Madelyn and her baby...

Madelyn and mommy get plenty of one on one time these days with both kids in school two mornings a week. One morning I was upstairs doing some laundry and Madelyn wanted to give her baby a bath. I thought well that's a good idea to keep her occupied for a little while. It was very cute, but I'm sure you can guess exactly where that led to......you guessed it Madelyn and baby in the tub!

The day of Ella's actual birthday we went to Cole's house in the morning to bring his present. The kids had graham crackers with frosting and a candle. For her birthday Ella really wanted to go to the Mall of America and do the rides. So later that afternoon we picked Matt up from work and spent the evening riding rides. Ella is an absolute ride junkie! They went on rides for 4 hours straight - they would barely stop to eat supper. There was nobody there and the kids got to ride some rides over and over with out even getting off. I think they rode the log chute ride 3 times before getting off, which by the way has a drop that scared me a little bit. In the pictures they look terrified but they kept wanting to go again and again! Ella went on the swings - even Collin didn't want to do that one. I think their favorites were the Log Chute and Ghost Blasters. Ella is not afraid of anything! We stayed at the Mall of America until 9:30 - I thought for sure Ella would fall asleep on the way home, but no way. She was so excited to open presents when we got home at 10:00! The kids did not go to bed until 11:00!

Seriously could they be any cuter...

When she saw the hockey stick all wrapped up earlier in the day she seriously did not know what it was....later she accidently ripped some of the wrapping paper off and saw one tiny little part and said "I think this is a hockey stick" - as if it was so clear now - but you couldn't tell before. She got a bakugan and wii game from Collin and a pink scooter from mom and dad. The kids did not go to bed until 11:00!

Ella and Cole got to celebrate their birthdays together at pre-school on Thursday with ice cream sundays!

Yucky finger picture ahead....

After 2 weeks, Ella's finger is looking pretty good....you can't see the stitches any more and it is just now starting to turn black and blue. But you can still see where it really smashed the bottom of her nail bed. Looks better than I would have expected though!!

Dance!!

I am sorry - you are all going to have to bear with me....this whole dance thing is too cute! I haven't been able to go in while they are actually dancing yet, but wait until you see that.

Mommy's annual birthday pictures

Ella's 4th Birthday Party

For Ella's 4th birthday we rented a HUGE jumpy castle and invited family and neighborhood friends over. Ella had a blast jumping, sliding, eating cake and of coarse opening presents. Ella had so much fun and played so hard. After everyone left, our family went out to jump for a little bit in the dark! While we were jumping Ella said "I think I am really tired now"! As were walking in I said "what a fun birthday...." Ella said "yeah there sure was a lot of shoes here!" What do you say to that??

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to pull off a girly Tinker Bell cake...but it turned out pretty good.

It was a purple explosion right in our backyard

A good looking crowd!

Ella's 4 year old pictures

I can't believe my little girl is turning 4 already!

Still my little boy

Collin was sitting on my lap after school today and we were talking about his day. I told him that I really miss him when he is gone all day. He said, "I haven't done this yet, but I was thinking about doing it....when nobody is looking I might blow a kiss to our house, so you won't miss me". I hope he never grows up!!