Elise is 3!!

My baby girl turned 3 today!

 Can you believe all the presents this girl got? She is one spoiled little princess!

Ellie told me she wanted to have all of her friends over to play for her "pink and purple" birthday, so we made a tower of cupcakes and invited Hayley, Marlee, Iylie, Aubrey, Nelson and Chase over to play.

 (Ellie with her future hubby, Nelson)

(Iylie, Chase, Ellie and Nelson) 

The other thing Ellie asked for her birthday was to go to the zoo. It worked out perfectly that Cole had an early out day and Daddy got done with work early so they could go with us to the zoo in the afternoon.

We had a blast at the zoo!

Afterward we let Ellie pick where she wanted to go for dinner and she picked Chick-fil-A so she could play at the playplace and get a milkshake :)

We had a fun day celebrating our sweet, funny, smart, goofy, loving, dancing, skirt-loving, princess!

I love you Elise!! 

I love your huge hugs and how tight you squeeze.

I love to watch you dance and twirl...and I love that you HAVE to have a skirt to do it :)

 I love that you are so willing to share and you are always thinking of others, which is amazing for a 3 year old! 

I love that you know the songs on the radio and sing along with them when we are in the car.

I love that you are so helpful and extremely independent. 

I love to watch you play with Cole and smother Daxton with hugs and kisses.

 I love to watch you melt your daddy's heart and get your way-you are irresistable with those big blue eyes! 

I love your love of books and that I get to cuddle and read with you every day.

I love your goofy faces and that you make me laugh all day.

I love how smart you are and that you outwit me all the time :)

I love that you are tough and adventurous.

I love to watch you play with your friends and see what a sweet friend you are. 

I love that you bring so much joy into our home with your fun personality and kind heart. 

You are amazing and I absolutely LOVE that you are mine!!!

Happy birthday sweet girl!!

Brothers

In their Sunday best. Aren't they sweet?!

Preschool

My little princess started preschool!

She's still so little, still my baby. But she is super smart and playful...and really naughty when she gets bored and has to entertain herself :) Now that Cole is gone all day I decided to do a little joyschool with some of our friends. She loves getting on her backpack and playing with her friends every Tuesday! She just wishes it could be every day :)

1 month

My little buddy is 1 month old!

He just started getting chubbers and we can't get enough of them!

Especially Elise and his cheeks :)

Daxton is growing up way too fast! I was so sad that Daddy is missing out on it, but we got a surprise visit from Ben last week so he's not totally missing these first precious weeks. Dax LOVES his Daddy!! He smiled at him the whole 3 days he was here visiting...and I haven't gotten a smile once! Luckily Daddy will back in 2 weeks!!

I love my little Dax Man...he gets cuter and sweeter every very day!

Gal Pals

Ellie has a new best friend! 

She asks every day if Hayley can come over and play. And they play so cute together! Ellie is a big goof and she loves that Hayley thinks she is funny. The only problem is that they are both girls so they are both bossy :) 

I'm so glad we have such great neighbors for my kids to play with!

1 week

Danna took some sweet pictures of my handsome baby boy:

Oh, I just can't get enough of this little guy!! I can't believe how fast he is growing. It makes me so sad that Ben is missing out on these precious first weeks of his life. We miss you Daddy!! 

Thanks Danna for taking the time to do this for us!

Goodbye Flarb!

Our resilient pet fish Flarb has passed away :( 

He was a good fish and we wanted to give him a proper burial at sea. Well, Cole did anyway. I tried to convince him that if we flushed him down the toilet he would go to the ocean like on "Finding Nemo" but he said that he wanted to take Flarb to Racoon River so that he can stay in Iowa so that when Jesus comes again he will be at home :) Isn't he such a sweet boy?!

I have to admit, it was kind of gross, but we put his remains in a bowl and took him to the dock at Racoon River...

 ...where Cole lovingly dumped him in the water.

Goodbye dear Flarb! We will miss you!!