Wisconsin Dells

Little did we know when we chose this weekend, back in December, that the Great Wolf Lodge would be thee best place to endure these crazy subzero temperatures!  This was our first, but certainly not our last time in the Dells... we LOVED it!  It was the perfect winter family vacation - thanks Grandma & Grandpa A for the great Christmas present!

Hadley was a 'gamer' this weekend!  She tried absolutely anything and everything at the waterpark, getting more and more excited as the weekend wore on.  

Can you pick out her & Kyle through the downpour?

It was an absolute treat to watch it all through her eyes.  She seemed to just swell with confidence and pride. 

Piper was admittedly much more cautious, but she had a blast in different ways.  

She loved jumping the waves, swimming in her life jacket, squirting water, and even went down the double tube slide 3 TIMES!!  She was also really sweet with Bryndel while we watched Kyle & Hadley slide all over the place.

Bryndel seemingly enjoyed watching it all, while getting her feet wet a l.i.t.t.l.e at a time.

She especially loved the hot tub (good girl!), pictured below :)

We had another 'gamer' in the group as well... otherwise known as Super Dad! He & Had were a good match :)

We LOVE family vacation!

To top things off we ate out nearly every meal, adhered to our 'eat ice cream' every day vacation rule, and the lodge was totally geared towards kids.  The last night we tramped down in our PJs to hear a bedtime story in the lobby.  The girls loved it, and Bryndel could not get enough running in the long hallways!

Wordless Wednesday

Piper's Weekend

Piper had quite the weekend!  It began with the excitement of losing her first tooth on Friday evening (How is it that she is old enough already?)!

 











But was followed by a long weekend of being sick :(  She repeatedly told me that her fever 'made her feel short!' hehe.

She is, Praise God, back to her happy & talkative self now!  And is still very proud of that little hole in her mouth.

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Snow in a Bowl

Piper and I brought the snow to Bryndel this week, with the infamous 'Snow in a Bowl' routine. Their 4 year age gap did not seem to impact this stellar WI winter activity!

As typical with Bryndel, she was pretty cautious at first...

But, I think its safe to say she LOVED it!

Especially, when her 'idol' joined her in the fun :)

Flash back 4 years... and who is this sweet cheeked pixie?  This was actually on my birthday the year Piper was 1! 

I love their expressions in this photo, hehe.

And flash back another couple years... and we've got Hadley B.

Where has the time gone?  

New Norm

Without even realizing it, we've kind of slid into a new norm around here.  If you want a book read to you... Hadley's your girl.  Used to be Mom or Dad, but both Piper & Bryndel have recently realized that not only has their big sister become an excellent reader she LOVES reading to them as well :).

It all began last fall, but has really grown over the extended Christmas break. Their favorite place to read is on the heat vent sometimes even under a down blanket! 

What a wonderful blessing!

Sledding Buddies

With all of that freezing cold weather behind us, nothing has felt better than getting out into the fresh air and sunshine lately!  We got to do it with some little sledding buddies this past weekend.  The girls were thrilled to have the Risler kids join us for some sledding.  Blake is almost 6, Bennett 3.5, and Marlee is just 3 months younger than Bryndel!

Look at those cute little buddies from 4th of July 2011!

Family

Blogger has been a bit finicky lately, and not letting me upload photos!  So, until that glitch has been fixed, I thought I'd better jot down a cute Bryndel story from the new year to at least keep our blog active... 


Bryndel has been adding new words to her little repertoire what seems like daily.  Our favorite words though, are the ones she uses to talk to us.  We've even been able to hear her quietly practicing all the names of our family over her monitor most mornings.  "Dada, Mama, Aaa (Hadley), P P (Piper), and Nee (for Me!)"  I love that she includes herself when naming everyone.  Its just so sweet that she already understands the concept of who's in her own family.  What a blessing.