Sonya is FOUR!

My Sonya Rose turned four years old today, February 13th, 2013. She celebrated her special day at school along with having their classroom Valentine's Day party. I still can't believe she's old enough to write her own name and add numbers and so many other things. She's growing up way too fast, that's for sure.

1 week old

About 3 or so months old

Around six months old

Sonya at age ONE

Sonya at age TWO

TWO and a half

A few weeks shy of THREE!

THREE and a half

almost FOUR!

It's so fun to look back at all these photos and see how much Sonya has changed. She has more teeth and her hair has grown, but she still smiles with her eyes. She loves telling stories and playing kitchen. There's almost always a blanket lying on the floor with pretend food or a blanket fort somewhere in the house. So much creativity packed into this little girl. Sometimes we play school even though she goes to preschool two mornings a week. Sonya is just a little sponge and wants to learn everything. No matter how big she gets, I still love when she cuddles with me in the morning or at night, snuggles into my lap with a book and lets me read to her. LOVE you forever and for always to my squishy taco girl. :-)

A Celebration of Marriage!

While Tim was at the No Regrets Mens' Conference, the kids and I cooked up a special dinner to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary. It made sense to do this a day early since it wouldn't have been much of a surprise to Tim otherwise. The kids were great in helping and they also kept Tim entertained in the basement so I could finish cooking without him knowing what I was doing.

Step 1: Set the table...

Step 2: Cook some delicious food ...

Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers

Apple Dumplings

Step 3: Almost ready for dinner....

Step 4: Fortune cookies! I made some cute little fortune cookies out of felt and let Caleb come up with something to put in each one.

Tim's says: "You will kiss your wife -->

on the lips."

Mine said: "You will snow blow the driveway every day."
I think Tim won this round. lol

Step 5: Enjoy a slice of dessert... YUM!

Step 6: Gotta take a photo of us....

I even dressed up a little for dinner :-)

Step 7: This isn't really a step... but Tim gave me this as one of my gifts. There's only one thing that can make this cheese better: BACON! haha

We also have a little trip planned without the kids in March so that's something we're looking forward to!! So blessed to have spent 6 years married to the man I love. Can't wait to see how the rest of the years will turn out!

After the Snow Falls (2013)

It was a chilly day just after we had about a foot of snow. So we trekked out to Riveredge Nature Center for an adventure.  

There was so much snow and Sonya was having a hard time walking through it. We attempted to use the sled and pull her, but there were tracks from cross-country skis and it was tough to keep her from tipping in the particular sled that we brought. Tim and I ended up taking turns carrying Sonya. She sure is getting almost too big to carry now though!!

Caleb enjoyed eating lots of snow -- even though we told him not to eat it. Lol. Silly kid.

By the time we got back to the car, we were all ready to get warm and thaw out. The snow was definitely beautiful though.

A Glimpse into December (2013)

My birthday started out the month of December. We took a family walk and went to Possibility Playground where I insisted on a family photo. This is what happens when you put the four of us together. We get a little silly. :-)

Well, the Christmas tree was up and all decorated. So what better way to be silly than in Santa hats? 

    

This year, the weather was warm enough to participate in the Port Washington Christmas festivities: Christmas on the Corner. We decorated Christmas cookies at Dockside Deli, saw Santa at the bank, visited a few shops while we looked for the Elf on the Shelf in them, and watched the parade.

We receive the Focus on the Family magazine that has Advent devotionals in the December issue. So we attempted to do that every day leading up to Christmas. One of the activities was on forgiveness and how we end up feeling tied up when we don't forgive. The kids really enjoyed this and it was a great way to have family time.

Sonya had her first Christmas concert for school. They sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. Unfortunately, we weren't close enough to get any good photos, but my friend was able to capture a decent video of the kids. Here's a photo of me with my parents and then we tried to take a few photos of Sonya in her Christmas dress.

A tradition that we started a few years ago is to go to the Live Nativity at Christ Church in Mequon. They have a really great set-up with activities for the kids, a Christmas play, cookies, an interactive town of Bethlehem, live animals, and music. We love going to this event. 

Tim tried taking photos of the play, but he has yet to master his iPhone. Lol!