Eli's Secret Photo Shoot

I was uploading the latest pictures from my camera and found a couple of surprise photos from Eli. He apparently snuck the camera and took a few glam shots of himself. He is clearly learning the art of photography from his two aunts - Stefanie and Shaylee.

Maggie's Smile

Maggie and I had a few minutes alone Friday, and decided to do some quick "3rd Birthday" pictures. She picked one of her favorite dresses and decided what accessories would work best (though I did have to battle for the blue mary-janes vs. pink sparkly shoes). The bracelet was a good choice, and what you can't see behind her curls (fortunately) are the green & orange Oscar the Grouch sticker earrings.

Trip Details

Really - there are almost 2000 photos between my sisters, Skylar's friends, and myself who have now all combined files. Besides the pictures, many of our adventures were truly unique - which makes it hard to organize. I'm almost there!

Maggie's first day of ballet

We are now calling her Magdalena Ballerina. She loved class and has been dancing ever since we got home. I LOVE it! ...and wish I had my ballet slippers on with her. However, she did wear my old ballet skirt - saved just for this occasion.

Bella Dancerella

Not to be outdone, Eli put together a fabulous outfit to join the girls in a little dancing and singing with the Disney Princesses. What style!

Maggie starts Joy School

With an August 31st birthday, it's hard to determine when to start pre-school. Even though Maggie was registered to join Eli at Pages, her lack of interest in big-girl panties made the decision for us. So, I'm venturing into the Joy School system and am excited to get to know other moms in my new stake/neighbohood. With 7 of us, I won't have to worry about my week for a while. Maggie was excited to start today and needed her "first day of school" picture, too. Her choice of school bag was her Ariel purse with the sparkly strap. I totally agreed with the selection.

Bed Accessories

Eli is great at making his bed every morning. Today, he decided to add a few accessories to the finished piece (flip flops, car boxes, alligator slippers, and lady bug hat) - all in a symmetrical display. He was quite proud of his new bed decor, and told me he just wanted to make it "nice." I think this works.

One Amazing Trip

Dzien dobry! We made it back from our trip to Poland, Czech and Germany - with a lot of great stories and experiences. I will be sorting through the MANY photos I have and try to post some of the highlights...which will definitely be hard to narrow down. The wedding in Nowe Warpno's old church was beautiful, Karolina's family and hometown of Szczecin were great, Prague is amazing, and Berlin was fascinating. We definitely needed much more time at each place, but were happy to get a taste of the great history. Much more to come!

First Day of School

Eli started school last week at Pages Preschool. This will be his third year there, and he has the system down well. After getting his name tag, he new what color to hang his bag on (the big kids get green) and where to go until Mrs. Hull (his new teacher - who we were excited to get) had them line up for lessons.

Eli's Non-Princess Party

Stef finally emailed me some pictures from Eli's night out with her, Sean and Ian - while the girls were home wearing tiaras. As always, Stef made sure their time was full of fun and adventure.