My Baby Turns 3!!

Yeah, I know... my baby turned 3 over 2 months ago!! But, in my defense, school got out and spending a fun summer with my kids got in the way! So, now that summer break is almost over, I'm going to try and update my blog a little more often! I said "try".

Taegan picked out what kind of 3rd birthday party he wanted last September. He was just a little over 2 and we had just gone to his best friend's birthday party at Sk8away. He had SO much fun and I couldn't believe how well he did on the skates! So, I booked the date and I had such an excited little boy!!

His day finally came and he loved it!! Here he is after getting his skates on and ready to go.

His big sister, Madison has had a few skating parties to perfect her skating skills.

Lily is still getting use to the skates, but had fun. After a couple kindergarten skating parties she'll be great!
Here are some of the kids that were there. We decided to have a private party so the smaller kids didn't have to worry about bigger kids running over them. It was so worth it!!

After some fun skating time, we stopped to eat cake and open presents. Here is the Thomas cake Taegan's grandma made him. He loved it!!

Three whole candles! Where did the time go?!? This is my baby!!

He really got into blowing out the candles and may have gotten a little too close for comfort! Don't worry, he was fine!!

Enjoying his cake! YUM!!

Some more of the party goers.

They all seem to be enjoying themselves!

Time to open gifts! He got so many wonderful gifts and has honestly loved playing with all of them!






We had a great time, except one minor thing! This was the night of the tornadoes that came through Topeka. We were under a tornado warning some of the time. The workers were carrying around flashlights and weather radios! It wasn't the most ideal situation, but God protected us and the party went on without a hitch. We all had a great time celebrating Taegan turning 3!!

A few days later when his actual birthday came, we gave him his main gift from us. We made him sit like this while we brought his gift in...

His very own tricycle!! He was SO excited!! Until now he was using his sister's pink and purple tricycle! YAY!!!!

He loves cards too!! Especially if they play music!!

After opening his gifts we headed out to CiCi's for dinner!! Because it was his birthday he got to make his own pizza!! Here he is with his finished pizza ready to bake!!

I can't believe my baby boy has turned three! It seems like yesterday he was born and brought such joy to our family! He was definitely chosen by God to complete our family. I love you so much Taegan! You have this mommy completely wrapped around your little finger and I'm so happy about it!!!

Happy Father's Day Don!!!

We really are lucky around our house... We have the best Daddy ever and the best husband that takes such great care of all of us!! He is such a busy guy, but always makes time for his family!! He is an IT guy at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, a student taking classes to get his District Minister's License and the Campus Pastor and Music Minister at Wanamaker Woods Church of the Nazarene in Osage City. That's all on top of all the things he volunteers for and everything his family involves him in!! =)

Here are just a few wonderful things you need to know about my amazing husband...

He LOVES KU!!!! I'm not sure that's even a strong enough description of his love for all things KU!!

He LOVES his kids and will do ANYTHING for them!! He also LOVES to dance and upon hearing music, can literally NOT stop himself from dancing to it. It's a sickness!!

He loves volunteering for field trips and pretty much anything to do with our kids. Also, kids LOVE him and just seem to flock to him - probably because he is so much fun!!

He loves his boy! He and Taegan are so cute to watch together!! I love those two!!

He loves anything to do with peanut butter and chocolate! It gets even better if they are together!!

He actually likes to shop too! Probably not as much as me, but he really does like shopping and I do realize how lucky I am!!

He loves football! College, NFL, Chiefs, Eagles, and of course, KU!!

He loves his girls! There is just something about the bond between a daddy and his daughters. He definitely is wrapped around those two little fingers!!

He is a WONDERFUL husband!! He puts up with me and all my craziness! We have been together for 10 1/2 years now and he's still here. I'd say that's something!!

He is always willing to help Madison with any school project, no matter what it is or how crazy it might be!

He loves being crazy with the kids! Sometimes I think I live with 4 kids!!

He is such a Godly man and an excellent example for our daughters of how a man should treat them and for Taegan of how he should treat a woman. It is amazing for me to see how God is working in his life. God has called him to be a music minister and the doors are definitely opening for that work.

He is such a fun dad! He is always willing to get out there and play/skate or do whatever his 3 kids want him to. What else could a kid ask for?

Happy Father's Day to our favorite Dad!! We all love you so much!!!!

Kings Kids Choir Spring Musical

It's that time of year again. The kids have worked hard since January and last Sunday was the big performance. Madison practiced and practiced to get this one particular solo. She tried out and actually got it! She was so excited!! Then the new choir director asked us if Lily would be willing to do this one part where they needed a little kid to pretend to say "Oh No!" Lily was even more excited than her sister! She has wanted to be a part of KKC since we took it over. She still has one more year to wait, but she was so happy to get to rehearse with them!! They both did so great!!

Lily was so worried people were going to laugh at her, but she seemed to handle it well. She was SO funny!!! I think what cracked me up even more was how serious she looked!!

Madison has no fear in front of a crowd of people. I could never get up there and sing a solo! She must take after her dad!! She did so great!!

Now that both choirs are over we have our Sunday evenings free again for the summer. That makes this mommy so happy!!!!!

My Future Kindergartner!!!

A couple of weeks ago Don and I took our little baby girl (Who amazingly is now 5 1/2! How is that even possible?!?) to Kindergarten Round-Up!! I can't believe Lily is old enough to be leaving me in the fall. It still seems like she should be my little toddler playing around the house. Wow time flies!!

The theme for Kindergarten Round-Up this year was "Candy Land". The kids get to meet the teachers, play games, have a snack, ride the bus and do a little testing; all while the parents sit through a meeting! It's definitely better on their end! Everything was decorated so cute! Here she is all ready to go.

And another shot in front of the beautiful candy house. They go all out at Indian Hills!!

Lily had so much fun and now can't wait until school starts! I remember Madison doing the same thing. Madison even had me make a countdown with the days remaining until she started Kindergarten! Wow how things change once they actually go to school!! =)

Preschool Concert with Stephen Fite

As some of you may know, I recently had my hard drive crash. Because of this I thought I had lost all my pictures from the last couple of months, but when I was going through my pictures on my camera from Easter, I found some more! So... here is a couple of catch up blogs before Easter. Thanks for keeping up with us!!
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Lily's preschool class recently went to a Stephen Fite concert. I had never heard of him, but he obviously has quite a following with preschool age kids! It was held at TPAC and we had to get there an hour early to get good seats. So what did they all do while waiting that hour? Play on their DS of course! I didn't get a picture of Taegan too, but all 5 kids sat there like this playing DS. Crazy stuff!!

The kids really enjoyed the concert. He does have some pretty catchy songs. Here is Lily clapping along to one of them.

More singing.

Here is Stephen. He is quite the colorful guy!!

Any time they were told they could get down and dance, Preston and Taegan were so excited. Here are a couple of pictures of some of their dancing!

They have some great moves!!

Reese's 4th Birthday

She is 4 today. My little angel has been gone now for 4 years. For whatever reason, this year has been really hard for both Don and I. We talked about it and think maybe it is because more and more people forget as every year passes. It is so hard on this end when it is so important that no one forget that we had this beautiful baby girl, but as Don put it this evening, the world has moved on. You want to scream it from the rooftop! You want everyone you pass to know that you had 3 little girls before Taegan and that the last little girl isn't here anymore, but she still matters. I know what should matter is that we know and we celebrate her life, and it does, but it is so hard when others forget the one day you think about all year. Ugh...

This year my parents came up the weekend before her birthday and we all went to the cemetery on Saturday. My mom brought flowers and we purchased another little angel statue from us and a pinwheel from each of our kids. We always try and get a decent family picture, but this was as good as it was getting this year. Lily can't stand the sun in her eyes (or anywhere near her eyes) and Taegan just refuses to look AT the camera!

Her grave with the decorations we brought.

I thought it was a good idea to try and at least get a good picture of the 3 kids (ha, ha!) and this was as good as it got. The girls are great, but Taegan refused to leave his pinwheel alone! It had to be spinning!!

Later that day we got a knock at the door and it was these gorgeous flowers from my Granny in honor of Reese's birthday. I absolutely LOVE them!!

Tonight, on her actual birthday, we took the kids to buy flowers from us and pick out a balloon. Here is a decent picture of the Engel clan with the new flowers in her vase.

I wanted the pale pink tulips. They were so pretty!

Don picked out an arrangement with some gorgeous green and orange flowers.

Here is a picture of the balloon we all picked out, and Taegan HAD to carry out of the store!

Her marker before we left.

Afterwards we went out to eat and then came home and set off our 4 sky lanterns. The kids were all so excited about this and so was I. They turned out great! I just wish we would have had a few more hands to help. Don and I got them up and going and we trusted the girls to take pictures (Madison) and videotape (Lily). I think they did great.

Getting the fire going...

You have to wait about 45 seconds for it to fill with hot air and...

Away it goes!!!

We set off 2 pink and 2 white.

They looked so pretty lit up in the sky. I just wish we would have had more people to help and then they would have gone up a little closer together. Either way, it turned out great and we will definitely be doing it again next year!

As each balloon went up in the air, the kids yelled "Happy Birthday Reese!"

Here is the video Lily (and Don) took of the last lantern being lit and drifting away.

We really did have a nice evening, just us. And I can say we survived another year. It was a tough week, a really bad day yesterday and pretty emotional day today, but we got through it. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for our family. I know they helped during those hard times.

We love you Reese! We are so glad God chose us to be your family. We miss you like crazy and we can't wait to see you again someday!!