Welcome to Harper Werner!

We got a dog! It didn't just happen, we actually got her in November. She is about 4 months old now and growing so fast! She is a Black Lab/ Collie mix, but we don't see any of the collie at all.

Harper is very sweet and mild. She does like to run and play, but she is just as happy curled up on someones lap and watching the girls play dolls or read. Katy is our main dog walker and Harper slept in her room the first month we had her. Well, she slept in her kennel, which Katy would carry upstairs to her room each night! Last month I decided that she should learn to sleep by herself. And she is doing great! We only had a few howls the first night, now she is a pro!

We signed Harper up for puppy training at our local Petco and we just finished today! Harper graduated and even got a little certificate. Her trainer Krystal was wonderful and taught us so much! Each of the girls has learned how to do all of the commands and especially how important the responsibility of an animal is.

We are happy that Harper is a part of our family and can't wait to see how much we can teach her and have fun with her!

Ava Marie's 4th Birthday

I am really behind on this, Ava Marie's birthday was December 14th! But I am trying to get caught up, so please bear with me here. We had a really fun day with Ava. Oldest sister Katy dressed her and did her hair up.



She arrived at breakfast with these cool sunglasses on.

I'm 4 now....watch out!

Ava Marie chose Fritz's Restaurant down at Crown Center. It is a burger joint with all these model trains and train accessories. There is a track up near the ceiling that a train runs on, and it stops just over your table and dumps your food onto a ledge that comes down and slides your food onto your table. It is awesome to watch! Randy joined us for lunch there. Madyson Claire was not there as she was in school.
You call the order in on their phones.

I made a spice cake with fresh cream cheese frosting. Madyson said it was the best cake ever!

Ava got a musical instrument set with a drum, bells, marachas, a tambourine, it was so cute! All the girls loved it!

But the gift she wanted the most was an American Girl Bitty Baby doll. Madyson has the AA one, so Ava got the Asian doll. She asked for black hair, otherwise she didn't care. Madyson's doll is named "Bitty", so Ava Marie's doll needed her own name. She chose "America".

Happy Birthday to my precious girl! You are sweet and sassy. You like to do things on your own, but you are still Mommy's little girl. And even though I tell you every night to stay in your own bed for the night, I never send you away when you creep into my bed at 3 am. I love you!

Random Pictures of 2011

Ava Marie saying grace at Sweet Tomatoes!


This is what we do when sisters are not getting along. Even on a hot summer day, we must sit quietly and hold hands until we can be sweet. It always starts out with someone crying and saying they just can't hold the other sisters hand for various reasons. But it usually ends with a whole lot of giggles and smiles!


I used this for our Christmas card picture. I just love the lighting!


Picking out our Pumpkins.

Friday and we are having a girls night!

We usually save the girls night for Saturday night. We have Make-Your-Own-Salads at the Price Chopper, watch a movie in our PJ's and stay up a little later. We had to run errands tonight, including shopping at Office Max to pick up lots of things on my "Gearing up for Tax Season" list! It got late and I was trying to think of something I could put together fast...well that led me to decide that Chipotle was a better idea for us tonight!

Now the girls are sacked out on the couch watching a Disney movie and I am cleaning and organizing my office. And I just happened to load a bunch of new photos on my computer. So I am going to share a few from our Holidays!