Flashback Friday

Today is Ryan's 30th birthday!  Happy birthday honey!  In honor of his birthday I thought I would post some old pictures.  Unfortunately I don't have a scanner so there are no really old embarrassing pictures, but some fun ones from our last 5 years of married life.

Ryan with Lauren at the hospital

Cameron and Daddy at our old house

Ryan with Cameron at the hospital-2006

Our first Christmas with a child-2004

Vacation in the Great Lakes-2003

Same vacation, I don't remember which lake this is

Our fifth wedding anniversary in Hannibal, MO at an awesome B&B-2004

Cameron's Crane

Last week we had well child checks for Cameron and Lauren.  Lauren had to get shots, so Shannon went with us to wait with the older kids in the waiting room during the shots.  When I came out with Lauren Cameron had something to show me.  He had built a crane with the Legos.  He even explained that it had a seat and the "thing" that goes up and down.  I was so impressed!  What a creative genius!

Lauren's Dedication

This past Sunday we dedicated Lauren at church.  We have a wonderful congregation that encourages us in raising our children according to God's word.  We choose to dedicate our children to God to say that we are committed to raising them to love and serve Jesus Christ so that one day they make a decision to accept Him as their personal Savior.  Thanks to all our friends and family who stand behind us and support us in this huge endeavor.

We are praying, so that's why I look so serious!

Cameron's 3rd Birthday

This past Friday was Cameron's third birthday.  I don't know why it's so hard for me to believe that he' 3 except, I guess it signals leaving the baby and toddler stage behind for the preschool stage.  He's such a great kid, and so fun to be around.  He's smarter than I give him credit for sometimes and he loves to make us laugh, which he can do well.  He has a favorite saying of "snappy",  which makes Ryan and I laugh even though we're not sure what it's supposed to mean.  He uses it randomly to describe things or as a name for anyone.  He is definitely a boy, with his loud growls and boundless energy. Sometimes I feel sorry for him because he's surrounded by girls.  He does have some boys to play with, but he actually doesn't mind having all the girls.   Maybe through all of this he will learn to be a romantic.  He already is a charmer, telling me that he likes my lips (when I had lip gloss on) and telling the babysitter that he likes her eyes.  I guess his future wife will one day reap the benefits of this!

His birthday was fun.  We celebrated with friends and cupcakes on Friday.  Then in the evening he got to choose where he wanted to eat, so of course it was McDonald's.  He is such a thankful child.  He kept saying, "Thanks for taking me to McDonald's," and other thinks like that.  Then on Sunday we had his party with the family.  It's such a blessing to have grandparents and great grandparents as well as aunts, uncles, and cousins to celebrate with.  He was thrilled with all his gifts, but especially the work bench and the bike.  It's great to have cement in our basement where he can ride around until his heart's content.  

I decided to chronicle his life so far with a picture from each year. It's great to look back and see how he's grown and changed and to remember what baby Cameron was like.

Baby Cameron-2006

 Cameron at 1-2007

Cameron at 2-2008

Cameron at 3-2009

Sledding

Saturday was such a beautiful day and it was the first time that we've been able to take the kids sledding this winter. Even though we've had lots of snow, it's been too cold to enjoy it. Last week when we went for a walk in the park by our house I discovered a great sledding hill, so that's where we went. There was ice under the snow, which proved to be hazardous for walking up the hill, but wonderful for sledding down the hill. My younger sister Aleigha went with us and the Isaacson's did too. Lauren spent the morning with Grandpa and Grandma (Thanks Mom and Dad, it was nice to enjoy the sledding with the older kids). Aubrey and Hannah did such a great job. They went down together and they brought the tubes back up the hill by themselves. It's fun to see how they are growing and maturing. Cameron and Ellie enjoyed the snow too, but needed some help. Even the adults had fun. I'm so thankful for my family and for great friends to spend a beautiful Saturday with!

Aubrey and Hannah making their way to the top.

The girls on the way down. Oops, we lost one!


Ryan and Cameron making their way up the hill.


Aubrey and Aleigha going up.

The kids and their eager nticipation to get to the hill.

My Wonderful Husband

Ryan is a great husband, and that was proven once again on Saturday when he brought home red roses for me. I love all flowers, but roses are my favorite! Saturday night was a great date night with supper at Giavanni's (sp?) and the movie New in Town. How wonderful to have a babysitter for the whole evening! It was the first time we've gone on a date since Lauren was born.

Ryan,

You are a wonderful husband and a great father! Thanks so much for the flowers and for a fun Valentine's Day. I love you! ~Natasha

Happy Valentine's Day

We had a fun Valentine's party with the kids and some of their friends. They had fun decorating their bags and "opening" their Valentines. Aubrey especially loved it because she spend a lot of time making candy necklaces. She wrote the names on the tags and got into the whole production, which is good because it took more work than I thought it would. Cameron had fun too, but he mostly enjoyed the candy.

The Ballerina

Aubrey is taking ballet from our friend Amy.  She loves it and is doing well.  I haven't really taken any pictures during class because I hate to disturb them, so I took some of Aubrey before class this week.  She thought she was cute and wanted a picture.  She was cute, of course, so I took her picture.

Our own American Idol

I love to watch American Idol and I let my kids watch it with me.  It's funny because I remember this time last year and how Aubrey would say, "You're going to Hollywood!"  Now this year, both Cameron and Aubrey are into it.  This last week one night Ryan was working late, so we played American Idol.  I was the judge and Aubrey and Cameron took turns being the contestants.  They would stand on their little bench and I would ask their name, which sometimes they would make up, and how old they were, which they would also make up.  Then I and either Aubrey or Cameron would vote (we always said yes) and they would pick up the ticket and run down the hall.  It was funny to see how they picked up on all the aspects of the show.  Who knows, maybe someday they really will be on American Idol, only if they don't inherit my singing abilities. However, I won't let them try out for the show if it's obvious they can't sing!

The famous golden ticket.

A performance by Cameron

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And one by Aubrey, with a little attitude!

Little Lauren

I'm realizing that I haven't been very good at posting pictures of Lauren.  I always thought I would never let myself get behind in taking pictures with any of my children, that wasn't going to happen to me.  Well, I guess I was wrong.  So, here's  a post for our precious Lauren.  She's such a joy.  She smiles very easily, but not for long periods so I haven't captured it on camera yet.  She's loved by her brother and sister, and sometimes smothered, but she doesn't mind. What a joy she is in our lives!

Cameron's Game

Cameron is a boy with good intentions, but he can get distracted very easily.  So, after meals when I send him to the bathroom to wash his hands I have to keep tabs on him because I never know what he is doing or getting into.  For some reason the bench was in my bathroom, so he went in there to wash.  ~I need to preface this by saying that in the kids' bathroom the mirror is too high for them to see into.~  So, he was washing, and he actually got out in good time.  I was in the living room and he came in and told me that he was playing "Where's Cameron."  I wasn't sure what he was talking about until he demonstrated.  He would crouch down and say, "Where's Cameron?" and then he would pop up and look into the mirror and say, "There he is!"  I laughed pretty hard thinking of the little things that can entertain a 2 year old.

The Answers

Thank you all for voting.  It was fun to see what everyone thought.  Great job everyone on guessing Cameron correctly, I guess he was easy to spot.  However, Aubrey and Lauren proved to be difficult to tell apart, the results showed that only some of you could do it.  So, Lauren was A, Aubrey was B and Cameron was C.