Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!

Do you know how painful it is to get six wiggly little bodies to hold still AND smile?

This is the best one we got, folks.But my, oh my, those kids are cute.

And our Mr. Bug. Look what he's up to:This photo was taken a week ago or so. My girls were both 'cruisers'. They would pull themselves up on furniture and then move. But, my boy, I think he's going to skip right past that. He's been trying to stand since before he could crawl, and he's finally mastered it. I think one of these days, he's going to just start walking.

Oh, and I think you should know that Nick and I have lost 7 pounds so far. Our little getaway may not be so far away!

And one more thing. Did you know today is Australia Day? It is, and I am looking forward to my Aussie burger tonight. What? You want one too? Don't blame you at all, they are delicious. You'll need some pineapple rings, beet root (sliced pickled beets), egg, and cheese. Yum! You won't be convinced until you try it yourself. I promise you it will be a party in your mouth.

My Girl

Winter Blues

We've been suffering with a bit of the winter blues around here. I really do like living in a place where I can fully enjoy all 4 seasons, but well, I'm done with winter. It has been so cold this last week that the thought of leaving my house gives me the shivers. We've been hunkered down in our little cozy house, which is a good and a bad thing. Good because I like my house. I like being here with the kids, crazy as it is. Bad, well, because it is crazy. My kids come up with new ways to make messes. My girls play well together most of the time, but there is also a lot of fighting and crying. I may or may not have worn trackies all week long, and put on makeup only once. I look forward to the day we can venture outside again. Spring is coming soon, right?

On a second note, Nick and I have once again jumped on the "we gotta be a little more healthy" bandwagon. I'm reporting here so we have a little bit more accountability. Our goal is to lose a combined weight of 20 pounds. When that happens, we'll be rewarding ourselves with a little family get away to somewhere warmer than 5 degrees. Like, maybe we could go outside with just a jacket? Oh, it would be so nice. So, that is our motivation. We started a week ago, and did pretty well - 3 pounds were lost between the two of us, but, well, something happened over the weekend and I think we are back where we started. Brownies and tapioca may have been made and consumed.

I just had to share this photo, because it makes me laugh. Maren still needs naps, but often takes an hour or more to finally settle down on her own. I went in one day to find this: She had climbed into Ellie's bed with two (maybe three?) princess barbies, one cabbage patch baby, two princess figurines and a princess book. Kids are so funny.

The Parties

Yep, my girl is spoiled. On her actual birthday, we had Nick's family over for homemade pizzas (Ellie's request).
We spent the day hanging streamers and blowing up balloons and making a cake. Oh, and we took a break for a special birthday lunch at Arctic Circle.

The kids had great fun making lots and lots and LOTS of noise and playing dress up, among other things.

That's our Maren - usually half naked! :)

Then, on Saturday, we had a Princess Party with friends. I was a terrible photographer - most of the photos turned out fuzzy. Oh well! We had a good time, well documented or not. I loved this photo - the birthday girl is kind of hidden, but can you see the sparkling personalities of all these girls?

Maren loving the frosting. Who needs a cupcake?

The "hit" (ha ha, I'm so funny!) of the party - the pinata! I made it myself, too, with some help from Ellie and Maren.

Freeze dance - it was pure entertainment watching these girls dance with their pinata treasures in hand.

What a fun 5th birthday!My five year old is one beautiful girl.

Post-edit Jan. 11 - Took Ellie to the Dr. this morning. Poor girl got all her booster shots (was pretty brave - only a few tears) and is now ready for kindergarten! Here are her stats:

40 lbs. (52%) and 43.25 inches (68%)

Bits N Pieces (and Big Trouble)

Oh man, he is cute.

Do you see those little wrinkly raisins? :)

And I included these just in case you were thinking my kids were perfect little angels:
While I was prepping for a birthday dinner (more on Ellie's birthday to come) the girls were awfully quiet. They came out and proudly declared that they looked pretty. They had put on these beautiful outfits (take a look at their shoes!) and decided they needed makeup to complete the look. I admit, I had to laugh despite their naughtiness (but not out loud, of course).(I guess I like parentheses.)

Birthday Girl

Dear Ellie,

Five years old. I can't believe how fast you have grown. I keep suggesting that you turn younger instead of older, but you aren't going for it. Ellie, you are full of energy. You are happy and busy and imaginative. You are a joy in our home. You are so loving, always giving hugs and kisses and telling us all that you love us. You are a wonderful helper to mom. You love your sister and brother and enjoy playing with them. You are a wonderful little person and it has been a great pleasure to watch you grow. We all love you very much.

Love,
Mom

Christmas and Beyond

First, my apologies to all of my friends and family faithfully checking my blog every day, anxiously awaiting a new post. I know, it's been painful for you seeing the same photo of my Maren in her pink coat. (Okay, so maybe not too painful... :) Finally, I have something new for you - and a long one too. I didn't post for two reasons: first, Nick only worked one day last week, so I soaked up every minute of family time and didn't think twice about the computer; second, my laptop's hard drive is dying a slow and painful death and it's been difficult to retrieve any of my photos. So, my posting may be a little sporadic until we solve that problem. Enough of the talk and on to the photos:

On Christmas Eve, we got all decked out in holiday-ness and headed to my parent's for their annual Christmas party.

Ellie was so excited to play the part of Mary in the nativity. No, seriously.

Christmas morning.

It was hard for Ellie to leave all this to go to Grandpa's house for more present opening. She survived though ;)

Sunday morning my nephew gave his mission farewell talk, so once again, we headed down to my parent's house. Does a family get any more good-looking than this?:

Our week was busy, too. My niece got married mid-week, so we attended all the marriage festivities amongst the flying snow. Traditionally, my family has headed to a cabin to enjoy snowmobiling and such the week after Christmas. However, this year, there was just too much snow. So, we did the next best thing - we crashed my parent's house. There were some 40 people there. I had a great time chatting with my brothers and sisters and the kids had a great time with their cousins. Oh, and playing in the snow.
It was COLD.

What a wonderful week. It is a little bitter-sweet to return to normal routines. Naptime will be nice.