Sisters!

 And best friends! (Taken on Sam's iphone)

Artwork

Lucy's Artwork created on Dec1, 2010
A picture of Joy (upper right hand corner, upside down), Mia (lower left hand corner), Leila (center), Lucy (lower right hand corner). I was totally impressed in the way that she scaled them. I loved this picture. And of course it is in yellow which is Lucy's favorite color. I asked Lucy today what she thinks Joy's favorite color will be and she predicted orange. We'll see, maybe she will take after her Aunt Heidi. 

Mia with her artwork created on Dec 1, 2010. I think that this is a picture of me (Erica). That will have to be verified with the artist. Mia has been making a lot of beautiful artwork lately and has been depicting the weather in them. This one is blue skies and sunshine. Another one was an umbrella with large raindrops. I sure love that I get to stay home with our girls!

Cousins and Good Friends

"Woops, Andrew don't close your eyes ok? I'll take another one."

We went out to pizza with G'ma and pa and Rob, Kristi, Andrew and Isaac. 

Mia just adores her cousin Andrew. 

Andrew looks a little confused and then closes his eyes purposely for the next picture.

I guess this is as good as I was going to get. Oh well. They had fun together. 

Joy likes Dressups Already!

Amelia and Lucy absolutely loved the dressups at Grandma's house. One afternoon Joy was a little bit fussy. We decided to put her in dressups and she immediately calmed down and seemed quite happy to be all dressed up. I thought 4 months would be a little young- who knew?

Joy and Lucy

Joy and Lucy

Amelia, Joy and Lucy

And add the Tiara

Princesses Amelia, Joy and Lucy

Amelia in the dress-up bin

Crafts with Grandma Swenson

Candy Necklaces 

Gingerbread People

Leila's Gingerbread Person

Lucy (2 1/2ish)

Snowmen and Reindeer

Leila (7)

Thanksgiving Day and Leila's 7th Birthday

The kids are all tucked in the king sized bed down the hall. Baby Joy is sleeping in the port a crib in her grandpa's office. I just finished reading a novel. Sam is downstairs finishing up an old movie with his parents. It has been a wonderful day.

Leila, Amelia and Lucy

       We drove to Utah yesterday arriving last night. The drive was quite uneventful compared with our last trip to Utah (stomach flu, wrong sized chains, windshield wiper fluid that froze up due to the CA regulations, the snow, waiting at the SLC airport for a flight that was severely delayed... but we sure missed having Grandma Burgoyne with us for this trip) we did have to chain up over the pass, but even that was comparatively easy. When we got to the snow I was under the impression that all the kids had fallen asleep because I hadn't heard them in a while, well minus Leila because she rarely falls asleep in the car. Then I heard Lucy say, "I like the small ones". I asked her what she meant by that and she said that she liked "the small Christmas trees". The girls then excitedly chattered about how beautiful it was outside. It is at times like those that I especially love being a mom to these lovely girls. I loved hearing their excitement over the natural beauty that surrounded us.

Restaurant on the way to Utah

         So today was Leila's birthday. We celebrated it on Monday with a birthday party and opening gifts. Grandma made pumpkin pancakes with cinnamon apples and whipped cream. Seven candles were placed in a stack of small pancakes and we got to sing to her. Leila enthusiastically told us this evening that the pumpkin pancakes were her favorite part of the day. I sure love my Leila and can hardly believe that she is seven years already. She is a sweetheart.
         For Thanksgiving dinner we went to Aunt Tamra's. I was told that there were 64 people there- amazing! It was delicious and great   fun to catch up with the Swenson side of the family. It has been a great weekend. I am so glad that we made the trip out here even if it was just for a quick long weekend. So sad that I did not take pictures though.... I guess that is typical of me...oh well.

Are there Fairies in our yard?

 Because we found these amazing looking mushrooms growing in our yard. Yep, those are real. Joint with the ones that are growing in our next door neighbor's yard it forms a fairy ring. Traditional story says that if you walk inside the fairy ring then you will be taken to fairy land. Do we dare?

Lazy Morning

Leila is on Thanksgiving Break. We threw a Birthday Party yesterday and today we are being lazy. The girls woke up, cozied up and watched Thumbelina. We are excited for Sam to be able to spend the rest of the Thanksgiving Break with us. Yeah!

Leila is turning seven

Leila will be seven on Thanksgiving this year and since we will be in Utah for her Birthday she and her dad went to pick out a new bike this past weekend. She does pretty good on that new bike.

Folsom Animal Sanctuary

On Veterans Day the girls all went to the local zoo that we love so much. Then we went to the park for lunch and playing. It was a beautiful day and it was nice to have Leila home with us for the day.