Kisi concert

Carli had a Kisi concert last weekend and she had so much fun! She loves to be up there singing and she always does so good.

This time, Cotter decided about halfway through the concert that he wanted to be a part of Kisi too, so he jumped up and joined the group!

Carli gave me a lot of dirty looks, but everyone else loved that he was there, so it was pretty funny. He is a mess.

A little behind...

So, we are a little (okay, a lot) behind on our blog. Things have just been crazy around here, so the blog was forgotten. I will go ahead and try to get you all updated on what we have been up to the last month~

Let's start with Mother's Day. I had a wonderful day full of beautiful flowers! Carli walked over to the flower garden behind our house and brought back this huge bouquet of lilacs!

Then I went out to the porch and saw this beautiful plant!

Aren't the flowers so cool?!

I was brought breakfast in bed by my sweet kids and amazing husband, opened great gifts made by my kids, had a great time of worship, ate at my favorite Austrian restaurant, took a nap, and went to my favorite gelato place for dessert! It was a great day of getting spoiled by the most wonderful family a mom could ever ask for. Thanks guys!

The next big event was Cotter's Indian Festival. He got to dress up and sing songs that he has learned at Kindergarten, and they put on a performance for all the families. He even got to play the big drum. He was so cute and he loved being an Indian for an afternoon!

Then we enjoyed a family retreat up in the mountains of Austria at Schwarzwaldeckhaus. We were there for a weekend with about 10 other families. Josh spoke one morning about raising kids in a Christian family and he did an amazing job. I will forever be in awe of his ability to speak German. The kids had a pajama party (with a modeling show- organized and directed by Carli), and they really enjoyed helping in the kitchen.

Although I don't have any pictures from outside, the first day was absolutely beautiful. We enjoyed the hike up the mountain to the cabin and the kids loved to pick bouquets of wildflowers. But... this is what we woke up to Sunday morning!

Thanks to Jake, we didn't have to hike back down the mountain in the snow! We all got rides down in the Jeep! He was a lifesaver, because I definitely didn't pack the right things for snow! I mean, c'mon... it's May!

Well, that has been the highlights up until this past weekend. We just enjoyed another amazing weekend with friends and I will post more about that soon!

Cotter turns 5

It is so hard to believe that Cotter is already 5 years old! I don't have any babies anymore! Up until this year, Cotter didn't really care what we did for his birthday. He would pick his favorite character and then we would invite our closest friends and have a party. Well this year was different. He had it all planned out. He wanted to start his day eating pancakes with sprinkles, then he wanted his 2 little buddies from kindergarten to go with him to McDonalds for lunch, then he wanted to meet other friends at his favorite park. He even said that he wanted to eat at TGIFriday's for dinner, but we have to draw the line somewhere! The kids have had 7 days off of school for the Easter holiday, so we were really late in giving everyone the invitations. We gave them out on Wednesday and the party was on Friday! To our surprise, everyone (except one) could come, so he had 8 friends at the park helping him celebrate his big day. He could not have asked for a better day and I absolutely loved the joy and happiness all over his face!

But, I'm not going to lie and say that I had just as much fun. It was a hard party for me. 3 of the moms stayed for the entire party and we all sat down at the picnic table for the 3 hours that we were at the park. This was the first time that I had met these women, so I was so excited at the opportunity to get to know them. One of the ladies spoke with such a strong dialect that I could barely make out any words. Another mom talked so unbelievably fast that she barely stopped to take a breath! I sat there trying my hardest to keep up with the conversation, and it wasn't until they would stop and direct their attention to me that we all understood that I just couldn't keep up. Several times they would be talking so fast and then ask me something and I would have to ask them to repeat the question because I just didn't understand it. I think after awhile, they stopped trying to include me, because they knew I couldn't keep up. So I just sat there with these strangers, missing my friends and my family deeply. I was fighting back tears most of the time. I know this party was not all about me. It was entirely for Cotter and he had one of the best days of his life! It was still one of the hardest 3 hours that I have had in a long time.

This is so our family...

This commercial cracks me up! This is exactly how our family is going to be in a few years. (Add a couple of boys to the scene). Josh is constantly making up songs to everything he says and right now, the kids love it, but I am guessing that at some point, this is how Carli will react to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGUABBr8ZxI

Caleb turns 7!

I know. It is really hard to believe for me too. My sweet Caleb is already 7 years old! Time is really flying by quickly. He had a wonderful birthday! It started out with a morning scavenger hunt which led him to a Star Wars mask that he has been wanting for a LONG time.

His sweet big sister made him a train for his birthday. Just look at that! She painted each piece of wood and put wheels on it with a hammer and nails and everything! I was really impressed and he loved it!

Then after school, we went to his favorite indoor playground with his friends. We started by eating pizza...

Then he opened presents and ate some cupcakes. They weren't too interested in the cupcakes, because they just couldn't wait to start playing!

They drove go-carts...

Played soccer (of course)...

Carli climbed on the climbing wall...

Look how far she got!

They completely wore themselves out. He loved spending time with his buddies and after many Skype calls, he crashed!

2 new babies!

I am an aunt... again! 2 new babies in one week! It doesn't get much better than that! Anna Katherine "Anna Kate" Wiley was born March 13! Big brother Brett just loves her and everyone is doing great! Isn't she beautiful?!

Our beautiful new Neice

We have a beautiful new niece! Kennedy Rose Curo was born on Tuesday! Everyone is doing great, and Kinsey is such a proud big sister!