Catching Up...

Little Jillie Bean turned one year old May 21st! It was a beautiful day filled with celebrating with so many family members how far she's come this year. It was a bitter sweet day for me because it brought back so many memories of what all we went through with her one short year ago. Also, the fact that she is our last baby to turn one. No more first birthday parties at the Hendricks house. My sweet husband knew how hard the day was going to be on me and bought me a dozen roses to cheer me up. It was the perfect gift that reminded me when all the kids grow up and I have no more babies at home I will still have him. We were able to have her party at our new house even though we were still camping out there. Some of the things I don't want to forget that Jillian does right now: are how she talks all the time and really carries on a conversation with you pointing and nodding included. I also love how she tries to put on every article of clothing she comes across. We have many little names for her including Jillie Bean, Tater Tot, Little Princess (we don't dare call her Princess, that's Jennah's name and she corrects us every time we call her Princess), Bean, Baby Girl. She isn't sleeping through the night yet with exception of maybe a few nights. She loves her big brothers and sister and thinks she is just as big as they are. She dances all the time and loves music. She isn't walking yet, but just this week she has stood up twice by herself. I'm thinking it won't be long. She loves books and her new favorite thing is a baby doll she got for her birthday. She carries it around under her arm and tries to crawl, pats it, rocks it, and gives it tons of kisses. It's the cutest thing! She is the best eater I've had. She will eat just about anything I put in front of her. Some of her favorites right now include avocados, cucumbers, taco meat, roast beef, and all veggies. She is up to 18lb 3oz. I love to see what a big girl she's becoming and can't wait to see what the next year brings.

Sweet Baby Girl

Having some fun with the new tutu and camera. Jillian is almost 9 months old now and she is getting everywhere. She isn't crawling, but she scoots and rolls anywhere she wants to go.

Snow Days!

The kids had their first snow day of the season yesterday and they ended up getting out today too! Jennah invited Jillian up to her room for the first time to play. She introduced her to barbies and played with her for about 30 minutes. It was so nice; I was able to get the kitchen completely clean while they were playing together. Jack and Joel were enjoying some air hockey while the girls were playing.

100th Day of School...Almost

Have I mentioned before how much harder it is with four kids? I just can't keep everything straight. Between basketball practices, games, homework, school projects, birthdays, church, Jonathan's community events, laundry, getting the house ready to sell, laundry and more laundry, I get somethings confused. Joel's 100th Day of School celebration was one that I failed on. We spent several hours Tuesday evening trying to decide what he wanted to make as a project for the 100th day. He decided a shirt with 100 spiders might be fun. So after hours of painting and counting we finally had it finished along with the 100 M&M's he would also take with him. When he got home from school I asked if everyone loved his shirt and he frowned really big and told me, "No, some boys said it only had 95 spiders instead of 100 because it was only the 95th day of school not 100" I went searching for his note the teacher had sent home the week before to make sure I had the right day and it turns out those mean boys were right! The 100th day wasn't until NEXT Wednesday not this Wednesday. Oh well, we'll try again next week!

Jennah's 9!

Jennah turned 9 this year! I can't believe I have an 11 and 9 year old! She is so funny and I never know what to expect from her. The night before her big day we were kissing her goodnight and told her we were going to get one last kiss from our 8 year old and that she would never be 8 again. Jennah just started crying uncontrollably. We asked her what was wrong and she told us she didn't want to turn 9! She said she thought she would be too old to sit on my lap and let me rock her. I reassured her that she would never be too old for me to rock her and she was fine after that. She was so excited about her birthday she knew just what she wanted to wear down to how she wanted her hair and what bow to wear in it. She wanted me to have lunch with her at school, but instead I took her out at noon and we had lunch and went and saw Tangled, then Jonathan brought her flowers (always the highlight of her birthday).

Jack's 11

Jack is getting so big. He told us he thought he was too old this year to have a friend party and just wanted a family party. It caught me off guard and made me a little sad. I'm so proud of the young man he has become and can't wait to see what he does with the next 11 years of his life!

Jillian's 8 Months Old!

I can't believe my tiny little Jillie Bean is already 8 months old! It has gone by so fast. The other day Jennah and I were talking about her turning 8 months and Jennah said only 4 more months until she's one! I hadn't thought of it that way and started tearing up. It has definitely gone by so much faster than the other three's first years. Jillian got her first tooth January 8th. She has been rolling for quite a while now, but just in the past week she has realized that she can get around now by rolling. Yesterday she started waving on demand and clapping. We've been working on both of these for a long time now and she finally has them down! She's been shaking her head no no for a long time now and it never gets old watching her tell us no. She loves all her veggies, but doesn't care at all for fruits. She weighs 14lb 7oz. She can sit up now with no support at all and seems so much happier now that she is a little more independent.

New Years Eve

We had our annual New Years Eve "fancy" dinner, but this year was a little different. The kids are getting older and as you can tell from the picture Jack thought he was a little too old for the fancy dinner. He was a great sport about it though and helped do the decorations and surprised Jennah with them. Jillian and I had a cold and really didn't feel very well so we weren't in the best of moods, but I refused to not have our annual dinner. We had snow crab legs, stuffed mushrooms, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and mac and cheese (for Joel who doesn't like crab yet). This is the first year that Jennah has fixed her own makeup and hair for our dinner. She had lots of makeup to work with after Christmas and really enjoyed it. We all shared our resolutions and had a great time ringing in the New Year with homemade confetti. Every year I know we are one step closer to not having everyone with us for our dinner, but I'm going to enjoy it while I can. Happy New Year!

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2010 did not disappoint, we had six family parties starting on the 18th and ending on the 25th. I always feel so blessed at Christmas time knowing how many family members we have that love us. The kids had such a great time with all their cousins. I only remembered my camera for a few of the parties so I'm missing some of the cousins.