Ella's 3rd Birthday

Our Ella Bella is 3 years old!  We celebrated with a party at a preschool that has a huge indoor jungle gym.  Despite Lucy just finishing up with a cold, Ella being in the middle of a cold, and Audrey just getting a cold, it was tons of fun!  They were all in great spirits and Lucy and Ella had a blast climbing and exploring the gym with all the other kids (as well as Oma, Uncle Pauly, and Uncle Billy...).  Everyone loved the ball pit--it brought back memories of Chuck E Cheese's for me!  We ate pizza, salad, grapes and apples, and finished up with some yummy cake, cupcakes, and ice cream.  Thanks to everyone who was able to join us and to everyone who pitched in to make the party so successful, relaxing, and fun!

Uncle Bill and Lindsey

Chloe Jo

Jordan

Tavis and Simon

Auntie Julie and Ella

Uncle Patrick and Audrey

Oma and Opa

It might look like Lucy is just giving Ella some sisterly birthday love, but there's definitely a few ulterior motives behind this hug:  to get closer to the cake, and to ham it up in front of everyone a bit.  Ella's shy side, on the other hand, came out while we sang to her.

She looooves blowing out birthday candles!

The way Jordan is looking at Evie is completely adorable.

We had a snowman coloring contest--Ella was the judge.  Congrats to the winners, Lindsey and Nate!

The birthday girl.

Taking after Mommy.

Oma and Audrey

Ava May

Charlie...love his fuzz head!

Playing with Uncle Bill

My sweet girls.

Andrew, Ava, Lucy, and Christopher

Sleepy baby...

Do You Want More?

So funny!

Audrey's Bath

Ella's 1st Day of School

Ella has been waiting so long for this day--her first day of school!  Every time we drop Lucy off at school she tells me, "When I'm three I can go to school just like Lucy!"  Since her 3K program doesn't start until fall, we signed her up for a preschool class that's once per week for 8 weeks.  It's a combination of classroom and gym activites, and Lucy will join her!  The class starts in the afternoon, so Ella was talking about school all morning.  She must have said, "Mommy, it's going to be fun going to school," at least 100 times!  We are so excited for her!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Bill!

Uncle Bill is 28!  To celebrate, we went out for dinner at Cafe Hollander...yum!

We love you, Uncle Billy!

Wilinski Wigs

We spent an afternoon visiting my cousin Peg, her husband Dewy, and their kids...we had so much fun!  The highlight was the bag of wigs Dewy had just bought for the Blue and Gold Boy Scout dinner--the kids were hilarious!

Christopher, Andrew, Alex, Ella, and Lucy

Audrey and Charlie got in on the fun, too!

First Rice Cereal

Audrey loved her first taste of rice cereal!  We were surprised at how well she did with it--she seemed to know exactly what she was doing!