late night snowball fight

A few nights ago, James actually got home early from work.  By early, I mean 8:30pm.  The kids were supposed to be in bed at 7:30, but as luck, and a serious of catastrophes, would have it, all 3 kids were still up.
So let me set the scene:  I had just finished cleaning up an overflowing toilet, and a mess consisting of every toy in the house being dumped out, by Eden, in the living room, when the doorbell rings.  I'm thinking to myself, "What now?!"
I open the door, and there's no one there!  It's very dark, and snow is falling in huge clumps.  It's a beautiful, crisp night, but I'm irritated that some kid is playing tricks...
Suddenly, a giant snowball comes flying right at my face!
I manage to get the screen door closed just in time... and there is James-big, guilty grin.
He says, "Where are the kids?"  So I call them and say, "Hurry, get your boots and coats on!"
We must have played for 30 minutes or more, the kids would have kept on playing if we'd let them.  Of course we had to come in and get hot cocoa, and we still had to brush teeth, but now we had to change into dry pajamas too.  So it wasn't until about 10pm that they finally got to bed.  Yes, and it was a school night too.  Oh, well, these kind of experiences are priceless, especially when the kids' time spent with Daddy usually consists of him sleeping in their room at night.

I was very glad that I had the camera charged and out on the counter, instead of put away in some inaccessible place...

Happy 3rd Birthday Eden

On January 15th 2011, Eden Caroline Bangert became 3 years old. Our little princess had received a little, pink, china tea cup set from a Sister at church around Christmas time, and James thought that it would be fun for her to have a tea party for her birthday.  


As Eden's knowledge of what a princess is happens to be limited to the fact that it's what she, as a girl, is; and she does not know who any of the Disney Princesses are - we don't have any of the movies, Jeremiah and Isaac have seen them from when we lived near Aunt Holly and Uncle Jon, but Eden somehow never has - this being the case she wasn't interested in a "Princess Party" in the everyone-dress-up-as-a-princess-and-everything-decorated-in-Disney Princesses style, like you might expect of girls her age.  Instead she wanted a butterfly tea party.  So I got her this cute little tiara to make her the hostess and sent out some cute little invitations: 

We invited some friends, the Campbells and the Arnolds, and everyone came in their best Sunday dress with their favorite teddy bear, or iguana or duck.  We had a blast practicing poise, playing hot tea cup instead of hot potato, and having an impromptu waltz.  We had some fancy refreshments, a fizzy lemonade koolaid drink in a little tea pot I had never used before, it had 4 matching green tea cups, so the two older boys and oldest girl used the green tea cups, while everyone else used Eden's new little pink tea cups.  And everyone "Attempted" to be well mannered and proper... manners and proper are all relative anyway aren't they? lol

Eden's daddy got to come home from work for a little while during the party so she blew out her candle and opened her presents while James was home to share it with her.
  

She received some doll clothes, a magnetic dress-up ballerina, a duplo blocks zoo, some My Little Ponies, and a new butterfly for her framed butterfly collection.  She was very happy with all of her gifts.  I think the idea that some of the toys were "Girl" toys appealed to her, and made her feel special.  She's so used to playing with her brothers and their toys, and up to this point hasn't really made a differentiation.  

But she is growing up, and at 3 she is quite pleased to be a Big girl.  James was leaving for work one morning this last week and said to Eden, "I love you Baby Girl!"  To which she replied, "I'm not a baby girl, I'm a Big girl."  

She also took it upon herself to be too big for diapers, and quit using them cold turkey.  She has been officially diaper free for 2 weeks now, even at night.  

And she has decided to learn her numbers and letters, so she likes to have her brothers practice them with her, mostly she pretends to know what she's talking about but she's excited to be trying.  

Eden is a beautiful, intelligent little lady, or as she says, "perfect and handsome."

Happy Birthday Eden.