birth.  Evelyn turned one on the first, so this year was her golden birthday!  (Grace is miffed that she has to wait until she's THIRTY to have her golden birthday). We had our usual big family party in the back yard, and Leah was excited to have a shared party with a sister, since Grace and Avery always have a party together, too.

The Birthday girls:

Jane and cousin Leanna:

Lots of overly-helpful sisters to open gifts:

Leah with cousin Kip presiding:

Our family with our two new electronic dogs (the dogs are girls, too!)

Every kid in the family gets one of Aunt Candy's bear cakes to smash on their first birthday!

What a twenty-first century cake smash looks like… complete cell phone documentation:

Jane got impatient and decided to show Evie how it's done:

Leah got Frozen stick-on nails that made her feel like Aunt Becki!

She's ONE!

Today we celebrate the gift of one whole year with Evelyn Rose!

This has been the fastest year of our lives-- does that mean this next year will go by even faster??  Evie, you're the happiest, most-kissed, "cutest baby in the world" (as your big sister Grace would say).

You are jabbering, taking long naps, and will be walking on your own before long.

You are just about done with bottles, still love to eat, and only have two bottom teeth!

You get so very excited when you see your daddy and sisters-- your feet start twirling,

you wave your hand, and you yell at them (a happy yell).

We are so blessed that you came into our family-- the best surprise ever.

Well, Jane was the best surprise ever, too.  Daddy and I really love our surprises!  

Happy Birthday Sweet Leah Anne!

Baby Leah (top) had a head full of dark hair and such a cute little chin.  Big girl Leah loves to see those same things in her newest little sister (bottom), who shares her birth month!

Leah is SIX.  She continues to be a sweet, sensitive girl who loves to nurture and mother younger kids, especially her little sisters.  She loves to be a helper and I'll often find her sweeping the floor or wiping the table without being asked.  

She just learned how to ride a bike and is slowly but surely learning to swim!  She describes herself as an "inside girl", who prefers the comforts of home to having adventures outdoors.  She loves to read, color, draw pictures, and especially play board games.

Leah has many adventures ahead of her in first grade and we can't wait to see how she grows this coming year.  We love you, Leah Anne!

Thirty

I have a list called "30 Before 30".  About 4 or 5 years ago, I wrote down thirty things I wanted to accomplish before my 30th birthday.  I didn't check most of the items off my list, but one glaring overachievement was #6, "Have another baby."  Three additional children later, I'd say Steve and I took care of that one.

Today on my birthday I am so thankful for five beautiful children that we have the privilege of raising in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  One we have yet to meet, and is 30 weeks today on my 30th birthday!

I am also so thankful that I was summoned by name, redeemed, and am precious in the eyes of my Lord (Isaiah 43:1)… and more than that, I can't remember a day when I didn't know and love Jesus.  I'm praying the same for those kids!

And I am so thankful for eight and a half years of marriage to this guy, who loves me well:

And since Grace was taking the picture, and doesn't like kissing, her cool parents had to do this:

She closed her eyes while taking this picture.

Happy First Birthday!

This was the fastest year of our lives.  I guess what they say is true; time passes more quickly the older you get.  Or the more kids you have!

Jane Elizabeth is still small and petite and lovely, so maybe that makes it harder for me to believe she's ONE!  She has an official "first word", and it's "Uh-Oh!"  Adorable.  She may or may not be saying Mama, I can't tell for sure.  She still makes lots of babbly little owl noises and lights up whenever she sees a family member. She always pretends to be shy and bury her head in your chest when you're holding her and someone says hello.  She can finally clap her hands and can point to a nose!  Other than that, she's content to just grin.

Jane can take five or six steps in a row when she's in the mood, then it's right back to army-crawling.  She's almost startlingly fast with the army crawl.  She's conquered the stairs and often gets stuck standing under the kitchen table.

She's about to become the proud owner of FOUR new top teeth that are erupting all at the same time, poor girl, just in time for her to sink her teeth into her birthday cake this weekend!

We love you, little Jane Jane Choo-choo Train!

Told you she was excited about her birthday...

Happy Birthday to Leah!

We began our day today with the traditional birthday donuts, although Leah broke slightly with tradition and went for Dunkin Donuts instead of the usual Carlson's.  The girl knows what she wants!
She opened presents from our family~ Calico Critters camping set and wristwatch from Mom and Dad, nail stickers from Jane, Stickers from Avery, and pink nail polish from Grace.

Leah was effusively thankful for each gift she opened and has great surprised facial expressions.  Poor Grace suffered greatly watching Leah open each gift, so very sad that she doesn't have a watch or a Calico Critters camping set.  We're working on helping her work through these emotions...that girl just FEELS everything deeply and wears her feelings on her sleeve! She was happy to watch Leah open the nail polish, though!

Sunflower-themed birthday party (which Leah has been planning and list-making for since June) with family is on Saturday.  School begins on Tuesday.  Life is full!

Sweet, sweet Leah-loo.  She is so very excited to be five.  As she came to the top of the steps this morning, she announced "Here comes the five year old!"  She loves to mother Avery and Jane, always scrunching up her nose, stooping down to their level, and talking "oochie-goochie" baby talk.  She's eager to help Avery do everything, although she does NOT enjoy feeding Jane a bottle!

Leah definitely has a perfectionist streak/ slight OCD nature (thanks, Tim Wilson) that gets stronger as she ages!  Her dresser top is set up just so; I had to spend 30 minutes tucking her quilt into her top bunk so that it was perfectly smooth and she slips in the top at night so as not to disturb it too much; she dissolves into tears when her writing or drawing or coloring is not perfect.

This also translates into some amazing accomplishments:  she's well on her way to reading, her handwriting is excellent, she learned how to SEW ON A REAL SEWING MACHINE with her Grandma and has already made a pillow and a quilt for cryin' out loud, and her sock and underwear drawer is a sight to behold.

Leah loves party planning, jump roping, drawing, sewing, her sisters, playing board and card games, and pizza.  She does not like cheese (what?!)

We are looking forward to enjoying Leah's sixth year with us, seeing all she will learn, and pray that above all she will learn to follow Jesus with all her little heart!  Happy Birthday to Leah Anne xoxo

She's Six!

Grace Olivia is such a smart, passionate, clever young lady! She asks lots of questions, always wants to know exactly how and why things are the way they are, is good at math, and is now interested in collecting coins and rocks. Grace loves to be outdoors having adventures. Out of all the kids, she is the one that likes to be in the garden. Some more favorites: "I like to play baseball when it's hot and eating cake" she says! Also, the color yellow, speaking in a British accent, Skyping with Uncle Matt, wearing pants (last year, she mostly refused them), trying new things, and her absolute favorite food is Chinese, especially stir fry.

She's Two!

We had a whirlwind week this past week, traveling all the way to Birmingham, AL to visit with friends for the first part of Spring Break.

Throw in two birthdays, two birthday parties to plan for, and Easter celebrations, and you've got one neglected blog for the month of March!

Here's one photo of the birthday girl for now.  We now have an unshakable family tradition of getting donuts from Carlson's for breakfast on a birthday.  Then the birthday person gets to open gifts from our family and blow out candles at the breakfast table.

Avery doesn't realize what's going on one way or another, so during breakfast time I was actually still asleep recovering from returning home from Alabama at 4am that same morning.  This photo was taken later in the morning when we stuck candles into a chunk of donut that was left over.  And she didn't get her gifts until bed time.  And we "shopped" for said gifts in our attic, where we store toys and clothes that are out of rotation.

Yes, we re-gifted.

She loved the baby doll bath tub and fancy Moroccan slippers (that Leah outgrew).

Happy Birthday to the sweetest, most affectionate, goofiest, funniest two year old Avery!