Bravery

In the past couple of months I have been getting braver and braver with letting Lauren make a little mess and try out new art supplies. It started with bath crayons, then washable markers, then window crayons (so fun!), and now some paints. I think I will get her finger paints for her birthday, I just have to make sure Ella is content when Lauren wants to start these projects so I am able to clean those dirty hands before they touch anything they're not supposed to! She knows my anxiety over these things- yesterday she was walking around with an opened marker saying "right here?" and holding it about an inch from the wall. I would quickly say no, and the she would move on to the next thing... "right here?"-my jeans, Mischa, the cupboards, the furniture... she thought she was pretty funny:) Luckily she has been good about only using them on paper, but it makes me just a bit nervous that she knows where they are NOT supposed to go- so if she wants to be naughty someday she knows how!

Sledding

It sure has been nice to see the sun the last few days and we took advantage by taking Lauren outside to play. We have a pretty good hill at our house so we invited Leah over to go sledding, and later Dusty brought Joel and Evan over to try it out. It's a long, fast hill, and then a little jump and they kept going right onto the lake! Lauren had a great time (she has no fear yet) and so did her daddy!

Update

It has been a whole week since we came back home to snowy Wisconsin after a week-long trip to Florida. We had a great time, and with the cooler rainy weather I was able to get some shopping in! The best part of the vacation??? Eight hours of uninterrupted sleep each night! We sure missed the girls though and it helped to know they were in great hands. Thank you everyone for your help! Unfortunately the girls picked up a nasty cold while we were gone. Luckily Ella got over it pretty fast, but Lauren has been struggling with it for almost 2 weeks now. She seems much better today so hopefully she continues to improve. I'm thinking it was something viral since we have a case of viral pink eye to go with it now:( I say "we" because mama caught the bug too. It has been a long week here, but things are looking up.

Lauren modeling her princess hat (with ears)

And another hat we found in the house... this kid LOVES hats!
So sweet!

Ella is getting stronger by the day. She rolls both ways now, and if you leave her on a blanket on the floor, you never know where she'll be when you come back!
One of the only things that could put a smile on Lauren's face while she was sick... Mischa joining her in the tent!