Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderfully quiet Christmas afternoon, enjoying dinner, opening presents, and spending time as a family.

We pray that all our family and friends near and far had wonderful days as well, and are still enjoying the ten days of Christmas left!

Number Three is One!

I didn't forget about this little one.  She's now One!  We had a low key family day...we opened presents, ate pizza and carrot cake (or "Laura cake" as our Veggie Tale loving son calls it.  Ten points if you understand why he says that.)

Abi is a joy.  She smiles, laughs, and loves her brother and sister.  She signs "eat" and "please" and would eat her weight in cheese if we would let her.  She is wonderfully average in height and weight (20 pounds and 29 inches) and took her three shots like a champ.

The obligatory pictures are below.  We love you Abigail Charis!

Unsure of what to think about the candle.

Very happy after eating the frosting (and cake).

Watching football with Daddy.

Halloween 2011

I think that Josiah's favorite holiday is Halloween.  What other day can you walk around and request candy?  A dream come true for my little three year old.

Here are the kids as Junior Asparagus, Cinderella, and a dragon (a costume that has been well loved in my family)  Also, Ali and her pumpkin.  Josiah didn't want that picture taken.

When I Three...

"When I three" was a phrase Josiah loved to use in the last few weeks.  Now that's he is three, he's giving himself a bit more time..."When I five" is is favorite phrase, especially when he's trying to get out of doing something.

Josiah loved singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out his candles.  He was over the moon to go to Chuck E. Cheese and play games and enjoyed his "Larry Bob cake"--my first attempt at designing anything  in the world of cake.  I was happy Josiah knew who was on the cake!

Here's to our buddy, Josiah.  I pray three is a great year for you!

Fabulous at Five

I still sometimes wonder how this baby

became this little girl (who wants to be a cheerleader/teacher/mom/artist when she grows up)

She had a great week!  We celebrated as a family at Chuck E. Cheese on a very quiet Wednesday night.  Thursday she gave two new books to her classroom (they don't do class parties) and then had five friends over for a party today.  Here's some pictures of the fun.

Happy Birthday to our beautiful girl.  Ali, you are joy to all who know you!

First Day of School

Ali's now a week into to school and loves it.  She's is learning to "sit smart", practicing all kinds of school routines and making new friends.  Here's a few pictures from the first day.

 Leaving the house on the first day.

 After we dropped off Josiah at school, we went and had coffee (or hot chocolate in Ali's case) and talked about her goals for the year.  She decided she wanted to have the chance to write on the board and read a hard book ("like my Dora books")  I'm looking forward to seeing if she meets her goals!

We picked up a gift card for her teacher and she drew a card for her.  It's a bit hard to see, but it is a picture of Ali and her teacher smelling some flowers.

I'm sure you will hear more about school as the year goes on!

Some Late Summer Pictures

For your enjoyment, here are some pictures I (Jed) took. This is Ali after getting her face painted at "A Taste of Concord" on Sunday afternoon:

And this is Josiah, with Elmo on his cheek.

The next is Ali at her friend Alyssa's birthday party on Saturday...a Hawaiian theme, as you can tell.

And finally, Josiah as we took a ride on the Redwood Express, a miniature steam train in Tilden Park.

Our Little Graduate

Jed and I sat down tonight and said "really, we have a child old enough to graduate?"  Yes, we do.  Ali's now a preschool graduate (but told me tonight not to call her a kindergartener yet).  Ali took center stage and sang her songs, wore her cap and gown, and graduated.   

Josiah gets the girl

We are back from our great vacation.  What made this vacation so great?  We were able to spend time with friends, relax, and make memories with our kids.  That last detail was the one thing Jed and I really wanted to do.  We wanted our kids to have fun.  We think we succeeded.

On Thursday we went to Disneyland.  The kids knew we were going, but we did keep one thing secret.  We made reservations at Ariel's Grotto--where the princesses come and greet you at your table while you eat your meal.  The breakfast was quite yummy, but the highlight of the meal was seeing Josiah so happy to meet the girl of his dreams, Snow White.

Josiah has been telling us ever since we told him about the trip that he wanted to see Snow White.  When we asked him what he wanted to say to Snow White, he always said "Will you marry me?"  Josiah is a shy boy, and I didn't think he would really go through with it, but he did.  Snow White let him down gently, telling him that she was already married, but Josiah was still in love.  He chose a Snow White and the Seven Dwarves "action figure set" as his souvenir, so we guess he still "got the girl". 

Ali loved meeting the princesses as well, and had a blast riding some rides.  Small World was a favorite.

Abi enjoyed the day as well, although she liked taking naps as much as the rides.

We had two wonderful parties with friends as well, and enjoyed a beautiful wedding between Becca and Scott.

Now we are home and hit the ground running.  We are busy this month with graduation, VBS, and meetings galore.  And, regardless of how busy we are, it is good to be home.

Our kids are cute. Here's the proof.

Josiah loves to help Abi to listen to music on the Ipod.

 Ali and Abi in their matching PJs.  Oh, and Abi can sit up on her own.  She'd love to show off her two bottom teeth that just appeared, but they are a bit hard to capture on camera.

 Sisterly love.

Abi eats food, and her little mommy loves to help.  Here's the video proof.

We leave on Tuesday for our OC vacation.  This includes a very important trip to Disneyland.  This trip is important because Josiah in on a mission.  In his words "Marry Me Snow White."  We'll let you know if a wedding is coming up in the near future.  We're looking forward to great family time and visits with friends.  We'll talk again after we get back!

Easter Joy

Happy Easter from the Maschke Five!  We had a joyous weekend celebrating our Savior's resurrection.  Today, after church, we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon (with 3/5 of us taking naps).  After dinner we had a great talk while looking at our resurrection eggs and eating Easter candy.

A few pictures for all those interested...

 Josiah at the Easter Egg Hunt...no pictures of Ali hunting eggs this year.  They were in different locations.

 Josiah amazed at the egg changing color.

 Ali loving her egg decorating.

 Our homemade Hot Cross Buns (with Craisins instead of raisins and currants)

 Josiah's doll house.  It is what he really wanted and is super excited to have...thus far the family has taken baths, used the bathroom many times, taken a nap, and jumped out of the windows.

Happy Easter from the kids!

Yes, they are siblings

Ali at three months.

Josiah at three months.

Abi at three months.

Notice the similarities?

A Little Love and Looking Ahead

Most of you know I'm not a big Valentine's Day girl, but we had a little love at lunch today.

The kids seemed to enjoy them.

Abi is looking forward to having some food next year.
Josiah is looking forward to the next holiday that supplies him with candy.
Ali is looking forward to two Chuck E. Cheese parties in the next three weeks.
Jed is looking forward to finishing up his class work.
Anna is looking forward to getting back into crafting and sewing,

What are you looking forward to?

Since Abi's been born....

Anna's family was here for Thanksgiving.

 Erin and Zach were here for Abi's Baptism.

 Jed's family was here for Christmas.

We are all excited to see what 2011 will bring us!

That's pretty much it!