breaks, bruises, and birthdays

Happy Birthday, Julie! I could not have chosen a better sister ever! She is beautiful, amazing, and my best girlfriend ever!


Here is Ella sporting her latest accessory. She fell off the swing set and broke her wrist last week. She has an extremely high pain tolerance and this really hasn't seemed to phase her. My girls are so very different when it comes to pain. Ella will walk in the house with scrapes and bruises that I have no idea where they came from because she doesn't cry easily. On the other hand if Abby sees some ketchup on her finger she will start crying because it "might" be blood.

Ella with her splint she wore a for a few days till the swelling went down.


She chose these colors for her cast.

A couple random pictures of Isaac.

I've got the blues

and it makes me smile!

Happy Birthday Caleb!

We celebrated Caleb's 8th birthday last week. God truly blessed us with a wonderful first-born son. He's got his Daddy's blue eyes and his Mommy's freckles. He's very tender-hearted and cares deeply about others. Happy Birthday Caleb! I always try to make my kids' birthday special by making their cake. I included a few snapshots of some of them. If I find the missing one's I'll post them too. They may have been pre-digital camera days.

Where did my baby go?

Isaac started walking a couple weeks ago. The first day he stood alone he took his first step and has not stopped. He thinks he's a pro now and really gets into all the claps and cheers! He is growing up too fast.

IKEA

Welcome IKEA! Ohioans just got our first IKEA and it's only minutes from us. We took our first trip this week and of course had to blog the excitement. If you've never been to IKEA you've got to go. It is a Swedish home furnishings store with incredible prices. You browse through rooms and small homes and can purchase anything from the floor, the window coverings, the furniture, the appliances, the cabinets, and the salt and pepper shaker in the cabinets, and the dish towel hanging on the stove. It is 344,000 square feet so take your walking shoes. We ate at the Swedish restaurant/cafeteria in the store. Kids meals start at .99 including drinks! Every product has a funky Swedish name that you have no clue how to pronounce. We had so much fun the first time, we went back the next day with Grammy and Michele & Nate!

IKEA here we come

Looking for a parking place

Isaac loves IKEA!

Notice the flag on the cart advertising their kid's meals (IKEA prides themselves in being very child-friendly) they even have complimentary diapers in their family restroom!

This is SMALAND, a supervised children's play area where they can play while you shop!

Our purchases, Caleb got a PLUTT for his stuffed animals, Ella got KALAS plasticware, Abby got GLIS containers -- total $5.31 -- I love this place!