The Mismatched Family

Who knew that unmatched socks could be so cute?

Wish I had thought of this idea!

Grammy's Visit

We always enjoy Grammy's (my mom's) visits so much. This time she came for a week and we all got thoroughly spoiled. These are some highlights from her visit.

Livi helped Grammy cook

Chloe improving her eyesight
Livi's new dress, umbrella and flowers -

she was in dress-up heaven.

Noah's new marble run -

great fun for a kid who likes constructing things

We played soooo much Settlers - and had soooo much fun!
This is the "one-more-picture-before-you-go" picture

Notice Chloe has her shoe in her hand, all set and ready to go with Grammy!

A Place to Relax

Chloe chillin' in the kitchen cabinet, waiting for action.

I found this picture from three years ago when Olivia was just about the same age as Chloe is now. She also would sit in the cabinets! I guess Olivia wasn't quite so choosy about which cabinet to choose, judging from the trash can right next to her!

Goin' to the Chapel

We can thank Aunt Sarah for the latest inspiration to Olivia's dressing up.

The blue legs are stylin'!

A Lego Day

Today was our second snow day of the week for the kids. Combine that with Olivia's illness earlier this week, and what you get is a very long week for momma, who is coming down with a strong case of cabin fever. I have had to be quite creative trying to find things to occupy the kiddos. We've done Play-Doh, Moon Sand, baked cookies, had quite a few tea parties...I even tried to put a fun spin on cleaning - "Come on, kids, how fast can you wipe down all the walls???" No takers on that one - they're getting too savvy for me.

So today we had a "Lego Party". Noah's fascination with TinkerToys has morphed into an obsession with Legos, which he received quite a lot of for Christmas and his birthday.


I am usually quite useless when it comes to building cool things with Legos, claiming that Daddy is much better at it (which he is), but this time I can proudly say that I actually put some time and thought into the whole process and put together quite a fine two-story house complete with kitchen, living room, dining room, two bedrooms and a bathroom.
Had to get a close-up since this doesn't happen too often. :)
Eventually the Legos became money, and Noah became the shopkeeper who charged Olivia money just for entering and leaving his store. I'm thinking we got a fine math lesson in today with all the counting she had to do to pay his high fees!

Noah is Six!

Noah turned six years old on Thursday! He was so excited to go to school and get all the special privileges that come with having a birthday. :)

On Friday we had his very first "friends" birthday party. He had nine friends (including his sister!) come to the bowling alley for a few hours of fun. Paul and I had so much fun watching the kids bowl. They got SO excited for each other and were chanting each other's names when it was their turn. It was a great group of kids and LOTS of excitement!

Chloe's First Haircut

My baby is growing up - waaaaahhhhh! She had her first haircut today. She was excited to sit in the Hummer and watch Dora on TV, until the cutting started!

So out came the faithful blanket, and in went the thumb, and everything was fine.
Holding on for dear life during the drying.
The finished product - the curls are still there - yay!


She sought a little solace in her big play box when we got home. Maybe she thought she could hide from me in there. :)