Juliette's good friend Claire (from Community Class) had her birthday party last weekend. Juliette was very excited about attending all on her own. 

A fruit snack for 2.

The girls love taking pictures of each other. Above is Ella's picture of Juliette. Below is Juliette's picture of Ella.

Ella's fish, Poppy, is thriving! 

Ella loves her little brother. He loves her as well. Grandma Jo-Ann tells us that when she watched the kids last weekend, Peter woke up in the morning and was calling "Ella, Ella" from his bed. These two have a very sweet bond.

Juliette has learned to draw dogs. Peter loves dogs, so she often draws them for him.

And Ella has been joining me on my "jogs". At 36 weeks pregnant, she is faster than I am!!

Our World Book Encyclopedias that we bought off Craigslist have been an amazing investment. During our read-alouds the kids often have questions and we look things up together. It is such an amazing way to learn. I know there is wikipedia, but there is something about looking things up the old-fashioned way that makes my heart happy. 

Ella has started coming out to look things up in the encyclopedia during her rest and read time. There is just so much to learn!

And on Saturday evening we participated in the Coldest Night of the Year event. Here's a picture of our girls with some of our friends from community group. It was a great walk!

Family Day

This weekend was Family Day weekend for us in British Columbia. We continued with our tradition of washing one another's feet. This tradition reminds us to serve one another as Jesus served.

And today we took the kids down to Stanley Park. It was beautiful, warm, and sunny!

We enjoyed looking at the totem poles and reading about their stories.

The girls had fun pointing out which totem pole went with which sign.

And then we biked / scootered around part of the seawall.

And spent some time collecting shells on the beach.

Belly shot at 34 weeks.

To end our day we went for a fancy dinner at the Teahouse. The girls packed dresses, jewelry and fancy shoes for the occasion. They loved the Teahouse and said that it is "even fancier than White Spot." They even drank Shirley Temples. And they were on their best behavior... although their motivation for this is questionable. On the way out Ella said "we were so polite, you will probably want to take us back here."

Even Peter enjoyed his fine-dining experience.

Learning at Home

Peter is the best motivator for our girls to practice their reading. They love to read to him and he loves to be read to. It works out quite well for everybody.

We had some fun with fingerprints the other day.

All the girls love to help out in the kitchen. They have been taking on more and more responsibilities.

And this little guy loves to "help out" as well.

Sometimes Peter wears his sisters high heels around the house. But don't tell anybody.

Yesterday we had a nice visit with the Lungs. We have missed them dearly over the past few years, so we are cherishing time we get to spend with them.

Karis is doing great on her pedal bike. She gives all the credit to her big sisters for teaching her how to ride.

Lately at the Lafleurs...

Ella's second bottom tooth was getting very wiggly, so Dadda pulled it out for her. It was making us all a little squeamish when she would bend the tooth around to show us - so we are thankful that it is out! Below is the selfie that Ella took of her missing tooth. Beside the missing tooth is her new adult tooth that is almost all the way in now.

Sneaky Pete loves to grab the kitchen stool and drag it over to the corner of the counter. This is where he can often sneak a piece of fruit, or sometimes a muffin that is being stored in a tupperware. He is very quiet about this business. The girls find it hilarious when we discover him quietly munching on some food that he has helped himself to.

Ella was the "star student" at Community Class last week. Each student in the class gets a turn to be the star student. They present their poster to the class and get to have some special privileges throughout the morning. She was pretty thrilled about being the star.

And it was PJ day at community class. Juliette's class made a fruit salad and ate it together in their PJs. Juliette, of course, wore her jean jacket over her PJs. It is her favorite article of clothing these days. And when Juliette has a favorite article of clothing this means that she wears it pretty much every day. Juliette has made some great little friends in her class. They are sitting together in the back row.

This is a picture of Ella's fish, Poppy. Yes - we are on fish #2. So far this fish is doing very well and has already outlived fish #1. Ella is still recovering emotionally from the loss of her first fish. But I think she has come to terms with it and is happy with Poppy. She named him "Poppy" because he "popped into her life when she was very sad".

I just love these kids.

The other day we went for a walk at Hawthorne Park. It is fun to think that this may soon be our new neighborhood.

Ella continues to love to write. She starts her own writing projects often. Today, I noticed that she has started her own journal. At the end of the entry she wrote "I love God a lot. He is my boss of my life." I don't think there are any better words that I could find written in her journal.

The Doxology

I never tire of starting my day like this.

2016 so far..

Juliette and Karis continue to love to play "moms". This game is at a whole new level with Karis' new baby and Juliette's Rapunzel doll now involved. 

I asked Juliette the other day what she and Karis were doing and her response was "playing moms of course!". These two are very close little buddies. Karis wants to do everything that Juliette does.

Juliette is an amazing little reader. I love listening to a beginning reader read out loud. The effort she puts into every word is so obvious and so beautiful. I also love the broken up timing of her sentences. She is doing great and she loves to read.

Spencer made a very basic Bible reading plan for Ella and Juliette. They love to start rest and read by reading a little part from their purple Bibles.

And sometimes when we go and give them a goodnight kiss, we find our girls snuggled up like this :)

Peter has been very into joining our at home ballet class. It is really funny to see him try to follow what we are doing. But no pink tutu for him!!