Popping

I am now convinced that I need to go to the store, buy a HUGE roll of bubble wrap and give that to them for Christmas. It was SO funny! I got a couple of packages in the mail that had bubble wrap inside. They were all SO excited. Ben would take a sheet place it on the ground and then they'd all jump on it popping the bubbles like maniacs. It was hilarious! Then he'd run back to the boxes and say, "I need more popping!" He was literally distraught when there was no more popping to be had. He loved popping the bubble wrap SO much, he had to help Haddie get in on the goods. I was surprised to by how much the three older kids enjoyed the "popping" too. So, I'm thinking bubble wrap may be the way to go for Christmas presents, cheap, fun--good times at the Matthews house!

Happy 1st Birthday baby!

It's funny, as I write this Haddie is upstairs crying in her bed. She is tired from the days excitement and just can't settle down and go to sleep. Nonetheless, I am so grateful that she came into our family one year ago. She has been a blessing in my life. I really feel like with my other children I was so worried about messing up, so anxious to get each day over with so I could move on to the next. Haddie has really taught me how to enjoy the moment. I have relished her babyhood, and have to admit that I am deeply sorrowful to part with being the mother of babies. I was thinking tonight as I picked Haddie up like a pro that I have had a baby or toddler in the house for nine years. It's a little sad to me to step over the threshold as this precious time in my life comes to an end.
Anyway, enough blabbering. She looked SO cute sitting on her daddy that I couldn't resist a picture taking session. Haddie is walking now, and talking and being more expressive. She continues to be a climber. She loves to scale up things. Her new favorite is to climb up onto the dishwasher. She hasn't as yet figured out a way to get from the dishwasher to the counter, but she's close and it scares me.

Hadley's Cake and the cake for everyone else

Here is Hadley's cake. It turned out better than I think I've ever done with cake decorating. I found this SUPER awesome decorator's frosting recipe. It's the bomb. Anyway, I used the basketweave on the top and it looked cute, kind of spastic though, because where they met I would always get messed up and two lines would end up the same instead of opposite. Oh, well. I had a beautiful picture in my mind, and it turned out nothing like the picture. I was thinking soft baby pastels, and I got bright, almost neon colors.
I ran out of pink frosting and wasn't about to make any more, so I only did the basketweave on the top half and then I covered the bottom half with flowers.
Here are our beautiful Emma and Jules modeling the two cakes for us, please excuse their bangs, we are trying to grow them out.

Cake Time

She actually looked a little frightened when we brought out the cake and everyone started singing. She really wanted to touch the on fire candle, and she was too caught up with that to even attempt to blow out the candles.
She didn't know what to think about the cake at first. She delicately touched it and tasted a little lick. I thought for sure once she tasted that yummy frosting she'd dig right in.
Promising, but not quite what I was hoping for.
Obviously not quite what she was hoping for either, this is the messiest and farthest she got with her cake. A little taste, satisfy the curiosity and she was done.

A Prayer Request

This is my beautiful Aunt Lisa. She is just a little more than 6 years older than me, some of her kids are the same age as my kids. She has been living with Multiple Sclerosis now for 11 years or so. My mom just told me this morning that she now has a serious staff infection, and that the doctors are worried that with her compromised immune system, she won't be able to survive this infection. I know there is a lot to pray about these days, but if you remember, please pray for my Aunt Lisa!

Hair, hair and more hair

Well, these aren't the best pictures, and Julia looks shiny because I was messing with them in photoshop so you could actually see their hair. But, we have a new goal in our house. I was inspired by my friend Audrey. Our new goal is to get every single girl's hair (including mommy's) done everyday. It's no small task I can assure you, and we are going to have to wake up earlier to get things taken care of. But I can't tell you how happy I feel, and how happy my little girls feel. It makes such a big difference to put in the effort to make yourself look nice. It just naturally boosts your self-esteem and you feel more confident. This was our hair for the primary program. I think they both turned out cute, the pictures just do not do the grandeur of their hair justice. We got many compliments across the board.
If you are interested, I found several hair blogs that have been my inspiriation. Girly Do's By Jenn, She Does Hair, and Babes in Hairland.

Benjamin's Birthday Party

Well, my little buddy turned 4 on Monday. We had his party Saturday evening. He invited his three favorite friends: Daniel, Kathryn and Tyler. We had pancakes and sausage for dinner (one of Ben's favorites), played outside, watched Kung Fu Panda and had Diego cupcakes. It was a hit!














I can't say how happy we are to have Benny as a part of our family. We also had a close call on Tuesday. His asthma started acting up out of the blue and he went into respiratory distress. We ran him to Urgent Care and he was diagnosed as on the borderline between Bronchitis and Pneumonia. We are very glad that he was born in this time with all the medical advances, so that we can continue to have his bright shiny personality in our family! We love you Ben!