"I feel older now that I'm ten." - Aspen on her birthday

Let the celebrations begin (bright and early before 9 am church, no less).

Aspen chose a piggy cake. She even helped to make it.

We also celebrated last night by going to see Lion King with her friends. (Friend's dad didn't want to go, or take 3 little girls, so he gave us the tickets if I would take them - of course!) The festivites will continue next weekend with a sleepover. (Why do they call them sleep overs? No sleeping actually occurs when a bunch of girls get together.)

Happy Happy Birthday

Aspen turned ten today. She is growing up so fast. I feel like it was just last week that she was a baby.
Aspen was born in Chicago and came into the world very fast. I started having contractions at 4:30 in the morning. I was at the hospital at 5 am. She was born at 5:20 am. Aspen was a perfect baby. She ate and slept, a lot. She was and still is, (as long as she is well rested), a happy girl. She loves to dress up. Starting when she was almost 3 Aspen would get up and get dressed then ask to play dress up. She would then change her clothes into dressups and leotards and stay that way for the rest of the day. Now the dress ups are just bigger. Aspen is a great big sister and takes good care of Hazel. She has always been the one to give in so others can be happy. She loves to create new things. For her next project she asked for a whole bunch of shoe boxes! I am looking forward to see what that will turn into. Aspen can also make friends with anyone. No matter where we go, Aspen leaves with lots of new friends. And she stands up for her friends too.
We love Aspen and are so greatful that she is part of our family. She is growing up to be a beautiful and friendly young woman.

What Hazel's been up to

I love to sew little girl dresses. They are fast, easy and cute. I especially liked how this one turned out. Hazel likes to try them on too.
Hazel loves to climb inside all my cupboards. She plays in the dark while I clean the kitchen.
Hazel is also very in to helping me cook and bake. She loves to lick the bowl and the beaters and the spoon and just taking chunks of batter and eating it. She's not picky.
Apparently we spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Hazel was coloring with markers while I was making dinner. She opened every marker to try the color out on her paper. Then she started in on the floor - thank heavens for washable markers and tile.

Isaac

Isaac lost 2 teeth a couple weeks ago. Peas fill the spaces nicely.

Box children

Aspen's friend Madison moved last weekend (just around the block). So the kids got to have all the boxes after they unpacked. They spent the whole day making a house with the boxes. They had blankets and pillows, food and toys. They even made a kitchen with plates and cardboard silverwear! After a while it was too cold outside and they moved it into my living room - where it stayed for 5 more days. Madison actually fell asleep in her "room".

Toby spent 3 days in his box. He made an alcove for his cd player and listened to his audio books for 3 days.

I think it's so funny that we spend money to buy the kids toys and all they want is a box!!

Aspen's a Hotshot

Click here to watch a clip of Aspen performing with some of her jumprope team, the Hotshots.

We have clearance, Clarence. Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?

I was in Chicago this week to recruit MBA interns. It was -2 degrees, -11 with the windchill. After landing, we sat on the tarmac for an hour while they de-iced the planes that were departing. Here is a photo I took of one of the planes landing on the runway next to us.