Happy Valentine's Day...

...from the sweetest little valentines!

Ready for Valentine's Day

Ever since the calendar turned to February, Ellie has been hard at work making valentines. Every single day, Eric, Josie and I find surprise valentines hidden all over the house. It is so sweet! She has gotten very good at knowing where to hide them...mine have been in front of the coffee pot, on my laptop, under my camera- places I see often! She has even gotten as creative as hiding one under the peanut butter jar and another in the refrigerator with the jelly and then asking me all sweetly "Mommy, may I please have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch?" Yesterday, I gathered up all the valentines and spread them out on the floor for a picture. Check out all this sweetness!

Ellie wrote the names of almost everyone she knows on the backs of many of these so be ready to receive an extra special Valentine's wish from Ellie the next time we see you! The mailed ones are going to be a little late...sorry. :)

Hope everyone has a happy Love Day!

A Nursery Rhyme...

Ring around the rosie,

A pocket full of posies,

Ashes, ashes,

We all fall down!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Josie is still sick so we are spending Valentine's Day just enjoying family time at home. I would love to get pictures of the girls but they will have to wait. Here is cute one of them from the other day, though.

This is the first year Ellie got to pass out and receive Valentines at school so that was a lot of fun for her! Here she is with all her loot yesterday.

We got Ellie a card with music and she loved it. It says on the front "You fill our days with rainbows and bring out the sun..."


Ellie called for me from the playroom earlier and said she had a surprise for me. This is what I found.

She told me I had to follow the trail to get my surprise and guess what it was...?
A hug from Ellie. :)

Hope everyone has a day filled with love!

Okay, seriously, they have completely melted my heart today! They shared this little moment just before bed. I now have a fully documented day of nothing but sweetness between them. Please, oh please let it continue... :)

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Ellie turned four on December 28th. It is really hard to believe! She is very happy to have reached this milestone. She is still singing several times a day "I am sooo happy that I'm four...!" The morning after her birthday, Eric found her asleep on the floor in the loft instead of her room. When he asked her what she was doing out there, she told him "Because four-year-olds can sleep where-ever they feel like it..." Being four is pretty big stuff to her!

Here Ellie is the morning of her birthday. She is so excited!


She made her own chocolate raspberry cake (with the help of Daddy and Nana).




We then did a little treasure hunt for her. She searched for several little princess figurines throughout the house which then led her to her new...


princess castle!


She was very, very happy which you can see in this adorable song.


Happy birthday Ellie! We love you so much!

This Morning

Here are some cute pictures/video of the girls from this morning.


Ellie's eyes- bright blue today! (Some days they look so green...)


Josie's big brown eyes


giving each other kisses


If there is music playing, then there is always dancing!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The whole family has been hit with some bug so we have all been either sick or taking care of someone who was sick (or both!) the last couple of weeks. That's why there have not been any updates recently. Everyone seems to finally be on the mend so thank goodness for that.
Because of all the sickness going on, we ended up just staying home for Thanksgiving. It was actually nice because Eric and Ellie were able to make a super yummy vegan feast. We had all the traditional Thanksgiving fixings- just veganized. Make fun of our Tofurkey all you want, but it is delicious!! :)


making pumpkin pie


Grandma and Grandpa braved the sickness to stop for a quick visit and took this. We actually have very few family pictures so I am thankful for this.


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An Awwwww... Moment

You want to hear just how sweet Ellie is? When I asked her what she was thankful for, all she named were family members and friends! She just started naming everyone, starting with Josie and Charlie. :) I was expecting her to name things and instead she just named people!
And so then, I asked if there was anything else she was thankful for besides a person and you know what she said?

Love.

And when I asked if there was anything else, she said

All of our hearts.

And as if she hadn't melted my heart enough yet, she then said

And you know what else makes me smile? A great big hug and kiss!

And she threw her little arms around my neck in a big hug. It just doesn't get any sweeter...


I am so thankful for my family!!!




Here we all are...including Charlie this time :)

Another Awwwww... Moment

I just happened to catch this the other day while still in the parking lot. I wonder how often they do this when I am not looking? So, so sweet...

An Awwwww.... Moment

So I was busy paying bills online when Ellie starting trying to climb up on my lap. I told to get down because I was trying to finish the bills but she kept insisting "hold me Mommy, just hold me". I kept saying "not now" while trying to explain to deaf ears that if I stop now the session will time out and I'll have to start over and I'll be done in just one more minute blah blah blah...when she all of the sudden got real quiet, looked down at the floor, and said with the most pathetic sweet little voice I've ever heard...

But Mommy...

I can't hold myself...

Of course, the bills didn't get finished.

I love my little sister.