Lorelei is 5 years old

Lorelei told me she is a big girl now. She turned five a few days ago. Her talented mom made some curtains for puppet shows and she gave us a demonstration. She got a puddle skirt for her dress ups.
Aren't I a doll?
The carousel cake with seven ponies but only five candles.
Now I need to have strategy to blow out all these candles so I need to study the situation before they light them.
There they are. Now to put my plan to work.
I'll huff and puff and blow them out.
I kept huffing and puffing but nothing happened.
One more time. There, they are almost out.
This is the rest of the story. She had help, but don't tell her that. Notice the direction of the flames in the previous picture.
Hey, look at the bottom of the ponies! Mmmm it is delicious frosting. Lets eat them.
Yum, yum.
And yum, yum again.
Better hurry up, mom is going to cut the cake.
Faster! Almost done.
Gigi was excited for her big sister and was waiting for the presents to be opened.
I'm bored. When will this be over.
Wait, I'll give the birthday girl a ride on my stick raindeer.
You are too slow. I'll help get the paper off.
Wow, a giant piggy bank with a roll of quarters to put in it.
One for you and one for me, but they share the same bank.
One of Lorelei's other gifts were some princess gloves and a giant red heart diamond ring.
Gigi modeled the dress that Grandma Barnhart gave her. "It looks just like Lalo's".

Play Date

In the middle of January, Lorelei had a play date with Grandma Larsen at the Mall of America. Well actually, they just went for the amusement park. Lorelei enjoyed the merry go round. She said, "I just love this horse." Striking a pose at the mall.
I liked it so much I went for another ride on a different horse.
And then went on a tour.
I got pretty hungry during all that activity and wanted some nuggets and fries. Mmm mmm good.

A visit to Chuck E. Cheese

On New Years Day, we received a phone call from the Dudes requesting our presence at Chuck E. Cheese for lunch. The boys were really excited to see us, as shows in the photo.
The school bus came by to take them to Chuck E Cheese Academy for a lesson on lunch gobbling.












Then it was time for rides .



























But the best part was driving with Daddy.

Leader of the Year

Since no one else has posted this or mentioned this on any blog, I am taking it upon myself to do it. Several days ago, Brett received an award at his work for the 2008 Outstanding Leader of the Year award. Yeah. Congratulations for being the best employee of the year. Keep up the good work.