The Fighter's

It's the weekend!  And we have a kid free one!  So we are off to Chicago with our friends the Meisters!!!!  First stop...going to see Hamilton!  So excited about this...Doug and Jeff bought the tickets as a Valentines gift for us!!  We went to dinner first and then to the show.  And it was amazing...the music, the storyline...it was awesome!  Wayne Brady was the lead too which was kind of fun!!!! 

We walked in and found our little sweet mermaid sleeping all cozy....  

Olivia writes stories almost every day and they are my most favorite thing to read in the world.  Here is a story from this week about the upcoming dance recital.  Love her illustration too (her, Ava & Kate).  Be still my heart.  I think she's super excited :-)

This girl got her braces off today...well, round 1 of braces.  She was a trooper with the spacer and braces and getting them off (knowing that she's going to get them on again one day)!

My 3 little Valentines, sharing a Valentine breakfast!  Love these 3 so much!!  They make my heart smile.  And so does my big Valentine (not pictured here!).     And my re-modeled office!  After 8 years of working in a sort of dull space, I re-configured my office with a little paint, a new bench and some wall art to be cheery and pretty and bright!!  Amazing what you can get done in a weekend (when your husband is out of town!!).  I am so excited to work in this space!! 

Kate decided to make her own Valentines this year out of construction paper and dum-dums.  She cut them, wrote notes on all of them and used a very lean process to make sure that one was made for each and every one of her classmates.  She even recruited her sister to help with the assembly.  I love that she decided to make her own...my girl Kate.  Old school and sweet at heart.    

And fevers erupt.  You get pj's, a day of rest and broccoli cheese soup.  And then you may get tea...while wearing your dance wig.  All remedies to getting rid of those darn germs.  

Getting geared up for new adventures in Junior High!  Ava decided to play the violin in 6th grade.  She was fitted for her violin tonight.  Her orchestra teacher helped her get a feel for her new instrument.  Ava was all smiles.  Yay for trying new things and yay for learning to play an instrument!

Today was an amazing day...Ella Marie was baptized!  Thankful for the grace of God and the gift of faith that Ella's little heart was given, through the Water and the Word.  Pat, Lindsay & Ella make the sweetest family.  Uncle Rob & Aunt Lena stood by as her Godparents.  And the rest of us family - Grandmas, Grandpas and her 9 cousins stood by cheering her on.  Ella was so funny during the baptism - reaching for the water in the baptismal font like she wanted to play in it!  She wore the same dress Ava, Kate & Olivia wore on their baptism which was pretty special to them.  Love this sweet little girl.  And can't wait to watch her grow and share her light with others.  "I knew you before I formed you in your Mothers womb, before you were born I set you apart." -Jeremiah 1:5  

Off to Cincinnati we go!  Little Ella is getting baptized tomorrow and we can't wait to celebrate with the fam!  The girls packed up their favorite stuffed animals, some dvd's and good books.  And we followed 75, three hours South.  The girls were so excited to see their baby cousin - and have Jet, MJ and Collins there too!   Ava almost as tall as Aunt Lindsay!

   Typical Friday night for Doug...

One of the perks of having a grandpa is a director of a technology and training center - when there is  a Women in Technology day, you get to skip normal school and go to amazing experiences like this!  Ava was by far the youngest lady there but she held her own and learned about robots and some of the neat things they have the capability of doing.  She also learned a bit about welding and machining.  Pretty cool.  And right up her ally.  She even got to help Grandpa's co-workers set up for the day while Grandpa attended a meeting and afterwards she had an excellent review about her smiley work ethic.  So proud of my little professional tech loving bean.  And thankful for her Grandpa who takes her to cool things like this!

 Not sure where time has gone but we got to join in celebrating this guy in style!  He loves his airport birthday parties so we drove up North for some swimming, pizza and cousin fun.  These kids love each other so much.  And we love our smart, caring, funny Jet James.  Did someone say it's time to swim????!!!  Katelyn was the official pool toy thrower since she had to sit out with her casted broken ankle.  She was a little bummed but a good sport about it.