Reese got her ears pierced!!

Reese has wanted to get her ears pierced for a couple of years but has been way too scared. For the past few weeks she has been asking to do it and I could tell she was really serious about it. Ella has also been asking to get hers pierced for the past couple of months. This week we decided to let them do it!

I honestly thought we would get there and Reese would end up chickening out and Ella would go through with it. In the parking lot, on the way in, they made the decision that Reese would go first since she is the big sister. I was very interested to see how it was going to go.

They both excitedly picked out their earrings. Reese chose a light purple and Ella chose a bright yellow. Reese sat on the chair and they marked her ears (it took them a while to get them even because she kept moving, this made me a bit nervous). They then got in position and this is her anticipating the shot.

After it happened she froze in shock for a half a second and then burst into tears.

She says it didn't really hurt that bad but the sound of the click really scared her. About 20 seconds later she was grinning ear to ear and was so proud.

The girl cannot quit looking at herself in the mirror and is so proud. She is just the sweetest and I'm so glad she finally did it and is so happy about it. She hasn't complained once about pain, even when we cleaned and turned them tonight.

Her sister saw her crying and decided she is not doing this until she is 8. It is funny that their typical roles were reversed tonight. Ella has been so hard on herself for backing out, despite us assuring her that it is smart to wait until you are sure you're ready. I'm thinking it will be sooner than 8 but she's pretty sure about that number 😂.

I just love these sweet girls so much!!

Camping 2015

Last year we braved camping with the girls for the 1st time since being parents. We had a lot of fun but were only brave enough to try one night. It went well so this year we decided to go for 2 nights. I am so glad that we did. We had so much fun!

We went with some of the same families as last year (minus 2 and the addition of 1). We camped at the same park and on the same site, Devil's Den. It wasn't as cold this year but still got into the upper 30's the 2nd night. We did get a new tent this year that we can fully stand up in and that fits 2 queen air mattresses. Ella slept with me each night and Reese slept with Neal. We managed to keep pretty warm in a tent with no heater.

I will say being there from the time we woke up until the time we went to sleep one whole day really made a difference. We went on multiple hikes, decorated walking sticks, painted rocks, threw rocks into a creek, colored, cooked a bunch of yummy food in a campfire, roasted marshmallows and went on a real nature hike with a park ranger (this was the absolute highlight for the kiddos). On the nature hike the kids got to learn all kinds of things about animal habitats, found a salamander, centipede, acorn, snail and saw multiple squirrels and birds. The trees are a bit past the gorgeous point but many were still really pretty. 

We had a great time and look forward to doing it again next year!!

A month with "Auntie"

First of all Reese decided to begin calling my youngest sister "auntie", it was Aunt Chelsea until about 6 months ago. Now both girls consistently call her Auntie and I think it is so cute.

We found out about 6 weeks ago that Chelsea and her husband were moving to Minneapolis. Their house sold in only 4 days and her husband moved up to start work the 1st of October and Chelsea had a project at work to finish up before she moved. So she needed a place to live for about a month and she decided that was with us. We were all excited about the extra time with her before she moved so far away, especially the littles.

We had a great month with Chelsea. It was really helpful to have someone entertaining the girls at times, helping to babysit a couple of times, helping with dishes and grocery shopping and even cooking a couple of times. The girls ate up the time and had so much fun with her.

We will miss having her so close but hope she loves her new home. We also look forward to visiting a new place that 4 out of 5 of us have never been!