happy valentine's day!

I saw this on a couple of blogs this year and loved them, so luckily the kids cooperated and we had fun making these!  We stuck small heart suckers in the poles they are holding.  I wish I would have remembered pictures of the finished product!

a style all her own...

 she loves wearing my headbands :)

new snow shoes!

Today Mike took Sophie and Jackson to get them their own snow shoes.  They will be heading up to the Boundary Waters in about a month and we had fresh snow, so it was a perfect day to practice.  They picked it up quickly and went on a walk around the block.  It was fun to watch them have so much fun with them!  After they got their snow shoes, Mike took them to Mickey's Diner for lunch (I still haven't been there!).  Calla and I enjoyed our afternoon together :)

finally time to play in the snow!

It has been way too cold lately to play outside for very long, but we finally had a "warm" day so I bundled the kids up and let them play for awhile.  Calla was a little unsure at first but quickly started to follow Jackson around.  Jackson named the snowman Zebra, but now his name is Bob :)

dora + diego at the children's museum

Since Sophie was at a slumber party for the night and Mike was going to be hanging out with friends, I decided an evening at the Children's Museum would be fun for the 3 of us left (oops...yes, Mike was there with us for awhile before he met up with his friends!).  Calla LOVES Dora and Diego right now so she was thrilled with the new Dora and Diego room at the museum.  We did visit other rooms, but definitely had to go back one more time before we left!

he kept trying to climb up the rock wall, but it was a side to side one...it was fun watching him try and figure it out

Jackson was SO excited to be an animal rescuer

maybe she'll be a singer someday!

the goofiness of Calla

This girl makes us laugh daily.  She mimics just about everything her older siblings do, but definitely has her own goofy personality.  

singing into the "mic"

I love how she is holding it like a real mic

dressing up at the library...she's just starting to get into dress up

she asked me to take a picture of her in the closet the dress up clothes were hanging in :)

reading to Jackson's class

Sophie had a day off of school, but Jackson still had preschool.  She wanted to read a book to his class and his teacher (who Sophie had for 2 years as well!) was happy to let her.  She picked a book that was  a little long for their age, but she didn't care and was excited to share one of her favorites.  It's amazing to think back to the little girl who had just barely turned 3 when she was in this class!

weekend in Chicago

We drove to Chicago for the long weekend.  It was Calla's first trip, which is always a fun memory for us.  Mike found us an apartment to rent for the weekend, which made the weekend pretty stress-free.  We were able to spend a lot of time with uncle Jake and also got to see some First Cov friends.  It was a great mini-vacation.

ready to go!

the view from our rooftop deck at the apartment

and the nighttime view

walking to dinner...Calla liked the lights!

spent Sunday at Shedd Aquarium...the girls waiting for the aquatic show to start

these moments melt my heart

still waiting!

trying to keep Calla from going up to the tank during the show!

sliding like a penguin

they loved this play area

we're pretty sure Jackson could have spent all day in this play submarine

watching the sting rays swim under them

Calla went and laid on Jake's back all on her own

surprised the kids with tickets to see Dora and Diego 4D (we actually enjoyed it too!)

out to eat for breakfast before we headed home

I have a series of funny face pictures...this is my favorite.  She is such a goofball...we love it!