January 19th

I can' t believe my baby's seven! That number scares me! I guess I have just considered seven to be when they become a full-blown kid! It's a whole new stage of life. Don't get me wrong, I have been looking forward to this stage for quite some time (independence, being able to carry on decent conversations, etc.), but now that it's here, I just want to freeze time. Why isn't that allowed? I just know I'm going to blink my eyes and she'll be a teenager. Just like everyone has warned me, time has gone by so quickly. I am enjoying it while I can, but, unfortunately, at times I have wished it to speed up! Shame on me. Some times I just look at her and think, where did this little person come from? She has her own thoughts, ideas and she's a smart little cookie. It's so fun, now, because we can go out together and we have a legitimately good time! I love having a little friend in her and I can only pray that it will always stay that way! I love you, Paige!


We had a little family party at Grandma and Grandpa's the Sunday before her birthday. (Kamae, Paige and their cousin, Talia)Paige asked for a rainbow cake. She saw this and I could tell she was so disappointed. I just talked up how cool it was that the frosting dots matched the candy hats on the cake and she quickly went along with that. What she didn't know was that the rainbow was inside the cake. I don't have a picture of it (I swear I took one, though...mom, do you have it?...yes, she did have one and now you can see it!), but the inside is in colored layers that match the outside. When I gave her her piece of cake, she was pretty excited. I love it when she realizes that I can be cool sometimes!


I look over after she's blown out the candles and I can tell that my dad is up to something mischievous. This is what I catch him doing (he's been pretty fascinated by Paige's undying love of pickles and pickle juice, both of which she had requested to have with her birthday dinner.)
She thought that was the funniest thing she'd ever seen. I think that was the highlight of her birthday! Thanks, Grandpa!

Since we were leaving for our California trip early in the morning on her actual birthday, we gave her breakfast in bed and celebrated her birthday a day early. (I love the tired eyes!)


(Just a quick sidenote. Justice...my new favorite store for these girls! It has really cute stuff and their clearance racks can have some pretty good deals! I only allow myself in there every so often due to lack of self-control.)


Due to the previously mentioned trip, we had decided not to have a friend party for Paige. We were planning on considering the trip as her party for this year. Since we have never not had a friend party, she just assumed she was having one and was SO excited to be able to have some of her new school friends over. I debated and debated as to what to do. We kept preparing her for the fact that she wasn't going to be able to have a friend party and she was actually pretty big about it. She's still one that will cry at the drop of a hat (especially when things just don't go her way) and she would just look at me and quietly say "okay" and walk away. It just broke my heart, so I caved and we threw her a last minute surprise pajama party.

I was surprised at how many of her friends were able to come with such short notice and let me tell you, she was surprised. Austin had taken her out to dinner for a daddy-daughter date and then they had decided to go bowling. Since he had picked her up from dance class and she was only wearing sandals, the ruse was that they needed to come back to the house to get socks. When they came in, all 13 girls were hiding and then yelled "SURPRISE!" when she came in the door. She was pretty confused at first and then when she realized what was going on she was so excited! She came and gave me a big hug and said, "Thanks, mom!" Right then, it was all worth it!


We played a game where they each had to randomly pop a balloon and do the dare that was inside. Here are a couple:

She had to eat 7 pieces of licorice in 1 minute. I guess I should've tried it because I didn't realize that that's virtually impossible for a 7 year old. It took her about 3 1/2 minutes!

She had to get a candy out of the whipped cream pie with just her teeth.She had to dress in the chicken costume and cluck around the room. She was pretty embarrassed about it, so I made everyone do it with her.

Then we took them in the garage for the Andrus birthday party tradition of the donut on the string game. They are supposed to race to see who can eat all of their donut first without using their hands.
The donuts were too thick for their little mouths, so they all ended up having to cheat.
Sorry, no time for a homemade cake. I think this is the first time I've ever purchased a birthday cake. If I hadn't already made one for the family party, I'd feel even more guilty!


HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY, SWEET PAIGE!

What the poop?

(WARNING: This email is not for the weak of stomach.) I have had it with poop and throw up. Sorry to be gross, but it IS gross and that's why I'm so done! Jack and I had the flu last weekend. We dealt with it then, but today I've reached my limit. I am feeding Jack some breakfast and he throws up. Gross. I clean that up and get him out of his high chair only to discover AFTER I pick him up and put my arm under his bum to hold him that he has pooped out. So, in the tub he goes and I change my clothes because now I've got poop on my sleeve. I bathe him, let him play for a bit and...poop! Diarrhea in the tub. GROSS! And, of course, all of the toys are in there with him. So I rinse him off, move him to the other tub. I go drain the previous tub, rinse it out, fill it back up with soapy bleach water to clean the toys. I go back in to wash Jack again, and...poop! Tub #2 filled with diarrhea. So I drain the tub, rinse and wash him off again, go put a diaper on him and come back to clean that tub. Next thing I hear, is splashing. He's playing in the toilet behind me! AAAHHHH!!! I pick him up, wash his hands and into bed he goes because I'M JUST DONE!!

100 years later...

Paige's class had a celebration for their 100th day of school. They were asked to draw a picture of what they will look like in 100 years. Her interpretation just cracked me up!


If you can't tell, this is "her daughter" delivering flowers to her gravesite. I guess the girl has a good grasp on reality!:)

Jack the Tank

Just thought I'd share with you an interesting tidbit of information. Jack, who will be one next month, is now comfortably wearing 12-18 month clothing and a lot of 18-24 month clothing. The same 18-24 month clothing, mind you, that we put away in boxes last fall that our 3 year old, Spencer, was finally growing out of. Last we checked, Jack weighed 24 pounds and Spencer weighed 29. I try to warn Spencer of this when he refuses to leave Jack alone and insists on laying on him after they are done "wrestling". It is only a short matter of time before the roles are reversed!

Christmas Day

Christmas gets more and more fun each year as the kids get older and are more aware of what's going on. I'm dreading the day when some of the magic is lost, so we are soaking it up while we can.

Santa was good to all of us this year....and as Great Grandpa Andrus always says, "It looks like we made out like bandits!" It always amazes me the things they get the biggest kick out of (usually some under $5 toy...of course).

Paige and Kamae were so surprised and excited when they got their American Girl dolls ("that look just like us!"). They each got an extra outfit...Kamae's is a hawaiin hula outfit and Paige's is a cheerleading outfit.

Jack was sure easy to please this year and he loved sitting in his new high chair. (If any of you are in the market for a high chair, we have LOVED this one. It is like a glorified booster...everything about it is the same as a high chair, but it's portable and just straps to a regular chair. That way, there's not this huge bulky highchair taking up a lot of space in the kitchen.)

Spencer loved his new inflatable punching bag and the girls have liked him to have somewhere else other than their bodies for him to practice his sweet boxing skills.

Despite all of the fun gifts, Paige summed it up very well when she made an announcement Christmas morning before my parents and Kristen and Craig left..."My favorite gift this Christmas is being able to be with my family." Christmas just wouldn't be nearly as fun without all of the family and fun traditions...we love you!

Christmas Eve

I know, I know. It's almost Valentine's Day. Just be patient with me...I'm workin' on it!

So, Christmas Eve this year was packed! We have so many traditions and we just keep adding to them! It's a lot of fun, but maybe next year we'll have to start it all a bit sooner!

It was snowing like crazy, so Craig took the girls outside and they built a snowman! They all surprised me with their work ethic and stamina considering the freezing cold!

L-R: Kami, Kamae, Paige and Talia


After an amazing dinner and the famous Rader Family hiding game (small household items extremely well hidden amongst the Christmas decorations and a race to find them all), we then did the traditional nativity. Last year my mom's mom gave my mom a whole set of handmade nativity costumes to her for Christmas. I think she had had enough of watching my mom scrape up old bath robes and sheets for makeshift costumes! Nana did an amazing job finding just the right fabrics and accessories. Of course, like every year, the girls fought over who got to be Mary. I think we'll have to start keeping track before the fights get too hairy!:) This year we included some songs interspersed with the reading of the story and hmmm...not sure about that. Good idea, but after listening to the recording of it, not sure that we should do that one again! I didn't think we sounded nearly as bad as we really did!


Kamae anxiously awaiting her introduction as the angel.

At first reluctant, but then felling very pretty, Abby joins the choir of angels!

Joseph is very tired from the whole ordeal...you know, having to walk to Bethlehem and all can really wear you out! And baby Jesus chowing down with is Avent bottle is, I'm sure, how it all went down.


Paige was a good sport being one of the three wise men...I mean women and man.


Aunt Kristen is always a trooper...the three wise people: Kristen, Nate (Tiffany's boy) and Paige.


How Mary has more energy than Joseph at this point in the story is beyond me! Brady (Marc's boy) is the cute shepherd in the back.


It's Kami and Kamae's time to shine. They were very excited to hold up the star together.


Mary (aka Talia...Tiffany's oldest) and baby Jesus (aka baby Chunkers aka baby Jack). Jack is so chill that he pretty much just laid their the whole time, even when his bottle was gone.


The whole ensemble!


We've been lucky the last couple of years to have Santa stop by! It's hard to really tell, but this is Kamae. She just can't believe her eyes...it's really Santa! (Sorry, my camera was on the wrong setting and then it died. So missing are pictures of the kids with Santa and then the kids discovering their Christmas Eve pajamas hanging outside on a clothes line with their names pinned to them!)