Flower girl and ring bearers!

The kiddos were all in Kurt and Dusk's wedding. The boys were both ring bearers and Maycie was a flower girl. When Maycie saw herself in her flower girl dress her eyes lit up and she smiled the biggest im a princess smile ever!! and the boys loved their tuxes and how handsome they looked in them! They were adorable and good for the most part...a little bribery was used:) they danced their little hearts out and then Kayden cried bc he wanted to go back to the hotel with mom/dad/grandma/ or grandpa. Even though they had babysitters and a room for the kiddos at the wedding receptions. Aunt Carrie offered to take him but he wouldn't go...so mommy didn't feel too bad for him even with his tears.
Mommy and daddy danced till the DJ stopped and had a great time!
Congrats Kurt and Dusk! Thanks for including us in your special day!

Love our Saturdays!

We have had some busy weekends lately with my girls weekend in KC, Easter and Kurt and Dusk's wedding. This weekend we are home! It feels so good to have no schedule and just spend our time together! We slept in today, had Varsity Donuts and Starbucks, the kiddos watched Saturday morning cartoons while Kyle and I chatted, we went to city park and played and then ate lunch at chipolte and then did our usual loooong walk around manhattan's downtown. Then when we got home the neighbors had the bounce house up so we went and jumped and hung out with our neighbors for
The late afternoon. The boys didn't nap so it was an early to bed night so Kyle and I could watch Life of Pi.....
LOVE these days with my family doing nothing but being with them!!!

Our Chapter in Manhattan, Kansas is about to end....

and I'm feeling sappy about it. This has been an amazing chapter for us. In this chapter, we got to start and finish Kayden's preschool career. We got to see our little Breck go from a brand new bambino to a smart, funny, loving 3.5 year old toddler. We were able to see Breck make his first friends and start his preschool career. This chapter also brought us the daughter we had wished, hoped and dreamed of. We became parents to a girl for the first time here in Manhattan and watched our family go from 4 to 5! We got to experience having neighbors we love and had a backyard full of laughing, giggling kiddos playing all summer long. We made some amazing friends that allowed Kansas to be a home and not just a stop along the way. We got to experience being a drive away from our siblings and parents for the first time. We welcomed 2 new nieces while we were here and our proximity allowed us to meet them RIGHT away instead of coordinating flight times we just got to hop in the car and GO! Kayden and Breck both got to play sports for the first time here in Manhattan. And June 1st we have to close this chapter of our lives and say goodbye to these friends and the community we have grown to love so much. I remember when we left AZ I was crying to my friends there telling them I would be a hermit in KS b/c I wouldn't meet anyone I loved like them....and here I am, wanting to cry thinking about saying good bye to these friends and their kiddos I love to pieces. Thank goodness Facebook.......makes being far away alot easier! I never thought we would live in KS...and especially not Manhattan, KS and now I am moving to Texas..another state I never thought I would live in. Part of me is scared and sad and anxious but it seems wherever we go God takes care of us, he gives us a family of friends that are there for us during the fun times and the hard times so as this chapter closes, I am going to embrace the next one with open arms. I'm going to jump into this new adventure with an open heart and mind and pray that I have more "texan" in me than I know!

Easter

This year Uncle Mark, Aunt Carrie and Claira came on Friday to celebrate Easter. The kiddos were super excited about this and helped make goodies during the week for their arrival. On Saturday we had Varsity Donuts for breakfast....of course:) the boys got special peeps donuts! And we played outside that morning because it was so nice out! Daddy, Uncle Mark, Kayden and Breck all crashed on the scooters..yep, even the "big kids" crashed! Daddy banged up his elbow, hip and finger. Kayden crashed the hardest though, going down a hill his front wheel caught on a hole in the cement and he went face first into the ground:( mommy watched and almost cried! Luckily he was ok, other than some battle wounds! Later on Saturday we went to the zoo to see the "monkeys" as Maycie says...she loves the monkeys! It was Claira's first zoo trip! Of course on the ride the two babies both fell asleep but they did wake up to enjoy the zoo after catnaps! When we came home from the zoo Uncle Mark found a surprise in the backyard...some neighbor kids came in our backyard and opened up his beer cans and dumped them in the cooler and on the ground (or drank them...we hope dumped!). After some investigation we discovered it was Lorelie and her brother Griffen...they are only 6 and 4!!!!! TOO young to be curious about beer and too young to be lying and destroying other peoples things! EEP, scary! They came down with their mom to apologize. Not sure they learned anything from it though because they didnt' get any consequences. Anywho...kind of random strange event to happen! That night the kiddos went to bed easy after a full day and no naps. First of course, we had to dye Easter eggs! So much fun! We dyed 48 eggs! But after that us grownups got to watch a movie!! And it wasn't animated! Score. Daddy warned everyone that mommy isn't the best at picking movies. Well I lucked out b/c this one was actually good. Argo. During the movie Mark and I finished stuffing some eggs and stuffed and hid Easter baskets. The next morning was Easter. Kyle and I woke up to Kayden excitedly telling us "It's Easter. The bunny came. He left jelly beans on the floor, and you can see his paw prints. He left us big chocolate bunnies. And tons of tons of eggs are outside. And there are even eggs inside. Wow. This is so awesome. I'm so excited." His excitement was THE BEST. And then Breck came in equally excited with goodies in his hands from his Easter basket. That excitement was worth every late night of stuffing eggs, all the store runs to find the perfect goodies. It was worth being woken up with those excited little people not able to contain their anticipation for the day they were experiencing. I LOVE the magic of holidays with kids. We had a great day, full of finding Kayden's missing Easter basket (in the coat closet), hunting eggs, finding all the goodies in the eggs, the boys had candy, playdough, puzzle pieces, lego pieces, bandaids (kayden's favorite! haha, jk he didn't like that the bunny sent lots of bandaids b/c of everyones falls the day before!), cars, yo yos, hex bugs, fruit snacks and I'm sure other fun little trinkets. And Maycie and Claira had hair bows, headbands, hair clips, jewelry, bubbles and little people princesses (those aren't easy to fit in the big eggs! I discovered after 5 stores and tape:) After all the goodies were uncovered we played and mommy and Aunt Carrie got the Easter meal ready. Steaks, asparagus, mashed potatoes, veggies and ranch and fruit and fruit dip. Aunt Carrie made a cherry dessert with graham crackers, yum! Then Grandma and Grandpa Hingst arrived to eat with us from Milford, the kiddos were super excited about that! We ended the day with a silly string war with Uncle Mark before he left:) Love celebrating Easter with our families!

My GIRL

My girl loves playing with mommy in her room. She loves our quiet time together to play dolls, animals or read books. She loves reading books and then having us do whatever happens in the book...Like when we read about the hedgehogs red hat he got for Christmas, she, her dolly and I all had to put hats on. Or today when we read about the cow having a boo boo and then getting it fixed, she and all of her dollies (all 8 of them I think!) had to have their "boo boos" fixed with medical wrap. She knows whenever she tells me "read mama" "book mama" that I stop what i'm doing to read to her...and if I don't do it fast enough she gets frustrated. My girl is a little diva that makes her mama smile all day long. I am a very lucky mommy to have such a happy, witty, fun baby girl as my own!

LOVE their LOVE

You 3, you LOVE eachother. You boys, you are so sweet with Maycie. She is so in love with you both. You tell her she is your princess all day, you tell her she is beautiful and the best sister ever. If you are sleeping she is asking where you are. If you are at preschool she asks for you. You play together all day, she is your little shadow. Her "bre" as she calls him is her best friend. Kayden you are her protector, her teacher and her leader. My wish for you is that you are always as close as you are today. I hope and pray that you are eachothers best friends forever! I hope when she is excited, happy, sad, lonely, in love, heartbroken, and everything in between that her big brothers are the first people she wants to call, see, tell, listen. I hope that when they need girl advice, love advice, parenting advice, a good listener or someone to whip them in to shape that the first person they look to is their little sister. Sibling love. You are made of the same DNA. You share the same history. You have known eachother from the moment you were born. You know eachothers crazy habits, your likes and dislikes, they share the same memories, the same family. My dear children, always cherish your siblings. Always hold them close and talk to them often. Remember that you are the same. Of course you are very different but you are also the same. You have the same mommy and daddy that love you. We had each of you for a million different reasons but one of the very important ones was so you would ALWAYS HAVE EACHOTHER. You are eachother's greatest gift from us. Never forget the love you feel for eachother today. As you splash in the bath together. As you cuddle up for bedtime stories together. As you build forts together, have food fights, line up for bedtime kisses and hugs. I want you to remember that you are eachother's best friends. Forever friends. Always be there for eachother no matter what, during the happy, sad, scary and fun times. Be eachother's first phone calls, first visits and first lines of advice, support and love. Mommy and daddy love you and we LOVE YOUR LOVE for eachother!

18 months

Are you really 18 months already baby girl? You are the princess of this house. The diva of our family. The twinkle in daddy's eye. You are our GIRL. You encompass the word GIRL. You LOVE, dolls, princesses, pink, tea parties, nail polish, accessories, shoes, and dresses. I couldn't have designed a more girly girl for this girly girl loving mama. You are my PERFECT daughter. I am SO very lucky and blessed God gave you to us! We are soo very thankful for you!At 18 months:*Your favorite food is BERRIES.*Your favorite toys are your American girl baby, puzzles, and books*Your favorite game is...I'm gonna get you!*Your favorite animal is a doggie...all doggies but you really love Fifi!*Your favorite Color is PINK*Favorite place is outside on a walk, at the park, at home with your family, starbucks dates with mommy on Wednesday while both brothers are at preschool, sing a long with Mr. steve on Tuesdays at Bluestem bistro and storytime on Wednesdays at the library*Your favorite book is Toes, Ears and Nose...but you really LOVE most books, you are a book lover! We could read books ALL DAY LONG. *Your favorite song is "If all the rain drops" But you also LOVE "Scream and shout and let it all out" by Brittany Spears and Will I am. haha. Whenever it comes on the radio you sing along and dance, cutest thing ever!*Your favorite babysitter is Katy Weidner*You love to dance and shake your booty whenever music is on*You love accessories, coats, jewelery, Nail polish, anything girly*You nurse about 3x a day now*You only drink water, not a milk fan*You wear size 4 diapers*You wear size 12-18 and 18-24 month clothes and size 5 shoes*You are a happy, joyful little girl. You love giving hugs and kisses and being cuddled with.*Height : 32.1 inches = 59th%ile Weight : 24.8 pounds = 51st percentile Head Circumference : 48 centimeters*You speak in 2-3 word sentences, I have long stopped counting your words b/c you have SOOOO many!! Your new saying this month has been "Love you" and you will tell each of us "love you bre" "love you ka-en" "love you mommy" "love you daddy"...........PRETTY MUCH THE CUTEST THING EVER.LOVE you baby girl. Thanks for being YOU. We love every inch of you and every giggle you give us. We want to always wipe away every tear and hope we can make your life as joyful as you make ours. You can do anything your little heart desires, you have the smile and personality to take on this world, we can't wait to see how you shake it up as you grow. LOVE you to the MOON and back angel of ours!