a decade?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE MISS GIGGLES!!!

Mr Happy is 7 today!!

little miss sunshine is 10!!

mr. happy is six!

little miss giggles turns 8!

 A couple weeks ago I got to once again pick up my kids from school and once again Mr. Happy ran and jumped into my arms and wrapped his arms around my neck, hugged me tight, and said "this must be a dream!!"  :) 

Little Miss Giggles had turned 8 just a week or so before so we went to Target and I let her pick out a birthday outfit (it's a tradition that I always get my kids a birthday outfit), then we ran to Starbucks for the treat of a birthday cake pop (the pink one in the pic below) and took it to a nearby park.

Love these two! :}

Silly boy. :)

I let Little Miss Sunshine and Mr. Happy pick out one item each from the dollar section of Target.  Mr. Happy was thrilled to get a little bag of army men and set them all up at our little table.

Then I let LMG open her bday present - a whole bunch of Polly Pocket stuff!  She loooved it, just like I knew she would!  :)  All three played around and explored it for a few minutes before we headed off to do a mini bday photo shoot of LMG and play on the playground.  And yes, even Mr. Happy joined in the fun with the Polly Pockets.  Have you ever noticed how no one cares if little girls play with boy toys...but a lot of people get upset if boys play with little girls toys??  But when you have two big sisters, you want to be part of the fun, especially when there's a new toy around!  Besides, those of you with both boys and girls know that if you sit back and watch your little boy play with a girl toy for a minute, they play with them so very differently!  As my two girls played with the Polly Pockets, they found perfect little outfits for them, found a car or bike or something to ride on, pretended they were shopping at the mall, etc.  Mr. Happy, on the other hand, grabbed a doll and immediately started figuring out a way to place them in those holes you see on the table and then catapult them by smacking them from under the table to see how far he could blast them!  Lol, girl toy or not, he is still ALL BOY!  :)

Such a handsome dude. :)
I love that his belly is peeking out lol.
And that is a pirate tattoo on his arm.  Or what's left of it. :}

He saw another little boy climbing on top and of course had to try it for himself.

And just for a fun little flashback....

LMG on her second birthday...which I could swear was just a couple months ago...!

(click on this picture to go to my photography blog to see her mini bday photo shoot)

Little Miss Giggles you are so fun and spunky.  I'm so glad that you are loving school and having new friends.  I love that you still ask me to play "God songs" when you're with me in the car.  I pray that you will never forget how amazing God is and how much He loves you.  I pray for you every day - that He will whisper His love to your heart and call you to Himself.  I miss seeing your happy smile every day and love the times we get to spend together!

I love you sweet girl!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY (a little late...) LITTLE MISS GIGGLES!

letter to a fighter

My sweet Eli,

One year ago yesterday a sweet and spunky little girl entered our lives over at the Beck's house for a few months, but little did we know how very special that day really was!  It was your birthday!  How I have wished many times that I could take away the rough start to life that you had.  It is not fair that you had to fight so hard just to get to the day you were born...or that you had to miss three weeks of vitally important momma-lovin' while you fought hard in the NICU.  

But I have to remember that no matter what, God is still in control.  And He most definitely obviously has an incredible plan for your life!

He has obviously created you to be a fighter.  Most babies in the NICU like you have to stay for three to four months...you stayed just three weeks!

You had RSV this past winter when you were four months old and then after being in the hospital for eleven days and coming home for just four and a half, went right back for eight more with C-diff.  And even though it took a while, you fought hard both times and recovered.

You have been back to the hospital more than once since then but each time you just keep fighting.  :)

Thankfully you now have a mommy who is also a fighter and a family who will help you with anything you need as you grow up and who will, above everything, help you find your identity in Christ so that you will always know that...

You are loved.

You belong.

You are His.

You are precious.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

And you are one of my heroes.

I love you, baby. :)

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, ELI!!!!
(click on the picture above to see Eli's birthday photo shoot)

little miss sunshine turns 9!

Wednesday was my Little Miss Sunshine's 9th birthday!  I'm not sure how she is 9 already!  Just yesterday she turned 3!  :}

Somehow she went from this (kindergarten)... 

...to this!  (third grade)

I always miss my kids every single day, but somedays it hits me harder than others.  My heart was aching to be with my sweet girl on her special day on Wednesday and today all three kiddos were on my mind a lot for some reason.  As I was telling God how I was missing them, I saw 12:34 on the clock in my car :) and was reminded that He knew already.  

A couple hours later I got home and was about to start on this post when my cell phone rang...and it was my LMS, just wanting to say hi!!  :)  She was sitting waiting while Mr. Happy got a haircut and decided she wanted to chat while she waited.  :)  I talked to Mr. Happy too and he told me all about the mystery flavored lollipop he got for being good while getting his hair done.  (The mystery flavor was orange he said.)  :)  LM Giggles is home sick and has been for a couple days, poor girlie.  

I still miss them, but I'm so thankful He let me hear their voices today!! :)

LM Sunshine, you are as sweet and cheerful as ever.  You are learning so much in school and having a great time.  But I'm glad you still miss me and just want to talk sometimes.  ;)  I pray for you on my way to work in the mornings - that God would whisper how much He loves you to your heart and that He would call you by name to Himself.  That He will bless your school day, and help you to be a friend to someone who needs one, because you are so good at being kind.  :)

I hope you had a perfect day on Wednesday and I can't wait to check out the metal detector you got!  :}  ("Kiki, so far I've found $1.53...in my own front yard!")

I love you, beautiful girl!!

five

Why do all these kiddos keep growing up??  :}  Five years ago my heart was completely stolen when my Mr. Happy was born.  I had the privilege of being with him all day almost every day for his first four and a half years and I loved every minute of being with him and his sisters. 

Those of you with older children know the feeling of looking at pictures like these - and those of you in the middle of toddlerhood...well, I promise you that one day you will actually miss that silly little toddler and wonder how he got so stinkin' big!!  :)

Mr. Happy, you are such a joy to be around.  You really are happy almost all the time.  You are so in to pirates right now - and you have made your bedroom the perfect pirate room! Including all the ocean animals you drew and cut out for your walls.  You are ALL BOY all the way and love to be rough and wrestle and be crazy sometimes but your main love language is most definitely physical touch.  You have always always been a snugglebug and when I get to be with you now you like to stay as close to me as possible.  I still miss you and your sisters every single day and I pray for you often - that God will call your heart to Him and will grow up to love and serve Him in everything you do.  :)

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY, MR. HAPPY!!!

I LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!! 

sweet 16

As usual, I'm behind on my blogging!  :-p  I'm working on getting caught up.  :) I might go slightly out of order but oh well.  

So somehow I blinked and my sweet, cheerful, joyful little 8 year old 3rd grader, who would bounce down the hallway at 7:15 every morning and greet me with a happy "Good morning, Miss Hallquist!"...

...just turned 16!!

One day I drove her to the airport to pick up her best friend who flew down for her sweet 16 party...and  just a few days later, she drove herself back to the airport to take her friend to fly home! Sheesh!  :)

Waiting with a few excited butterflies in her stomach...  

Finally!! 

 Lauren met Dani at camp where they were both counselors this past summer and quickly became best friends.  :)

The next day was the party...with lots of friends, yummy food, fun music...so fun!  :)

And of course that would be a Leah cake.  :)

Ok, so I'm being lazy and not fixing the red eye on this pic.  :-p  My brother, Daniel, was the DJ for the party and did a great job.  :)

Yes, yes she did.

Her grandmother had recently bought a new car and gave her old one to Lauren. :)

Even Abby, Emily, and Claire got to come!  And looked amazing, I might add!  :)

These two crack me up!  They are so much alike.  

Yup.  My family is crazy.  Both immediate...and extended.  Lol.

Lauren's brother Josh - in his awesome shoes - and his girlfriend, Jessica.  

Lauren and her dad.  :)  He really does know how to smile...  :-p 

Lauren, you are still sweet, cheerful, and happy.  :)  You are an amazing 16 year old and I am loving watching as you grow into the woman God is creating you to be.  You are so mature and responsible for your age but still know how to have fun and just be at teenager - you already have a huge heart for the orphan and I can't wait to see what God does with that as you grow up...but you also love things like Justin Bieber music and shopping.  :)  You are an awesome big sister to your younger siblings (all four of them right now!), my favorite little sister ;)...and definitely one of my best friends.  

HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY, LAUREN!!

I LOVE YOU!!

fancy nancy butterfly birthday

Yesterday was Little Miss Sunshine's birthday. She turned 8! I'm not sure how that happened! We decided we would have a small party in the morning with a couple of our favorite friends. LMS said she wanted to have a Fancy Nancy party. If you don't know who Fancy Nancy is...click here. To sum her up...she likes being fancy and wears whatever makes her feel fancy. So, we told our friends to dress as fancy as they wanted!

So everyone wore something super fancy and super cute!

After the quick group picture, it was time to eat!

Ok, so, I have been listening to a lot of Francis Chan's sermon's on YouTube lately. He is so challenging and speaks the truth so well. (He wrote the book Crazy Love...which, if you haven't read it yet...you should!) Anyways, several times he has mentioned how sometimes God just blesses us in the most surprising ways - even the tiny little details that He takes care of even when we haven't even asked Him to. For this party, all I did was tell Leah and Laura the Fancy Nancy theme. That was it. Nothing else. Ok, so notice the butterflies hanging in the kitchen that Wendy happened to put up that morning for LMS's birthday breakfast and note that the little cupcake liners I used to put the fruit in had butterflies on the bottom...and keep watching.

That whole center piece was from one of my favorite stores - the $ Tree. The flowers are pens and pinwheels and the little balls filling the vase are Sixlets candy.

Aiden looks so big drinking out of this big kid cup! :)

This little girl, who is most definitely "tutu cute", is SO. IN. LOVE. with Aiden!!! You should see the look on her face when she just sits there staring at him!! She is totally planning her wedding in her head! lol Ok, maybe not quite...but almost! At one point, Cake Leah picked Aiden up for a minute and this little Leah looked around and said, "Where did Aiden go???" like he did NOT ask permission to leave her sight! Ha! So cute.

Ok, back to Wendy's butterfly decorations. Leah agreed to make LMS a Fancy Nancy cake but all I did was flip through a F.N. book to show her who F. N. was. No other instructions or ideas whatsoever. Yeah...check out her (crazy beautiful) cake:

Uh-huh! Butterflies!!

Oh wait...there's more.

And fyi, this might be my favorite cake Leah has ever made...

and I might have eaten a slice for breakfast this morning....

Maybe.

Then it was time to sing Happy Birthday, make a wish, and blow out the candles. Which of course includes the obligatory picture of the birthday person with chipmunk cheeks as they blow... :}

Next it was on to presents! Have you seen Lalaloopsie dolls? Evidently it was one of the top items this Christmas. They are...interesting. :)

Oh, and see that pretty present with the flowers all over the wrapping paper?? Um yeah, that was from Laura and baby Leah and guess what was inside???

One craft box of butterflies to decorate and hang up.

AND!!

A FANCY NANCY BUTTERFLY BIRTHDAY sticker book!!!

Like...seriously?! Are you seeing a theme yet? A completely unplanned one? Well, unplanned by us girls anyways. :)

Aiden sat on a little stool and watched the present opening very patiently...for about two minutes. Which is about right for a two year old! Then he was off to the see-saw! :)

My handsome little man! :) He was soo excited to get to wear this suit and didn't take it off for the rest of the day! I told him he could change back into his favorite red sweatpants and a comfy shirt but he chose to stay all dressed up! He did make one slight change however...he didn't like that you could only see a tiny bit of his cool tie...so he pulled it out so in hung down in front of his jacket and then it was all perfect! :)

We love our baby Leah!! :)

Everyone had such a good time! The kids had fun playing. The mommies/kiki enjoyed squeezing in a bit of grown-up conversation in between chasing kiddos. And the birthday girl said it was the best day ever! Leah, she told daddy that you made her cake and worked soo hard on it and that shows how much you must love her! ;)

A little while after everyone left, the mailman brought LMS a package from Aunt Janet! It was a "grow your own mushroom crop" package which is perfect because LMS LOVES science! She also sent these cool little laser rings for all three kiddos and they couldn't put them down the rest of the day!

We of course got outside for just a couple minutes for a quick mini bday photo shoot....

Fancy hair. :) Not the best zig zag job I've ever done. I do zig zag parts a lot because it's just fun and super easy! Oh, and I made her hairbows the night before. Can you tell what sparkly things I chose to put in the middle?? Yup! Butterflies!! I was trying to decide between that or flowers but liked the way the butterflies looked better. Little did I know at the time.....! It was just so fun that four of us chose butterflies for different things and hadn't even discussed it! It just felt like God reminding me one more time that He cares about the big stuff...but that He also cares about the little stuff too - stuff we never even thought to worry about in the first place! :)

Funny kids. :) LMG has no teeth! And Mr. Happy has a banged up chin! He fell and hit it on the corner of a metal box! Yeesh! Thankfully I was not around for that one!

One sweet pic....aaand of course...one goofy one!! That's my kiddos! They get it from their mother...! lol :D

Ok, so check this adorable little boy out:

Cute, isn't he??

Actually, that is not the same little boy!! The one in the middle is Aiden...the other two are Mr. Happy a couple years ago when he was two!! Aiden gets most of the clothes MH grows out of and wore this outfit to our little party. He got out of the car and I said he looked just like MH! Which is a comment that has been made before. So I had to pull up a couple pics of MH in the same outfit. It's so fun to get to see it on another little handsome boy now! :)

LMS, I hope you had an awesome day! I think you did. :) You are such a sweet girl with a tender heart. I love how you are learning to love Jesus and have told me before that you have prayed for our new friend Isaac or the little street boys in Uganda at some point during your day. You are so helpful around the house for me and are so much fun to be around. I love you!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!!!