Sunny Winter Days

It has been great weather lately.  On the way home from school Sam said he wanted to have a picnic.  I thought that was a great idea.  Next thing I know he is calling Lula and Chloë to sit on the grass in front of our house.  OH the joys of living on a busy road!

Most Fridays I take the two younger girls to the park with from friends from church. 

lu

I would have to say silence is not always a good things while I am cooking dinner.  Most times I find silence leads to disasters.  But sometimes it means the kids are deep into play.   Tonight I finished cooking dinner and found Lu outside playing by herself. (near Sam)  She set this whole "table" up with the cloth and piggy bank, then crawled inside to play.  So cute!

Lula loves Pico

Very opinionated

Lula might be my most opinionated child yet. If she sees something she wants and she doesn't get it...she freaks!!! Some items wouldn't surprise you, like cake from the birthday party, cookies, or milk, but her latest must-have item is her new bicycle helmet. We were trying them on for size at REI last night and she HAD to have it!!

trim the tree

The kids did a great job decorating the tree. It took the kids about 7 minutes to unwrap all Daniel and my childhood ornaments as well as all their own ornaments. I was a nervous wreck, but afterward I remembered my childhood memories of Leslie and me frantically unwrapping all the tissue paper protecting our ornaments to hang them.
Sam is a great tree decorator.

Lula has done such a great job at NOT touching the tree! We are very pleased with her!

Lulu can almost walk

That is the good news. The bad news is that she will probably take her first good steps while we are in Spain! I will be so sad to miss them. Hopefully Grandma Ann will catch them on the camera.



I love you Lauren. You have the cutest laugh. I am going to miss you.

Lula's bath

Lula is getting so big. Bath time is still her favorite part of the day. She screams when it is over in protest!

We all love having Dory around. If I am out with the kids they say, "I want to go home with Dory." or After Dory leaves Chloë always asks where she is. We are very blessed to have found someone who helps me, but also loves the children so much that they can see it.

Lauren's first birthday

The kids got out the playdough and ended up making Lula a birthday cake.

They were both very cute. Lula wanted to play with them.

After our cake-making party we opened gifts. Barbie got each of the kids a present to celebrate her birthday. The kids had a great time opening the gifts. Chloë was especially excited. Thanks, Mom and Happy Birthday to You!

Lauren Bell and Barbie celebrate

We can't be together on their real birthdays, so we decided to have a birthday party a month early. As you can see, it was nothing but fun! Actually, we did have a nice time until Lula decided she was tired.

Olivia loves to hold her newest cousin Madeline. Madeline's right eye looks a little funny here, but she is a cute baby.

Here are the birthday girls. Thanks, Mom, for sharing your birthday with her. Mom almost got to share her birthday with her grandfather, but she came a day early.

Birthday cake everywhere!!!! Turns out she was not so tired once she got her own cake to eat.

Guess who??

Maybe it is Daniel's bottom half of Lula's face

and the top half of my face

Uncle David

Here is Uncle David doing something he is good at- taking care of Loula... but...

Uncle David does get himself into trouble. He and the baby took a tour of the backyard, but then he let her eat some leaves off a fruit tree (which he says are not poisonous) and when she spit up the leaves he put them on her eyes. I don't know about this!!!!!!!!!

Do you see it?

I was wondering which of my children look alike, so I found pictures of all my children at age 8 months and 18 months (except Lula)

Here are all 3 girls now.

Olivia at 8 months

Sam at 8 months

Chloë at 8 months

Lula at 8 months


Olivia at 18 months.

Sam at 18 months

Chloë at 18 months

A few firsts

You can't see it in the picture, but... Lula has her first tooth!
It is on the lower right side. She is our first baby to get a tooth
before she is one year old.

This past weekend we went to visit our friends, the Deccios.
While there Olivia wanted to ride Zion's bike
(with no training wheels). Olivia had so much fun
we are going to buy her a big girl bike this Saturday!

Good kids

This morning Olivia said we were not allowed in their room because she was planning a surprise. Finally, she came out and brought Daniel and me in with our eyes shut. She, Sam and Chloë had cleaned up their room and made their beds. Aren't they cute!


Yesterday, Lula was crying but I was cleaning up the kitchen so I left her to cry. Olivia went and got her out of bed (don't ask). Then she bundled Lula up, gave her some toys and sat next to her to keep putting the pacifier in her mouth. I came out of the kitchen and saw my cute kids all happy.