Snow Day!

We finally got some snow on Tuesday that actually amounted to something that we could go out and play in. It snowed all day and when Aubrey got home from school, she quick did her homework and we headed out to play in it. It was so nice out! It was still snowing, there was no wind, and the temperature wasn't extremely cold. We ended up staying outside for almost an hour and a half. We made two snowmen, played on the slide on the playground, did a little bit of sledding, and fed the animals. We had a great time!

Getting ready to go play

The snowman Coye, Chloe, and I made

Chloe and Coye's snowman

The girls did a little sledding - they are getting heavy to pull when they are both on at the same time.

Aubrey worked on making a snowman all by herself.

Coye loved being outside and walking in the snow!

Aubrey and the snowman she made all by herself.

Aubrey's 7th Birthday

Aubrey turned seven on Saturday. It's crazy how fast she is growing up! She grew almost 2 1/2 inches last year and has gotten tall, although she seems to be all leg (I wonder who she gets that from - probably both of us). She is still my sweet, tender-hearted girl who wears her heart on her sleeve and gets her feelings hurt quite easily. She loves school and enjoys learning as much as she likes playing with her friends. She has become an awesome reader and loves to read either by herself or to her brother and sister. She also loves to write and was very excited to write her first "published" story at school last week (her teacher typed the story for them and they illustrated it). She enjoys playing the piano and is excited about finishing her first piano book this week and getting a new one. She and Chloe are great playmates - while they don't get along perfectly all the time, they will usually spend all day Saturday playing together, whether it's dollhouse, American Girl dolls, Barbies, school, or church. She is a great helper and is wonderful with her siblings and the kids I babysit for. I love this little girl so much!

We let her open her presents before supper because she was so excited!

Coye was more excited about the cake balls.

One last picture before opening

Sketch pad and stamper markers from Uncle Nic and Aunt Ingrid

Hello Kitty walkie talkies and American Girl doll shoes from mommy and daddy

Her extra cupcakes from the ones we made for school - we've had a lot of birthday cake this past week!

Blowing out all 7 candles

The cake pops we made for her "friends" party

Brave Cake

The girls chose a Brave themed birthday party this year, so I searched Pinterest to find the perfect cake - one that I liked and one that I would actually be able to make. I found this one and used it as my inspiration: http://media-cache-ec6.pinterest.com/originals/0d/14/10/0d141039a7d52b616ba0104fefa2b191.jpg. The bottom layer was two 12" cakes stacked and the top layer was two 9" layers stacked. I used buttercream frosting for the entire cake. The cake was covered in light blue frosting and then the trees were made from three different color greens. I had several different ideas for the rocks originally. I was going to make them out of fondant - but that was going to be too expensive. My next thought was to dye marshmallows, but that was a failure. So I texted my sisters, and Danielle asked her co-workers and found this recipe for rocks made out of fudge: http://www.hungryhappenings.com/2012/06/my-dad-rocks-edible-fudge-rocks-for.html. They turned out awesome - looked like rocks and tasted delicious! I bought the Brave figurines from the Disney website on sale - I got them for around $13 with shipping. The mama bear kept leaning so we put a vanilla wafer under her to keep her from tipping. The horse wouldn't stand so I taped skewers to the back of it to keep it from falling over. Jenna printed a sign and the cake was complete. I love how it turned out! It's definitely my favorite cake so far that I've made.

Girls' Birthday Party

We celebrated the girls' birthdays with our annual family party last weekend. This past summer they saw Brave in the movie theater (their first time ever) and enjoyed it, even though there were some scary parts. So when we went to look for a theme for their party, they chose Brave. It was a great theme and I had a lot of fun making their cake. We had dinner for my family (there was a potluck at church so Calvin's family went there first before heading over to our house) and then cake later in the afternoon after Coye and Gabe's nap. The girls got lots of presents - they are certainly loved and spoiled - and enjoyed spending time with their cousins and playing with Aunt Marsha and Aunt Diane. 

Happy birthday to my beautiful girls! I can't believe they are seven and five!

The cake

Opening presents

One of their favorite presents - scooters from Grandpa and Grandma Wagner

Jen bought them tye-dye and promised to come over and help them do it. :)

Chloe had a little trouble opening her pink and white basketball from Grandpa and Grandma Timm so Clare helped her out.

Me and Coye watching the girls

Aunt Kathy made the girls several outfits for their American Girl dolls. This dress is adorable!

Last present - the big one from me, Cal, and Coye

What is it?

Bunkbeds for their American Girl dolls - Cal made the bed and I made the bedding

Getting ready to sing

Aubrey showing Gabe her new Webkinz on the computer

Calvin had to do chores after the party was over so Coye went out to help. This is Calvin's old coat from when he was a little boy.

Chloe's 5th Birthday

Chloe turned 5 a few days ago - that's right. I said 5. Crazy huh? She has gotten so big and grown so much. It's hard to believe that next year I'm going to have to send her off to kindergarten every day. While at times that sounds nice, I am going to miss this little girl so much. She is such a good helper with her brother and Wade and is great at playing with and entertaining them. She's really good at playing with anyone actually, regardless of their age. She's a very sweet, cuddly, talkative, imaginative girl whose favorite things include her new American Girl doll, Barbies, doll house, "reading" books, coloring and making things, and playing games. She loves to be around people and can't wait for her sister to come home from school every day so that they can play. She loves to talk at home but is very quiet at school. She is still a mommy's girl but loves spending time with her daddy too. We love this girl so much and I can't wait to see what God has in store for her life as she grows.

Lutheran Schools Week

Last week the girls' school celebrated Lutheran Schools Week. They had different dress days, all school devotions, afternoon activities including watching a movie, reading on a beach towel, and game day, and penny wars with the winning team getting a milkshake party. The girls loved dressing up different ways - their favorite day was pajama day. They also loved taking pennies to school every day to help their class win (pennies counted as positive points while silver coins could be put in other classes' buckets and then acted as negative points toward their overall total). The girls were each convinced that their class would win, but Aubrey's class ended up having the most positive points in their bucket. Aubrey was pretty excited. I'm so thankful for the Lutheran school that we have. We have awesome teachers, a great Pastor, and a wonderful safe learning environment for the children where they can talk and learn about God every day. What a blessing!

Pajama Day

Old Time Day - This is the dress I wore in Aunt Cindy's wedding.

Sports Team Day - We don't have any sports team stuff so they just wore Aubrey's t-ball team shirts.

Hawaiian Day

School Spirit Day

Rice Table!

I was talking to my sister-in-law Ang a couple weeks ago and she mentioned that my nephew Eddie likes to play in rice and make messes with it. When I asked what she meant, she said that she has a container of rice she lets him play with. I thought - what a fabulous idea! When I was in Champaign last weekend visiting Vanessa, we stopped at Sam's and I bought 25 pounds of rice. I also bought a medium sized container to put it in. When I got it out last week, the boys didn't know what to think of it. Coye thought it was something to stand on at first. Once I opened it though, they were in heaven. It was like an inside sandbox for them. I kept encouraging them to keep the rice in the box, but they would inevitably dump some out on their laps. They played in it for about a half an hour before we had to pick it up and go get Chloe. The mess wasn't as bad as what I thought it could be. The tablecloth was full, but all I had to do was pick it up and dump it back in the container. Then I swept up the extra rice that had gotten on the floor. I'm so excited about this and it will definitely by a weekly activity at my house.