Preschool Praise Time

Lauren did a great job singing with her class yesterday. Thanks for coming to see us Grandma Pam!

Professional Pics

Two weeks ago, we headed to Eau Claire to have some pictures taken of the kids. Luca was long overdue, and then I realized it would be a good time to take some of the girls since Lauren was about to turn 4 and Ella 2 1/2. Here are some of my favorites. Swanstrom Photography did an awesome job as usual (they did our wedding pictures six years ago!).

Lauren is 4!

Lauren had a great 4th birthday. She is really excited to be four, and already seems much older. Just a few weeks ago she became really interested in writing different words, and now she will sit down and ask how to spell things and does pretty good with the majority of her letters. I am so proud of her, but definitely a little sad to see her growing up so quickly. Here are some pics of her birthday party with her cousins at the farm.

We played a game where they were divided into two teams and they would run down and grab a balloon and pop it before tagging the next player in the relay. Aunt Kelly captured some hilarious video of it on her iPad! It seems we have some competitive blood in our family, and Grace lost it when Leyton couldn't get his balloon to pop. Here they are discussing teams...

And giving their teammates a pep-talk...

Ella had trouble too, she didn't quite weigh enough, so Kelly also has some footage of me holding Ella and slamming her onto the balloon trying to get it to pop.

Lauren was a pro jumping on the balloons. And by the end, Lucy figured out to hold the balloon for Lauren so it wouldn't slide out. They made a good team.

Lauren had lots of help opening presents. She received a lot of great gifts, thanks everyone!

The birthday girl on the cake with Minnie and Mickey! She still loves them. I see a Disney trip in our near future!

Our first attempt at a cousin pic, and it wasn't too bad. Until we figured out we were missing Cal and Luca!

This one didn't go as well!
And at the end of the night, I fed Luca his supper and then left him in his seat while Becky and I were talking. Well, we must have been pretty into our conversation, considering we were sitting right at the table with Luca, and we didn't notice this.... He had reached down to the cake platter behind him and stole himself some frosting! Good thing he is my third child, I would have panicked if Lauren or Ella had frosting before their first birthday!

She did it again...

Ella got into my make-up again while I was showering. This time it was the mascara, and she actually did okay considering she didn't even ask me where it goes.

The Right Snow

After the snow Tuesday night the girls couldn't wait to get out and make a snowman. As soon as Luca went down for his morning nap, we bundled up and got to work. They were so proud of their creation so I was a bit hesitant to point out the window 2 hours later when I saw him laying face-down in the snow! Not sure if Mischa knocked him over or if I did a bad job stacking, but luckily they thought he was pretty funny-looking laying down.