Friday, January 28, 2011

Locks of Love

A couple months ago Madeline heard about Locks of Love, an organization that uses donated hair to make wigs for children who have no hair.  It really bothered her that some kids lost their hair.  So she decided to donate ten inches of her hair to the organization.  We are SO proud of her for thinking of others!  Plus she has a super cute new hairdo that she loves.  It's a win-win.

Check out the cuteness...

Madeline before.  She used to want her hair
as long as Rapunzel.


The big moment!

Madeline after, looking older.
After Zella saw her sister's cute new hairdo, she decided she wanted hers cut short too.   It turned out adorable!

Kristy cutting  five inches off of Zella's hair.

Short and sassy, just like Zella.

Sisters!
Violet after her haircut (just a trim).
We are so proud of our girls!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Let it Snow

Sisters

Violet would not let me put her down on the snow hills.

Exploring with Josie.

Madeline and Zella.

Playing in the backyard.



Swinging just wasn't the same...


Enjoying hot chocolate.

Yum!

Tired but happy.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

The End of 2010

We ended our busy December with a trip to see Grandma Marker (Trav's mom) and sisters.  We had a great time celebrating Christmas, New Year's Eve and birthdays (Zella, Lauren and Katelyn all have a birthday in December).  It was very relaxing and it was nice just to be able to hang out with everyone.  The girls were super excited to see their cousins!

Violet and cousin Lauren cheesing it up in the bathtub.

Madeline with kitty "Baby".

Grandma Marker handing out party supplies on New Year's Eve.

Zella and Katelyn.

Happy New Year!

Zella

Violet and Uncle Bubba

Aunt Carrie, Lauren and Katelyn

Grammy watching the girls open presents.

Present time!
Aunt Kate and Zella

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Zella Turns Four

Just three days after Christmas something shocking happened.  Miss Zella Lynne turned FOUR years old.  I'm not sure how that is possible! 

Zella has been a joy since the moment she was born.  She always has a smile on her face, is dancing, singing or humming at all times and brings a smile to everyone's face.

Zella finds happiness in the little things of life.  Her excitement for the little and big things she encounters is one of the things I love most about her.  Her excitement is contagious!


Wherever she goes people are drawn to her.  After you meet her you can't forget her....her big personality, her unusual name and her adorable glasses are a winning combination.

She LOVES books.  She spends hours each day looking at books and making up stories to go with the illustrations.  We spend a lot of time snuggling and reading books together.  She also loves playing Barbies, Smurfs, restaurant and dress up.

Zella makes a craft at least once a day.  She loves to color, draw and make necklaces.  My little firecracker also loves to dance and sing.  She is always ready to join in a dance party!

She is my early riser and always has been.  It is nice to have that special time with her before her sisters wake up. 

Zella started preschool this year, every Monday and Wednesday morning.  She is a very eager learner and absolutely adores school.  She talks a mile a minute when she gets home about all the fun things she gets to do.  Zel is so proud to be going to school like her big sister Madeline. 

She also started tumbling this year and loves it.  I can't wait to see her tumbling recital in the spring.  She is already asking me if it is recital time yet because she can't wait to be a on a stage.

I can't believe my little comedian is already four.  We are so thankful to have Zella in our family!!!

We celebrated her birthday twice.  Once in Britt with family who could come, and once in Milo.  She couldn't believe she got to have two parties.  Very exciting apparently.

Her party in Britt was a Smurf party.  She is so into the Smurfs right now and spends a lot of time playing with her Smurf house and figurines she got for her birthday. 


She picked her fav restaurant for lunch:  The Red Rooster

Aunt Karen brought a balloon to the restaurant.  It was a big hit!

Aunt KK, Cousins Lily and Grace at the birthday lunch.  Granny came too.

Excited about her Smurf mushroom house cake.



"Oh yeah, baby!"

Opening presents.

Sweet cousin Lily modeling a party hat.

Eating a tortilla chip in her NEW WAGON.
She told me in was a dream come true.  (The wagon, not the trip.)

The Smurf cake.  If you can't tell, it is supposed to be a Smurf
mushroom house.  She thought it was a Smurf house so I count it as a success.

Just in case  the house didn't turn out I had a backup.
The Smurfs are rings the kids got to take home.



Happy Birthday Zella!











Friday, January 7, 2011

Christmas Day 2010

It is so fun now that the girls are a little older.  They get the joy and excitement from Christmas.  And thankfully they understand the reason behind it all...Madeline often reminded me that we're really celebrating the birth of baby Jesus. 

They were very excited Christmas morning. 

Zella couldn't believe Santa got her letter!
He really did bring her an Ariel vanity.

Madeline said this carriage was a "dream come true".  Dramatic much?

Violet was excited about her new dollhouse, but she was REALLY
excited that package of animal crackers she got in her stocking.

Happy Zella

Madeline taking a picture of Violet with her new camera from Santa.
She loves her camera!

Madeline modeling the "REAL" red lipstick she asked Santa for.

Miss Violet

My sister Karen and her family joined us for a Christmas lunch.  We had a great, relaxing day.  I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas too!

Up next...Zella's 4th birthday.

Yours sincerely,
Lori

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Christmas Eve 2010

Sorry to bore you with the Christmas 2010 recap, but first and foremost this blog is my scrapbook/journal/place where I actually record what happens in our life.

Unless you are related to me.  Then I'm sure you're not bored, but happy I posted some cute pics of my girls.

Well then.

On to the happy...

We had a very relaxing Christmas Eve.  We made the decision a few years ago to try and not travel on Christmas Eve or Christmas day so we could start creating our own family traditions.  It is nice to not have to hurry and rush everywhere.

My parents had all of their kids who live in Britt (3) and our families to their house on Christmas Eve day for lunch.  They were very adorable and decorated their heated garage with Christmas lights, as small tree and a nativity scene for our little party.  The kids thought it was so fun.  We just spent some time together and had a good meal as usual.

Snuggling with Uncle "MN" on the couch

I was busy chasing Violet so I didn't get photos of anything else.

My parents headed to my twin sister Lisa's house and we headed home to open some presents.  Violet goes to bed so early that it would be hard to open some after church.

But first I attempted to take photos in front of the tree.  No one would cooperate for a group shot so I have up.

Madeline was a willing model...

Do you like my dress?


But no one was more excited than Zella (of course)...






Happy Zella

Then came Violet.  She has a mind of her own (that's French for STUBBORN) and didn't want to have her picture taken.  She wanted to open presents (and heaven help whoever stood in her way!)

Evidence:

I am NOT putting this box down!

Cute and stubborn

And then we moved onto presents...

MELMO!

Almost every gift the girls gave me made me cry.  I am turning into my mother after all!
And then Travis got a hug that was better than any present:



After the hugs we headed to Aunt Karen's for appetizers and a mini Christmas party of our own.

Having fun with cousin Grace

Cousin Lily
Then off to church.  We got ready for Santa, read "The Night Before Christmas" and headed to bed.  It was fun to see how excited the girls were. 

Right before Madeline fell asleep she asked, "Do you think I am on the NICE list?  I'm pretty nice."

To be continued...