{birthday girls}

I cannot BELIEVE that my girls are 7!!!  It's gone by way too fast, and they are growing up right before my eyes.  I enjoy them so much, and they are both absolutely delightful.  

Celebrations started yesterday at school, when I brought lunch and cupcakes to them.  They don't do birthdays in the classroom--it's all done at lunchtime.  You should have seen me...I was balancing 60 cupcakes in one hand, pushing the stroller with the other hand,backpack/diaper bag slung over an arm, and trying to make sure that Jack and Henry didn't get run over on our way across the parking lot.  The stroller was also perilously packed with lunches and drinks, and I was very afraid that we would lose everything in the process. Fortunately we made it, and the girls LOVED passing out cupcakes to their classmates, and eating with their brothers at the lunch table.  Rick was even able to come and help for a little bit, and that always makes the day better.

This morning they woke up to streamers across their doorway, and their favorite cereal for breakfast.  I never buy sugar cereal, and so thoroughly their Fruity Pebbles and Lucky Charms.

We also attended the baptism of a little girl whose family we are good friends with, and Kate and Emma loved seeing her get baptized, and of course the treats afterward.  ☺ 

After the baptism we headed out to lunch at The Black Walnut, one of our favorite cafes.  It's definitely more "grown up", and we love eating out on the patio.  They also have gluten-free bread, so Emma is in heaven with her grilled cheese.  It was just a girls' day, and we had a really fun time eating and chatting.  

We headed out for some shopping, and a little more girl time before heading home.  We had the girls' choice of chocolate chip pancakes and HOT chocolate for dinner, and it's the second year they've requested it.  In Michigan it was always cold the end of April, and hot chocolate seemed perfectly appropriate, but the 80 degree weather didn't affect how much they all loved it!  

Finally it was time for cake and presents, and the girls had been very patient all day. They only asked 50 times about it.  ☺
 

They LOVE their new pajamas from Gramme & Poppy, and have only taken them off to go to church.

It was such a fun day!  

{Kate}

 Loves sports, playing outside, and being a big sister. She is amazing with the baby, and her little brothers, and I can always count on her.  She is  very social, loves being with friends, and could be on the go all day long if I let her! She is smart, and loves her teacher and friends at school.  She is incredibly sweet and happy, and makes our home a better place.  

{Emma}

Loves ballet, reading, and playing the piano.  She is an excellent reader and student, and thoroughly enjoys learning.  We call her the librarian.  ☺  She's very good at playing with her brothers, and entertaining them when I need help.  She organizes playing house, or some kind of imaginative game, and the boys just eat it up.

Love you, Kate & Emma!   xoxo

{two boys and their first trip to the dentist}

I have to admit, I wasn't really looking forward to this trip to the dentist.  It was the boys' first time going, and you just never know how they're going to react once they sit in that chair--if they will at all. Caroline was only three weeks old, and I still didn't have the whole "take the baby and two boys out of the house at the same time by myself" routine down quite yet, so I was just praying for the best.

This was also the first time going to our new dentist, so I really was going into the whole experience blind.  I quickly found I had nothing to worry about, and this is why...

That's right, a nice big television playing one of their favorite shows, right in front of the chair. This dentist is SMART!! The hygenist also let them sit together in the chair the whole time, and the combination worked like a charm  They let her count all their teeth, clean them, brush & floss, and even take x-rays! The dentist also came in and took a look, and they both did great.  

I am happy to announce that they are continuing on our dental tradition--no cavities! None of my kids have ever had a cavity, and neither have I, and I'm really hoping to keep it that way.  :)

And this darling baby? She was perfect the entire time!  

 

I'd call that a success.  

{family date night}

Usually Friday night is our reserved date night, and we head out as soon as Emma is home from ballet and the kids are settled eating their Friday night pizza. This week we decided to go out and do something as a family--it had been months since we had been able to do that, with Rick's busy season and then the baby.

We went out to eat in Market Street, at a yummy build-your-own burger place that even had gluten-free buns!  The food was super good, and I balanced out my parmesan & garlic fries with delicious roasted vegetables and yummy salad. Eating out is one of my favorite things to do, especially when the food is so fabulous. I love love love having so many restaurant choices, although it's not going to be good for losing the baby weight.  ☺

 After we ate, the plan was to head to one of our favorite parks on the lake, where we could feed the ducks.  We had been saving the heels of our bread for the past couple of weeks for this very purpose, and we had a bagful all ready to go.  

I don't remember the last time we took the kids to feed ducks, and they LOVED it. 

 

The very best nights are just like these...simple, but just spending time together. We've really missed that over the last couple of months, and we are definitely appreciating being able to do it now. 

{gator adventure}

Usually when you see an alligator, it's either on television, or through a large fence at the zoo.  I have to say, I've been pretty comfortable with that arrangement.  For some crazy reason, it's just not how it works here in the South. 

Yesterday we traveled about an hour to a state park to do some hiking, and yes...possibly see a gator or two.  In my mind, I imagined that we would see them from a distance--a far distance where we could ooh and ahh and be excited that we got see them in the wild.  I mean, why else would I feel okay about taking my six kids (several of which are the size of alligator food) there?

We started out the day with a picnic--it was a beautiful day, and really quite perfect.  The wind was blowing, the temperature was in the mid to high 70's, and tons of trees giving great shade.  We all ate a yummy lunch (even the baby), and then we were ready to go!

We had plenty of water in our backpacks, but Jack really wanted to carry his own bottle. And he did...for the whole day!

We headed down to the lake's edge first, where you could walk out onto a large dock, and possibly see a gator.  Right before we go to the dock, there was a sign warning us about alligators (the first of many we would see...) and RIGHT next to it, was a huge alligator--just about 10 feet or so away from us with his mouth WIDE OPEN.  Really??  Was this safe?  And normal?  I mean, this is what people are used to seeing, and it's no big deal? Because I was kind of freaking out.  I wasn't so much scared for myself, but knowing I had little kids that didn't really understand the value of standing still, not throwing rocks, keeping their distance, etc. made me a nervous wreck. I looked around, and there were tons of families, lots of kids (it was right near a playground), and not one person looked concerned.  Or even fazed.  Apparently, this was the norm. Then I looked to the left of us, and there were two more alligators on the other side of the trail, about the same distance away.  We had been there all of five minutes, and we had already seen more than we might see had been at the zoo. 

Rick and I both decided that was probably good, so we turned around and headed for the hiking path.

In this particular state park, there were a ton of different trails and lakes we could see, so we chose one that would be easiest for all the littles.  It was around a lake, with an observation tower at the halfway point.  Miss Caroline was tucked away in the front pack carrier, all the kids had their hiking sticks, and off we went!

We hadn't gone far when the trail was surrounded by water on both sides, and would continue this way for pretty much the rest of the hike.  Once again, we saw warning signs about alligators, including a list of do's and don'ts.  One of the rules was to give a gator the right-of-way.  Really?  Like this had to even be written down?  I would be more than happy to give it the right-of-way, and anything else it wanted, lol.  

I wasn't so afraid for myself, but I didn't really want to have to wrestle with an alligator if one decided to grab one of my kids--two of which would not stop throwing rocks into the lake, even after repeated warnings from the rangers about not knowing what was right under the surface. They even told us that last week someone's backpack had been grabbed from the side of the path by an alligator, and taken into the water.  

Just a little farther down the path, we saw another one, basking in the sun right on the side of trail.  We carefully tiptoed around it, while watching others walk right up to it, and snap an up close and personal photo.  After a few more sightings, I have to say, we were starting to get used to seeing them. Soon we came to the observation deck, where we could look out at all the land around us--swamps, trees, lakes, and lots of trees.  It was actually very beautiful to see, especially being surrounded by it, and no civilization in sight.

The rest of the trail was filled with plenty of rock throwing, gator sightings (the closest one yet...just a couple of feet away from us on the trail!), picking flowers, water breaks, snack-time, climbing on giant tree stumps and fallen logs, puddle jumping, and more.  My kids were all in their element, especially my boys.  It made me wish we were living in the country again, with plenty of space for them to run around and play all of the time.  

 

While eating pizza afterward, all of them declared it was "the best day ever". It's going to be kind of hard to compete with that kind of excitement in the future!

{two weeks}

It's amazing how quickly the time passes after babies are born...at least it seems so after those long last few weeks of pregnancy.  I can't believe Caroline is already two weeks old! I'm not even close to being ready for this newborn stage to be over, and it just goes way too fast.

She had her first doctor appointment a few days ago, and she is following the standard family growth pattern (except Henry, lol).  She's 99th percentile for height and 75th for weight, and was well above her birth weight.  It's no wonder...she eats A LOT.  Rick actually calls her Henrietta, because she has the same eating patterns as Henry did at this age.   We'll just have to see if it continues...he was drinking 16 oz. (yes, that's TWO bottles) when he was 4 months old, so that bar has been set pretty high.

She is a good sleeper, hooray! She goes down around 8pm, wakes up at 11pm (which is perfect for me--I can feed her then go to bed!), 3am, and then around 7am.  She is definitely the youngest of 6, because this girl can sleep through ANYTHING!  (Believe me, it's been tested...)

She went on her first date night this week, when Rick and I took her out to dinner with us. She slept the whole time.  :)  

The kids LOVE her. L.O.V.E. her. There is always a conversation going on about whose turn it is to hold her, how many minutes the last person held her for, and any unfairness along the way.  My little Jack is one of the best holders in the house, and he will sit forever (one time it was two hours!) with her laying in his lap--his little arm draped protectively over the top of her.  Geesh--I'm still a little hormonal, because just writing that made me cry!

What a good baby she is...never cries unless she's hungry, and is happy all of the time.  Her little temperament is just so sweet, and she brings so much joy into our home.  This picture tells the story...it's during General Conference, and there she is, right in the middle of things!

In other news...we finally have a playset!  It's been sitting in boxes in our garage forever, waiting for Rick to not be so busy at work to put it together.  Enter in my dad. The last week he was here, he spent the days outside (wrestling with my boys at the same time) putting it together.  Rick was able to join him on the weekend, and they finished it up.  Holy moly, those things are a bear to put together!  The kids are in heaven.  They spend hours out there, and it's really nice to have something that they enjoy, and I love being able to send them out to play.

Don't you just love that big area of dirt/mud?  There were originally three large natural trees there, that they left during construction.  They have since all died, the last one just a couple weeks ago, leaving us with just dirt.  We need to take out all the mulch, add top soil, and lay sod...add it to the project list, lol!  I'm in a hurry to get it done, because it just has a silent beacon that only children can hear, screaming "come roll around, and get as dirty as you possibly can"!  My children are very obedient to that voice, and my kitchen floor has been on the receiving end of those dirty little feet many, many times.

All is well around here...busy and happy!  

{sweet baby}

I mentioned in my last post that I hadn't received my new camera yet in time for blessing pictures, so I was also disappointed I didn't have it when I wanted to take a few newborn pictures as well.  Since we moved away from our favorite photographer (Miss Stephanie...), I was on my own. A nice camera would make a HUGE difference, where I could actually change and manage the settings but I really needed to take these before she got too big and not willing to stay nice and sleepy while I put her in a crate.  :)  However...I'm just glad a few turned out that I like, and that I have some at all! 

 

She really is the sweetest thing.  ♥

{easter sunday...happy blessing day!}

What a special day!  Not only was it Easter Sunday--which is my favorite Sunday along with the Sunday before Christmas--but my sweet baby girl was blessed.

She's only 10 days old, and normally we would wait until at least the first of May, but this was my parents' last Sunday here, and we really wanted them to be here with us for it.  Since I'm not going to church yet, we had the blessing here at home, and it was wonderful.  We blessed our boys at home too, for the same reason, and there is just something really wonderful about bringing that Spirit into your home. Rick did a beautiful job, despite Miss Caroline crying because she was so hungry!  

She wore the blessing dress that my grandmother made for me when I was blessed, and I was thrilled I was able to use it.  I wasn't able to when I had Kate & Emma (one dress...two girls), but I had always planned on it.  My mom and I were trying it on her this week (which barely fit in the tummy area, she's already a chunk!), and discovered how lovely the full-length slip was underneath the crocheted overlay. Hand stitched hems, pin-tucked neckline, ecru muslin, and lace around the bottom were vintage loveliness, and just my style.  She even hand stitched my birth date in the back neckline, which I hadn't noticed before.  I decided to have her just wear the slip, but since it was sleeveless, I added a darling shrug that my girls wore to my sister's wedding when they were tiny babies. I LOVE how it all turned out, and it was really special to me that she was able to wear that dress. I was especially close to my grandmother, and I think of her often. I know she would have just loved all my babies to pieces.  I think she was watching today...

I took a few pictures of Caroline today in her dress, and a couple others, I was so happy she stayed asleep long enough for me to take them.  I didn't have long, so I had to hurry, but I'm glad I was able to get these.  I was hoping I would have my nice new camera by now, but that isn't the case, so I had to make do with a not so great one, but such is life.  Hopefully soon I'll be able to take more with my new one! 

 

 

Happy Blessing Day, darling girl!  We love you!