Flippin' for Books

We were supposed to head up to the cities yesterday to get together for some birthday celebrations for Emily, but the big snowstorm kept us in Winona. The good thing, we made it to Flippin' for Books in the morning! We love this event every fall, awesome crafts, fun booths, cool WSU students, free pancake breakfast and free books! Always good ones too!

If you know Luke, he has a pretty good attention span. He had 2 WSU students at the "Harold and the Purple Crayon" table focused only on him for a good 20 minutes I bet. He saw someone had drawn a house, so he wanted to as well, with the help from them.

Then he went and did some puppet work for the story The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.

The library was also giving out free books, I grabbed this one for Em (how appropriate!). She's almost done with it!

Luke's pick....

Emily's pick....

cereal and stories

Every so often, a big box of Cheerios comes with a free book. Luke loved No T-Rex in the Library this time! I adore how he can just open up a book, never hearing it before, and just tell his own version by looking at the pictures. I think he'll be an early reader like Emily. There's hope for my boy! I remember asking Emily in Kindergarten who the best reader is (besides her of course ;), and she's always said, to this day, a little guy named Jacob. Because he reads words this small.

Birthday mail!

Emily got a birthday package in the mail this week from Arkansas. Loopz from Grandpa Ron, Grandma Sarah and Hannah! She saw it and knew what it was right away...TV commercial?! I had no idea, but she loves playing it! Thank you!

helping hand

Emily got some rollerblades over the summer, except all summer long, she'd only be brave enough to put on....1! Yep, she'd just put 1 on and and buzz around, pushing off with her non-wheeled foot. Until the other night... I looked outside and she had both on. With the help of little brother for some stability. He was really worried about her crashing!

He was tectin' Stella from the rain! Although there was no rain in sight....then. Today is a different story.

Bowling!

I took the kids bowling for the first time yesterday! We brought Rylie with and made it sort of a "birthday date" for Emily and her. We stopped and had lunch at the Chinese buffet first and then had the bowling alley almost all to ourselves most of the time. The bumpers were up and they used the ramps once in a while. I don't think we'll be a bowling family yet, but it definitely was fun to try out!

the birthday party

We celebrated Emily's birthday with her classmates from the 1st grade this past Saturday! At least the girls anyways. Since starting school, we've just invited the girls in her class, no one else. Makes it simple. All but 1 was able to come, so a good turn out! We had it at the gym where Emily has her gymnastics class. They had cake, opened presents, did some relay races and obstacle courses, bar work and had some jumping fun on the trampolines! I had the beautiful Barbie cake made by a gal I've known through ECFE and just being a Mom in Winona, she did a fabulous job!

Emily reading the book Allie wrote for her...."The Book of Emily." It was awfully cute.

Humane Society

It was supposed to be a surprise on her birthday after school Friday to visit, but they were closed to get ready for a fundraiser. So, we held off until Saturday morning! She got in a little bit of cat scratches and snuggles before we had to head to Hyvee and the Dollar Store for some birthday party supplies. One dog surrender and one cat surrender in the (less than an) hour we were there. Sad. We'll go back in about a month or so with some holiday time wish list donations. Something we look forward to every Christmas!