4 and 6

Birthday's in our house are grand and festivus! The birthday girl gets to wake-up to lots of balloons and decorations and then they have the whole day to choose what they want for every meal. They also get to choose a special family activity for us all to do together (but only on the years they don't have a party...and this is a no party year). We celebrated Emma's 4th birthday in January and Amberlee's 6th birthday this past week. I can't believe how fast these little cuties are growing up. Remind me to cherish every second with them!

Emma: wanted lucky charms for breakfast, cupcakes with friends, and wanted to have cotton candy at the circus. It was a fun weekend!!!

Amberlee: wanted a movie night where she got to pick everything from the movie to all the treats/snacks, wanted a violin (which meant a road trip to Ann Arbor to pick it out), and swimming to top it all off!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girls!!!

New Addition

This is a HUGE bridge for us to cross---we got a dog! The girls have been asking for years if we could get one and their little wish finally came true. Kevin's Aunt Connie (in Utah) found a little morkie for us. Luckily, a friend was traveling to Utah and was willing to bring *Lilly* back with her! We kept it a surprise for as long as we could and the night before she came, we told them the news and took them shopping for all of Lilly's things. They were SO excited and could hardly wait until the next day to meet her.

Coming Home.

The only person who wasn't as thrilled was Laicee. She cried and cried for the first 24 hours and ate with her feet up on the table (she gonna eat mine feet). Gratefully, she is now loving Lilly just as much as the others!

...she no longer eats with her feet on the table. Apparently the threat of Lilly eating her feet is gone :)

a GRRREAT time

As an early Christmas present to ourselves, we took the girls up to Great Wolf Lodge. It is a themed hotel with an indoor water park. We absolutely love it there and were more than excited to get out of town--even if it was a quick trip.

We had fun playing in the water, flying down the water slides, sleeping in bunk beds, getting in our pj's for story time, and getting snowed on indoors! Kassie and Amberlee were both barely tall enough to go down the big slides by themselves. I was a little nervous, and they were so brave and proud of themselves. Emma had fun running away from sharks in the lazy river, and Laicee cried each time she went on the water slides...but, she kept going. So, somewhere deep inside her I'm sure she loved it as well!

I can't even tell you the pure joy and laughter that came from all of us on this trip!

Kev and Laicee on the lazy river


Amberlee floating along

We treated the girls to chocolate fondue.

They couldn't believe all they could dip into chocolate!

2009 Lowedown!

Dear Family and Friends,

The Christmas season is one of our favorites. Not only is it a wonderful time to celebrate the birth of our Savior, it is also a great time to connect with old friends and family. We hope this year has been a great one for you! Here are our top highlights of 2009…

Kassie (loves to go by Kassandra) 7 years old-
2nd grade. Star performer. Ring leader. Soccer, basketball, dance and Brownie girl scouts. Loves everything about life. Wants to be veterinarian or a rock star. Turns 8 next year and is thrilled to be baptized!

Amberlee (5 years old)-
Loves kindergarten. Great student. Her teacher said she wants to photocopy her. Donated hair to locks of love. Loves gymnastics, cooking and finding new recipes. Loving, sweet, kind. 1 marriage proposal.

Emma (4 years old in January)-
Resident party animal. Ball of energy. Happy, bright, fun. Loves soccer, dance, and gymnastics. Coach said she was freakishly strong! Rides two-wheeler with NO training wheels. Bag lady. Such a fun girl!

Laicee (2 years old)-
Great talker and singer. Adorable smile. “I do it myself!”. LOVES being entertained by older sisters. Tries her hardest to keep up. Won’t stay in bed. 1st daughter to get stitches. Amazingly thoughtful and caring.

Stephanie-
Loves being busy with the 4 girls. Exhausted. Loves dates with the hubby. Volleyball. Book Club. Girls nights out. Organized Santa Parade float. Nativity Exhibit Committee. Freezing in MI. Lovin’ life!

Kevin-
Lone man of the house. Healed Achilles. Grateful to walk and run again -- 5Ks. Daddy-daughter dates. Varsity Scout Coach -- horseback high adventure. Promotion…lots of work. Excited to celebrate 10 years of marriage next year.

Have a wonderful Christmas Season and a very Happy New year!
Love,
The Lowe Family

Nutcracker Outing

I love the holidays! I especially love when I can find fun, unique, and memorable things to do. In our little town, the Nutcracker ballet comes every 3 years. I decided, along with my fabulous friends and their daughters, to take our older girls (Kassie and Amberlee) to see the ballet! The girls wore their fancy dresses and we took them out to lunch before the show. The best part was watching their excited little faces light up when they saw Clara, the fancy dancers, the mice and the mouse king, and most importantly...the Nutcracker! They literally were on the edge of their seats and I could see their minds just soaking up the whole thing. This is one experience that we'll cherish and one that will hopefully become a tradition!Here's our adorable group of girls practicing their ballet moves!

One ends and another begins

Kassie and Emma both played soccer this season and it was so fun to see them play. Emma was so very excited to score a goal and Kass did an awesome job.

This was such a cold day!!! Freezing rain pelted us in the face and the girls were bundled up in tons of layers. I'm just glad our next sport is inside!

But now that soccer is over, it's time for basketball! Kassie is lovin' it. She's had 2 games so far and has had a couple of basket shots and lots of great blocks and steals.

Kass is the one shooting the ball. It makes our Saturday mornings early and busy...but it's great to see them having fun and excelling in activities!

Once I get pictures, I can show you that Amberlee has been in a gymnastics class. She has the best time and loves doing cartwheels, round-offs, and splits all over the house...and when I say all over the house...I literally mean ALL OVER the house. She is ALWAYS doing her little acts ALL the time! She can't get from one end of the room to another without doing a little cartwheel or something along the way!

I love these girls!

Our trick-or-treaters!!!

Kassie was super-girl, Emma and Amberlee were cats, and Laicee was a spider witch.

Harry Potter's Little Sister?

This is how we spent our general conference morning after a game of turtle tag.

Poor Laicee was running away from her sisters and fell right into our speaker.

She had to have 2 stiches on the inside and 5 stiches on the outside. She felt much better once the ER nurses gave her a little cute teddy bear. Apparently, she is doing fine :)

...and we're off!

I admit it, I did get a little misty-eyed taking Amberlee and Kassie to their first day of school. They were so excited, anxious, and cute and I was so happy for them and it made me thrilled and sad all at once. But then, as I was leaving the school parking lot...I turned the music up and did a little car dance! Yay for a new school year! Kassie (who likes to go by Kassandra at school) is in the 2nd grade. Amberlee is in Kindergarten and Emma is going to pre-school 3 days a week.

Something special for each...

1. Kassie turned 7 years old on July 12th and for her birthday she wanted to get her ears pierced! After a couple weeks of debate, we decided to surprise her with a trip to the mall to get it done. She was so excited and nervous but she put on a brave face and entered into this rite of passage!

2. I am jealous of Amberlee's hair. It's long, silky, thick and beautiful. It obviously does not come from me. She has been asking for months to get it cut...not just trimmed...she's wanted it super short. I finally relented this week and took her (and all the girls) in for a hair cut. Little did I know that Amberlee had enough to donate to Locks of Love! She was so excited that she could help kids who didn't have any hair. And yes, I did tear up and cry a little...but it really was so sweet to see her be so excited about helping other kids (ok, and I was a little sad to see all that beautiful hair be chopped off)!

3. Emma, my 3 1/2 year old party animal, decided that she was old enough to ride a 2 wheel bike without training wheels! She asked Kev to take them off and viola...within minutes she was riding like a pro! My kids definitely do not get their balance from me! It's so funny to watch this little cutie riding down the street!

4. Is it illegal to lock a child into a crib? I would love to make a crib top that you can lock each night! Laicee can now climb out of her crib! This is what we found last night...so cute!!!