Ella's Birthday Princess Tea Party!!

Mae, Cassie, Elyssa, Ella and Jillian celebrating Ella's birthday

Grandma's Spode......nothing but the best for these princesses!!

The girls' personalities seemed to shine in the different ways they decorated their cookies.  It's difficult to tell from the picture, but Mae nearly poured an entire bottle of colored sugar on her cookie!  Note to self.....don't turn the 3 yr old loose with frosting and sprinkles...

Beautiful princesses all dolled up in Yia-Yia's jewelry

Very polite princesses enjoying "tea" and snacks

We celebrated Ella's 6th birthday this morning with a princess tea party complete with an authentic antique china set that had belonged to my grandma.  5 girls, ages 3 to 6, enjoyed decorating cookies, making a "Happy Birthday" poster for Ella, dressing up in my grandma's vintage jewelry and decorating sun catchers.  The girls were so careful with the china and they all helped each other practice their best princess manners.  The "tea" we used was lemonade and we also enjoyed some crackers and cheese....the "healthy stuff" as Jillian called it...along with our angel food cake and cookies.  They all had a great time......but I think I had the most fun watching them be little girly girls.  Watching them dress up in my grandma's jewelry and use her antique china was really a blessing for me.  I have missed my grandma so much since she passed away......over a year and a half ago......and I have been the recipient of many of her possessions.  I have sometimes struggled to know what to do with all that I am accumulating but today seemed to bring new purpose to some of what I have been given.  I remember so fondly dressing up in Grandma's dresses and jewelry and shoes......and I was able to share that with my own little princesses and their friends today.  Truly, what a blessing.

Cora's 1st Birthday!!

I cannot believe this baby is one year old!  The time has flown by.  We are all so in love with her......she is such a blessing to our family.

Each child has reacted differently to the coveted first birthday cupcake.....Cora has not even had a cookie prior to today but she grabbed that cupcake, mashed it with both hands, and then shoved it directly into her pie-hole.  Awesome.

I love how much my grandpa loves our children.

4 Generations.....Pappou, me, Papa Don, Cora and Mimi

Halloween 2012

Mae the Ladybug

Cora the Zebra

How's that for coordinating costumes?  

Trick-or-treating.....it was a chilly evening to trick-or-treat so all of our kiddos wore their footed warmies inside their costumes!  

September 2012

September 3--Cora is 10 months old!!  Picture taken in our hotel room in Lexington, Ky.  We traveled to Lexington for a Wilson family reunion.

September 4--Mae dressed up as a baker at preschool

Ella in her space helmet and Mae the baker

September 5--Ella's moon cake that we made as part of her moon unit for kindergarten....it was really quite yummy!

September 11--Cora and her new friend, Anna Crawford.  I babysat Anna for a little while and Cora would not leave her alone.  Cora thought this new baby was so interesting.

September 17--Ella riding Paris the pony at our homeschool field trip

September 21--Mae is 3 years old!!!

September 22--Mae's party.....the Hicks family helped us celebrate Mae's birthday

Mae's giant cupcake

August 2012

August 1--Ella's first day of kindergarten

August 2--an especially good example of post-nap hair!  Oh how I miss that hair....

August 3--Cora is 9 months old!!  She smiles so big.....it almost hurts!

Cora enjoying some laundry basket time

August 21--Mae's first day of preschool

Silly siblings

Turkey Run State Park October 13, 2012

Our family after a long and challenging hike....we did it!

Oh my goodness, how I love this child but she is a piece of work these days....you'll notice she's wearing a shirt with penguins and snow on it....not exactly fall attire.....but this is one battle that was not worth fighting today!

Cora and her Mama enjoying a beautiful fall day

Look at those leaves!  This picture doesn't do it justice.

Mae and Ella 

We had a great time on Saturday hiking at Turkey Run State Park.  It was much more rugged hiking than our brood is used to and Lenn and I had to constantly be aware of where these little people were walking.  Lots of stairs, rocks to climb over and under, a big and bouncy suspension bridge, beautiful changing leaves......it all added up to a really fun time.

Nappanee Trip with Hicks Family

We had the best time last weekend (July 19-22) visiting Nappanee with our dear friends, the Hicks family.  These friends are also neighbors and our kids spend lots of time together.  Their son Caleb is 10 and their daughter Jillian is 6.  Nicholas and Caleb spent many hours running around together and spying on the girls while Ella and Jillian (and sometimes Mae) spent their time being nature explorers....other than sitting still (sort of) to eat meals, they were on the go from morning until bedtime each day.  So much fun!

Jillian, Ella, Nicholas and Caleb at the Wellfield Botanic Gardens in Elkhart

Mae loves to "pose" for pictures these days!

Another Mae pose!!  Ella seems to be wondering what her in the world her sister is doing.....

One of my very favorite pictures

Little girls loving The Chief ice cream

Nicholas modeling his new nose

Two sets of blue eyes......beautiful

The Hicks first visit to The Chief.....they gave it two thumbs up!

Cora and Mommy relaxing at Cabin Hill.....the whole gang went to Lenn's boyhood home to fish and play for the morning

I thought this was a picture of Caleb's bass but my dear husband informed me that this is NOT a bass.....so this is Caleb's fish (whatever it is!)

Ella's big catch

One of the most memorable experiences for our family.....riding in an Amish buggy.  We were so blessed to be able to visit an Amish farm on Saturday.  There were so many animals to see and learn about.  One of the grandchildren at the farm hooked up his pony, Judy (love that!), to a cart and took us on an all-terrain ride!  Boy, that pony can move!  Then we got to ride in the Amish buggy, pulled by Rocky.....a seasoned 15 yr old Standardbred.  It was a little difficult to get used to the lack of carseats for our kids but they did well.  At one point, all 4 of them were in the backseat with me......crowded!!

Our group gathered on Carl and Evelyn's deck Sunday morning to have a little outdoor worship time together before heading back to Avon.