Ella's Birthday Morning

We celebrated with muffins and candles on the morning of Ella's birthday - I'm wondering how many times a girl can have "Happy Birthday" sung to her??? Never too many, right?!?

Even when we went through Casper Sunday afternoon, the whole gang sang to her again!!! This time with yummy ice cream sundaes --- thanks to the Casper Hubert's for dinner --AGAIN!!!

Caramel Apples

One of the things I remember as a kid and going to Estes was caramel apples!!! YUM!! Jeannine and I agreed that that was one stop that we must make before heading to Fort Collins!

Chuck E Cheese's for Ella's birthday

We braved it! We stopped in Fort Collins and met up with the Barber's to celebrate Ella's birthday at Chuck E Cheese's. The kids all had a blast and the adults all survived!!!!

L to R: Tony, Meg, Ella, Aubrey, and Trinity

The girls all earned enough tickets to get some FANCY earrings!!!

Wildlife in Rocky Mountain National Park

So we drove to where they have Trail Ridge Road closed and got out to play in the snow. Instead, we fed the chipmunks - Granma Jeannine remembered the Cheezits and the chipmunks enjoyed them thoroughly!!!!

We also saw many elk -- some were with a harem and some were not but all were spectacular to observe. It just amazes me how tame they seem.

A Weekend with the Melka's

We spent the weekend with Larry and Jeannine - we drove down to Estes Park and had lunch at the Stanley. We also headed up into Rocky Mountain National Park to check out the wildlife! We so blessed to live so close to such a beautiful place. Beautiful weather - bright sun and mountain peaks dusted with snow.

Ella's four!!!

The Stanley Hotel - a magnificent historical building in Estes Park, Colorado

My mountain girls - they love to hike and climb on the rocks!
30 weeks pregnant!!!
Meg enjoyed making her bed look very fancy at Granma Jeannine's house -- now she is convinced that she needs some fancy pillows for her own bed!

Ella's Off to Preschool

So my baby (well for 10 more weeks!) is off to preschool!!! She is so excited and has been anxiously anticipating this day all summer and especially for the past few weeks since Meg went off to Kindergarten. She is attending the same preschool that Meg went to so is very familiar with the teachers and the classroom. I was talking with another parent and turned around to say good-bye to Ella and she was gone -- off playing with play-doh and not noticing whether I'd left or not...

The wonderful Mrs. Kay... This is her 26th year at Noah's Ark Christian Preschool and she is so amazing with the children. She has this wonderful New Zealand accent and is just very pleasant and loving.
Ella's cubby animal is the cow elk.
Here she is - just where I found her, playing with play-doh!

Sweet Ella Jayne

Ella had a bit of a rough morning with Meg starting Kindergarten. We kind of anticipated this as the two are inseparable. Ella and I visited Jill and then went and had a date over cinnamon rolls and OJ at the park. And this morning at home, she has been very busy with 4 ladybugs that she found yesterday.
Ella will start preschool with Mrs. Kay in a week or two. She will be glad to have a special morning and to begin to learn new things and make new friends at Noah's Ark Preschool.

Ella with my dear friend Jill who teaches at Meg's school. Ella and I went to visit her after we were through hangin' out in Meg's classroom.
Ella at the park

Meg's First Day of Kindergarten

So the day has finally come! Meg started Kindergarten today. She was very excited and the part that she is looking forward to most is learning how to read!

I've already had a call from my dear friend Jill who teaches at Meg's school to let me know that Meg made it through her first recess. She was even helpful with another little girl who was having a hard time. I am so blessed to have someone who cares about Meg so much right at school with her!!!

I'm doing pretty well with the whole thing - it's quiet around here but Ella and I will keep busy, I'm sure.

Meg with Mrs. Fried, her teacher - who also happens to be someone that Meg knows from church.

Meg sitting at her spot at the table.

Campin' with the Russell's

We headed up to the Big Horns for another weekend of fun (and I remembered to bring my camera this time... just not on our hike...??? Hopefully Nina will share her pics!)

Anyway, we had a great time with the Russell's - we ate plenty of roasted marshmallows and s'mores and even made apple pies in the fire with Dave's cast iron pie pans - YUM!!!

Dave, Alex, Meg and Jeremy enjoy the fire and some marshmallows.

A little bit more excitement this trip! Jeremy and Nina woke at about 2 am to a bear dragging their cooler away from the pop up camper and sitting himself down about 20 feet away, munching on grapes and Nina's delicious banana bread! Luckily, this bear seems to know that the food is in the cooler and doesn't go looking any further --- but we do think it was the same bear and that something needs to be done. I've got to tell ya, the $40 investment I made on some bear spray has been well worth it for me --- hope I never need to use it!

I forgot it again.........

So, the past few weeks have been crazy!!!
We've had Lindsay stay here in Sheridan with us while the other Casper Hubert girls were up at Camp Bethel, we've been camping at least twice - once with the whole Casper Hubert clan, we - well some of us - slid down some natural waterslides in Paradise Valley, we spent a week and a half in Denver where we hung out with family, went to the zoo, and celebrated Devin and Belle's wedding with a very nice reception at her cousin's place, and we're getting ready to go camping again!!!

We've been busy -- and would you believe that this pregnant girl can't remember to bring her camera anywhere?!?! Thank goodness Jodi is a bloggin' fool and takes lots of fun pictures!!!
You can check out a lot of the fun at the links above!!
Thanks Jodi for bloggin' our adventures!!!!

It's a .....

BOY!!!

If you know what you're looking for, you can see the little "turtle."

This is a profile shot of a leg with the "equipment"(seriously, that's what the doctor called it!!) sitting right on top of his little thigh. It looks like the profile of a turtle! Dr Gill said, "undisputably, without a doubt, you're having a boy." These two pictures are the same - just one is bigger than the other.
Here is a profile of his face using the 3d ultrasound. He's got his little hand up in front of his face. Dave liked that he could count the four fingers and a thumb. When we first started the ultrasound, we had a good shot of his face and you could see his little tongue working... and with this pose, I'm afraid we might have another thumb-sucker!!! Pay-backs, eh Mom??? :)
And this is the alien shot - can you see his eye complete with the lens? And the nose and sinuses, mouth...

We also have some great views of his lumbar spine, his heart, etc etc. All in all, everything looks great. Healthy baby boy!

Video of my brave girl!!!

She had hold of my hand the whole time and I think I squeezed hers more than she squeezed mine! She was very brave, as you can see!

Meg got her ears peirced this weekend!!!

We were in Casper this weekend and decided why not??? Meg and I had been talking about it for a few weeks and with some peer pressure from her cousins, she gathered the courage and hardly said, "ow!" Cuddling the bear before...
There are the purple polka dots for placement...
Here she is with the finished product! Little tiny diamond-like studs.