Look Who Is 4....

NW finally turned 4. She has been anxiously awaiting this day for about 4 months. It was a major milestone for her. In her mind, turning 4 was when she became a big girl. That means no more whining, no more screaming, no breaks and going to the bathroom at night by herself. All of those things were her idea and she came up with them on her own. It has been 5 days and she has been doing pretty well acting like a 4 year old. It was like a switch flipped.It takes 21 days for something to become a habit.

She had 3 parties this year. The first one was for the adults, the second one was on her birthday and the third one was for her friends. She has been in heaven for the past week.

She is a hugger.

Look how excited she is over a roll of duct tape.

Costume change. Wearing all of her gifts.

Grandpa John and the birthday girl.

4 out of 5 looking at the camera.

LW and Grandpa Jim.

A cake from The Bakers Wife. This thing weighed a ton.

You might remember Charlie. He was at the bday party at Michaels. His new thing is that he says he is going to marry NW in 3 years. That might be a little young. But I like him and would be fine if they got married in 25+ years. Until then, keep you hands to yourself.

Of course there was popcorn and of course LW put the hurt on it.

      Isnt it funny that only the boys are looking at me and the girls are looking everywhere else. Back row: LW, Emily, NW, Ella, Mary and Olivia. Front row: Charlie and Anthony.

On her bday we went to Como park and rode the rides and looked a few animals. It was the best $25 I have spent in a long time.

After riding one of the rides she wanted to go check out the other side of the car. She didnt notice the big bar that makes the cars go and she fell and split her lip. It was a little messy and she cried for a little bit. But she rebounded nicely and got back into the bday mood. Taco's, gifts and cake helped.

This was her big bday present...A new bike. Check it out, it is purple with butterflies. Exactly what she said she wanted. I got lucky and someone really made a bike like that.

The Schaffers, the Gettys and the Wings

Just the Wings of Bloomington and St Paul.

Duluth For a Day

I've said it before and I'll say it again " I love Duluth". It's not quite as relaxing with kids, but it is still a great city to visit and slow down for the day. We left at 8:30am and got back home at 9:30pm. So needless to say, the ride home left a little to be desired. We crammed too much into one day. Here are the pics to prove it:

NW wanted to go to the beach. So we headed out to Park Point. It was a different world out there. It felt like we were on the ocean. The kids played in the sand and threw rocks back into Lake Superior.

Out like a light. This was in between stops. They both caught a little shut eye before there were back at it.

My girls.

Family selfie.

Selfie at Jay Cooke. I'd like to say she was giving me a hug. The truth is that she was super scared of the rock cliff that was right behind us. She was terrified of it.

Another selfie at Jay Cooke.

If this doesn't make you smile, there is something wrong with you. She was standing on the tailgate while we got all of the sand out of all of her folds.

Water and Ice Cream

Doing big girl stuff is a big deal to LW. We have a bag of new water bottles and she insists on drinking from a water fountain. It's a little messy, but she loves it.

NW had a BBQ for the end of her vacation bible school. The hot dogs and mac and cheese were great, but these 2 kids loved the Drumstick ice cream cones. Look out cake pops, there is a new favorite on the block.

We didnt get LW a cone of her own. We didnt figure she would like it. Wrong. Instead she ate most of mine. She wore some of it too. She put her arm around me when it was time to take the picture. As soon as the camera went away it was back to the Drumstick.

Over a Months Worth of Pictures

NW got to shoot a bow and arrow at the parade in Howard Lake. She was so proud to hit the target.

Action shot. Check out the arrow in the air.

We rented the pedal cars at Minnehaha Falls. There were 3 riders and 1 pedaler. Guess who was the pedaler..

This was the inaugural trip in the Burley for Lucy. She had a blast. We almost needed a trailer for the trailer. The girls had so much stuff. We could have been gone for a week.

Chillin at the hotel in Tulsa.

Everyone took their turn standing atop the podium.

We have a few frogs that live in our back yard. The girls and the neighbor girls love them. They even have names. But these poor frogs go through alot. They get carried all over the yard and put under buckets and fed grass. I'm not even sure frogs eat grass. But this contraption was my trap to catch them. It was pretty funny. Kind of an ACME product from the road runner and coyote. In case you were wondering, it didnt work. We havent seen the frogs for a few days.

She fell asleep reading books.

NW stayed at Grandma M's house for 2 nights. So that meant alot of time with LW. She was in heaven. Here she is eating popcorn at Lucky 13.

Riding the seal at Minnehaha Park.

I'm not sure what look she was after with only one strap up. Maybe Tarzan or Andre the Giant.

This is what happens when you leave her alone for about 10 minutes to play in the water. It doesnt even occur to her that the sink will overflow. It is about 1/4" from being all over the floor.

You might recognize the countertop in the pic. It's the Angry Catfish. But check out who is in the back..it's LW. She has now joined our regular trip for coffee and donuts. Just me and the girls. Mom goes grocery shopping.