Wrapping up January

The girls and I spend a LOT of time at acac, a local gym here in Charlottesville. For the most part, they love the Kidzone where they get to play and hang out while I'm upstairs working out. For some reason, the all seem to love these baby swings and it can be a workout in itself to get Lily and Lexi out of the baby room. 

I can't believe how fast Valerie is growing. (Ignore the trash in the background--I'm trying to "Marie Kondo" my home before we move and boy is it work!)

Speaking of homes, our offer was officially accepted on the Watts Passage farm!! We are so excited to start this new chapter in our lives! Now we just have to file all the paperwork, clean our house, pack, and get our home ready to sell. No big deal, right?

Pinewood derby was a success this year! Jude and Dad worked hard on the car that came in second in his group! Good job, Jude!

You'll have to excuse all the Valerie pictures. We are simply enamored by this sweet, happy girl, and knowing she is our last makes all these little moments that much more special.

Throw-back Thursday: Lance got to go on a cruise with the Dahlquist family down to Mexico during New Years! Here are a few pictures of the fun he had:

Cole is doing Occupational therapy and it seems to be helping. His therapist Sue is an amazing person and works so well with him. I am grateful we live close to such a great resource. 

Cole continues to struggle with school. He is very bright, but has a hard time focusing on tasks that he's not interested in (which happens a lot at school!). This means sometimes he has to do classwork at home. It is humbling to see him try so hard and WANT to do well and listen even when it's such a struggle. We love our sweet Cole. I just wish I could solve all his problems for him.

Lily made herself some underwear.

Virginia is just beautiful.

Practicing her silly faces:

Its crazy to think we've been in this house for almost five years. I am excited to move on to bigger and better things, but we will miss our neighborhood and our sweet neighbors that have always made us feel at home here in Willoughby, 

Happy 5th Birthday, Lily!

It's party time!! These Birthday parties are going to be the death of me. I pull all-nighters several times leading up, and usually spend the night before at the church setting up. My friend Sara Knight usually comes to help set up, but this time Amy came! It was super nice because she's pregnant with her first baby and needed to sleep, but stayed up to the wee hours of the morning stapling lights and tulle to bulletin boards. She is amazing.

The Birthday girl with her pinata, unicorn horn and wings (that were folded behind her)!

I used a feather boa from the party store for the mane and tail. I love it!

The cake! It didn't turn out the way I wanted, but it was fine.

Laura's family came too! Here's Grant and Jude playing with the homemade glitter playdoh.

Everyone got a container to take home. Look! Grandma made it too! We are so lucky to have family so close.

We also had unicorn horns for the girls (with a few alicorn wings) and dragon wings for the boys.

Baby Madison Knight

A relay race

We also had a tie dye station. Believe it or not, we managed to tie dye without getting any dye on the church building! (There may have been a few kiddos that left with some color on hands and faces, but the casualties were small.) The secret--puppy pads. Lifesaver.

Piñata time!

She couldn't wait to break into the gifts.

We ditched clothes for Lexi.

Cole tried his hand at drawing instead of making rainbows.

Clean-up time! Everyone was very kind to help before they left.

Enjoying the gifts at home.

Grandma gave her this super special little creature that talks to you. Lily was in love.

Bathtub paint set! They stayed in the tub for a least an hour painting.

Happy happy Birthday, Lily Lou!