Catchin Up with LOTS of Pictures!

I haven't posted any of our daily happenings lately and I apologize. So, I am catching up. There are some crazy pictures in here so please read the stories to understand why I would post some "rough pics" ha



Kate does this when she is mad - the arms cross very quickly and the little lips come out. We are trying to decide if we are supposed to take her seriously!We taught Laura how to play a family favorite card game- Nadia was learning too!
Last weekend, the weather was BEAUTIFUL!! We had so much fun outside. We are big campers and hikers and decided to take Kate on her first little hike to see how she would do. Well, they all did great- Kalie, Karlee and Kate were all troopers. We ended up hiking for a couple of hours in the woods near our house. We came up on this creek- what a VIEW! We played in the water (who cares that it was freezing- what else do you do when you get near a creek????), We found deer skeletons, deer tracks and picked out our camping spot when the weather is a little better. Kalie and I just ran through the creek- shoes and all. Drew and his girls- he has some adventurous ones!
Mommy with Karlee and Kate- on their way to being true hikers!Drew and I LOVE being outside in that kind of setting. I think we could have stayed there all night.
There is quite a story with these two pictures. In helping Karlee, we do tons of activities that create opportunities for touch- in hopes that she will allow me to rock her one day. Well, I had bought a little makeup kit recently and brought it out and we did make up on each other. Above is them with their makeup on. When Karlee and Kate did my makeup- they had to use their fingers. Several weeks ago, Karlee was pretending to put makeup on me and when I asked her how I looked, she replied- not so good Mommy. Well today as she was smearing eye shadow all over my cheeks, she just came out and said Mommy - you look beautiful!!! So, in spite of the fact that I had on no makeup other than the work of my two youngest, I grabbed the camera and let Karlee take my picture. Little did she know it, but this picture will always be one so dear to my heart. I got a pearl that day and I am holding on tight.
Eli coming home- so scared but he has a wonderful Mommy- update on this family- Eli is doing much better- each day is a little easier- now we just pray for him to sleep!Karlee has pretty much stayed at home with me this month but when her special friend had a birthday party, we just had to go! Mary Ellen turned3 and we celebrated at the Children's Museum. Above is Karlee and Mary Ellen and below is Karlee dressing up.