Happy 6th Birthday!

Yesterday we celebrated Ellie’s 6th birthday party. Can one believe it? She has been counting the days. We had family over to help celebrate with us. I had a friend tell me that at six years old they begin to grow up fast and lose the little girl desires. We’ve started to notice that with Ellie. I still love to tell her stories of when she was a baby and reminisce with her. Look at her now our big girl --

Ellie's first raincoat & boots from Aunt Janet

Aunt Janet, Isabelle, & Aunt Becky

Aunt Janet & Amelia

Eating cake! Umm..Chocolate!

Another Great Day

Most evenings, while sitting around the dinner table, we compare our day with one another. With the warmer temperatures the girls were excited to have the opporunity to play outdoors today. They’ve had several weeks of being pinned inside the school gym for recreation time. The sunshine was nice. Today was Amelia’s Show-n-Tell --- the letter P. She took a puzzle and a pencil to share with her classmates. Her class also discussed what they wanted to be when they grow up. A serious question proposed to 3 year olds. When I quizzed Amelia what her response was… she said she wanted to be a mermaid. A pink mermaid. In the meanwhile, she is learning to write her name.

Ellie continues to shine with her classwork. She and Bill were making a collage of “V” words last night for homework. Fun stuff cutting pictures out of magazines. You’d be amazed at how many words start with the letter V. She is now reading! Yes, that’s right… reading books to us. She learns approximately five new words a week and is doing excellent with phonics. Today she came home wearing a felt badge outlined in glitter with 1400 marked on it. A badge is awarded for each series of 100 they can write. We are extremely proud of her.

We are fascinated with Isabelle. Bill and I make comments all the time like, “Would you look at her?” Truth be – we’re all taken by Isabelle. She enjoys watching the girls. I wonder sometimes what she’s thinking. Ellie and Amelia argue over who is going to hold her first and compete for her attention. We are just amazed at how this little girl has changed all our lives.

Just us Girls

Happy Valentine's Day

5 Months and Growing

This week has been a whirlwind of events from Open House at school, to singing programs, dentist appointments, Valentine parties, Grandparent’s Day, baking sessions, two craft nights, a funeral visitation, and more birthday parties --- that doesn’t cover what Bill and I do throughout the work week. Whew!

Isabelle turned 5 months old yesterday, 12th. Ellie made the comment, “Boy that happened fast”. It sure did! Isabelle is now sleeping longer at night, giving Bill and I the extra sleep we need. She has definitely learned her own voice. It is so sweet.

A Real Princess

Ellie was invited to a school friend’s 6th birthday party this past Saturday. This wasn’t just any girl party; this was at “Sweet & Sassy”. The name of this place says it all. All nine little girls got their hair done at the Salon and then went to Wardrobe to pick out the dress of their dreams. They were transformed into princesses. Honestly I’d never seen so much glitter. Here they learned to bow like a true princess, wave to the crowd, and sashay in their gowns carrying their wands. Ellie was all giggles.

Gumballs

The girls were riding their bicycles, when Isabelle and I decided to join them outside. Ellie wheeled up to us with a basket full of “gumballs”. I shared a childhood memory of mine, as I picked one up… “When I was in Kindergarten on the school playground, I was running and fell on some gumballs”. It skinned my knee, I told them. Intrigued by my story, Amelia bent down to examine my knee. I smiled. Ellie was quick to set the timeline straight by saying, “Amelia that was a long, long time ago”.

Super Bowl Night

The Super Bowl XLIII gave us good reason to invite several family & friends over to the house. And a house full we had! Bill and Kimberly Hopper prepared chili while everyone else brought the rest. Here’s a picture of Eli Brown sporting his 3-D glasses.

Bundle Up... It Snowed!

We are home today. School is closed. The girls woke surprised to find a white blanket of freshly fallen snow covering our backyard… the trees looking like skinny stick people. They ran to Isabelle’s room yelling, “Isabelle it snowed!” She was content to wiggle, kicking up her feet and cooing at being greeted. Amelia told me, “Santa must be happy”. Leave it to Amelia to be the only one thinking of Santa Claus in January. The girls begged to go outside after breakfast. I was reluctant knowing how cold it would be, but how could I refuse? Isn’t that the point of staying home with your children when it snows? I bundled the two of them up in mixed-matched hats, scarves, and mittens with sand buckets & shovels.



I proceeded to drag out our highchair – one Ellie had when she was a baby. I decided today would be a good day to introduce rice cereal to Isabelle. It’s amazing to watch your little ones when you share a “first” with them. Ellie, her usual quizzive-self, asked is that stuff good? “Of course not,” I said, “but it’s good for her.” Amelia thought it was ice cream.

Baking Brownies

Tonight for our “Ellie & Mommy” time together, we decided to make brownies for her class at school. Ellie is becoming quite the cook.


I had to share this picture of Amelia. It cracked me up when I saw it. Bill recently bought me a new Canon camera to replace our other dying one. I found several surprise photos on the camera taken by the girls --- pictures of Isabelle on her play mat, a picture of the closet door, a picture of the house rules, the ceiling, and many other strange shots. I think from now on the camera will be put away out of site – this could be scary.

Here’s a picture of Ellie & Amelia “taking care” of Isabelle. Sweet.

Isabelle had her 4 month checkup today. I was a little late in making this appointment – with shots in store who can blame me? She weighed in at 15 lbs. and 25 inches long. She is really starting to interact more with the girls. It's fun to watch the three of them play together.