April Showers

If you have not been showered on yet with rain this spring season, you are going to get poured on with pictures in this post. I cannot seem to update this blog more than once a month. It fits our needs for making a book in the future but boring for those that care about what is going on in our small corner of the world.

We are doing well and having a grand ol' time here in Texas. It is warming up! I am not looking forward to what real Texas heat has to offer but we are going to make the most of it by going swimming daily! We went swimming at a friend's home today and it was the perfect relief from the humid and warm day.

The biggest news this month is that ELSIE turned ONE! I really cannot believe my baby girl is already one. Where has the time gone? She is adorable and fun and just melts me with her powder blue eyes and soft cheeks. We love her so much! Elsie is such a happy, content and darling girl. She is sweet and patient and I could not ask for a more easy going little lady. Jorgen and Shelley just adore her and love to make her smile and laugh.

For her birthday, we had an Elsie the Cow theme.

But before we get to the cake pictures, Elsie got to have fries for the first time.
Can you tell how much she loved them?

Elsie taught herself a trick. As we were telling the children to fold their arms for prayer one day, we looked over at Elsie and she was doing something like this:

We were so surprised. No one had ever worked with her on it, she just picked it up by observing. We were so happy and proud of our little observant, reverent gal. It is amazing what children pick up by just observing others.

Sisters.

Singing Happy Birthday to Elsie.

Jorgen and Shelley were more excited about her birthday than she was.

The first thing Elsie went for on the cake was the gummy ear slice.

And Jorgen and Shelley followed suit.

A very happy Birthday Girl!

After cake, we went straight to the tub to scrub off all the butter cream frosting!

About a week later, Nana and Grandma Elyse came into town and so we were able to celebrate Elsie's birthday as well as Shelley's upcoming birthday in May.
We had fun playing games with cousins, eating yummy pork tacos and eating cake.

Per Shelley's request, we had a baby themed party.
We played pin the binky on the baby.
We had races to see who could undress, put a diaper on, redress, swaddle, and lay a baby down for a nap the fastest. It was fun to watch these little mothers do their thing.

And watch how good a daddy this little Jorgen will be some day. :)
He was such a good sport being the only boy at such a girlie party.

Then the kids had to talk on the phone, hold a baby, and draw a picture of a baby all at the same time. They were very focused!
(we had to improvise because we did not have enough phones for all the kids...Jorgen used a snorkel and Shelley used the remote)

Lady Shells did a very good job at multi-tasking. :)

Time for cake!
We decorated cupcakes to look like babies.

Elsie was thrilled to get more cake!

Happy birthday Girlies!

More recent happenings included a quick visit from a very loved Papa.
Minus the figurine hanging out of his mouth, this is one of my favorite shots of this little man. He is such a charmer!

And this little beauty is such a darling lady!

The kids just soaked up Papa time.

We also had another cousins' sleepover.
We just love living by these fabulously fun girls!

We had a dance party, played dress ups and had so much fun together!

Painting toes...except for the tough boy's toes.

I love this picture, especially Jorgen's pursed lips.

We love our Texas cousins!

On another note, little Shells Bells cracked us up with this one night. Justin and I had dried Shelley all off from the tub and she got her jammies on. Jorgen was still bathing but we got distracted with Elsie and the next thing we heard is Jorgen and Shelley laughing and giggling in the bathroom. We walked into this:

She had been dumping her head in the tub and smearing the bubbles all over her face!!

This is what we had for dinner on April Fools Day. Yum!

Dinner cupcakes.
And here is Elsie getting a sneak taste of cupcake just a few days before her birthday. Shelley thought it was rather exciting for Elsie to be eating such a novelty.

And this picture just warms my heart right up. I love that Jorgen and Shelley will play together so much now. Sure, they get into plenty of arguments and such but they really do love each other and love being together. It's only a matter of time before we have the Three Amigos running around together.

We had so much fun with Nana and Grandma Elyse. Grandma Elyse is famous for taking the kids to Chuck e Cheese and Jorgen and Shelley were sure happy she kept that tradition going during her Dallas visit. (no pictures because I was at home with a sick Elsie).

This week, we took advantage of a nice, cool day (probably the last one for a long time) and went with a friend to the Dallas Arboreutum. It was so fun and so beautiful. What a great way to let the kids run and explore while getting some fresh air and chatting with a friend.

The Easter display was being set up.
Jorgen and Shelley were being the cutest little posers. I did not ask them to pose at all, they just cuddled on up and smiled huge!

We had a great time!
This is Elsie five seconds before she crashed...
...like Shelley.
Well folks. That's it for April so far. I hope you enjoyed the downpour of pictures. Come again.

Happy Easter.