Every single day of my life is significantly better, because I'm a father.

Hook 'Em

Express Game

Fishing at Grandma's house

Carousel at Disney World

Silly glasses at Christmas

Clint and his mini-me at Bailey's 4th birthday party
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Saturday was Clint's birthday- so today's post is dedicated to him!


(these are some of my favorite photos of Clint and the kiddos!)


He has been gone all week for work -


and we sure did miss him a lot while he was gone.


It is good to have him back home.


He is the heart of the family.


The one that keeps us laughing all the time.


He is so funny and super silly.


He is the best husband I could ask for and an even better Daddy.


No one compares! Our Clint is the BEST!!!


We love you VERY MUCH!


Happy, Happy Birthday to YOU!!

"Only an Aunt can give hugs like a mother, can keep secrets like a sister, and share love like a friend.” Spanish Proverb

Stuffing John the Black Lab.

Kaci fluffing Pinkie Princess

Bailey making John's birth certificate.

John the Lab and Pinkie Princess riding the Carousel

Boogie boarding with Aunt Amber at the beach this past summer

Happy Birthday, Amber! Today we got to help Aunt Amber celebrate her birthday!

She joined us on a trip to Build a Bear and then we took her out to eat for some good Mexican food! We love our Aunt BerBer and hope she enjoyed her day with us! She is always there to help us out or just hang out with us and have fun.

Happy Happy Birthday Ber Ber!

February is a busy birthday month!

"On my honor, I will try - to serve God and my country. To help people at all times and live by the Girl Scout Law!

Kaci took her Brownie oath tonight and became an official Brownie!

We are so proud of her. Ms. Micha hosted the ceremony and party at her house.

It was very nice. We made a delicious fruit salad and Kaci made some

chocolate covered strawberries that were a hit! I even got to be onstage

with Kaci and twirl her before she looked in the mirror.

We closed out our cookie sales on this night too.

Kaci's official count ended up being 202 boxes....

Not too bad for her first year!

We are so proud of our girl!

Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel. Mark 1:15

Today is Ash Wednesday. It is the first day of Lent and occurs forty-six days (forty days not counting Sundays) before Easter. It falls on a different date each year, because it is dependent on the date of Easter; it can occur as early as February 4 or as late as March 10.
Ash Wednesday gets its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of the faithful as a sign of repentance. The ashes used are gathered after the Palm Crosses from the previous year's Palm Sunday are burned. This paste is used by the priest (or minister)

who presides at the service to make the sign of the cross, first upon his own forehead

and then on each of those present who stand before him at the altar rail.

We went to church at St. Thomas tonight to receive our ashes.

Kaci and Bailey want to try and participate this year by giving up something they love for Lent. Kaci is going to give up pickles and Bailey is going to try and give up honey buns!

It could be a very long 40 days! ha

But -I am very proud of them for trying!

Happy 5th Birthday, Bailey!!!

Getting his birthday claps from his classmates and Ms. Judy
Getting his blessing from Ms. Judy
Ms. Judy getting her birthday blessing from Ms. Marty

Sharing cupcakes with his friends

Time for the parade!

What a wonderful day! Today is Bailey's 5th birthday. Seems like we have been waiting on this day to get here forever....well, at least he has! I could have waited a VERY LONG time for it to come. It was a great day and started off with his "birthday blessing" from Ms. Judy who also shares February 24th as her birthday with Bailey. He was so excited about chapel today knowing that he would get his special birthday certificate and be blessed. We brought cupcakes to share with his friends and he got his very own special birthday crown with his name on it. Since today was FAT TUESDAY as well....he also got to participate in a Mardi Gras parade at school. It has been a great day so far! Tonight we will celebrate at dinner with Grandma Dee, Papa, Amber and Mark at Lubys! (Bailey's restaurant of choice for the big day!) He has decided that he is getting chicken nuggets, french fries and a steak...because he 5 now!

"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. "Mark Twain

YUMMY

The kiddos!
The boys!


February is a month full of birthdays! Yesterday we helped our good friend, Marty celebrate his "February Birthday" by meeting his family and a few others at Torchy's Tacos!

We had a great time and the food was excellent. Kaci and Bailey tried a chicken fajita taco for the first time ever and loved it! Happy Birthday Marty! Thanks for the invite!

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday Dear, Bailey!

The party crew
BerBer and Bailey

Clint and Bailey

3 Amigos

The Borchgardt Family

Thanks to all of our family and friends who helped to make Bailey's 5th birthday at Pump It Up the best birthday yet! It was 3 hours of jumping fun. We hope that everyone had as much fun as we did. It is hard to believe that he is already 5 years old...sniffle! sniffle! The time really does fly when you are having fun. He is growing into such a smart and handsome young boy. He will be a wonderful man someday! I am so proud of him and all that he does and is.

Click on the Smile Box below to see even more party pictures!

"Life is too short to be small!"

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Teddy bears don't need hearts as they are already stuffed with love.

Kaci deciding what to buy.

All dressed and ready!

Taking a spin

There goes Bailey...here comes Kaci!

Bear Grr and Katie Kitty!

Yesterday after school we made a trip to the mall to visit Build A Bear. Bailey received a $5 gift card in the mail for his birthday and we had also earned $10 in Bear Bucks. Each of the kids got to bring $5 of their own money as well.

Bailey picked out a great BAB Workshop t-shirt, 'Bear'thday t-shirt and a gold medal for his bear,Bear Grr. Kaci picked out a cute pink t-shirt, some High School Musical house slippers and a pink cell phone for her Katie Kitty .

(she has a cute pink skirt at home that will complete the outfit!)

After they fluffed and dressed their animals we had one quick ride on the carousel.

Even the animals got to take a spin! Too cute!

" You don't have to brush your teeth, just the ones you want to keep!"

On Tuesday Bailey had a guest speaker at his school! It was Mrs. Briggs to talk all about dental health! She brought some really cool x-rays and talked all about what we need to do to keep our smile healthy and bright! It was lots of fun!

"Money may buy you a fine dog, but only love can make it wag its tail. " Kinky Friedman

Happy Birthday, Reagan!

Getting some ice cream!


Blowing the candle...


Did you make a wish?


Not only is February 14th Valentine's Day,
but it is also our dog, Reagan's 9th birthday!
The kids were so excited to help her celebrate by making their own personal cakes and sharing some ice cream with her. They even went all out by lighting a candle and making a wish as they blew it out. (well, actually after they blew their candle out - they both said they forgot to make a wish....but it is the thought that counts. It has become tradition in our family to wear the singing birthday cake hat if it is your birthday, so we didn't let Reagan break tradition.


What a good sport she was!!

My beautiful roses!

All of our wonderful Valentine cards!

"Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that." Michael Leunig

Bailey's ice cream party!
Kaci's pizza and big red float party .... hey, how did Bailey get in there?

Kaci playing the "Chop Stick Converstaion Heart" game

Kaci and Me!

Here are some photos from Kaci and Bailey's school Valentine parties!

Valentine's was always my favorite holiday party at school. It was so much fun to exchange cards with friends.