Kites!

My parents got the kids new kites, and today was the perfect day to fly them. Max and Natalie really got the hang of it after a little practice.

 

 

Emma is 3!

Today is Emma's third birthday, and we had a wonderful day celebrating her! We started the day with presents, so she and Natalie got to play with her new doll house for a bit before school. She helped me make and decorate her requested yellow butterfly cake, and we read lots of stories from her new Mickey Mouse book. She had a great day!

Fat Tuesday

The big kids loved decorating our king cake.

Isabel's new favorite sound is clicking her tongue. She does it conversationally and laughs when we do it back to her. She is such a little ray of sunshine!

Emma's Birthday Party

We celebrated Emma's birthday a few days early this afternoon with a house full of family. Emma was really excited for everyone to come, but she was pretty shy being the center of attention once the party started. Her only birthday requests were a puppy cake and a butterfly present, and she got both, so it was a good day!

Seven Months

Isabel is seven months old today, and I'm suddenly getting very sentimental about how quickly she is growing up. She has learned so much in the last few weeks, and I am loving and savoring every bit of this sweet stage.

She now crawls wherever she wants to go and pulls up on something new each day. She makes the funniest faces when trying new foods, and she loves to splash in the bathtub after she makes a mess with the new foods she tries. I think she is probably the snuggliest of all our babies. Nap time snuggles are one of the best parts of my day.

She is still the favorite sibling. Natalie and Max wake up for school much more cheerfully if Isabel is with me when I wake them up, and Emma frequently sings songs to Isabel about being the cutest girl she has ever seen. She is definitely not short on love or attention, which is probably one reason for her constant good mood.

Max's New Smile

Max lost his first tooth last week!

Isabel Crawling

Isabel has been working on crawling for a while now, and she has really taken off in the last few days! Like any good little sister should, she crawls fastest when she spots one of the big kids' toys or special treasures on the floor.

Valentine's Day

Isabel's first Valentine's Day and first bout of pink eye (quickly remedied with eye drops)!

Max is loving all of this snow!

Sledding!

Max has been wanting to go sledding on the big hill at the park all winter, and today was his lucky day! Chris took them to the hill when he got home from work, and they all had a very cold but very fun time.

Pink Cast Round 2

We had a very eventful day today! The school nurse called around lunchtime saying that Natalie had fallen from the monkey bars at recess and couldn't move her hand and was in a lot of pain. Luckily, I was able to get her in to see the doctor quickly. It turns out that she fractured her wrist, so she will be sporting a hot pink cast for the next few weeks. This new kind of cast seems like it will be much easier to deal with, and it was so much quicker to put on. We left the doctor's office 45 minutes after we arrived, and Natalie even went back to school for the last hour of the day.

Here she is with her first pink cast four years ago:

Standing!

Isabel pulled herself up to stand for the first time this evening! She is really working on moving in all sorts of new ways right now, which is so fun to watch.

Donuts with Mom

Moms got to come to school for donuts this morning!

An Aspiring Minnie Mouse and a Cute Bear

Emma loves to play dolls. She carries her dolls and their accessories all over the house every day. Today she said that she is going to be a mom when she grows up. Well, a mom and a hair salon worker and Minnie Mouse. Dream big, sister.

Isabel still wears her bear suit to school drop off and pick up and gets lots of smiles and comments almost every day.