Birthday celebrations for Shea, Cooper and Jesus!

Shea Elise Norris turned 5 on Nov 2, 2012!  She is a lover of animals and a collector of the stuffed variety.  I asked her many times to give me a list of gift ideas.  She only had one thing she wanted: the soft puppy in the purse.  She had spied this puppy about 6 months before and hadn't stopped dreaming of it.  Needless to say, she was thrilled when she opened it during our traditional birthday breakfast.  Other than her puppy (which she promptly named "Sparkle"), Shea received a lot of art supplies to feed her daily craft habit.   

We also had another surprise for Shea and the other two kiddos.  Josh had been working day and night on an indoor play house for the kids.  We showed it to them right after Shea's birthday breakfast.

Shea had 2 birthday parties this year; a family party and a  "Kitty Party" with her friends.  I didn't get pictures of her family party, but here are all the cute little kitties....

lots of running....

Each girl got to "adopt" their own kitty and had opportunities to win kitty accessories like food bowls, balls, and kitty toys.  We also did a craft where they made kitty collars with the names of their kitties on them.

Kitty races (red light/green light)

Winners getting their prizes

Shea loved this hat that she got from one of the girls!

Shea's one of a kind.  We went to Costco to order her cake, and when she saw the pumpkin decoration, she was in love.

Cooper James Norris turned 3 on December 3rd, 2012.

  At three years old, Cooper is all boy.  When I asked him what kind of party he wanted, he said, "A basketball-truck party".  He only wanted one friend, Asher, to come to his party along with all his family.  It ended up looking like an adult party, but he had a great time and was  loved on by a lot of people.  Since Cooper can't have gluten, we did an ice cream sundae bar for his treat.  He loved it!

Such a handsome ham!

Somewhere I have pictures of him opening his gifts, and will add them in here when I find them.....

Last, but definitely not least.... We Celebrated Jesus's birthday!

The day after Thanksgiving, as per tradition, we decked the halls.  Advent had begun!   The kids enjoyed counting down the days til Christmas and listening to the Advent stories that Josh has created for them. 

Decorating is tiring work for one kiddo!

We had an early Christmas celebration at Aunt Brookie's house.  Here are some happy cousins!

The stage is set...

Let the fun begin! 

Stocking opening is always a fun time.

Cooper was SO excited to get his own pack of bubble gum!

After we ate and opened presents, the rest of the day was just open and relaxed.  The kids played with their new toys, and there was no feeling of rushing or pushing.  It was a great way to celebrate the birth of Jesus!

Fall Update

Where, you might ask, are the spring and summer updates?  Isn't the last blog post from about this time last year?  Seasons are such interesting things, and I've been learning a lot about them recently.  I've been learning that the season of having adorable, little, highly dependent children is a short but intense season.  It's a season to treasure, hold close and pay close attention to.  It isn't a season (at least for me) with a lot of extra time to blog or scrapbook.  I've been doing a pretty good job of continuing to take pictures, but I have thousands in files on my computer that I long to organize and share.  So, at some point I will, and, until then,  I will be grateful for the moments that I DO get to upload a few here!

So, here are a few moments of wonderful from this fall....

Shea and Cooper loved harvesting tomatoes in our little garden.  Because of the weird weather this summer and fall, we had tomatoes until the second week in November!

 Look closely and you can see our cute little chipmunk that has come to live in our backyard.  He spent a whole week stuffing his cheeks with bird seed, so we're sure he's set for winter now.

 Cooper is a lover of all things trucks or cars.  He said he's going to to have a truck and basketball themed birthday party, too!

Here are some pictures from our visit to Deanna Rose farm and pumpkin patch 

Cute kiddos!

I love this one with their grimaces....can we be done smiling now?

Fishing! 

So, what could Josh be building in the play room???

Why, a 2-story playhouse for the kiddos, of course!

It comes complete with lookout loft...

Slide...

Climbing wall...

Make that a SUPER FAST slide....

Stairs...

And their kitchen inside!!!
Needless to say, the kids are THRILLED with their surprise.  We kept them out of the playroom for a week so that Josh could finish the project.  They had no idea we were planning this as a birthday/Christmas present for them.

Annual Pumpkin Carving

Danya tried her hand at it and found out  how tough it is!

I had the flu during Halloween, but thankfully I was able to snap a few pictures before the  poodle, fairy, and monkey took off for trick or treating.

Finally, here are few pictures of the everyday sort of wonderful: 

Shea and Cooper "doing school"

Danya, working on her school work and Shea listening to a Sparkle Story (all of the kids' favorite right now).

Today, the weather seems to have changed to winter, and I'm looking forward to snuggling in with these kiddos for another wonderful SEASON!  I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving, Christmas, snow, Plaza lights, traditions, our normal slow-daily rhythms of school, work, play and the joy of close friends and family (near and far).