How Can a Year Go By So Quickly?

My baby is One and I can barely believe its true.  If there weren't proof positive in the calendar and the fact that she is taking baby steps, and climbing onto the couches, I wouldn't believe it.  It has just gone by too fast.  But here we are and here she is and it has been a joy to have her in our family.  She has been the dearest, sweetest, most wonderful baby we could have possibly hoped for.  So here are a few of my favorite things from the past year.  Happy Birthday Logan Paige, Paigie Poo, Paigie Waigie, Little Bit, you Darling Baby, you!

My Favorite Things

Brand newborn babies

All snuggled and cozy,

Sleeping in baskets

Or cheeks warm and rosy,

Seeing the love that a sister can bring...

These are a few of my favorite things.

Bright blue-eyed babies

And big sloppy kisses,

A hint of a smile

And hearts full of wishes,

Enjoying even the simplest things...

These are a few of my favorite things.

Lavender tutus

And wrinkly noses

Being mischievous 

Or Smelling the Roses.

Knowing that you are the cutest thing...

These are a few of my favorite things!

She Does it Herself

Paige has been a great eater from the start. Nursing with her was so easy. Some of it, I know, was my attitude and situation, but still, she was great. When we introduced solids, she was super. She never turned her nose up at any new food. She just seemed tickled to death to have something new to try. And she ate plenty, so I never worried that she wasn't getting enough to eat. She has moved into feeding herself, loving to pick up bites of pasta, bread, peas, carrots and anything else we'll put down in front of her. But there are things that just can't be broken up into little bites--like applesauce, for one--so there are times she still has to eat with a spoon. And that hasn't been going so well. After a few bites, she would shake her head, "No" to me and refuse to eat. And then, a few days ago, it dawned on me something that might help. And so this is what we tried:

And it worked!!! I remember my other kids, who would rather not eat than have someone else feed them. Stubborn things. Apparently Paige is on the same path. :) It just seems like its happened too soon. But she is so cute feeding herself with a spoon, its really hard to complain.

Things I Love Friday

I think the correct blogging term is "Things I Love Thursdays" where you post about things you love....on Thursday.  Unfortunately, its Friday.  So there.

*Walking down the hall and seeing my freshly made bed.

*Watering my flowers.

*Stepping outside into air that is both warm and cool.  

* Homemade chocolate chip cookies.

*Clothes that smell like fabric softener.

*My huzby bringing home dinner.

*Giggling little girls.

*Opening the Windows.

*Leftovers.

*Re-reading a favorite book.

*A new haircut.

And, of course, these guys...

Let the Cheering Begin!

In our house, we have been anxiously waiting for Tarheel football to start. But really, the cheering goes on year round. We start the training early around here!

Silliness

Right now its after lunch and the little girls are in the bath. I brought the laptop into the bathroom to get some blog updating done while they get some much needed scrubbing.

When you have kids as funny and cute as mine (Hey, its true! What can I say?!), its hard to go too many posts without some pictures.

Merry Grace continues to mother Paige, oftentimes against Paige's will. :) She LOVES it when Paige will let her feed her her bottle. Most of the time, Paige is not at all interested in this scenario, but every once in a while she is and will snuggle up with her big sis and drink her bottle. It is pretty cute. :)

We emptied out the boxes the other day and Paige found an instant play place. Forget those high priced play yards! This works perfectly. She was entertained in this thing forever.

She loves climbing in things (hence the fascination with the boxes) but doesn't limit herself to cardboard boxes. After her Daddy threw those away, the drawer below the oven worked just fine. Cabinets are fair game too. I need to get a picture or two of her in the little boxes she tries to fit in. It gives me a laugh to see her squished into a shoe box. :)

Here is a picture of Merry Grace's pot she painted earlier this week. Hers is the one on the left. The other one is one that one of the kids painted in year's past. We got tickled at who she picked to "love" on it. She wanted to say that she loved each member of her immediate family, plus Lois (her brand new aunt) and the Tarheels. Too funny.

Ah ha. Here is one of the prime reasons a bath was in order. Merry Grace so generously shared an oreo with Paige after they both ate their lunch. Oh dear, what a mess that was. Paige LOVED it though. Imagine that. Paige is at the age where she really wants to feed herself, but it is oh-so-messy. Its nice to be able to grab a bite with the rest of the family, instead of feeding the baby, but the clean-up is shocking. I frequently tell Paige that I think it might be easier to have another baby than to clean her up. :)

The happy sharer and the happy eater of the oreo. :) How can one little cookie make such a mess?!

Here is Miss Fancy Pants herself. Thankfully, this little gal doesn't change clothes as frequently as she used to, but she still has a fashion sense all her own. You should really click on the top picture to really appreciate her outfit. That was this morning. At some point she changed into the outfit in the second picture--her navy blue tee and Ian's navy pajama pants--because they matched, of course. :) And now that she's had a bath, I'm sure outfit number three is on the horizon. And yes, even three outfits is an improvement. But really, how could you not love that sassy chick? :)

Well, journaling is done, scrubbing is done, and now its time for other things. How is that for multi-tasking? :)

Beautiful Weather and Good Times

Well, its that time of year again--back to school. I guess everyone says it and feels it, but I'll add my voice anyway, "I can't believe I have a third grader and a kindergartner!" School started for Elise last week and she jumped right in. By third grade, this stuff is old hat to her. She has a wonderfully nice teacher, a well-behaved class, and seems to have made the adjustment to a new grade with more homework with ease. Ian went one day last week and then started for real this week. Cory walked him in on his one day last week and then that stinker insisted on walking in by himself this week. He didn't even want Elise to walk with him. What a big kid!! It is a really long walk to the kindergarten classes, and I wasn't sure he'd be able to find his way. Apparently he either has a good memory or a good sense of direction, because he made it just fine. (I, on the other hand, spent the day debating different plans, all involving a subtle way in which I could venture down the school and peek in his room to make sure he made it okay.) I can already see the wisdom in holding him back last year. He's so much more prepared this year. I miss my two kiddos while they are in school, but it has been good for Merry Grace, Paige and I, and good for the older kids too. I think they really like having a sibling at school with them. They even eat lunch at the same time, so they wave to each other in the lunch room. They are just too cute. My favorite part of the day is picking the two of them up from school each afternoon. They come out to the car together, holding hands. It is precious!

The little girls and I are enjoying some time around the house and doing some projects here and there. We went to Lowe's and got a few flowers to put around the house. (Did I mention that it was SUPER easy to go to Lowe's with only two kids?) We came home to enjoy the beautiful fall-like weather, clean off the front porch, and plant the flowers we'd picked out. Our hanging baskets are now full of pink and purple petunias, and there are mums in various pots on the porch. Merry Grace and Paige enjoyed the outside time, too. Merry Grace had bought a clay pot which she painted in the yard while I cleaned. She spent quite a bit of time on it, adding different colors along and along, and ended up with a lovely camouflage green pot. We then stamped some words onto it which read, "I love Mommy & Daddy & Lisy & and Ian & Paige & Lois & Carolina." Paige crawled all over the porch, ate potting soil, splashed in the water from the hose where we were watering things, got filthy dirty and had the time of her life. The porch looks great, we feel refreshed from all the fresh air, and life is good.

Beach Time Again

We made another day trip to the beach a week or so ago, and once again, it was wonderful! Cory's sister, Melissa, and her family were there and so we met up and let the kids play. They love the beach anyway, but throw in some friends and it can't be beat. Cory and Jacob were good to take Kyleigh, Elise and Ian out in the deeper water and let them swim and play. Marleigh and Merry Grace hung out pretty close to shore, especially after a big wave got them. And the little ones (Ethan and Paige) liked eating sand and feeling the small waves at the edge. It was a wonderful day.

I love pictures of my kids at the beach!

All four kiddos! :)

I love, love, LOVE beach pictures and just cannot limit myself to a few. Thank goodness for collages. :)

And now we're back to the routine of school, which is nice in its own way. But if I had my choice, we'd all be back at the beach today instead. :)

Refreshing

Being a mom can be tiring work, sometimes. So Cory and I have tried to schedule in a little down time each week where I can go and do something I want to do or need to do without the kids. Sometimes I might go for a walk at the park or go to the library or do a little shopping or go somewhere and read a book. Nothing terribly dramatic, usually just something quiet and peaceful. Its been really nice. Last night I went out to get Elise and Merry Grace their dance outfits, as they are just starting up classes. It had been a long day, filled with cleaning and organizing things. So I had on my old sweatpants. And I mean old in the most literal sense of the word. When you picture something that Stacy and Clinton would tear you apart for wearing in public, that would be these pants. They are black and oh-so-comfy. They really are terrible looking, with the lovely elastic around the ankles as an added bonus. And I paired them with a gray fourth of July t-shirt that I got for less than a dollar at Target that says, "Boom" across the front. I'm not always "all dolled up" when I go out, but rarely do I just look frumpy. I guess everyone has quirks, and that's one of mine. But I did last night. I didn't even have on a speck of make-up. It was so refreshing. It was refreshing just to go out by myself, but it was oddly refreshing to walk into a couple of stores feeling like I could just have easily curled up on the couch to read a book. I'm not sure what made it so thrilling, but whatever the reason, it was. I'd better be careful, though, or I might just get too comfortable. :)

Not exactly "calgon"...

Yesterday morning, when I put Paige down for her nap, I decided it was time for a shower for me. I let the other kids watch a show on Netflix and figured we'd manage for 15 minutes.

Before I'd even finished shampooing, Merry Grace ran in and said, "I accidentally pushed the blue button and turned off the computer. But I turned it back on."

Less than 30 seconds later she was back telling me that Ian had actually turned it back off again, thinking he was turning it on. Oh boy. Wouldn't Cory love to hear what I was letting the kids do to the computer while he was at work.

In the blink of an eye, Elise ran in the bathroom to tell me that Merry Grace was being ugly to her. Then Merry Grace ran in right behind her to tell me that Elise had pushed her. Then Ian came in to tell me that Merry Grace was telling on Elise when Elise only "just barely touched" her. Then Merry Grace came back to tell me that "Uh huh, Elise really did push her and that she did not want to be on tell."

Sometimes these things drive me batty (and its not a far trip!). But yesterday, they were just funny and I could laugh about it. As I know all to well, one day I'll have all the time in the world to take a shower by myself. For now, I'll just try and enjoy the interruptions for what they are--little kids who need their Mama. Thank goodness. :)

Getting a Good Picture

I was going through some pictures and I found some of the ones I was taking for Cory's Dad for Father's Day. It is not easy getting four kids to all look at the camera with smiling faces at the same time. :) Looking at them, I'm reminded of why it is nice to have a professional take your family portraits. Even though they might not be ones I wanted to use in the picture frame, I really love seeing their little personalities shine through. (Elise's moods in the picture range from: "Aren't I a cute, sweet girl?" to "It's a little tricky to smile and hold the baby at the same time." to "I wish we were done here." to "Ian's a goofball." Ian tries giving the biggest happiest smile he can, then he starts getting carried away into the goofy and by the end he's just so tired of the whole ordeal. Merry Grace seems to be thinking, "A camera, a camera!!! Look at me!! I'm so cute!!! Take my picture!!" And then there's Paige who looks like, "I like these people. They sure are nice to me. But what the heck is going on here? Why can't I get down? Someone let me outta here!") I LOVE it!!! They sure are cute kids!!!

So here is my advice on what to do to get a bad picture and maybe you can avoid my pitfalls and get a good one of your own family.

*Get everyone bathed and dressed in their best clothes.

*Fix each child's hair.

*Make sure little one's have a nap.

*Block off a section of time and dedicate it solely to picture taking.

*Plan a specific project or gift that you would like to use the pictures for (i.e. christmas cards, birth announcements, Father's Day, etc.)

*Bribe kids with a treat afterwards if they will just look at the camera and smile, daggone it.

These things seem to be a surefire recipe for disaster, in my experience. But have a child half dressed, in mis-matched clothes, with a dirty face, crazy hair, or have a pile of laundry in the background or the sink full of dirty dishes, and you will have the cutest picture of your kids ever. Although, I guess those pictures have their own charm...maybe just not on the front of the Christmas card. :)

Because I'm a Slacker

And by "slacker" I actually mean I've been way too overwhelmingly busy to blog. :) First and foremost, my brother, Ethan, got married this past Saturday. To the romantic in me, that means love, a beautiful wedding, a beautiful reception, lots of pictures and best of all a new sister-in-law who I adore. To the practical side of me, that means a LOT of work, planning and organizing leading up to the big day. Throw into the mix the baptism of one of my favorite nieces, Cory's birthday and our 10th wedding anniversary plus the day to day routine of taking care of four kids and you've got one crazy whirlwind.

One day, to keep themselves entertained while I worked in the kitchen, the kids made a wonderful tower out of the cans in my pantry. Quite impressive, don't you think?

The Leaning Tower of Peas...and corn, and carrots...

Another day, we were having a mad laundry folding party to catch up on the laundry that had been washed but not folded and put away. Elise was a wonderfully amazing folder, Ian was great at helping us sort and organize and this is how Merry Grace helped. I'm not sure what she called the job, but it was immensely helpful.

Paige also found creative ways to entertain herself. She loves playing with the stuff in this drawer. Before this incident, she would limit herself to just pulling everything in it out onto the floor. Apparently she needed to up the wow factor and decided just to take the plunge and dive right in.

She looks quite proud of herself, I believe. And really, how can you resist that face?

The kids also helped me by "washing my car". Washing my car is really code for, "let's get out the water hose and spray each other and the yard and splash in the bucket." The car actually did get a little wet. But by no means did it get the attention the kids gave to spraying each other.

Ian, always impressed with whatever Elise does, joined right in when she got all dolled up to perform the "Hoedown Throwdown" (that's Miley Cyrus, for anyone who might be out of the loop.) Believe it or not, Merry Grace can do it too, at least some of it. She just got grumpy and backed out of the performance at the last minute. Elise is a good learner and a good teacher.

And here is a picture of sweet Emmy at her baptism. Usually I take lots of picutres, but honestly, I didn't take a single picture from the baptism Friday night, all through the wedding and reception on Saturday. It was just too much to attempt. So I settled for stealing a picture of Emmy off her mom's blog.

Here is the happy couple, newly married and looking snazzy. They are wonderful.

Oh yes, we were actually there, in all our glory. My goodness, we are a cute family. Did I mention I got all the kids cute clothes on sale? Well, I did. Merry Grace and Paige were outfitted for $4.98. Ian and Elise were a little more but not by much. I'm so proud. We really did love being a part of the wedding and all the frivolity. We thought it was neat that my parents celebrated their 30th anniversary a week and a half ago, then we had Ethan and Lois's wedding, and then today Cory and I are celebrating our 10th. We think its neat that we'll all be celebrating similar anniversary's very near one another. We told Adam to keep with the trend he couldn't get married until 2019. For those of us who worked on this wedding, that sounds like a mighty good idea. I think Adam was much less impressed with that as a plan.

Is this child so lucky or what? There are quite a few times that being the fourth child has perks.

So there you have it. Our crazy, busy, wonderful life. Now if I can just have a month to recover from it, I'll be fine. :)

Thank, brother...

Since I'm the oldest child in my family, and have only brothers who aren't married (this will only be true until Saturday-YAY!!!) and don't have children, they sometimes don't realize that they say or do things around my kids that I'd rather them not. I keep telling them that one day I will get them back. You can rest assured that I will gladly teach their kids "Trick or Treat, smell my feet..." It might not be the same, but after you've heard it twenty-two times in April, it can get annoying. I can't WAIT.

So today, when Cory picked Ian up from his Primary class at church, his teacher mentioned a funny incident that happened last week. His teacher is the sweetest gal and teaches a whole crew of little boys. I think she is wonderfully patient. So apparently they were talking last week about how hungry they all were. Ian chimes in with this lovely line he picked up from my brother, Ethan, "I'm hungry, but not for food. I'm hungry for loooooove." Oh yes. Thanks for giving him a way he could join that conversation. :)

A Day at the Beach

Cory took off work yesterday and we left early in the morning to head to the beach. It was much needed mini-vacation for all of us. We loved getting away for the day, and especially being able to just play with the kids and relax a little.

The weather was perfect, warm and sunny with a light breeze. And the water was spectacular.

As you can see, the water was very clear. And by this point in the season it is nice and warm. Ian, as usual, loved being in the water.

My brother, Logan, came along with us. He started off by digging a hole. By the end of things, it was probably 4 feet deep.

This was Paige's first trip to the beach. She did amazingly well. She loved the sand and the water. I don't think she cried once the whole day.

Thank goodness for Uncle Logan's handiwork. Merry Grace had a blast playing in the hole.

Ever the little mother, Merry Grace dragged (literally) Paige into the hole with her. Poor little Paige is used to it and didn't seem to mind nearly as much as you'd imagine.

Paige thought the sand was great. It must have felt different to her, though. She'd crawl a few feet, and drop to the ground on her tummy. It was adorable.

A rare picture of me and all the kiddos! Thanks, Cory!!! I love it! (How cute are those matching swimsuits?!)

In between playing in the water, Uncle Adam spent some time working on his tan. Eventually, he turned over and before long the tide caught up with him and he ended up sandy and soaked.

Just us girls. :) Paige loved the water. It was cute to watch her splash and play.

Uncle Adam and Uncle Logan wrestled in the water. I think Adam won, although this picture seems to prove otherwise.

Later in the afternoon, as the tide came in and the waves got stronger, Elise and Ian played closer to shore. They played "Wipeout" as they called it. It was cute to watch.

Merry Grace was getting tired by the end of the day, so she snuggled up in a towel and snacked on "red chips" which meant regular pringles in the red can. :)

It was almost time to go home, but Elise couldn't resist relaxing in the surf just a little longer. I can't blame her.

The day really was about as close to perfect as you can imagine. It was wonderful and we came home refreshed and rejuvenated. Now if we could just manage to go once a week...

Paige "wants" to be Fancy

Elise thought Paige might want to try on her sunglasses. She gladly helped her out.

Paige was slightly more interested in the apple-mango puffs on the table, but was a good sport nonetheless.

However, teething on the glasses was not half bad either.

I doubt you'll be seeing this cutie pie strolling around the neighborhood wearing shades. But give her a few years. I bet she'll be following in her big sisters shoes in no time!

This little girl is oh-so-cute. Really, she's too cute for words.

Do you not just want to kiss her cute little self? She is so cute I just cannot even stand it! :) Cute, cute, cute!!!

More Thoughts

It's a been a full day of errands: lunch at McDonald's (oh, how we love that place), a short trip to the park (it was oh-so-hot), the library (where Merry Grace grabbed the first three books she saw, where Ian was in desperate search for a joke book, and Elise slowly and deliberately took her time scouring the shelves for the three perfect books), home for a brief stop and then Wal-Mart (what day of errands would be complete without a stop there?). And finally, at long last, home again. After a supper that consisted of leftovers from the last three days and some evening cleaning, I'm finally taking the time to put my feet up and rest a bit.

I thought about my post yesterday about Merry Grace and decided it would be fun to take a day and write about each child. So tonight I'm writing about Elise. From the time Elise was very small, she was great at seeing the logic in things. We rarely had to really discipline her. Time outs were rare and spankings non-existent. All we really had to do was explain the whys and wherefores of things, and she got it. It was really quite amazing. At the time, we thought we were just super parents. It wasn't until later that we realized it didn't have much to do with us and everything to do with the sweet spirit of this child we were raising. She's still amazing in so many ways. Just tonight, I was tired and a little frustrated at one point, and Elise realized I just needed a helping hand. So she came over to where I was loading the dishwasher and pitched right in and helped me finish the job. It wasn't even that the few things she loaded made the job go a lot quicker, it was that that little act of service let me know she loved me. She's really taking notice of ways she can help out with things. The other day she decided to take out the trash from all the upstairs cans without me asking. I absolutely HATE taking out the trash, so that was a really big deal. Another day, she went downstairs and moved the laundry along without any prodding. She just decided to do it. She's growing up so fast. She's right on that line of teetering between being a little girl and a young woman. Some days she has both feet firmly planted on the side of childhood, while other days I can see her fully taking on the role of young womanhood. And with that, our relationship is changing. Some days its maddening, as hormones start rearing their crazy heads. Some days, I sense that she really thinks I'm dumb as dirt when it comes to certain things. There are times she uses this sassy voice that makes me want to snip back at her like I'm 14 years old. And sometimes I do. But there are other times where I feel like I'm talking to my equal. We can laugh together about something silly that Merry Grace says or we can have a real conversations about things that go on in the world and in our lives. She has such a tender heart, always wanting others to be happy and doing her best to see that it happens. She's ever-ready with hugs, happy notes, smiles and a helping hand. She's our peacemaker and our sanity saver. So many times we say, "What would we do without Elise?" And really, I can't imagine. She's the best. Simply the best.