Skills that Lainey Has

Here is a small compilation of skills that Lainey has mastered.

 Rocking Horse

 Climbing up to the very top of the rocket ship at the park. No toddler playground for this one. 

 Sliding. See note above. 

 Climbing into "the roost" with the big kids.

Scooting around sitting on her wheelie bug. (I think I actually took this picture to document her wearing TOMS for the first time.) 

Celebrating with Friends

We also did some celebrating with friends!
Julia has the same birthday as Lainey (for those of you keeping track--- yes, Shana and Emi share one as well), so we took a day trip to LARK toys with some friends for toys, carousel rides and burgers!

And then we had another little celebration with all of the knitting babies.

Owl Festival

The arts and crafts at the owl festival were the big hits this year. Last year, I know the flying owls were the best part since they are still talked about. This year, we just saw the owls sitting on the arm of the handler, so while Peter liked seeing them, they enjoyed the crafting the most. We also decided to skip the hooting contest since it is so late in the day and it would have been a struggle to hang out with Lainey there all day.

We also celebrated Lainey's birthday this weekend. I couldn't bring myself to put all of these pictures of Emelia on her birthday post, but they just capture who she is so well.

Happy Birthday to Lainey

Took her picture on the turtle. Officially a Winonan now!

Lainey's first birthday was a full weekend! We spent the day going to the Owl festival, having cake at our house and spending time at the fountain park.

When Lainey turned one, she was crawling very quickly, pushing laundry baskets and toys and getting rides in bigger toys from her siblings. She loves to eat (fruits, veggies, and whatever we are eating for dinner/lunch/breakfast), have her bottles and especially play with her big sister Emelia. In the afternoons, she will wake up and Emi will run upstairs and crawl in her crib with her to play for a while. She is my sleeper- she will go to bed at 7 and some mornings she will wake up after 8am if she is able. When I go in to wake her up, she is always scruched in the corner of her crib and lifts her head up quickly with squinty eyes. Then she jumps to her feet and gives a big smile-- time to play!!

She is a climber. Loves to climb the stairs and to climb up on her little slide and go down it on her own. Lainey is tough- she can crash over and over and doesn't cry much.  You love to go for stroller rides as well. As soon as we go out to the garage and pull the stroller out to go for a walk or a run, you start to laugh and kick. I know this summer you will be hauling it out on your own.

You do make your wants known though. If you don't have a cup of milk at dinner you yell until you get one and when you are done, you have taken to throwing your food on the floor. (Scout thanks you). 

You are our sweet baby. Everyone in the family is sweet on you and you have brought out the mommy in Emelia and a patient big brother in Peter. When you start to knock over his buildings, he will bring you off to the side and build you your own little one to wreck. You love to wave hello and bye bye  and especially love to give big sloppy open mouthed kisses- then you giggle.

Children's Museum

We go on spurts of visiting the Children's Museum in LaCrosse a lot and then taking some time off. The kids still get excited each time that we go and our time is spent doing different things as they grow up.

This winter their favorite things to do were:

Lainey: Climb. On Everything. And anything. She also loved driving the boats and cars. 

Emi: Play in the Kwik Trip and make pretend pizzas. She loves pumping gas into the cars and taking "orders" and putting them in the ovens. 

Peter: The train tables and he was also up for the challenge of the rock wall this year. He consistently made it up to the ledge in that picture which is even with the first floor of the building. The wall starts in the basement. 

Happy 5 to Peter!

Peter turned FIVE this month. It was a busy week as always of many celebrations. He celebrated at the Ida's house on their own- when the kids came back they told me that Pete's birthday was over- we didn't need another party.

We didn't heed that warning. We spent the day with the Holey grandparents at LARK toys and then he and Garrick went skiing with Chris and Oscar. When they came home, there were many of his "adult" friends at our house to have cake and celebrate- the later in the week, he had his friends from school over! Big days for a big kid!

This year Peter has learned to write all of the letters and his name and words as you spell them out. He also has become some type of expert on different types of trains and has grown to love to play with his electric trains in addition to the wooden trains that he and Emelia play together with. Peter still loves to read all types of books and is learning to read and works hard on reading his BOB books. He also can complete complicated mazes and likes to color in coloring books. Peter completed the cross country ski program this winter, has become a great downhill skier going down any bunny hill with no help and has been in swimming lessons and can almost float on his back. He still loves owls, the color green, pickles and salami.
 

All of these boys have gotten BIG. Check them out five years ago...

First Birthday

Valentine's Day

I don't get into the hype of many extra holidays, but for some reason, we have hooked onto Valentine's day and enjoy it! We did a lot of talking about love- how we love, who we love, why we love eachother... aside from the usual answers- I love granma and granpa-- Emi did tell me and Peter one night, "I love Peteh because he is ma best Friend!" which was especially sweet. And the general consensus was that we all love Lainey- She isn't causing too much trouble (yet).

 We decorated cookies with Mike and Julie .

 Made Valentines Cards.

And dressed up for school. (past years)