Gabriel's 5th Birthday

Gabriel asked for a bowling party for his 5th birthday. You see, we tried to go bowling as a family when he turned 4, but for some reason the bowling alley in Italy wouldn't let our kids bowl. They were too young. So we tried again this year, and invited some friends to join us. It turned out a big success! For most of the kids, it was their first time bowling. The alley had a ramp for them to set their bowling balls on and help get the ball all the way down the lane to the pins. The kids loved it!

I made Gabriel a Minion birthday cake, which all the kids loved.

We managed to get the second half of his birthday song on video... and also him pouring hot wax on his finger. Haha!

Happy birthday, Gabriel!

Richard's 40th

Spending Richard's 40th birthday in Europe gave us the chance to go somewhere new for the weekend. Richard picked Lille, France. It's only a one and a half hour drive from where we live, and it's a beautiful city. We walked around the old part of town and saw the old stock exchange building, the opera house and a few different churches.

Inside the Old Stock Exchange building they sell used books, old music albums and small toys.

 

We took a break to warm up and sip some hot tea and hot chocolate.

Lille is home to France's second largest art museum, the first being the Louvre, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille (Lille Palace of Fine Arts). We took the opportunity to walk the museum, and saw some famous pieces. My favorite was Houses of Parliament, stormy sky by Monet.

Although we had intentions of giving the kids some wonderful exposure to fine art, I can't say they paid much attention to it. They were more interested in laying on every single bench in every single room, then fighting over who could fit on the small ones. I was doing a lot of shushing!

All that bench wrestling must have worn them out, and Richard and I enjoyed a quiet ride back home.

Happy birthday, Richard! May God bless you with another healthy 40 years, and may he bless me with being able to spend them all with you!

Hope Turns Three

I feel like Hope has been three forever.  Maybe it's because she's 3 going on 13! She's quite the talker and she can boss around her big brother too. So when her birthday came around I almost felt like she should be turning four!

We celebrated Hope's birthday over two different days. One day we did gifts and cake, and another day we went to a children's museum called Technopolis. For her cake, Hope requested apple cake. I had her cover it with powdered sugar, and we sang Happy Birthday to her. Now, normally she's excited to watch people "blow out the fire" aka candle, but when it was her turn to do it, she just cried! She was afraid the fire was going to hurt her. I couldn't help but laugh, it was too cute!

Out of all her presents, Hope's favorites are a baby doll crib and Anna and Elsa dolls. The dolls always sleep in the crib next to Hope's bed.

She also loves her Elsa dress up costume.

At Technopolis the kids had fun brushing gigantic teeth, "driving" and ambulance, creating a marble maze and building with giant Lego bricks. Not to mention some really cool demonstrations.

It's been fun to watch Hope grow and see her own unique personality. I call her our "class clown", because she is always being silly and loves to make people laugh. Her favorite color is pink, but she tells me it has to be really pink aka bright pink. I can picture Hope having bright pink clothes, cell phone and car when she's older. Seriously!

Happy birthday to our sweet and silly little three year old!

Halloween 2015

Happy Halloween from the Sanders!

Superman, a very pregnant Wonder Woman, Iron Man and Princess Anna.

This pumpkin throwing up guacamole was too funny!

Sarah's 31st Birthday

I just had to document how awesome Richard was during my birthday. He knows I like birthdays to be special, and he worked really hard to make me feel special this year. In the weeks surrounding my birthday, Richard had to be in Germany for work. He was coming home on the weekends for a short time, then turning around to do another week in Germany. My birthday fell on a Friday, and he made sure he was home at a decent time on Friday night, just so he could get up Saturday morning and start doing things for my birthday.

We started with pancakes, then Richard invited some friends over to hang out for a few hours, and he made some pizza for everyone. After this, he got started on the long process of making my requested cake. A banana cake with white chocolate ganache and candied pecans! He spent all of the kids nap time working on it, then had them help when they woke up.

Just look at how pretty this cake is! And it tasted delicious.

He then proceeded to make a wonderful chicken dinner for the family. He must have spent at least 8 hours in the kitchen that day, while I spent time lounging on the couch and feeling pampered.

Thank you, to the best husband ever! I love you, sweetie!

Gender Reveal for Baby Sanders

We love gender reveal parties, and so we decided to throw one last minute the day after we arrived back from a trip. I went to my Dr appointment prior to our trip and found out the gender, but no one else knew. The following weekend, I made a cake and had friends over for the big reveal. About half the people thought it would be a boy and the other half thought it would be a girl. Richard claims to have known the gender all along. To his credit, he told me what he thought it would be, and he was right. In fact, he's never been wrong! Not sure how he knows, but he just does.

Before the party I asked the kids if they knew what was going on and what gender they thought the baby was.

And here is the big reveal!

IT'S A GIRL!!

A Big, Yet Little, Announcement!

We are very eager to meet our little baby come November!

Easter 2014

I love Easter. It's such an important holiday to Christians. We love dressing up and heading to church and singing great songs about the resurrection of Jesus. We would normally get together with friends as well, but since Hope has a little cold we kept it low key. We did, however, still die eggs and do a small Easter egg hunt in front of the house.

Hope's First Birthday Party - Winter One-derland

We had such a good time celebrating Hope's first birthday! Her party was themed "Winter One-derland".

I made a logo that was carried throughout the party. We had personalized water bottles,

a special sign above her chair

and sent everyone home with a home-made package of hot chocolate mix, some hand warmers and a note saying "Thank you! Stay Warm!"

We made this fun activity for the kids. They threw "snowballs" through the snowman. All the kids loved this one!

A quick family shot. Can you tell Gabriel is excited to dig into the cake?

Singing Happy Birthday.

And her Winter One-derland cake.

 

Happy Birthday Hope!

A Letter To Hope As She Turns One

Dear Hope Lynn,

Time has flown by so quickly! It seems like just yesterday we brought you home from the hospital. Now we look at you, and you're so big. Big smiles and big eyes. A dimple on your right cheek that's visible when you grin. We love you so much, sweet girl!

When you were 10 months old, we looked at you and thought, "She's getting so big! She's not really a baby anymore!" Maybe it's because of all the changes you had in that month. You got your first two teeth, one right after the other. You started signing "Please" and "more", and also said your first two words "ball" and "more".

It makes sense that you are great at signing and saying "more", because that's how you tell us you want more food. You eat a LOT. We feel like we already have a teenager with a hollow leg. Just the other day, you consumed half of one of those huge Chipotle burritos, and you would have kept going if we had more! It's beyond me why you're not twice the size you are.

At your one-year checkup, you measured 30 inches long (80th percentile for girls your age) and 20 pounds, 10 ounces (40th percentile for girls your age). I guess all that food is making you grow tall instead of heavy. You continue to be a great sleeper, and get a solid 12 hours at night, plus two naps. Thank you for that!

You've been crawling on your belly, like a soldier, for a while now, and I don't think you'll be walking any time too soon. You can walk while holding on to something, but your legs are still wobbly. When you walk, your bottom moves back and forth as you try to balance yourself, and Gabriel thinks you're dancing.

You are attached to mommy, big time! You don't let anyone else hold you, even if mommy is right there next to you. Well, the only exception is daddy. You love him so much, and it's adorable. When he comes home from work, you squeal and do your little soldier crawl as fast as you can to get to him.

Gabriel continues to take care of you and show you things. He told you all the different construction truck names when you were a few months old. Now that you're bigger, he has moved on to teaching you your letters and numbers. He even teaches you how to share each time he takes a toy from you. Fortunately, he promptly replaces it with a different toy so you don't fuss.

One of my favorite parts of the day is getting kisses from you. You keep your lips closed and say "mmmm" as you lean in. Each kiss is followed by several more in a row. Oh, and you're great at hugging too. You squeeze us tight and lean your head on our shoulder, then stay there long enough for us to rub your back and enjoy the moment. What a cuddle bug, you are!

Every night, when we tuck you in, we pray for you to know God. He is the one that created you, and what a beautiful job he did! We love you, Hope Lynn, and we thank God for giving us such a sweet blessing.

Love,
Daddy and Mommy

Merry Christmas 2013

 

Our 2013 Christmas was spent with Grandpa and Gram Gram. We had fun shopping, watching movies, playing games, and took a trip to DC to visit the model train display at the US Botanic Garden.

On Christmas Eve, we held an "Orphan's Dinner", where we invited people in the area who didn't have family nearby. It was a wonderful evening spent chatting and eating good food. I just wish I got some pictures!

Here are some highlights from our Christmas.

 

Merry Christmas everyone!