Cheesey!

The girls are so used to my constantly taking pictures and now whenever they see the camera they say 'cheese' and get these big cheesey grins on their faces.
Rachel isn't quite into the big smiles yet, but she still gives the camera her full attention.

After a long day there is nothing better than a story from Nana

Trying on Mommy's Shoes

One of Elie's favorite activities is tromping around in mommy's shoes.

Now Gabie is getting in on the adventure.






We thought maybe Rachel would want to try them on too....

but since the shoe is the same size as her - we decided she'd have to wait a few more years.

Night-Nighting

Today was a day for getting a lot done. Papa left this morning and then Elie and Gabie went for their last day of daycare @ Krystie's. This gave Mark a chance to get a lot of work done and Nana, Rachel and I went to the preschool. It was in pretty sad shape since I was put on bedrest the day after the last day of school/graduation. So we got a lot of cleaning up and organizing done. I had already made the decision I wanted to continue teaching, but now I know I have daycare so it's official - I still get to be the preschool teacher next year :0)

After all the fun and company this past weekend we had some tired girls.

Memorial Day

Mike, Sarah and Julia stayed through lunch today before the long trek home for them. They wanted to wear Julia out as much as possible in hopes she would sleep quite a bit of the trip. So we went for a nice long walk and then set up the swimming pool. Julia, being a true Minnesotan girl jumped right in to the icey cold water, and Elie was happy to join her. Gabie however was less than amused with the frigid water and decided Papa is her new best friend since he rescued her. You can see her clinging to him!

At the Park

You know you're in a small town when....
you can have a parade take up the entire road on a walk to the park.












Mark pushes Elie on the swings and Julia climbs through the tunnel.




Mark finds his favorite toy!









Nana helps Gabie to brave the slide

Elie and Gabie teetering together






Julia loves gravel!

Mark and Elie taking off...

my dear friend Sarah and I pose for a typical 'camp' picture (can you tell who's holding the camera?)

Rachel's Baptism

Rachel was baptized at church this morning. She was so good and didn't make a peep through the whole thing.
The whole crew with kids - we're four on four already!











Mike and Sarah with their goddaughter, and Rachel laying next to her baptismal banner.



We were so happy that Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Karent were able to share the weekend with us.



Rachel is such a precious gift, we were excited to have her become a child of God.













Although Rachel didn't get to sample any we had a yummy cake for the celebration. Her beautiful baptismal outfit was given to her by her godmommy Mary, who couldn't make it for the baptism, but wanted to be there. (this picture was taken on the 11th)

Company!

Grandma, Grandpa and Karen came last night and today Mike, Sarah, Julia and Nana came.



Elie helped mommy make a cake for Rachel's baptism party tomorrow.



Sarah gets to know her goddaughterWe looked over while we were playing cards and decided our house looked like a daycare...the girls played so well together and grandma was happy to be in the midst of the kids


we enjoyed playing some 500 while the kids played and Mark and grandpa were at church. It's amazing what a difference all the extra help makes on a Saturday night that I'm usually on my own for.


It was great having the extra help with baths too! (and an extra kid in the tub :0)







We're really enjoying all the company and looking forward to sharing the day with them all tomorrow as Rachel becomes a child of God.

Hide and Seek

Can you find Elie and Gabie?

Rachel had the cutest onsie on today - you can't quite read it in this picture, but it says 'my name is bumble and I am a bee'. She doesn't exactly buzz, but she does make a lot of cute noises and squeaks.



Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Karen arrived a little before 8 tonight and came over to give Elie her birthday presents and a cute Twins hat (which she loved!) and meet Rachel. We had fun chatting for awhile and the girls always love someone new to show off to, get read to, and hang out with.

Blanklet

No, I didn't misspell it, that's just how Elie pronounces 'blanket'. I have cross-stitched a quilt for all three of the girls and Rachel's just got done today. A nice lady from our church quilted it for me and brought it over this evening.
Mark had one of his four ladies aid groups this evening and so we were on our own for bed-time. I only had to return Gabie to her bed twice before she gave in to dream-land. I'm also happy to report that her weight is now back up enough that we can re-get-rid-of the bottle. So she gets one during bedtime stories and prayers and that's all - hopefully another week and we'll be totally done (again).
The older two were asleep when daddy came home, but Rachel waited up to say good-night to daddy. I just can't get over how cute she is in this outfit :0)

A 'No Picture' Day

Actually that's no entirely true - we did have Rachel's newborn portrait taken in Pierre today, but I didn't take my camera with me and we were gone all day. We had a fun time shopping, had dinner with Jess and Levi and then went to see Shrek III. Aren't we brave?! The only trying time was dinner because Gabie had not had a nap yet - as soon as we got in the car after dinner she was out so we decided to brave the movie and they all did great. Elie loves the first two movies so she was excited to see #3. It was a great day to get to spend together as a family.

A Perfect Day for a Picnic

Now if you live anywhere near our area (or in the midwest for that matter) you are probably wondering how it was a perfect day for a picnic - well Elie really wanted to go to the park today. I hate saying no to anything outside but due to the constant rain we've had that was impossible so I suggested a picnic instead - indoors that is...





After supper I had to go to a meeting and Mark caught this adorable video of Elie with Rachel...

Rachel was wide awake again this evening -seems to be a trend- so the girls insisted that daddy turn her bed so she could watch the twins game too- then they kissed her goodnight.