{camping prep + church pics}

Along with working this week (not Friday), I am also prepping for another camping trip back to Tunnel Trail Campgrounds in Wilton, WI. The kids are really looking forward to it. It is remarkable how much really goes into getting ready for a camping trip.

I do have a pic to share with you. Check out our new family pic from church:

I love it :)

Until later!
Barby

{burning a hole in her pocket}

I love this pic of Lilli from Sunday night:

She received a Target gift card from Aunt Annie and Big John, and she couldn't wait to pick out something. She was a very nice sister and let Caden pick out a toy with some of her gift card.

Until later!
Barby

{Happy 4th birthday, Lilli!}

Today was my first official day back to work, and it was also Lilli's birthday. I know we celebrated on Sunday with her party, but, of course, we needed to celebrate again today. She wanted to go to West End Pizza for dinner, so that is what we did. She and Caden played some games in the arcade area, and after dinner we eased back to the house for some ice cream cake and more presents :) Mama and Dada did not give her her presents for her party. Here are some pics:

 Here's a short video of her blowing out her candles:

Present time!

Hard to believe she is already 4...

Until later!

Barby

{last unofficial day of freedom :)}

Tomorrow all teachers officially go back to work in Ripon. The summer is over...Where did it go? I just ran around and tried to finish up getting some things taken care of. It's weird not having Grammie here :( It was so nice having her here to help with everything. I haven't used the washing machine in five weeks! Yep, she spoils me. I did end up getting quite a bit of work done. No cool pics from today, but I'm sure you have been wanting to see another pic of Lilli holding Baby Stella :)
Here you go!

So cute... When Samantha could tell Stella was falling asleep she gave her to Lilli. She knew Lilli would be very proud that she rocked her to sleep. She was :)

Until later!

Barby

{Lilli's 4th birthday party: Frozen}

Today was Lilli's party, and she had a great time. We lucked out and had great weather. The highlight of her day was probably when Elsa showed up :) Check out the pics!

I made a little Olaf sign for the front door of the house. Look how cute she looks in her little party dress:

I also love this pic with the kids and Ryan:

As always, we had a ton of food. I tried to give everything a Frozen related name:

The beautiful cake was out:

We made some special punch (Blue Hawaiian punch and Sprite), and used the great Sangria dispenser Ryan found at Menards:

Lilli's favorite was probably the white chocolate covered strawberries, or Frozen hearts:

As you may have noticed, this was Lilli's second outfit, her Elsa dress. Shortly after, Lilli's special guest arrived:

Elsa read a couple of books to the kids:

And she also played "Let It Go" on the piano. The kids sang along:

They were all thrilled to meet Elsa:

The kids then played Pin the Nose on Olaf:

Sorry, we didn't get any pics of the kids playing. What I did was draw and cut out a two different noses for each kid. I then ran them through  my Xyron cutter to make them into stickers. They loved it. We then did cake:

After eating her cake, Lilli opened up her presents:

The kids then "built" snowmen with marshmallows, pretzel sticks, chocolate chips, and a piece of candy corn:

Well, not everyone built a snowman :) They certainly loved the marshmallows :)

After building the snowmen (and eating them), the kids went back outside to play:

Baby Stella had a great time :)

Until later!
Barby

{party prep}

Lilli's birthday party is tomorrow. Today is usually the day I am running around like crazy trying to pull everything together. Luckily for me, Aunt Ann and Big John are in town, so Aunt Ann is decorating Lilli's cake. This is very special to me because Aunt Ann made all of my cakes when I was growing up. She is the reason I so love to decorate them now. Look at this beautiful cake she did:

I love it, and so does Lilli :)

Until later!
Barby

{Lilli's beautiful birthday cake}

Lilli's birthday party is tomorrow. Today is usually the day I am running around like crazy trying to pull everything together. Luckily for me, Aunt Ann and Big John are in town, so Aunt Ann is decorating Lilli's cake. This is very special to me because Aunt Ann made all of my cakes when I was growing up. She is the reason I so love to decorate them now. Look at this beautiful cake she did:

I love it, and so does Lilli :)

Until later!
Barby

{updated class pics}

Here are some more pics of my classroom:

 Check out my awesome Poe display:

Overall, it's a pretty cozy place :)

Until later!
Barby

{Hummingbird Clearwing Moth}

Check out this cool moth that was in our backyard. I didn't know what it was at first. I ended up finding out what it was with an internet search :) So weird....

 Doesn't its little body look like a lobster tail?

I also took a short video:

Until later!
Barby

{Back to Work!}

Today was my official start back to work. I am still working with the new teachers, so I go back a week before the other teachers. Today was a good start. The new teachers in the building seem like they will be great. It was a good day :)

Until later!
Barby

{Baby Stella}

How cute are these pics?

I love that Stella is looking right at me, too.

Do I need to say more? Nope.

Until later!
Barby

{Library Fun}

The kids and I killed a little bit of time today at the library. They got some new (for them) books, and we also checked out the DVD Mary Poppins. I am very excited for them to watch it. Here are some pics:

A little work on his Geography skills :)

Look at that cutie!

Until later!

Barby

{Oshkosh Public Museum: What's Bugging You?}

The kids were so excited when we decided to head to the Oshkosh Public Museum today after church. There is a special bug exhibit there still, and they wanted to show it to us. Here are some of the highlights:

Look how serious he is...

One area they really like is Granma's Attic. There are a bunch of different things with which they can play:

We also walked around the rest of the museum. Grammie wasn't afraid to take a look at some of the graphic displays. Like this arm being dissected (not real):

 The Twitcher (Get it...like Twister!) game was also a hit:

It was a very nice exhibit. I am glad I was able to check it out before it leaves.

Until later!
Barby