Do you see what I see?

Right there. At then nape of her neck. That's right, folks. It's a curl. Should it never appear again, this curly haired mama finally has one curl that I can say came from my genes. This is it's official documentation. :)

What we've been up to around here

This winter has been an overload of snow and sickness in our house. Our area had the snowiest January on record (I think that's true; if it's not, then it sure feels that way), and our family had the stomach virus more times this school year than in our 10 years of marriage total. We're trying to stay positive though....keeping busy and happy.  Here's a few snapshots of what we've been doing.

The big ones play so well with the little ones. It's such a blessing. They love being a big brother and big sister. And, they're really good at it too!

The Princess learned about forts (that's the big sister and big brother thing again). She was pretty happy the day we put up the "under the table" playhouse.

The Handsome Man started his first model. It's not finished yet, but he's working on it. Yes, he's in his PJs. He's been in them a lot lately. He's only been to school about once a week since Christmas due to the whole snow and sickness stuff we've got going on. And, frankly, this kiddo really likes being in PJs.

The Munchkin had her first sewing lesson with Mommy. She got a kit as a birthday gift and really wanted to get working on it. She loved sewing this little stuffed bear for Kelly and has now finished a larger one for herself. Cute, right?

The Little Mister has taken off in the milestone department. In one weekend, he started crawling and pulling up to his knees. This is such a huge accomplishment for him.

We do have toys in our house. Lots of them. Probably too many. But now that he's mobile, he's into everything. And, the Princess would rather play with a bag of croutons. We keep them in a low cabinet and she finds it fun to walk around with the bag. But she recently figured out how to get herself a snack.

The weather is supposed to warm up a bit over the next few days. I really hope some of the snow melts...maybe we'll even get to see some grass next week!

The Munchkin turns SIX!

I can barely believe that my first born has turned six. It seems like yesterday that I was awaiting her arrival...washing and folding the clothes to fill her drawers, rocking in the glider in her empty nursery, reading every page of every mother-to-be book I owned (as well as some I'd find at bookstores). Now she's a lovely young girl who is so independent and one of the best big sisters ever.  She does a lot to help me everyday with the babies so I was hoping to make this birthday a little extra special.  I think we succeeded.

All (children's) birthdays in the Ran house start out with our tradition of a scavenger hunt to find your gift. After 6 clues, she found this card with this message inside...

We decided to finally give her the American Girl doll she'd been wanting for the last few months. Since we live relatively close to one of the American Girl stores, we planned to take her to the store so she could pick out her doll herself. (For weeks, she wanted a different doll everyday.) She had a snow day from school on her actual birthday, and it worked out for us to go. It was such a special trip with Mommy. We took the train which was great, with the exception of one extra train on the way there (I accidentally got us going in the wrong direction for one stop).

Then she picked out her doll, which is a My American Girl that looks just like her. Her name is Kelly.  Meet the newest member of our family....

We met my mom at the train station and she came with us to the store. She and my dad (who stayed home) took the Munchkin and I to lunch at the American Girl Cafe.

Kelly ate lunch with us and got her ears pierced. After that, we took the train home--without any extra trains this time. :) What a wonderful day we had together!

Two days later, we had a party with our family. We have the most wonderful and generous family. We love celebrating birthdays with everyone!

Then, as if that wasn't enough, we had a little party with the Munchkin's friends. She invited just two of her close friends for lunch, with their American Girl dolls of course, cupcakes, and then we went to see Disney Princess on Ice.  I didn't bring my camera to the Princess show because I figured I wouldn't be able to take pictures there (and I was too afraid that they'd take away my brand new camera), but I should have....totally could have taken pictures. Be we had a great time!

Happy 6th Birthday Munchkin. We love you!