The 4-year old Birthday Video!

Best dad of the year award, once again, goes to Rob for documenting their last year!

The Fabulous Fours

I've got to say that every year that goes by, this whole motherhood thing gets better and better.  Now that I have FOUR YEAR-OLDS (!!!) every day is full to the brim of questions, making connections, learning, playing, and laughing at all of the funny pseudo-adult things they say.

Fairy Princess and Rainbow Dash

Savannah, when replying in the affirmative, often says, "Yes, indeed."  Or if she has a better idea, will say, "Well, actually...."  She loves to imagine, explore, design, and make jokes; she's a ray of sunshine in our lives.  She still loves all things super-hero and can often be found karate-chopping and ninja-kicking around the house.  Savannah also has an incredibly soft, sensitive soul and if ever she is in trouble her eyes will brim with tears and she'll cry plaintively, "Please forgive me, Mommy!"  And of course I do, immediately.  

Magformer Engineer

 Lily is quite the go-getter.  If there's something she needs (like cookies off of the top shelf), she will just find a way to get them without even asking for help!  I'm often amazed at her capacity to problem-solve and the strength of her resolve. She is an embodiment of the phrase, "small but mighty."  Lily LOVES to learn; doing 'school' is her one of her favorite things right now.  She is a little Ms. Mom to her sisters and can be counted on to help anyone who is sad, needs help, or isn't doing exactly what she thinks they should be doing.  ;)  She loves to dance, to play with friends, and be right in the middle of the action.  

Dressed to the 9s

I love that these two are the best best best of friends, and now that they're getting a little older it's SO MUCH EASIER to go places, take on some 'extra' projects (like a garden!!), and do more than just survive.  But I also love that they're still little enough that I can snuggle them on my lap, kiss, and sing, and rock any problems away.  I know that soon enough they're going to learn that there is life separate from Mom.....and I'm actually going to try not to think about that because....I'm in denial and I can't handle that they'll ever actually grow up!!!!  *sniff sniff*

Birthday quesadillas on the stairs

Basically, life is really good.  And while every day isn't 100% smiles and sunshine, I feel incredibly blessed right now.  Their needs are simple, their hearts are soft, their smiles and laughs are totally infectious, and their cheeks are still so darn kissable.  I love it.

First experiment with marshmallow fondant!

I will use marshmallow fondant from now on....

This year we spread their birthday out over a few different days to accommodate traveling grandparents' schedules.  We had birthday donuts, presents (highlights: various dress-ups, My Little Ponies/Big Hero 6 action figures, magformers, and their very-own Books of Mormon!)  We had their actual birthday 'party' at Chuck E Cheese on Saturday and the whole birthday-week experience was pretty much perfect.

Except, when Savannah saw her Baymax cake (which she specifically requested and I spent hours on), she just said, "But Mom, where are all of the other guys?!?!"  I just told her my fondant skills weren't up for anything more complicated, and she just needed to deal with it.  Kids these days..... ;)

Beef gets Mary!

At the end of March the entire Ellis clan (even Emily!!) descended upon Houston to celebrate Spencer's marriage to Mary.  

As per usual, it was a whirlwind 2.5 days; each second filled to the brim with catching up, playing games, and sneaking in a few hours of shut-eye.  

Photos from the big event:

Waiting.

 Time to stop and smell the flowers

Seriously. How cute. 

Hitched and Happy!

Mary has set the standard for every future bride.  Our girls were convinced she was a real, live princess. 

Every time they talk about marriage now, it's always "in the temple, with my sister."  I hope they get to do a double-wedding someday!!

Best best best friends.  

Twins with Twins

All the grandkids...Caroline was NOT excited.

Future BYU roomies

The beautiful Emily, fresh off her mission.  It's her turn next!

The Ellis women.  It makes me so happy to see KK with her beautiful girls!

Brothers.  

Power Couple.  Powerful faith, love, work, fun!

The original 11.  What an amazing family. 

Everyone!

Our 'little' family

I'm thinking I may need to find some kind of work-from-home-at-night job at some airline so we can do more family trips.  Because every time we're together I wish time would just SLOW DOWN.

Or maybe we should just win the lottery so we can be at all sporting events, birthdays, baptisms, school concerts, graduations, backyard barbecues, etc etc etc.

That's a better idea.

J^2 Came to Visit

I don't really remember why (birthday present? christmas present?), but somehow Jacqueline pulled off a week-long visit to Houston in March.  And it was SO FUN.  It felt like it was Christmas & my birthday, combined, the entire time!

At this point (June), I don't remember everything that we did.  I remember going shopping, going to the park, playing some games, and Jacqueline being wayyyyy too helpful for an 8-month pregnant lady (like doing my dishes, carrying groceries, bathing my children, etc.  Basically she was the best houseguest ever, WHILE being about to pop.)  

Luckily, I DO have some photographic evidence that she came, brought Jacob, and we had fun.  Thank goodness for cameras. 

At the Houston Rodeo--right before eating the giantest, most delicious cinnamon roll ever. 

 We spent a day in Galveston, touring some old houses, eating yummy food, and playing on the beach.  Texas in March is a wonderful thing.

Cuteness overload

Major cuteness overload.

This girl could play at the beach forever!  She must be my daughter.

Teamwork

Love love love. 

We were SO GLAD Jacob joined us for a few days, too!

We will never stop working on J^2, doing our best to convince them to MOVE TO TEXAS!!!!!!

Grandpa Bob turned 80

The weekend following our San Diego trip was my Grandpa Bob's 80th birthday celebration.  All of his kids and most of the grandkids met in San Leandro for a whirlwind weekend of family time.

Wuv, Twoo Wuv.

Caroline and I flew out at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning.  And after a very wiggly, but not horrible flight, we made it to sunny California.  Jacqueline picked us up from the airport and drove straight home to a breakfast of waffles, bacon, berries, and whipped cream.  It made our early morning totally worth it!

The Key-Lime Pie-ers hard at work

The rest of Saturday was spent catching up, going to cousin Riley's little league baseball game, attending the ward chili cook-off (Grandpa Bob's cornbread was a big winner), making and eating key-lime pie.

Love them.  

Sunday morning at church Grandpa blessed his great grandson, baby Raiden and we took a million family pictures.  Monday morning we woke up early and flew back to Houston.  A whirlwind, but totally worth it.

Some of my favorite people in the world!

Jacqueline's surprise baby quilt

Almost everyone

All of the grandkids!

My normally teeny-tiny sisters, all pregnant!

San Diego: a little slice of Heaven.

For my birthday this year, Rob bought us tickets to see my sister & her husband out in San Diego. My Mom and Dad offered to watch our kiddies so we could have 4.5 WHOLE DAYS of kid-free VACATION.

Airport selfie

Even the travel time felt like a total vacation.  We got to drive in a quiet car while having adult conversation.  We made it through security at the airport without sweating or causing a scene.  I perused a few magazines at an airport gift shop while waiting for our flight.  I didn't need to pack an entire bag of coloring books, snacks, toys, and the iPad.  I even read a book on the plane.  Wow.

My goals for the vacation (b/c even on vacation I have to have goals...) were to play hard, eat good food, and sleep.

Sisters

First morning: We "slept-in" without our human alarm clocks to wake us up, but on Pacific time we still got to enjoy an hour of lazing around before breakfast.  Katie & Russ took us to a delicious breakfast place on the beach.  I got a breakfast burrito that seemed to be about the size of my newborn babies.  Off to a good start.

What a beautiful place!

Over the rest of our trip we:

• Went kayaking with sea lions
• Snorkeled in the c-c-c-cold Pacific water
• Hiked in Torrey Pines State Reserve
• Went to Old Town San Diego
• Visited Balboa Park 
•  Walked on the beach
• Played tennis
• Took a nap in a hammock (!!!!!!!!)
• Experienced Peter Lik's photography gallery 
• Ate reallllllllly good food (fish tacos, homemade biscuits, shredded pork burritos, french toast, churros, etc etc etc).

Torrey Pines

I absolutely LOVE the beach

La Jolla Pier

Russ and Katie were such good hosts.  They even went above and beyond by renting a wheelchair for Katie b/c her 9-month belly was getting in the way of all of the fun activities we had planned.

My sweet sister

Handsome Rob

Russ..........

Much better.  

As a side project, the boys spent their free time playing (and beating) Super Mario Brothers on Russ' old-school Nintendo.  

So proud.

And Katie and I (mostly Katie) worked on a little snuggle-blanket for her baby.  It turned out SO cute and I can't wait to snuggle that baby WITH that blanket!

Katie outlined the elephant in grey and it is even cuter now!

On our last day in San Diego we rented a car and drove to visit Mark & Aupreille in Temecula.  We went to church with them, played with the kids in their beautiful backyard (seriously, this area is SO GORGEOUS), went on an evening walk, and of course played a game or two before heading home.  

Tennyson

Juliet

Teairsa

Eww.  Gross.  ;)

Their kids are such dolls and being around them made me really miss MY cute kids.  So when it was time for our early-morning flight back to Houston the next day, I was totally ready to jump back into life as Mommy to my three littles.

Heaven on Earth.

It was the perfect vacation.  Long enough to remember that Rob and I have a lot of fun together, long enough to spend some much-needed, long-overdue sister time with Katie, and long enough to realize how much I love my normal, hum-drum life in exotic Houston.  Thanks to Katie & Russ, Mark & Aup, and especially Mom & Dad for the trip!