Brinley is 5!

I can't believe how fast time has flown by!  This girl has been counting down the days until her birthday for a long time!  Happy 5th Birthday Brinley!

 This gift is one of the first gifts that she opened.  She was so excited and immediately took a break from opening presents to put it on and play Moana.  Thanks Grandma Martinson!

The girls playing on Moana's boat.

A few weeks before Brinley's birthday, she got to pick out her presents and one of them was goggles that she was so excited to try.  It is so hard when your birthday is on a Sunday and you have to wait to use your present. We have a family rule that we don't swim on Sundays (unless it is Father's Day- ha ha Daddy's request).  She was excited to wear her new suit too.

Thank you to all that sent her birthday cards, money, and gifts.  It made it a very special day!

Thanks Aunt Maren for the Window Paint.  After Brinley opened it up, Ashlyn said, "Of course Maren would give you an art project.  She is an artist!"

Brinley really wanted to have a Princess Birthday.  Derek and I heard that Disney on Ice was happening the same weekend as her birthday so we made some last minute plans to stay a few days in Houston.  We all had a blast! It was so magical!  We saw Cinderella ride a carriage, Elsa and Anna skate and dance together, Rapunzel hang from the ceiling dancing in the air, Belle skate with the Beast, and Moana was our fave!

It was so magical hearing all these sweet voices of the little girls and adults sing together to the songs!  I got the chills a couple of times and of course Derek teared up a few times.  The girls were in heaven!

Before the show pic

It is so hard to wait in line

Brinley had to best princess birthday!

After the show, these girls had to test out their dance/skating moves.

We visited the NASA Space Museum.  There were lots of hands on activities for the girls.

This was a scale that measured you weight on different planets.

Weight lifting on different planets

This was an activity comparing a space backpack on Mars and Earth

Bottle Rocket

3...2....1.... BLAST OFF!

We took a tram ride around the NASA campus and we had to wait in a LONG line.  We were lucky to cut past a big group and be the last people to get on the tram in the very front cart.  We were beyond happy!

Before the tram ride.....

Real Rocket!

 Astronaut Desi

Astronaut Brinley

Astronaut Claire

Astronaut Ashlyn

We love getting airbnb houses when we go on trips!  The girls love seeing what kind of set up the house has to offer. It was hilarious after our trip we pull up to our house and Claire whines, "No, not this house!"

This is how we do breakfast on vacations!

Coloring

This girl is ready to be potty trained, but momma is not!  This little one went #2 for the first time on our trip!  She said that she had to go so Derek put her on the potty, not expecting anything and she did it!  She was so excited and we all had a potty party in the bathroom cheering for her.

She is still working on her thumbs up!

Before the Disney on Ice, we had time to kill so we went to a local mall and played in the kid area. The girls could be there all day if we would let them.

This was the first meal that I didn't hear the words, "I don't like it!"  She is our most pickiest eater.  She devoured the three helpings of broccoli!

Brinley had a field trip with her preschool class to the zoo.  I loved watching her enjoy her little friends in her class.

I asked her if she wanted to just be with mommy or have her sisters come along.  She loves her sisters and wanted them to come to the zoo too.

Scavenger Hunt

Little Miss Social

Waiting for the train

Brinley with her friend Rebecca

Train ride

After a long day at the zoo, I thought these kiddos would be tuckered out, but they wanted to swim all afternoon.

These two used their own money to buy bubbles and so we had to have a bubble bath!

The weather has been so great lately!  We have enjoyed jumping on the tramp and playing ladder ball with the family and neighbor boy Steven.

Derek and I like to make bets and guess who won..... ME!

I get to have a free card to not help put the kids to bed!  YAHOO!

We enjoy living to close to the church.  Dad goes to church really early in the mornings on Sunday and then he is able to come home and help me with these cute kiddos.  They seriously have the best daddy!

I found these dresses on clearance at Sams and couldn't resist.  They were so excited to all be matchy matchy!

They are in this phase where they like to take pictures in "their order" oldest to youngest.

Daddy doing tricks for the girls.

We had a "sharpen the pencils" party and surprisingly these girls had a lot of fun.

I love how much these girls love to play together! 

I was having a pregnancy craving one morning and so we had drumsticks pretty early...I pretty sure they didn't mind.

Speaking of pregnancy, this has been so hard this time around.  I have been so tired, constant pain, nausea, and very limited energy.  Well I dread to clean up at times and then I thought to myself- my kids are totally capable....so I put them to work.  And you know what- they didn't even complain.  So I enjoyed myself on the couch by snuggling with my pillow and blanket.

We haven't done Tea Party Tuesdays for awhile now and so I wanted to make something special.  We made fruit pizzas.  I don't think the girls liked the fruit on a cookie.

Lately I like to pull out a lawn chair and put sit on the driveway watching the girls play.  I couldn't resist capturing this picture.  They were all laying down laughing, giggling, and imagining things together.  So adorable!

Derek has been taking these girls on runs with him in the mornings.  They have had many adventures of stopping a smelling the flowers and finding frogs.

Brinley had backwards day at school.

Brinley and Desi had their yearly check-up.  They are healthy and strong!

We went to a MOPS playgroup where the kids could check out an ambulance, fire truck, and police car.

Then we enjoyed the playground.

The weather was so great that we went to pick up Daddy for lunch and go to the park for a picnic, but he had to work part of his lunch so we enjoyed it at his work.

Claire found a stick and said, "Look, I'm a grandpa!" It was hilarious.

Desi had to have a turn and said, "Mom, take a picture."  Then she made this grandpa face.

Because we didn't have a picnic at the park for lunch, these girls begged all day to go for dinner.  We made a picnic for FHE and got free ice cream at Chick-fil-A and had fun at the park.

These two got up early and wanted to be matchy matchy for the day!

They were so excited to plan it out.

Derek found a nest outside with nothing in it and put it in the box in our garage a few weeks ago.  Well a week later we found three eggs inside it.  We have been waiting patiently for these eggs to hatch and they finally did.

Derek drove home from the park after FHE playing Hispanic Music and the kids said this reminds me of Coco and the restaurant.  Well we went for dinner (mainly because mom is lazy and has little energy).

I also bought the girls new outfits for summer.  I was doing their laundry this week and was realizing that I feel bad for Claire and Desi that get clothes that have been well loved and used with holes in them and Ashlyn and Brinley are growing up so fast that they need a new shirt.  The girls were so excited to get something new!

The Bates (the dentist that we bought the practice from) gave us tickets to the 5 Brown Concert!  We were so excited because we have been wanting to go to an event like this for sometime now.  When we walked in we felt like we were walking into a retirement center.  We had to be the youngest couple there.  We had a lot of fun and enjoyed the music!