This past week marked the end of Ellie's dance and preschool/gymnastics, and all had parties to celebrate. It was a busy week, as a result, with cookies and cupcakes to make and parties to attend. The most fun was explaining why she was to wear her pj's to one...she just couldn't understand why that was..."That's crazy!" she said :)

 (Somewhat crazy outfit chosen by someone who all of a sudden has an opinion on what she's wearing)

 This party began with open gym time and Lia was able to participate. I was pretty impressed with her hula hooping skills! :)

 Check out those darlin' squeezeable legs! :)

 Ellie's "friend" Joanna (Whose name she only recently learned, and who she glued herself to in class...had to sit next to her, stand in line near her, etc.) Ellie often spoke of her and only refers to her as "my friend".

How amazing is this one...everyone smiling and looking in the same direction?  Not without much work on mommy's part, trust me :) Maybe I should take up children's photography- it's like exercise unto itself :) These pictures were the saving grace of a hopeless morning yesterday. We set out originally with intentions of going "for pictures" (you know, at the real deal photography place), only to find ourselves with obstacles around every corner. After giving up, and happy to enjoy a backyard lunch picnic, I was glad to catch some cute shots while everyone was all dolled up :)

Aurie Antics

This playful girl just loves her sisters and is thrilled when she can join in their play. (She often looks like she's about to just get up and follow them!) Here, they're crawling through this nifty contraption I picked up at a consignment sale...not a bad deal after all for $20!

Lia's recently become quite a playmate for Aurie. Their favorite thing is to have Lia crawl on ahead and meow, while calling Aurie to follow. Here, she's dancing for Aurie, and you can see Aurie clap :)

And then, last night, she took the kids' table chair like she was skating on an ice rink back home, across the kitchen/dining room floor. I put two because you can see her walk in the first, but the sounds she makes in the second are so darn cute- you can hear how she's so excited (like she knows it's an accomplishment) :)

Aurie's Baptism

Aurie's special day was this past weekend. It felt particularly special this time around with family beside us, and Aurie in the gown that Nana made that Ellie and Lia also wore. (Or maybe we're just really getting the hang of it? ;) No more! No more!)

                                      

 An evening out together

 Funny to catch Aurie in her latest favorite pose. Bill likes to accompany it with some Italian phrase or another ;) 

 Lia's writing her name now! We started with dots the way Ellie did, when she showed interest in writing her name, and now she's got the hang of it all by herself :) I caught her "doing some ballet" one day this week, following the class on the DVD we have.

 Boy that Pap-pap has a way with babies!

 The girls out having a good time at our neighborhood party last weekend. It was a blast! A live band, carnival games, jumpy houses, and two trips to the cotton candy machine! :) Daddy's put in so many hours planning this one. I'm so glad for him that it was a huge success! (We missed him though...you can see him working hard behind the table, in yellow :)

 Some water bottle 'cheers' :)

 (There's daddy)

And here are some moments in the beautiful church courtyard after the baptism. Some of us were eager to move it along to get to breakfast, and of course, others were interested in what we could find on the ground... (Aurie was asleep for the latter part of mass, and she just woke up here in these pictures.)