New Art

Our dear friend, Laura, made some art work for the girls' rooms. She made them each a beautiful flower out of scrapbook paper. She customized the flowers according to the girls' interests. On Ella's flower she drew ice cream cones and on Juju's she drew whales. Our rooms look so much brighter and prettier now - thank-you Laura!

Laura also attached a card for each girl with a scripture verse from their dedication. Ella was so thankful and touched that "Ms. Laura even made a card for me." Ella LOVES to make cards so this really spoke to her love language :)

Rainy Days

We have had several rainy days around here lately. We kept watching out the window for a break in the rain so that we could get to the park, but some days it poured all day long. On those days the girls did a lot of reading. Ella loves to read, and Juju and Karis love to do what Ella is doing. The other day as I was making lunch Ella sat on the stool and read me "Amelia Bedelia". I love it when she asks if she can read to me! Her sisters grabbed a couple of chairs and starting "reading" me their books as well.

During quiet time Juliette made her own Pinocchio craft. It is a cut out of a very long nose that says "Juliette" on it. She reassured me that her nose won't grow this long though because she is "very honest".

"Momma, I read my book."

"Momma, look at my book hat."

Pinocchio and Birthday parties!

We just finished our latest read-aloud - Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. The girls were very excited to watch the Disney movie after we had read the book. The movie is quite different from the book and the girls had several questions about the differences.

Apparently I was the only one of the Lafleur girls who could stop eating popcorn for the photo-op.

Yesterday, Juju turned 3 and a half. She was very excited about her half birthday and brushed half her teeth in the morning (just like Ella did on her half birthday).

Yesterday we also celebrated Ethan's real birthday - he turned 3! He had a really cool book-themed party and he was dressed up as Cat-in-the-Hat.

And last weekend we celebrated Hudson's 4th birthday! I love how relaxed Hudson is in this picture.

Olympics

Last week we had a special guest at our preschool. Laura's dad, who is a former Olympian, came and spoke to our kids. He played on the Dutch national hockey team in the Olympics years ago. He brought his gear and his medals to show the kids.

After "Grandpa Larry" talked to the kids, the kids had a chance to try on some Winter Olympic sports equipment. 

During preschool, 2 of the moms watch the babies while the other kids learn the preschool lesson. Here are Karis, Riley and Hailey all growing up so fast.

Snow!

This morning we woke up to a winter wonderland. After church we took the girls out in their sled. Around here we need to act fast when it snows because you never know how long it will last.

Paddington Bear

 We just finished reading "A Bear Called Paddington" and (because the girls loved it so much) "More About Paddington". To celebrate finishing these books we had a marmalade sandwich lunch. The girls were so excited to eat marmalade, just like Paddington.

I love being at home with our girls. I sometimes wish these days could last forever (and there are also days I feel like I may poke out my eye). One of the things that just makes my heart overflow with joy is when Ella reads to her sisters (just because it is so cute). Ella and Juju are very into "The Mole Sisters" lately. It's the cutest thing - Ella starts by reading the title and Juju says "hey, sisters, just like we're sisters" and Ella says "yah, just like us - except we're not moles". And then they both laugh :)

On good days, Ella lets Juju turn the pages. And other days (the ones that I feel like poking out my eye) this turns into a major argument.

Karis has a new trick. She goes into the bathroom, closes the toilet cover, steps on the stool, onto the toilet, onto the counter (by using the toilet paper roll as a step), and then hangs out in the sink. A few times we have wondered where she disappeared to and have found her relaxing in the sink. Weird!

Please note how full her head of hair is getting. This picture shows the back nicely - Auntie Jaynie may appreciate this :)

February

Here are the girls doing some learning at home. Karis loves to be part of our homeschool day, so I usually give her a simplified version of what the girls are doing. She often grabs a paper and a pencil and asks "how do you write an E?"

These girls love their Dadda and are always happy to see him at the end of their day (and so am I)!

Reading books together

Since Ella often reads to the younger 2, Juliette loves to assume the big sister role and "read" to Karis. She has a couple of Karis' favorite books memorized.

Our sweet neighbor delivered the girls some Valentine's day treats.

This picture may offend some Canucks fans. The girls are dressed in their Canucks outfits, complete with Minnie Mouse ears and shoes.

Back in October, Spencer wore a Montreal Canadians jersey while we took the girls trick or treating. At one point Spencer was wearing Karis' Minnie Mouse ears along with the Canadians jersey. Somebody we passed on the sidewalk commented "the Minnie Mouse ears suit your jersey". Thankfully Spencer isn't a huge Canadians fan and got a good laugh out of this.