birthday Archives - Page 2 of 11

happy birthday, sweet girl

Today is Evangeline’s 3rd birthday. It seems so crazy to me that I have had a daughter for 3 years. And though I can see her dramatic attitude taking shape, I absolutely love having another girl in the house.

young girl in yellow dress in yellow flowers

I wanted to take her to a field of yellow flowers to take some birthday pictures. We were on a time crunch and she was more interested in the flowers than taking pictures. But I did get a few that I’m in love with. I think I need to enlarge a picture or two. I couldn’t get over how pretty this little place was. We plan to go back very soon to get a few more shots when we’re not feeling so rushed.

Sometimes I feel bad about not doing anything big or exciting for the kids’ birthdays. I would love to dream up a perfectly themed party. But our lives are already so full right now. That just doesn’t work for us at this point in life. But in the meantime, I try to do little special things to let them know they are loved.

For Evangeline, that meant adding some color to the day. Last night I blew up 36(!!) balloons to fill up the living room floor and surprise her when she woke up. 12 for each year of life. I planned to video her reaction when she first saw the balloons but she and Kingston were awake before I even woke up—way too early!

I also made a colorful cake for her. And all I have is this phone snap that looks way overexposed on the laptop.

So after our traditional birthday trip to Mcdonald’s (and the worker was so kind to give Evangeline her meal for free when she heard it was her birthday!) we headed home to eat cake. And wouldn’t you know it? She fell asleep right before we got home. (Probably because she was up at the crack of dawn…but what do I know?!)

She was not a pleasant birthday girl when she woke up–it’s her party and she’ll cry if she wants to.

But the sparkler candles that I bought her, that wouldn’t blow out too easily, put a smile on her face. And cake. She is so my child. Nothing puts a smile on my face quite like dessert.

I love this girl and her love for all things colorful. Her insistence on wearing a dress…every single day. Her obsession with “Frozen.” Her requests for an “Elsa braid” or “Anna braid” every day. I love the fact that every time she notices my growing belly, she starts referring to the baby as “baby Elsa.” Her giggles. Her love for her mommy and her friendship with her best friend, Legacy. I love that you can see how caring she is when she talks to Desmond and tries to give him bites of food. And that even though it drives me crazy, that she’s strong willed and determined. I love everything about her. I keep selfishly praying that we will be blessed with another baby girl. Because nothing would make me happier than giving her a baby sister, a built in best friend.

That’s all the sappiness for now!
Happy 3rd birthday, sweet baby girl!

May 5, 2016

birthday, Blog, Family

life lately

I have been wanting to sit down and catch up on some blogging. But these days, I’m falling asleep on the couch as soon as the kids go to bed. You see, Desmond sleeps wonderfully all night. But then he wakes up at 5-6 a.m. and pretty much stays awake. All day. He gets a few 10-20 minute naps. I have no idea what’s going on with him but it leaves little time to get anything accomplished around here.

Over the past month or so, we’ve been working on getting some walls painted in the house. I have a thousand projects I want to complete and not enough hours in my day to complete them. Or enough money. Or enough DIY skills. If I could just learn to use power tools, that would be great. We’ve also been trying to fit in some fun outings with the kids. It’s a little extra work to get 5 kids ready and out the door to go explore. But it’s definitely been worth it for us. And the memories we’re making are the best.

Anyway, Desmond and Evangeline are both napping (!!!!) so I just wanted to throw a few pictures up here from the past month or so. They’re pretty random.

All 5 Roberts kids have had the biggest, bluest eyes. They get that from Don. I’m the outcast with the green eyes.

I had to throw in one more from Halloween. We’re already scheming an even more amazing group costume for next year. Watch out! If we pull it off, I don’t know what else could top it!

Evangeline may be part of the reason Des doesn’t get enough naps. She always wants to hug and kiss all over him and hold his hand. It’s the sweetest thing ever but it does drive me a little crazy when she does it just as he’s drifting off.

and I promise that Desmond has other expressions besides shock, haha.

This handsome little guy turned 4 yesterday. We went to the Science Center, had our traditional birthday meal at McDonald’s (fancy, I know) and then we stocked up on ice cream and toppings and headed home to have a little ice cream party. He got to stay up late with me and Don and we played a few board games together. All the kids loved Kingston’s birthday. Liam said “It was really good because it was so peaceful when we went to bed last night and Kingston didn’t keep us awake for an hour.”

That says it all. Kingston is hilarious and oh, so cute. But he is a handful and he’s a big ball of never-ending energy.

Evangeline’s developing personality is so cute and hilarious as well. I love that I’m able to have conversations with her. She is also obsessed with all things girly. That makes me proud because most people assume she would be a tom boy.

I think I already posted a picture of this sunrise from my phone. But I had to share the DSLR version too. It was just so gorgeous!

And surprise! My brother got married on Sunday! He and Sara asked me to photograph their wedding. They found this perfect little spot in Forest Park that looked like it was from a scene from a fantasy movie. They had a quick little ceremony while I had a 2 year old following me and crying because she wanted me to hold her. So I snapped some pictures with a child on my hip. It was simple and unique and exactly what they wanted. I’m so excited to welcome a new sister to our family!

They asked Liam to be the “ring bearer.” Later on in the evening, he proudly told us “This is the first wedding that I got to be a groomsman!”

And then this picture pretty much sums up the day.

We ended the night at Salt+Smoke, a BBQ place in the Loop. The burgers there…..Amazing! And the fries. So good. Actually, it’s now one of our favorites.

So now that we’re moving into the holiday season, I hope to be able to stop here more often to catch up. Although, the more busy we’ll be, the less time I’ll have. We shall see. Have a good week!

November 17, 2015