Our Busy Christmas Morning!

I thought I had lots more pictures!  Our morning went way too fast :)  Merry Christmas!

Arts Night

The Arts Night at school was lots of fun - here's a few pics of the girls and their Eric Carle inspired artwork.Emmalie's leaf

Ella's fox

Emmalie and Sophia with a super cute owl!

Our very focused girls!
They were copying the shapes that they saw within the pictures of the animals.

Sophia's cat - the vertical lines are the cat's hair.

Recent Happenings

Saturday morning we packed the kids up and
went camping! Our plan was to be gone two nights, but the second night had some serious storms in the forecast. Joe and I ended up taking down the tent in the midst of a crazy hail storm - thankfully the kids were safe inside the truck :) We opted for more sleep at home, instead of the lightening/thunder night that was predicted.

We had a great time over in Dinosaur! The kids love to collect rocks, and poke sticks in holes to see who lives there. And explore the petroglyphs and scramble the mountain side.




Being in a National Monument means that all the rocks stay where they were found :) I've washed pockets full of rocks before -- oops!

We celebrated this little man's birthday yesterday.

My baby is now two, and no longer a baby! That makes me happy and sad all in the same moment. I'm excited to see what the coming year brings for Owen. More talking, less grunting, potty training, no more diapers in the house, more sleep at night, less wake ups for snuggle time.

He thoroughly enjoyed the attention from everyone!

A duplo train set has been the highlight so far :)
And a scooter like all his sister's have for outside time.
Of course the fun is in taking it all apart too!

Did I tell you he's trying to tell "knock, knock" jokes!? The girls like to take turns telling daddy a knock, knock joke at dinner time - no matter how odd, they always get a laugh from daddy and sisters -- Owen decided to join in last week, and get his own laugh! He loves making his sisters laugh :) So far all he says is "knock, knock" but knowing that he can, when he so chooses, make the sounds, is great! Although, I must say a little frustrating for me - I want him to talk all the time, not just for a laugh! Baby steps :)

Sophia's 4!!

Our birthday season is in full swing! Sophia had fun being the birthday girl, taking full advantage of it being her day :) She's a little princess! The big girls also had fun selecting presents for her - I hope they continue to love each other through their teen years :)
Cute pic of her blowing out the candles.

And trying again :)

Grandparents Day Visit!

Ella's class invited grandparents to join them for a special Grandparents day at school. My parents got the invite, and found a way to be here for it - Thanks Mom & Dad!!

The kids had a great visit - here's a few highlights :)


The program--

Owen warming up to Grandpa the first evening.


Ella turned 9 while there were here too - bonus!


A super fun visit!

Ella plays soccer

The soccer season was quick and wet! There was just one game where it was dry enough to take pictures, and enjoy the game together.
Before the game warming up.




Water break at half time!

Keeping the rest of the kids entertained is always the challenge! They had fun being outdoors :)