'Tis the birthday season in the Checketts household!  We have a birthday in July, August, September, October and December so it is a fun stretch of the year for us!  I love it.

July 1, 2015

Happy 4th Birthday Sweet William!

If I could freeze this boy at 4 years old I would be so tempted to do it.  I can hardly stand how darling he is.  I just want to squeeze him up and give him kisses all over his cute little nose.

 Seriously, does a little boy get any cuter than this?

  I love his laugh.  I love when he wipes my kisses off so that I'll keep giving him more.  I love when he blows me kisses and air hugs from the swings when I drop him off at preschool.  I love watching him play.  He gets into character as an Octonaut or Wild Krat and jumps off couches singing a theme song and saving animals in distress.  I love watching him play with Ellie.  He tackles her and carries her around but always with an appropriate gentleness and love.  

Amelia got caught up in the moment and blew out the candles on his cake!  Haha, so this is of us singing it speedy the second time so that he could blow them out himself.  I love his laugh.

August 7, 2015

Ellie is Wonderful One!

Oh, man, this girl is such a sweetheart.  

We all love her to pieces and loved celebrating her first birthday.  

I love watching her play with her siblings.  She adores them and they are so sweet to her.  It is kind of amazing now that I think about it, but there has not been one instance of meanness or jealousy directed at Ellie from her siblings since she was born. I'm sure moments will come in the future as she starts getting into their stuff or fighting for a turn, etc, but until this point she has just been everyone's baby and is loved and adored by all.

I am so grateful for these sweet children who love each other so much.

She loves to share her slobbery food!

 She loved her cake and could not be bothered to look at the camera while she was eating.

What?  I like cake...and whipped cream...

 and my bib.

September 23, 2015

Amelia is 6!

I love 6 year old Amelia.  This is such a great age.  Kindergarten is so innocent and sweet and I still feel like she is my baby, but we also get to enjoy the structure and activities of school life.  This year she has discovered that she loves to jump rope at recess.  She even tries to do it at home when she's supposed to be sleeping. The rhythmic thud, thud, thud on the ceiling downstairs always gives her away. 

She is such a sweet, thoughtful, energetic girl.  I love watching this girl grow.

Strawberry Sponge Cake per request

And what could be better than a surprise visit from GRANDMA for your birthday.  Nothing.  Pretty much nothing could be better. These kids were in Grandma heaven.

Love this girl!

And here is a video of her cute jump roping skills

October 8, 2015

Andrew turns...the big 4-0!

We had so much fun celebrating Andrew's 40th this year.  We had a table full of color with fresh vegetables, hummus and roasted chicken for dinner and berries and whipped cream for treat.  Ellie didn't like it at all as you can tell!

40 never looked so good!

We took peanut butter protein smoothies over to the baseball field to celebrate with the team and that was such a fun moment to share.  Sorry the video is wobbly, but I love the moment.

And then that night we went to the pumpkin patch.

I collected memories from friends and family and we had a fun time reading through those together and feeling grateful that he has been around for 40 years!  The kids and I also gave him a gift certificate for a massage so he would feel 40 years young.