Cora's Happy Birthday

Cora was so so so excited for her birthday this year!  She picked out her princess pirate theme weeks weeks before her party.  I thought it was a long shot, but we totally scored some clearance pirate decorations at Hobby Lobby then just made the rest of the stuff.  Cora loved helping me make things for her party and talked about it nonstop before and after the big day.  

Here she is trying on her new pirate hat and even the eye patch for 5 seconds.  She was over it once she realized it impaired her vision haha.  

Cora invited her BFFs Tori, Kelsey, Eden, and Milan.  We started off with a treasure hunt through the back yard until they found their goodie bags and pirate loot.  Next, the pirate princesses enjoyed pirate snacks, gifts, play time with the new Polly Pocket Pool, and cake (just in case they didn't get enough sugar.)  I am so glad that Cora has made wonderful friends and that she had a fun time celebrating her big day!  

One week after Cora's birthday, Dave and the kids tried to celebrate Mother's Day, but Cora kept insisting it was still her birthday.  "It is not Mudder Day!"  At least I know her birthday was a hit haha!

Swim Lessons

We just finished up swim lessons and made some real progress!  

Cora loved her preschool class, followed directions like a champ, and did great at everything except putting her face in the water.  

Eden put her head under water!  For reals!  After that, something set her off and she became very timid about even getting in the water.  But there was that one time......  

Milan is doing awesome at treading water, going under water to get rings, and back stroke.  She just needs to do her breast stroke all the way across the pool and she'll be moving up to level 4.  Yeah!

P.S.  Just ignore the yellowish pictures, there's no natural light in the pool, just look at the cute swimmers!

Cuteness

Today was one of those days....two of the little ladies were whiny and crying at everything so that pretty much set the tone for everyone else.  After they went to bed, I unloaded my camera card and found some of these cute pictures that made me feel all warm and fuzzy and ready for a new, much better day tomorrow!

Spring Break + Easter

This past week was spring break, which means that Milan and Eden were home from school, yay!  I asked the girls what they wanted to do and offered suggestions for outings, but they just wanted to play outside all week.  We met up with a couple of friends, but they spent most of their time playing in the backyard with Lucy.  They played all day long, ate Popsicles, got dirty, and made up a ton of games!  Dave and I were saying that they are some of the few kids of their generation having a good ol' fashioned childhood haha.  Cora does her best to keep up with her sisters, but she has quite a few tumbles and band-aids for each injury.  Her knees look a little rough right now, but they are all having fun!  

We also had  a fun time coloring eggs.  The older girls drew and colored, Cora covered each one with a ton of stickers, then the 4 girls ate 15 eggs.  Milan got a tummy ache for a little while, but after a little medicine, they were running around outside again.

We also went to an Easter Egg hunt at a local church yesterday.  It was packed, but well organized so it was a good time.  Cora's age group went first.  When it was time to go, she ran over lots of eggs, decided to pick up 6, then just decided that she had enough even though there were tons of eggs left.  She did win a bubble prize from one of her eggs, and she had fun so it was a success. 

Next up was Milan and Eden's egg hunt.  Before the official start, the leaders were trying to start a chant for "Go Big Red!"  The first words was "go" and the kids were off to get eggs.  It was hilarious.  Eden was a determined little gatherer.....all business!  Milan also managed to get a lot of eggs despite the confusion about the start.   

Easter morning at our house, the Easter Bunny filled baskets and hid eggs around the backyard.  Milan was apparently the first one up then woke up her sisters.  When I woke up, there were already going through their stash.  Afterwards, Milan and Eden were super excited to gather the eggs outside, while Cora just chose to hang inside with her candy.  Love the bedhead and cute outfits on these little ladies!  I did get at "after" Easter morning picture, but no "before" picture of their cute baskets, guess you snooze, you lose around here.   

Fontenelle Forest

 We enjoyed a beautiful spring day at Fontenelle Forest exploring, playing at the park, and snapping some fun pictures.

Milan Allison

Milan is wonderful and we are always excited to pick her up from school and spend our days off together.  Of course, she has a busy social life with lots of play dates (usually here), a few sleepovers, and the sister games to lead.  She is usually very obedient about chores and helping out with her sisters.  She is also a smart cookie in school, even though she is easily distracted by arts and crafts at her desk, she still manages to pull off good grades.  She is very artistic!  At home she makes, woven place mats, homemade journals, a monstrous fairy house, simple sewing projects, and a bazillion pictures.  Her art was recently selected to be showcased at the Lied Center so that was fun to see.  When I asked her to throw away some torn black leggings, she wanted to keep them so she sewed up all the little holes. She is very particular about wearing things consistent with "her style."  She loves sleeping with her dolls and I love sneaking in some cuddle time and chit chatting right before bedtime.

Eden Elizabeth

Eden has really grown up over the last couple of months and I am cherishing every bit of this year before she goes to kindergarten.  She loves her preschool lessons and especially her group of friends.  Her favorite friend is Sidney; they've had a couple of play dates and Eden is always asking for more.  When we talk about our favorite part of the day, Eden always says preschool or mama.  Eden also loves to play preschool teacher at home and "reading" us stories.  She still loves her blankies and fingers.  She likes to pick out her own outfits every day, which is almost always a skirt, leggings, short sleeve shirt, and some cute accessories.  Sometimes, she surprises me though.  She gets regular compliments on her long curly red hair, many from random strangers.  Eden is a leftie, doesn't like cookie dough chunks in ice cream, and has a cute contagious giggle! We recently went on a date to the new Cinderella movie and sometimes I'm lucky enough that Eden wants to tag along on errands.