our "birbay" girl.

cute little else had a wonderful birthday on friday. she could hardly wait for it to finally be her "birbay". she was lovin all the attention, completely ate it up! we went to the zoo thursday night because connor had a baseball game on her birthday. but her day was still pretty special, filled with everything yellow and rapunzel. yellow is her favorite color and tangled her favorite movie at the moment. cory worked half day and we had a mini water world that afternoon, then headed to the game and then back to roast hot dogs and have "yellow cupcakes with yellow frosting" per her request. she has worn her crown, new rapunzel princess gown and her very own pair of glass slippers (thanks ry, sara & kids) every day and night since... i finally snuck it away from her this morning and it's in the wash...hopefully she doesn't notice! there could be drama if she does!!

will was jumpin like crazy during water world.

he loves his jumper!

our cute "herd"

elsie sure does love her daddy!

happy birthday sweet girl! we love you!

our big "yittle" girl.

our sweet elsie potty-trained herself last weekend!! 

{yay} {hallelujah} {wahoo} 

as she is the third child, we {cory & i} were trying to be patient and not force it {we learned with the previous two that this, potty-training, is one of those things that you really can't force without a lot of frustration} ...but she turns three this month & preschool in the fall and so we were kinda antsy to get things going! that and changing two kids' diapers throughout the day is the pits! so we had talked about it for the past couple of months, and she'd humor us every once in a while and sit on the toilet, but she wasn't ready to fully commit. when we would ask her if she wanted to be a big girl, she'd tell us "no, my yittle."

but...last thursday was the day! she was finally ready. can't say that we haven't had any accidents...only three to be exact...but she has done amazingly well! even through the night, she refuses to wear anything but unders. she is one cute, determined girl!!

we love you sweet else!

and thank you for making 

our lives just a little bit less stinky easier! :)

our owl friends.

last friday we had on of the coolest experiences! while cory and connor were having batting practice in the backyard. cory hit a ball into the big tree and spooked a bird out and onto another branch.  cory went to look and found a little grey owl looking back at him! then they started to look around the tree some more and more and more owls popped out. turns out we have the cutest little owl family in our back tree!! we have a mom and dad and 3 babies, which we are pretty sure are western screech owls. they are about speckled grey and 6-7" tall.

it has really been such a cool experience! they are so majestic even with their small bodies. they are content to just sit and watch. all but one are not easily spooked. the kids love to go look for the owls every morning and throughout the day. we've seen them since then twice. we've been reading up on them and read that after the babies take their first flight, they will stay for about 5 weeks. so we are hopeful that we will get to see more of them!!

2 of the babies.

this is the daddy. he's much smaller than the mom and babies.

the yellow hornets.

last fall and this spring, connor has played on an ayso soccer team. the boys named themselves the yellow hornets. their jerseys were a beautiful shade of pastel yellow...very manly. :) he had lots of fun playing and is getting better and better at soccer. he loved playing with friends, making new friends and being on a team. 

{go yellow hornets!}

after school fun.

one afternoon a while ago, we tried to see how high connor could jump! it was pretty hilarious! 

our preschool grad.

it's true. our mae mae has graduated from preschool! oh how fast the time goes. but, she is so, so ready for kindergarten. though she is ready, i'm not sure that i am! she has grown up so much in the last few months, which has been so exciting and fun. but, oh, my girl, i love you and want you to stay 5 forever!

she did an amazing job on her preschool program today. 

knew every word!

her amazing teachers ms. chris and ms. ann

once again, these girls are the cutest! 

so fun to be in preschool together!

our dancin' chicken.

last saturday mabel had her year end dance recital. she was so excited that her recital day had finally come. she was the cutest dancing chicken you've ever seen! it has been so fun to see her find something that she loves to do, work so hard at it, and then enjoy the spotlight.

it was a special night for her and our family. 

thanks to all who came!!

getting ready to perform.

the thing that made it the most special night, was that she got to share it with bella, her very best friend! how fun it is to have a cousin so close and share so many fun moments with! such beautiful girls if i do say so myself!

after the performance! such a beauty.

the whole gang 

{minus sara & anna, the photographers and tiff & joe had to leave a little early}

elsie refused to look at the camera...

don't worry else, you're time to shine will come soon enough...

most of the photo cred goes to anna. 

thanks for being will to take so many for us! {and then email them to me} ;)