almost a week of eating rice cereal… and almost getting the hang of it. these were taken during our first go at it! 🙂
we R party animals
catching up on parties from earlier this summer again…this one.. kira’s 11th at the American Girl Place. i am so giddy that they opened this up by us! i am giddy that she still loves dolls. 
i mean, it’s like the perfect little doll world.. everyone who works there is high on doll/clothes/accessories happiness.. crazY! 🙂 i’m just saying that because i am crazy jealous that i didn’t have this stuff when i was little. i would have flipped! the whole book/doll combo- perfect.
a good time for sure. (heehee, she gets so embarrassed when they sing to her in restaurants)
and last weekend- party for my neice’s 4th. FUN!
more pics from that party are right here.
catching up again
2 saturdays ago we had our annual family party where we celebrate birthdays.
it’s always nice to gather together and watch slideshows and such. we come from everywhere to have this celebration. and i love this girl so much, my sister in law:
the girls:
some of the boys:
one of the highlights of the night was when we were all walking out of the restaurant and the waitress said: "Let me know if you have any openings in your family. You guys look like a good, fun family." And I smiled inside…knowing that I am so fortunate to be welcomed into such an amazing group…what a blessing it is for my kids to witness such love… I am so grateful.
Thanks you guys.
happy fourth
of july and four months for elsie! 🙂
photo taken minutes ago on our bed. this look here is the ‘you crazy woman, put that camera down and feed me’ look.
ok here she is:
totally gave up her pacifier. is strictly on fingers. does the fingers (2-4 at a time) and other arm across her eyes when she is ready to go to sleep. loves to sleep in her crib, preferably as close to her first sets of yawns as possible…if we miss that window… she gets a bit upset. 🙂
is totally entertained by her brothers and sisters– and all other family members.. big smiles for them.
not loving her swing as much, but loves her bouncy.
is SO good when we do errands.
can roll from back to belly but has trouble pulling her arm out from beneath herself.
is not a big fan of being on her belly–which is why she has difficulties with the arm thing.
beginning to wear bibs because she is quite the drooly pots.
totally fascinated by her hands and feet. (i love this stage)
good napper.
loves being outside in the evening.
loves her bath so much. 815pm every night. for a good half hour.
needs her bath/bed routine at night to be able to sleep straight from 9pm-7-8am. (i really like this part- ha!)
lays in her crib in the morning and talks to herself, has this pull toy that plays music.. and sometimes we wake up to hear it, i am totally amazed that she can pull it!
her eyes are still a bit grey but are slowly turning brown.
still such a sweetheart.
highlights from the beach
she did GREAT! she dipped her feet in the sand and a little in the water– too cold though and cried. slept in the playpen, just a pretty happy camper so that the rest of the family could stay and play. 🙂
it was cute to see these 2 play with pails, sand and water… i guess seeing the little girls in them still makes me happy.
and these 2– NONSTOP. the whole visit. feel like we hardly got to see them, they were always lost in their little world.
and marshmellows. yum. it was a good day. 🙂
c ya!
off to the beach for my first time. hope i don’t get too cranky with the heat and sand. i like my temperatures just right and naps in my bed.. so we’ll see if i make it through today okay. tomorrow i am 4 months old, and i am sure my mother will post pictures and tell you all those little details that she is so proud of. 🙂
bye!
elsie xoxoxox
catching up
my sweet sister in law, rachael and her family are in town visiting. so my mother in law has 7 little munchkins running around her house. we’ve been busy hanging out with them. it’s been incredibly yukky hot lately so lots of air condition going on. nice to just hang–trying to make the most of each day before sunday comes and they are gone again. 😦
on tuesday, chris and i celebrated our 8th anniversary. 
i am so happy to be married to this guy. my best friend. i can’t believe it’s only been 8 years.. (ok, 10 with dating) i don’t like thinking of my life pre-him. he’s my little safety and i didn’t feel complete until there was him. sappy i know. but so true.
and this girl: we got a few clips for the mohawk. 🙂 and this is what she looks like with the little rubberband in. i love it.. it just won’t stay in for long. 
sorry for the fuzzy bad pic…but is it really bad? look at that cute smile! 🙂
her mohawk
is in full force. 🙂 it is naturally up like that daily! and we get so many comments on it. sometimes i feel like i should put something in there to make it have a little mohawk control but other times i look at it, and it is just so her! i want little ribboned covered clips for her but i can’t find any i like. her hair will hold little rubber bands for like 5 minutes. her hair is so fine that it wiggles right out.
anyways- here she is laughing at her siblings. she LOVES watching them. i am so glad she has them. they are total entertainment right now. 🙂
an A for enthusiasm!
the kids purged their room and had a yard sale! or, at least they tried. we didn’t get a whole lot of traffic, being that it was a wednesday afternoon… i told them we will try again on saturday. but they did get a few customers and made over 10 bucks.
lots of waiting.. otter pops..and a very enthusiastic caleb. he is going to be one heck of a salesman or something when he grows up. he was waving down cars… chasing them as they passed us on the street.. i was totally LAUGHING. he is so cute. anyways, so glad to get this stuff out. they have fewer toys and we are good with that. we didn’t NEED that many toys. that bin alone makes me want to do cartwheels that it’s out of the house. yay! i told chris that it’s just a little window of peace without toys… it won’t be long until elsie is allllll into toys. oh no! i’m not saying i don’t like my kids to have toys– but it’s hard to stay on top of. and if you are like me, you don’t/can’t/won’t keep up with it. so downsize… keep what you will really use… what is special to you… 🙂 now if i could translate that into my scrap area that would be good too. 🙂
Great article in the National Review today on husbands and fathers…if you’re either one of these, or married to one, read it.
I’d like to make the case that the most important thing fathers can do
for their children is to love their mother. And likewise, among the
many things mothers do for their children, one of the most important is
that mothers love their children’s father.
I grew up in a home where my father showed my mother the UTMOST respect. To this day he calls her his ‘beautiful bride.’ In return, my mother lifted him up, never passing on an opportunity to praise him. In this I felt a wonderful sense of order, and an unmistakable sense of safety. There is nothing I cherish more in my role as father than climbing into bed with my kids in the pitch of night, and making them feel safe. My heart aches, particualrly on father’s day, for the millions of kids who ride out the night without the hero to make them feel ok.
Most men, with an insignificant number of exceptions, are capable of
this heroic loyalty. We women can call this out of our men. We don’t
achieve this by nagging. We certainly don’t achieve it by competing
with them over who makes the most money, or by keeping score with them
on who does the most household chores. We need to build them up, as St.
Paul says. Watch them sit up straighter and taller when we appreciate
and admire them.
My success as a father begins where Jamie’s love ends, and this is the case for all fathers. We’re husbands first, and cherished husbands make for great fathers.
watersix 
