Girls scouts at Martin's School of Cooking

The Daisy's went to Martin's School of Cooking and did a cooking class biased off of Pinkalicious.  It was a fun night! They made a pink smoothies,  dipped strawberries in pink chocolate and make pink cupcakes. 

Note from Gretta's Friend

I found this note from Gretta's friend Cameron in her backpack a few days ago. Gretta really enjoys school and has made some good friends. 

I am so proud of her for being a good friend too!

Eliza writing her own thank you notes

Eliza wrote her own thank you notes to her friends this year. I was so impressed with her. She is really growing up!

Take your daughter to work day!!

Whirlpool has a wonderful tradition of supporting the National Take-Your-Kid-To-Work Day, which occurs every year around the end of April.

This year, I snuck Gretta in to the event (the kids are supposed to be 8 and up!) since she's pretty darn smart and taller than some 8 year olds I know!

The funny thing is that the things we do with our kids on that day are NOTHING like the things we do during a regular work day. We made rocket ships out of spare electronic parts. Gretta got to be a chef and test making cookies in a new KitchenAid oven and go to an ice cream social! We never do any of those things at work. So I think we are giving our children unrealistic expectations about what work life is all about!

It was a lot of fun to have my oldest daughter at work with me knowing that my work is able to meet the needs of my sweet little daughter Gretta!

Eliza's friends birthday party

We have been celebrating Eliza's birthday for a week. I decided her real birthday was already really full and it would be more fun to do it on another day. Especially since she got to take snack to preschool on her birthday and more than 1/2 the kids that came are actually in her preschool class. It's a good thing because Eliza's real birthday happened to be the height of the FLOOD of 2013!!! The basement is actually still wet and all of the toys have been moved into the unfinished part. To bad is't the finished part and not the unfinished part that keeps flooding! So they couldn't play downstairs for a long time. They did venture downstairs to jump on the trampoline and play with a few accessible toys. 

Eliza's had 5 friends come--- Emma, Kara, Maya, Alyssa, and Rivers.

They sure had a fun time. Eliza's favorite part was the pinata. Eric came home with pizza and to help with the Pinata. He was also a big star! 

Happy Birthday Eliza!!!

Music in Me~EP Clarke First Grade Play

Gretta has been so excited for her first grade play!!!! She has been practicing her line and was so excited to make her shirt with notes on it. I dropped her off at 6:35 for her performance that started at 7:00 to find the WHOLE GYM FULL! I guess other parents kids were excited too! She did a great job and I see many years of stage productions in her future. 

Our Train Ride to Chicago

We decided to take the train from Michigan City to Chicago. Let's just say I am not a big fan and I don't think we will be doing it again anytime soon. That's pretty disappointing. 

The up side was the price. The girls were all free and it's only $8.25 to ride one way. We did end up having to take a Taxi once we arrived because I didn't think the girls could walk the 1.1 miles to the American Girl Doll Store. If it was just Eric and I that wouldn't have been a problem. Eliza and Carli loved the taxi ride:) 

We had to leave our house at 7:30 am to make the train that would get us to lunch in Chicago at 11:00 am (Which is noon our time.) It took forever! Plus the train was running 30 mins late due to red signals. 

Being on the train only entertained the girls for about 10 minutes and then they were asking when were going to get there. It is easier to travel with Carli strapped in her car seat. 

So I think next time if the whole family is going we will just drive! Or maybe take the train from St. Joe. The only problem is Amtrak was only $30 to go in the morning, but it would have been $90 for us to come home, so for $120 it wasn't worth trying it either. 

The good news is we had a great time in Chicago and would have stayed longer if we didn't have to rush to catch the train home. 

It was a long day for Carli and she was such a trooper. Eric took her to the Nike store while we had lunch at the American Girl Store. I was so excited to finally see the Bean.