Build a Bear

Hailey and Whitney decided they wanted to go to Build a Bear with Grandma for their birthday.  We'd never done this place other than walking through and seeing all the cute outfits they have.  It was pretty exciting!  Travis was a good sport watching and helping the girls out.  Most kids would've had a hard time not doing the process too...but he was a champ.

Here's Hailey's Horsie getting stuffed.

 Whitney chose a classic bear and definitely picked an outfit I wasn't expecting....

 Hailey with her new pet.  I love that they gave them birth certificates and underwear :)  they think of everything! 

At checkout my mom got some free gift cards for her purchase....so Travis ended up getting a bear after all.  It didn't take long since he had mapped out what he would have chosen.

 So the end product was 3 VERY happy kids. 

Picture below features:
Travis and Trevor.  Whitney's Merida (didn't see that choice coming...but loving the red wig :), Horsie and Hailey. 
           Travis is not in pain in this picture...he just makes a face everytime I pull a camera out now.  Hailey however ran to the bathroom as soon as I took this.

After Build-a-Bear we played at Grandma's for the weekend.  We had fun with Jeff, Selly, and Marcus too.  He is a cutie!  Going to Grandma and Grandpa's is as good as any vacation.

Ashley's 1!

We made it!!

1 year old

 And it was definitely anticlimatic!  When your sick and honry on your birthday, and your mom is too, it's more endurance than celebration.  So I counted down the first year...and am still counting :)  At least we got some snuggles in between the fusses.

 So the real celebration was more like 2 days later.  Love this smile :)

 This past year has been quite the adventure.  Probably the hardest year of my life to date.  I feel like we endured the first 6 months well, and then when school started I just couldn't keep up anymore.  Things get easier each day.  Some better than others.  The basement project just added to the workload.  But honestly, even though I'd be seriously lying if I didn't admit it has been incredibly hard...I still wouldn't want it any different.  They grow fast, things change fast, and I'll keep reminding myself that I need to enjoy the small moments every day.

Crazy that in a year Ashley has gone from this:

 to this:

Funny and lovable things about Ashley:  She is an actress just like Hailey.  She eats an insane amount of cereal for breakfast.  She refuses to walk without my finger even though we BOTH know she is completely capable.  She refuses to walk but willingly climbs on anything...no matter the height.  She loves her dad.  She loves outside.  She loves playing with her siblings.

Our home is never a dull moment when Ashley is awake!  Happy b-day!

Travis is 6.

Wowsers, my Travis is 6.  I don't need my own birthdays to make me feel old, just watching how old and big my kids are getting does the trick!

Travis has been counting down to his birthday since before Christmas.  And I think in his mind it was just as big of an event!  Here he is ready for school with his special me bag and a backpack full of treats for everyone.

 After school he helped me decorate his football cake.  He was pretty studios in cutting out all the football players and placing them on the field.

 Then it was party time.  We checked Whitney out early and headed to Trafalga for some Laser Tag.  It was really fun.  We also got some arcade games and rock climbing in.

 Hailey had to show Grandma and Grandpa Rasmussen how brave she could be on the big kids ride.

 Whitney really is spider woman.  She raced Aaron up the wall and tied.  It was impressive and fun to watch.

 We then headed to Nike Factory outlet where Grandma and Grandpa bought Travis some new shoes.  He loves good looking stuff....it was a hard decision, he wanted one of everything he saw :)  Then it was off to the fancy McDonalds

 We had a lot of fun.  It's still hard for me to see Travis so big because in my mind he still should look like this:

I love my sensitive, fun, cuddly, sporty, laughy, super hero.  Travis has a way of stealing hearts.  He had mine from the time he slept through the night :)

Oh what do you do in the winter time.

These last couple months I thought would be relaxing, bordering boring.  It's winter time....what are you going to do?  Well, with finishing the basement and 4 kids, there's really never been a dull moment.

This girl turns one in a week!  She's close to walking and loves all the new things and views she discovers every day.

                                               
                                               Of course everything goes in the mouth.

           Whitney and Travis loved playing in the snow.  Even Hailey got into it.  Such a nice break for them to get outside!  One day with new snow, Dad burried Whitney. 

 Hailey meanwhile has gotten a lot of Dora time in while I attempt to do some cleaning in between Ashley's naps.  The things Hailey says and does keeps me laughing!  I have to mention Puzzles.  I need to take a picture of this to truly show how many puzzles a day this girl does.  Our floor was littered with puzzles everywhere.  Thank goodness most were put together.  I convinced her to do puzzles at the table now, and that has somewhat contained the chaos.  Impressive to me that a 2 year old would pic puzzles over all else.

 And then, by night, they always change into the super kids.  They love playing superheros.

 Yes, cheesy comment coming.  They really are super kids!!  Mostly....Ashley's getting there :)

Basement stuff

Wonder why I haven't blogged in forever?  I can tell you exactly why in one word.  Basement. 

The beginning of December we started framing the basement.  We added vents, electrical, doors, moved doors, did lighting, insulation, ect....

Seems like every Saturday and spare night has been spent making progress on the basement.  It's been fun but hard to juggle all I normally do and try and do the basement on top of it.  And our poor kids are orphans every Saturday. 

But enough whinning, we are almost done.

Here's one of the chores I loved most.  Demolition!

We tore out the wall at the bottom of the stairs.  The kids were excited to help.  Although, not to brag too much, but my mean tae bo kick is what really did the wall in :)

 End result = openness.  I love it.

 I am especially thankful we got an awesome bid for someone to put up the sheetrock and mud/tape.  We could've have done it but that would mean 2 more months of our kids being orphans and me cursing sheetrock.  We don't really get along.  So before the sheetrock project started we cleaned up and had a roller party.  Bikes, ripsticks, rollerblades and scooters were invited.

 Whitney peaking through the window into the playroom under the stairs.  Yeah, I caught this on camera as she passed by...that's why it's a blur.

 And . . . hold your breath... After one day, that's right, one day of our guy sheetrocking we have a ceiling!!  Makes me so happy .  With each cut and screw I hear him do downstairs at the moment I smile, knowing I'm not doing it! :)