Elli Belly

Elli got some new clothes for her birthday that she LOVES!
Here she is in her "cowgirl" outfit...sporting braids, which is her favorite way to wear her hair. She just needs some cowboy boots and a hat!

This outfit was actually for Christmas. Grandma got the finishing touches put on it! She was so excited to wear it! : ) She and Adie match!

I caught her playing with her horses in the living room, they were going to take a nap she said. She just loves horses! And anything to do with them! She still thinks it would be perfectly ok to have one in the backyard!

♥Elli's 5th Birthday!!!

We celebrated Elliana's 5th Birthday by having a horse/unicorn themed party. Anyone who knows Elli knows she is a horse LOVER!!! Often she is found crawling around on all fours neigh-ing and proclaiming "I am Elli THE horse!" or as it has been lately "I am Elli THE unicorn-pegasus!" As a funny side note, she had gotten the princess hat she is wearing from the dollar store a month before her birthday, wanting to wear it for her party. It wasn't until we were looking at the pictures from her party the other day that she proclaimed "There I am with my unicorn horn on!" I asked her to clarify. She proceeded to tell me in no uncertain terms that it was NOT a princess hat she was wearing, but INDEED a unicorn horn! : )

Grandma and Papa Corbett found a pretty "horse" shirt for her.

And an American-girl type doll who is dressed as a flower girl! Elli is going to be a flower girl in her cousin, Dessarae's wedding in April!

She was SO excited to get her own bag of pink M&M's from Great Grandma Mueller! Unfortunately, our dog, Timber, got to them first! : (

Here she is posing with her prized possession! A Lipizzaner horse! All she talked about in the weeks before her birthday was getting" the white horse with a crown" that she saw at Target months before her birthday.

Here Elli is posing with her doll riding the prized horse while Alliyah checks them out!


We had extra-special guests...Great Grandma and Great Papa Jim were able to come! Here's Great Grandma holding Alliyah. : ) ♥

Blue and Gold Banquet

The annual Blue and Gold banquet was held Feb. 21st. Traditionally it is the time for the Weblos 2 to be honored as they cross the bridge from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. All the other dens are honored too as they achieved their rank badges.

Since the boys are in different dens, we had to separate to eat. Frank and Elli sat with Zach's Bear den.

Kaity, Alliyah and I sat with Nathaniel's Tiger Den. Here Nathaniel is holding up one of the placemats Zach made. It has the meaning of the colors for Cub Scouts. "Blue stands for truth and spirituality, steadfast loyalty and the sky above. Gold stands for the warm sunlight, good cheer, and happiness."

Each den was recognized and each child individually recognized for their accomplishments. Nathaniel earned his Bobcat and Tiger badges, activity beads and an elective bead.

Zach earned his Bear badge. One of the sections they finished recently was on knife safety. His den leaders gave each of the boys in his den a really nice knife with an eagle on it!

Zach's School Project

Zach had a school project to do...a time line of his life from his 1st birthday to 3 years into the future! We had a lot of fun looking at the pictures of Zach and seeing how much he's grown! What blessing he is to the family.

Lovin' Little Liah!

Alliyah has been such an added joy to our lives! She is adored by us all! Such a happy little girl, who shows her emotion so readily...usually with a squeal of delight! My sister-in-love, Mandy, recently posted on her family blog about being given something you didn't even know you wanted, in regards to her own 5 little blessings...it's so true! Who knew I wanted 5 kids? Obviously our loving Father knew just how much I would treasure each one of them! His plan is always best! What joy we would have missed out on if we decided to intervene and stop at 4 children...

Liah...pre-bath : )

In the tub...she LOVES the water...could easily become a mermaid!

Lookin' cute after her bath...love that chubby little face!!

Sittin' in the highchair (the one I bought at a yard sale AFTER Elli was out of hers...'just in case' we had another baby!) eatin' crackers! YUMMY!

Trying to get going!

Zach lovin' Liah...big brothers are the best!!! : )

It's a little blurry...but I LOVE her expression! What a cutie!!!

Nathaniel's turn to love on Liah!!



What a sweet little face!

Swingin'!!! Love it!! (Thanks for the swing back...again! The one I was going to sell after having Elli because we were 'done!')

Alliyah...she's growing!

Alliyah is growing and changing so fast! Here she is at the end of December,,,so much more stable sitting! She's able to sit and play now! (7 months old)





Here we are...trying to do a self-portrait! Liah looked away!






We purposely took this picture of her in this outfit in this position because she looks so much like her oldest sister and we have a picture of Aunt Holly holding Kaity like this in this outfit!



LOVE the walker! Look out, world...she's mobile!!

Happy girl!

Liah and Elli... ; )

Blowin' bubbles!

Truly Daddy's girl....when mama's not around!

Smiley girl...most of the time! Little precious!

Cuddled up with Daddy after a busy day of just being Liah!

More Christmas

In the middle of the day we were at Grandma and Papa Chuck's house for a while. It was fun to have all the VanZandt cousins together!

Here's Grandma and Papa with Dessarae, Garret, Kaitlyn, Zachariah, Nathaniel, Elliana and Alliyah

Nathaniel got a kit to build a helicopter!

The 'Dread Pirate Zach!'

Elli amidst the presents! She got a new dolly.

Kaitlyn got one too!


The next day we went back to Grandma and Papa Corbett's house to open presents and to have an easy to prepare (we ordered out!), no-hassle dinner. (pizza! with paper plates, cups and utensils for easy clean up!)

Here are Annie and Kaity opening presents...it's always a wild time!

Nathaniel and Zach with Uncle Sean and Beth (in motion!)

We had a wonderful celebration with both sides of the family. We did miss seeing Papa and Yada VanZandt (in Arizona), Uncle Kevin and Chris (in Michigan), Aunt Billie (in Florida) and Uncle Paeter, Aunt Holly and Asher (in Arizona too!) We love you!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning we have a tradition...the kids wake us up BEFORE peeking downstairs, we (Mom and Dad) go downstairs before the kids, get the video camera and digital camera ready, then let the kids come down the stairs to see the Christmas tree and presents beneath it. It's great to see the expressions on their faces! ( See Elli's face in the picture)

Before any present opening, we read through our Advent book which tells the story of the preparation for and birth of Jesus, so that our focus is right. This year we also sang 'Happy Birthday' to Jesus. Then we started with the stockings and the madness began! :P

I think Kaitlyn liked her new Webkinz! This is the whimsy dragon.

Zach and his new puppy (Webkinz, not real!)

Nathaniel seems QUITE pleased with his new Planet Hero.

Our little horse-lover, Elli, got several new horses...this one with a carrier!

Liah, loving her new dolly!

We went for Christmas brunch at my Mom and Dad's...here is Great Grandma Corbett and Great Papa Jim, along with my Dad and the 4 oldest kids. : )

Liah sporting her 'Baby's 1st Christmas' fuzzy bib...and sitting up so well! She's growing so fast!!!

It was a nice day, busy, but nice...we were all able to be together as a family!