Proud to Be An American!

May 26 marks a special day for our family - Benoit became a US Citizen! On this special day, we all attended the ceremony with over 400 other individuals to celebrate Benoit's nationalization. The judge was enthusiastic and offered his congratulations along with a moving speech about rights and responsibilities as citizens of this great nation. Jolie wanted to know if we would meet the President at the ceremony, and although we did not, President Obama did make a video appearance congratulation the newest members of the USA. She also commented that she was thirsty and it was dry as a desert there and wondered why she had to get dressed up for this BORING ceremony. It's tough to be four!

Cheering on Dad!

Welcoming our newest US Citizen!

Beach Bums

Spring in Minnesota is tough for me. As a southern girl, I am ready for flowers and sun and water in March. For me, it just can't come fast enough. So this year, we extended a multi-family Disney trip with a few extra days in the Florida panhandle to soak up the sun! My Mom lives about an hour away, so we enjoyed some Nana and PawPaw time. My amazing brother even flew in from CO and stayed with us! The weather was perfect and I could not get enough. What a perfect beach week!

I ate seafood everyday. I sat at the beach and read Gone Girl (yes, I'm a little late to the party) ever day. I watched my girls play in the sand for hours every day. I had beers with my brother every day. I stayed up late talking with my Mom and stepdad every day. I was happy. Every day.

Loved spending full days with my Kindergardener!

Belle was a real trooper with her broken arm. She just played in the sand for hours and had a blast!

Belle and Jolie showing off their sandcastle which kept growing every day.

Jolie could spend every waking moment digging in this perfect Florida sand!

If it ain't broke...

Well it is.... Belle broke her arm in April during gymnastics class. She was doing a cartwheel off the balance beam and fell on her left arm. She cried only a little and continued with the class after a quick ice pack. There was no obvious indication that she had broken her arm and we thought she was just fine. But she kept complaining about it that evening and even took Tylenol (gasp!). She despises medicine so much, that I knew something was wrong. We saw her pediatrician in the morning and they said she had a buckle fracture near the growth plate and wanted her to see an pediatric orthopedic physician that day. After another doctor visit, she is comfortably in a sling for the next four weeks. Little does she know that we've been planning a beach/Disney trip for the past year! Ugh. But she should be able to enjoy most of the rides with no problems and we are lucky she does not need a cast because she would not be able to go to the beach with it. Silver linings!

She was all smiles and ready to show her friends at school the next day!

Singing in Church

Audrey's preschool class sang at church this weekend. She did a great job and was so excited! See the link below. On Friday, I was able to volunteer in her class for the day. It's always a treat to observe her and her friends, how they play, what she enjoys doing in class, who she hangs out with. A four year old only tells you a sliver of what goes on at school. She was proud to have me there and wanted to sit in my lap during circle time and hold my hand when we walked to the playzone for gym time. She asked me to go with her to the bathroom and admitted she was always a little scared to go at preschool because she is nervous about the loud potty. She hates flushing potties everywhere! She wanted me to read her a book and soon my lap was full of kids. They rehearsed their songs for church, so I got a preview. It was a great day!

Shepherd's Flock Preschool Sings at Church

Saving Money and Playing Nice

Welcome 2015! One of my goals is to document this beautiful life a little more frequently. So here goes!

This week, Sophie left me a note in my bed for the first time. She has a goal of purchasing an American Girl doll and she has been diligently saving her money from allowance, extra chores, gifts, etc. for several months. She wants to make and sell paper airplanes and paper boats. She found the directions for the paper boats in a library book and can get about halfway through the directions before she needs my help. She currently has about 20 airplanes and boats if anyone would like to buy one. She has priced them at $1 each or 100 for $1. She may need a class in business.

"Mom, Look under the book 'cause there is something for you to do but there is something under this paper."

Audrey has made a new friend at preschool, Emerson, who lives in our neighborhood. Her mom and I finally realized we could set up playdate exchanges so now we swap out Monday mornings. This Monday, Emerson came to our house and the girls played and had lunch, then I took them both to preschool and then Emerson's mom picked them up. They have a blast and the moms get alternating breaks. Win-win! Audrey loves playing with Emerson but still gets upset when a friend plays with her favorite toys or plays with her toys in a different way. She will get mad and then go to her room to be alone. So we are still working on being a good friend and being kind to a guest. At 4.5 y/o, that's still a little tricky.

We enjoyed a pillow fight this week, which is always fun. Audrey attacks over and over and Sophie stays along the edge and jumps in occasionally when my back is turned. Here we are post-pillow-fight taking a break. Good stuff!

Hurry Up Spring

We are nearly through our second winter in MN. It's early March and we are on the cusp of Spring. Yesterday, we hit 49 days of below 0 Fahrenheit days so Spring can't come fast enough. When it's reasonable, meaning at least 10F, we are outside playing in one of our two snow forts out front or sledding down the hill in the backyard. Audrey never wants to go outside but then always loves it once she does. You can plainly see how much fun she's having!

We also recently celebrated Sophie's 5th birthday (really? already?). She requested a vanilla cake with flowers. I have never been good at icing a cake - they always turn out lumpy looking and just plain ugly. But I can pipe cupcakes, so I transferred that technique to the cake. Turned out pretty well for my first attempt. She had a blast with friends at her sledding party and we were thankful the weather was warm enough to spend an hour outside playing in the snow.

Singing HBD to herself! Love this girl!

Sweet Moments

Today is sugar cookie day at the Cotnoir house! I'm bravely mixing, rolling, cutting, baking, icing, and decorating sugar cookies with 2 toddlers. Crazy but fun. This morning, we baked and rolled out our cookies. The girls were covered in flour (I forgot to put aprons on them) and the floor was a mess. Audrey kept getting mad and throwing the dough on the floor. I was trying to remain calm, but my type-A, perfectionistic personality was making my blood pressure soar. Deep breaths. Sophie did really well cutting out shapes. I suppose all that play-dough time has really paid off.

While the girls napped, I iced the cookies in white. I also prepped the icing in baggies for them to mix up to make different colors. Here are a few snapshots of our day.

Cutting out our cookies...

Waiting for them to cool. Looking good so far!
Iced and ready to mix our colors and decorate! The snowman on the left sacrificed himself for the cooks.

Sophie loved decorating and having some special time with Mommy while Audrey slept. She was so focused!

The final product and one proud little girl!