Megan's birthday

This year Megan wanted to invite four friends over to have a small party and sleepover. We made cupcakes, had pizza, watched a movie, and the girls just played.

For breakfast we had Megan's favorite...CHOCOLATE CHIP PANCAKES!
Here's Megan blowing out the candles on her pancake.

The day after her friend's party, we invited the family over for some food and fun. Megan had a request for red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting.

For her birthday from her aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. she got the Wii game Just Dance 2. I love watching all of the kids play this. It doesn't matter if they have a Wii remote or not, they just start dancing. If the kids are playing, they always find Grandma Kilstrom to perform Viva Las Vegas (or as Kendall says "Biba, Las Begas").

For her birthday, Megan asked for an art table. She loves to draw, color, and create. She really does a great job at it too. Here she is with her new art table and supplies.

From her brothers and sister, she wanted more fuzzy PJ bottoms. She got a few new pair and was super excited to have nice fuzzy PJ's to wear.

Happy Birthday Megan...you are such a special girl to us and we LOVE you.

Random pictures from November

I'm dreaming of a white Thanksgiving. Ok so maybe that's not the song, but that is what we got. Well it was actually Thanksgiving week, not actually the day of Thanksgiving. Here's Roxy at the start of her first snowfall.

My kids were supposed to have half days on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and then be off Thursday and Friday. Well, we got some snow so they had the whole week of school off. We had lots of play time outside in the snow. It was actually so cold that there were times they opted to stay inside so they didn't freeze.
We headed over to Grandpa and Grandma Kilstrom's hill to sled with the Dorsey cousins.
Here are Kendall and Brooklyn looking so cute.

Kendall and the snowman's bottom!

These two opted to swing not sled.

Megan, Atwood, and Dilan getting ready to start heading down the hill.

I love these big smiles when you know your kids are having a blast.

Dilan heading down the hill.

Dilan took Kendall, but she was less than excited about it to say the least. Swinging was more her style that day.

Here's Megan. I kept telling her she looked like a penguin sliding on her belly.

Atwood went on his bottom with his hand for steering. He loved it, but was a bit cautious at first.

Dilan got tired out after hiking back up the hill a thousand times.

Here's Roxy as it started to warm up adn the snow started melting. The kids had fun playing with her in the backyard. They would throw up snow that would cover her back. She looked like a brownie with a dusting of powdered sugar!

Each year, the kids get new PJ's after Thanksgiving. The boys match and the girls match. This year, the boys opted for snowboard PJ pants and the girls opted for festive kitten PJ pants.

We took a ton of pictures trying to get one that we could use for our Christmas card. It was pretty comical trying to get all four kids and the dog to sit and smile perfectly. I did get some super cute pictures, but in the end, we opted for a totally different picture on the Christmas card.

My boys!

My girls!

And another one of my girls because it is so cute. They really do love each other so much.

Atwood had a parents vs. kids soccer game before the end of the season pizza party. Here is the team photo. I took a serious one, but this just shows their true personalities.

My girls have a few outfits that match and they LOVE to put them on and then they will say "Mom take our picture". Of course I do...who wouldn't want a bunch of pictures of cute girls.

I decided to finally get braces to correct some bite/jaw issues I have going on (and straighten a few teeth too). Aaron made sure to get a before picture!

Kendall was very interested in what they looked like after I got them on. I guess there is something fascinating about a bunch of metal in a mouth. Every time we go to the Whites, Dallis and Lexi want to ask me questions and touch my braces. I can't say I love them, but hopefully the next 18 months will go by real fast!

Kendall's 4th birthday...

Wow, it's hard to believe that my youngest child is already 4. I really don't feel like I am getting older, but I know it is happening because my kids keep having birthdays and getting older.

Kendall is so much fun and definitely more stubborn than my other kids. She has such a big heart like Megan and loves playing with Roxy. When she gets home from school she says "Hi Foxy Foxy, did you miss me while I was at school?" Then she proceeds to lay out a blanket and read Roxy books. One day we came home from shopping and she was supposed to go let Roxy out of her crate to go potty, but when I got in the house, this is what I found.

Here she is on her birthday morning posing with big brother Dilan (who is still half asleep).
For her birthday, she got a bunch of baby stuff...play pen, stroller, high chair, walker, diaper bag, etc. Megan of course hurried to get ready for school so they could play babies together. I love that even though Megan is 5 years older, she still loves to play babies with her little sister.

For her birthday, Kendall wanted to invite five of her friends to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch and play time. I think they all had a blast.

Kendall LOVES Chuck E. and always wants to be around him. Not all of her friends share in that same love. Dallis was grabbing so tight onto Deanna and poor Brooklyn Dorsey (there were two Brooklyn's there that day) was ready to leave the place as soon as she saw him come out.

Here's Brooklyn nice and happy before Chuck E. came out to see everyone.

Here's cousin Lexi goin' for a ride.

Brooklyn Jesse was also able to come and meet us there, along with Dallis and Lexi.

That evening, we went to Red Robin for dinner and Grandpa and Grandma Kilstrom were able to join us. Here's the birthday girl...all smiles.

And a cute one of Megan and Grandpa. She was very adamant that she get to sit by Grandpa.

We're glad you had a fun day Kendall!

Fall stuff...

Our fall months were filled with soccer...lots and lots of soccer! This was Atwood's first year and he had a great time. By the end of the season, he was much more aggressive and wanted to play every chance he got. He loved Coach Jimmy and loved playing with some of his school friends too.

Watching Dilan this year was super fun...bigger field, more players, and great competition. Dilan's coach was totally awesome and figured out where each player played his best. Dilan ended up playing defender most of the time, but sometimes he played mid-field too! He was much more competitive this year than in years past so it was exciting to watch how much he would get into the game.

Then of course, it was Halloween! Megan was a cowgirl, Kendall was a butterfly (chicken pox and all), Atwood was a Star Wars dude, Jango Fet maybe, and Dilan was a soccer player.

Dilan wasn't real sure that he was going to even dress up this year (makes me sad to see him getting so old) so he took the easy road and rocked the soccer player look!

A few weeks before Halloween Megan said "Mom, it would be so cool if you could rent me a real pony to ride to school on for the school Halloween party". She's so cute.

Atwood shooting his laser gun. This costume was so Atwood right now. He is very much into battles and good guys/bad guys. His imagination is so awesome.

Kendall with her butterfly costume. She was so cute, even with the chicken pox.

Here's our chicken pox girl in the tub. She was our last one to get them. When her cousin Brooklyn broke out with them, I was excited because they had played together the day before she got any spots. Of course, we went over to play again just to be sure we got it. It was a rough couple of days, but now we are done!

First Day of School

Ok so in an attempt to catch up before Christmas, here are some first day of school pictures. It is hard to believe that this is Dilan's last year of elementary school. He is such a great student and his teachers always love him. This year he has Mrs. Moore who is absolutely amazing. She really tries hard to prepare her students for middle school. Dilan is also on leadership team this year and is super excited about that.

Atwood has Mrs. Ross. Dilan and Megan both had her for 1st grade. He loves to follow rules and is very helpful in class. It is really fun to see him become a more confident reader. He really enjoys writing too (he must take after his big sister).

Here is Megan and one of her best friends Grace on the first day of 3rd grade. They have managed to stay together another year for the 4th year. They started Kindergarten together and have been inseparable ever since. Megan is my reader. She loves nothing more than snuggling up with a good book. I think she gets that from both of her grandmas. She has Mr. Petersen this year who was Dilan's 2nd grade teacher and is loving learning how to draw. He teaches them step-by-step art lessons every Monday.
And here's Miss Kendall ready for her 1st day of preschool. She is going to Today's Child Montessori. A friend of mine from church runs this cute little school and Kendall absolutely LOVES it. She cries when it is time to go home because she just wants to stay and learn with her friends. Thankfully her teacher has let her stay for lunch each day so she thinks that is pretty cool. It is fun to listen to her learn all of her letters and try sounding out words.

Atwood came home on the 2nd day of school like this. You can't really see it, but he lost his first tooth while he was in library. He thought it was pretty cool because he pulled it out himself.

We are so happy with how the year has gone so far. I love that my kids enjoy school and are excited to learn.