Haven's photo shoot

Haven had a photo shoot with our good friend, Kristen Mayes. Kristen is such a good photographer! And what a cute subject, no? Haven was teething and had a runny nose, but she was so cooperative anyway. I just can't get over how blue her eyes look in these pics!

And Haven is really pushing to be able to walk, even though she's just 10 months old now. She would be our earliest walker if she pulls it off! She LOVES standing up all by herself with nothing to hold on to, and she kind of challenges herself every evening to see how long she can stand there. The longer she stands, the louder we praise her! So fun. And she broke her 4th tooth, yeesha. The kids are mucho good with her and generally love babying her. What a wonderful addition she is to our family!

Bria's Birthday

Bria is our big 4-year-old now! Saturday, March 14th she turned 4 and had a little princess pool party here. It turned out to be a blast. Mike made a waterslide out of the slide on the swingset out back, and the girls had a riot sliding down into the pool. We played a waterballoon game that turned into a waterballoon fight, made visors, tried karaoke (not such a big hit with these youngins), had cake and icecream and opened presents. It was a beautiful day to be outside and Bria was literally counting down the days.

She loved all her gifts and has really been playing with them all, which, any of you who have small kids will know, is a nice change from the 1-and-2-year-old stage where the wrapping is cooler than the gift.

Birthdays are such a nice time to sit and recognize just how much someone has grown over the last year. Bria has really become such a little lady. She is articulate, studious with her books and letters and words, patient, and exceptionally loving. We feel lucky that she is our child and we love her.

Isaac's 2nd Birthday

Even with a temperature of 101, this kid had a great attitude and a happy birthday! We went to the pet store in the morning to pick out our first pet -- a blue betta fish. The kids are loving having a pet fish, and Bria claims she's ready for a cat now (we'll see what Mike has to say about that!). We had a basketball theme since Isaac LOVES basketball. It was a riot! We played balloon basketball and some other simple games that were in line with a 2-year-old attention span. It was pretty funny trying to play a little balloon baseball, though, since the kids really weren't grasping the "bases" idea. They basically were running wherever they wanted to run...but it made it even more fun, really.

We had pizza and "basketballs"(oranges) for dinner, then a basketball cake. But Isaac was wiped out by 7pm, so we had to work fast to get him to open a couple presents before he passed out. Overall, it was a wonderful day! Grandma and Grandpa Omer sent a really neat turtle puppet, and Grandma and Grandpa Dean helped buy the fish and fishbowl and sent a card. Daddy bought him a little Lightning McQueen desk, and Bria gave him a bunch of construction paper. Overall, it was a really fun and special day. We sure love our spunky lil' Isaac!