Long Hair and Sass!

Last night was Eleanor's dance recital. When they told us all the girls had to have their hair pulled halfway up with the bottom half curled, I knew Eleanor would not like it. So, I called my great cousin, Ally, and asked to borrow her hair extensions. I figured Eleanor would get a kick out of having long hair, I just didn't realize we'd be the next Toddlers and Tiaras! It was actually quite entertaining watching Eleanor with her long hair. She couldn't leave it alone! Of course she had to run all around the neighborhood showing it off to her friends! I'll post more photos of the actual recital when I get around to getting them off my camera, which she was adorable during! Here are a few quick instagrams taken right before we left for the big show!  (Poor Mia wanted long hair and a pretty dance costume so bad!)

Keeping Busy

Since I started the rule of no tv while the sun is out, we've been doing a lot of crafts, science projects, pretend play, doing research, making books and making lots of messes! Eleanor and I also started reading The Magic Tree House series. We read the first one in one night. Obviously, Eleanor loves them! We've been to the library three times in the past week. Our goal is to finish the entire series before Eleanor starts kindergarten. I believe there are 48 books with the two series combined. I so glad Eleanor loves reading and I hope she continues to love it!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day this year was delightful! John kept the kids out of our room and downstairs so I was able to sleep past 9. The girls were so excited for me to wake and tell me happy Mother's Day about a hundred times!

I am seriously so lucky to be the owner of these three little kids! They can drive me absolutely crazy one moment and then completely melt my heart the next. I love each one of them to pieces and really hope I am doing my best for them.  I feel like they are all so different and have individual needs. Eleanor loves spending time together whether its going to the movies or working on a project.  Amelia wants nothing more then to make me happy and loves positive encouragement. Little Jude needs plenty of hugs and kisses and loves playing together.

I'm glad John thought to get a quick photo of us before we headed off to church. Too often I'm the one behind the camera.

Before I Forget

Amelia: "I don't want to go to church. I want to go to Disneyland".

Eleanor: "Mom, why are your boobs so long".

Baby Cece

Amelia loves her little baby. She has two favorite, this one and the one she stole from Henry. This baby is named Cece and the other baby is either Henry's baby or Cece as well. She cracks me up when she holds her babies. She's got quite the natural mothering skills. She gets really upset if I drop one of her babies, if the bottle falls out or if their blankets come loose. I love hearing her baby talk to them and say, "ooohh" in a really sweet little voice. The other day she was so upset that the library didn't have a rocking chair so she could rock her baby to sleep. I think I know what Santa might be bringing her...

Moving On Up to Preschool Leve 4!

We finished Eleanor's second round of swimming lessons this year and she passed! I was kind of worried she'd have to repeat level 3 but she passed and made huge improvements this go around! I just signed her up for another 9 days in June. It's not my favorite thing, hauling all the kids down to the pool for nearly two weeks, but it's paying off! I also try to take the kids swimming at least three out of the nine days. They love being at the pool and I figure we might as well take advantage of it before the summer crowds come!

Eleanor's Makeovers

 I love when Eleanor gets on her kicks. Right now she is really into her makeovers. If you are really into lots of glitter, tons of lip gloss and eyeshadow all over your face, give her a call and she can schedule you in!

Jude Eight Update

Jude will actually be nine months in a few weeks. I don't know how nine months have already flown by! Here are a few of our favorite things about this little man:

* He loves crawling. He's not afraid to make his way all around the house. If he is in one room and hears someone in the other, he'll crawl right into the other room. Tonight he was in the kitchen and heard the bath water so he crawled all the way to the tub.

* He's finally started to eat more then just two or three bites during meals. Of course, I have to heat his food. I swear, this little boy has me wrapped! He loves corn, Cheerios, bread and sometimes bananas.

* He thinks its funny when he spits out his food. Probably because his sisters laugh at him every time he does it.

* He loves to sing especially when he's tired.

* He'll dance to almost any music. My favorite is when he dances in the grocery cart. It cracks me up!

* He loves playing with toys. He's very good at entertaining himself with his Lego's and any toy his sisters are playing with.

* He's pulling himself up on things, not all the way to his feet, but onto his knees.

* He LOVES the bath and splashes most of the water out before he's done!

* He'll still smile at anyone and everything. He's quite the flirt.

* He loves our morning walks. He's never cried once!

* He's not loving his new soy formula. (Neither am I. That stuff is horrid!)

* He's discovered the drawers in the kitchen and loves them. He also LOVES the broom.

* He's taking one hour nap in the mornings and then a two hour nap in the afternoons. And he sleeps from about 8:30 to either 4 and then gets a bottle and sleeps until 7. Or he'll sleep until 6 or 6:30 and is up for the day.

* He just has his two bottom little teeth and they are adorable. He knows how to bite pretty dang hard too!

Making Hair Longer

 While eating her lunch the other day, I heard Amelia yell to me, "Dip is making my hair long". The little stinker was putting her fry sauce all over her hair. I'm not sure what it is, but Amelia LOVES putting everything in her hair. Who knows how many bottles of lotion she has wasted in her hair!  It will be a miracle if she has any hair by the time she turns three...or maybe she's onto something with this fry sauce thing.

House Guest

 Sara and Dick took off for a week long getaway. They were heading to Hawaii but ended up having getting to go to NYC. While they were gone Henry got to spend two nights with us. We were are thrilled to have him around, but probably not as thrilled as Amelia. She was in heaven with him here. In fact, three days after he'd left, she'd still wake up asking where Henry was. I wish I would have gotten more photos, but man having four kids kept me busy!

Zoo With Cousins

I'm pretty sure my kid's have been to the Hogle Zoo at least 12 times in the past six months and they still enjoy it! I'd say we've definitely gotten our money's worth from our pass. This visit was with some of the Martin cousins. The weather was absolutely perfect and we pretty much had the entire zoo to ourselves. It was so much fun!

I kind of wish I'd been keeping track of all the different animals on the carousel that my girls have ridden on. It's funny because Eleanor will go in stages and only want to ride on certain animals. I love watching her face when she trying to find her chosen animal. The girl is determined! Amelia has a love hate relationship with both the carousel and the train. She used to never cry, but lately she screams the entire time, and will then say how much she loved going on the ride. Strange.

After the zoo we headed over to Bucca Di Beppo for some good food! Eleanor and Amelia thought it was the most beautiful restaurant and kept giggling at the statue of the little boy peeing and the lady's nude behind. It was loud with the large group but it was a lot of fun. I will admit it, I LOVE going out to eat. Not only for the good food, but just being with everyone.

Loved Jude

To say the girls love Jude would be an understatement! They seriously adore him. All day I am constantly telling one of them to leave him alone, stop kissing him, put him down, get that off him and the list goes on and on.

Yesterday I went downstairs to check on the kids and this is what I found. At first I wanted to get upset but then I realized little Jude was actually enjoying it. By the time I thought to get a photo, Eleanor was pretty worn out and could hardly lift the basket (a good thing, I suppose). Jude actually started crying when we took him out of the basket, so of course we put him back in there where he stayed for a good 15 minutes longer. Have I ever mentioned how much I love these kids?

Hardworking Duo

This spring we decided to rip out some of our grass on the side of our yard and expand our garden. Don't get too excited, our garden is still pretty tiny. Amelia loves being outside and got very excited to help John. She 'worked' pretty hard all evening. She was pretty proud of the large pile of grass she made. John is so patient and nice to our girls. I'm sure I would have gotten pretty annoyed with her but not John. He really is such a great dad and our girls ADORE him! Funny story. The other night Amelia was pretty sick so she slept in our bed. When she woke up to find John wasn't in our bed and had left for work, she was pretty upset. She kept saying, "Dad just left me in bed. He left me". Although she wasn't just saying it, she was bawling and pretty much screaming it. She cried for him the entire day and was beyond excited when he finally got home!

p.s. I love John's socks and flip flops! Very classy!!

Arizona Continued

While going through some photos today, I found a few new ones from Arizona. We were luckily enough to have Emma and McKenna spend the night with us one night at Mimi's. My girls were totally in heaven being with their "bigger" cousins.  John and I took all of them out to breakfast the next morning and it really made me wish we lived closer to them. They are so much fun and it would be nice to have them babysit!!

And of course Amelia was a little obsessive with Cecilia (how could you not be!). Amelia loves Cecilia and has since named all her babies 'Cece'. 

Jude was excited to meet his newest cousin and soon to be buddy, Samuel. Poor Samuel got a few of Jude's notorious pinches but we did save him from getting slobbered with Jude's kisses. I am so glad my kids have so many cousins. Growing up I thought my cousins were the coolest and I want the same for my kids!