BBQ birthday

We have had very few friends over since we moved into our house last year. My excuse is that I was pregnant and feeling terrible the first few months and then it was basketball season and then I had a baby. We enjoy having friends over for BBQ's and such, so we decided to have some families over in the name of Elise getting somewhat of a real birthday party (3 weeks late). 

We put out the kiddie pool and some sprinklers while the adults mingled/prepared/ate food. The kids ran back and forth between the backyard and the basement. 

Lou opened each present very enthusiastically and proclaimed everything was just what she wanted.

 The menfolk were playing cornhole when they heard a baby bird fall out of it's nest. They worked together to get that bird back in the nest without actually touching the bird, all while the mama bird flew around squawking and dive bombing them. 

 At the end of the night we did sparklers, which was a bit crazy with 7 kids between the ages of 2 and 5. The sparklers made Elise a little nervous but she loved them. You can see her nervous face 2 pictures down. 

We hope this will be the first of many get togethers at our house this summer. 

Oh, and happy belated birthday Lou!

May Days

Here are some more pictures from the month of May. I am aware that I should/could do separate blog posts for many of these but I am too lazy. 

I am going to miss it when Sadie grows out of the sign-making stage. On this particular day Elise had faked both a cough and a stomach flu. When I gave her some fake sympathy Sadie ran off to make this sign. She told me the black thing in the middle is an Anaconda. Obviously.

 I let Sadie feed Camille a bottle and she did a great job. 

Kiddie pool fun. This turned into adding the plastic slide, which lead to a picnic when they got hungry, which turned into inviting the neighbor kids over, which lead to my girls at the neighbors house when there "too many wasps" in our backyard. All of that meant 6 hours straight outside and only 2 applications of sunscreen, which lead to some bright pink skin. Oops. 

Doesn't everyone sleep like this?

Towels drying on the back deck as the sun goes down after a long day of sprinklers, kiddie pools and popsicles. The stuff dream summers are made of.

Camille the Turtle

Best sister friends forever. So much giggling went on here, even though Lou kept falling off the back. One of those moments I want to remember for a long time.

Ballet Camp, as I think Sadie called it. I captured one of the few times Lou actually did what Sadie wanted. 

Someone left a mason jar of 5 fish on our front porch one evening. We have no idea who did this. When Sadie woke up in the morning--she was already in bed when we received the fish-- she came running in to tell us there was a fish in the kitchen. After I questioned her counting ability she lead me to the kitchen where I found 4 fish floating in the water with one fish happily swimming around the bottom. Sadie named the lone survivor "Sadie" and she is still alive today- 2 weeks later. 

Middle Sister

Elise has been promoted/demoted (depending on how you look at it) to the middle sister. She likes Millie, but she doesn't ask to hold her like Sadie does. She will run over to her and pull her eyelids open several times each day. She will also lay on top of her and say in the squeakiest voice "Hi Camille Camilles".  She gladly covers Camille's entire body (including her face) with blankets. Whenever she is upset she now wails for "Camille" in a voice akin to Marlon Brando yelling for "Stella". 

Elise has been struggling the most in the behavior department. She is very up and down. She has started doing sneaky things like drawing on walls while I am nursing, pushing chairs up to the pantry to eat candy, and hiding in her closet to play with my phone. Navigating her new life as the middle sister is proving to be a bit difficult, but I have confidence she will figure it out with the enthusiasm that she approaches most things in life. 

 This is Elise's new favorite toy. She walks around with it strapped over her shoulders.

When I took Camille's 1 month pictures Elise would not leave us alone. So I let her join us. She happily demonstrated the "love" she gives. 

Love it when you call me Big Papa

My dad came to Utah for Memorial Day weekend. The purpose of the visit was to attend a Williams (his mother's family) reunion, but he stayed at our house. He both cooked and bought multiple meals and did my grocery shopping for me. It was so nice.

On Saturday we ended up all going to the reunion. We woke up feeling good so we headed up to good old Malad-- where Idaho begins. I got to meet many relatives for the first time, as well as see several closer relatives I haven't talked to for a while and introduce Camille. Can you spot us in the picture above? That's most of the people who attended. Below is my grandma and her descendants who attended. Sadie was out on the bounce house so we didn't force her to come for pictures. What you can't see is that it was about 85 degrees in the high school.

On Sunday we went to my cousin Amanda's mission farewell. After we got home and had some dinner I made Papa and the older girls take some pictures. 

For Elise, these pictures are amazing. She usually gets angry and refuses to sit still when I ask for pictures. The fact that she is half smiling is a miracle. 

Month Numero Uno

Camille is 1 month old. You can tell I am starting to feel decent because I am blogging again. I enjoyed looking back at my monthly posts about Elise so I am doing it again. This time the pictures will be taken on the adorable blanket made for Camille by Mimi. I had been looking for a soft blanket for Millie the last few months of my pregnancy (each of my other girls have a special "blankie" they still sleep with), but I never found one. So glad I didn't because this one is perfect- cute and colorful on one side and minky soft on the other. 

 Camille still sleeps most of the day away. She is probably awake 4 to 6 hours total each day. Much more than Sadie was, but less than Elise. (I just have to compare my kids and now I have 3 to compare- even more fun!) The girls constantly ask me when she is going to wake up. We have a theory that Camille mostly sleeps during the day because she doesn't want to deal with the reality that is her two crazy older sisters. She usually has her most wakeful hours between 8 pm and midnight.

She is getting more and more cute, but she still looks like a turtle to us. All of our newborns have kind of looked like turtles. I think she is going to be a blonde. Her eye brows and lashes are both blonde. The short hair she does have looks blonde in the light. She will definitely have light eyes, can't tell if they'll be blue or green yet. Millie has long fingers and toes, and you can see those long chicken legs in the pictures. Her thighs are finally starting to add some fat. She is up to about 8 1/2 pounds. She gets 3-6 ounces of formula a day on top of nursing, which has really helped her chub up. Each week I say I am going to give up on nursing but then I don't. Nursing is really not my favorite. 

Sadie and Elise are constantly all over Millie. Like sitting right on top of her. She has never cried about it. In fact, the only things she cries about so far are being hungry and getting her nails clipped. Daniel found Elise trying to climb into Camille's bassinet with her the other night. Definitely not enough room for 2 in there. By the way, Camille is the loudest sleeper ever. Grunty Mcgee is her nighttime name. She generally does one longer 4-6 hour stretch of sleep at the beginning of the night and then wakes up every 3 hours to eat after that. 

Camille takes a pacifier but can't hold onto it very well in her mouth. Constantly putting it back in is super annoying so we don't really give her a pacifier yet. Maybe in the coming months. She still scratches/punches herself in the face frequently. She gives us lots of smiles and we have heard her "coo" a few times, but they were all inadvertent, I am sure. 

Official 1 Month Photo:

Family of 5

 We have now been a family of 5 for a month. Crazy. 

We have a quiet few days between visitors and our trip to Boston so I have some time to reflect. Life doesn't feel too different. I would guess that's what happens with each additional child you have. Of course we have an entirely new family member, but it really just feels like life is the same, but a little busier. Camille has been sleeping much better, which is my main concern. It seems to be the thing I blog about most when I have babies. 

I guess I don't know what I am trying to say. Life is good.

Here are some cute pictures. First, Camille frequently falls asleep mid-stretch with one hand up. Second, two twinners hanging out together.

Preschool Grad

Well, she did it: Sadie survived the grueling "Tater Tot" year at Kid's Village to become a certified preschool graduate. Sadie really enjoyed preschool this year. Her teachers were all great. We were constantly amazed at how much she learned. 

 There was a short musical program with multiple patriotic songs, complete with hand actions. 

 Camille was not impressed. Elise played in the back and occasionally yelled things to Sadie. 

 Following the music each child walked down the aisle as their name was called. They stood under a big balloon arch and then threw their caps together (picture above on the right). Sadie immediately ripped off her gown, telling us it was itchy. We got no posed pictures in her graduation garb. 

 She happily posed with her teachers- Miss Valerie and Miss Robin were her main teachers. We went around to each of the classrooms (they have separate rooms for music, art, geography, science and kitchen) where we picked up some of her work from the year. In the science classroom they had done an "experiment" regarding their weight and height. We learned that Sadie was the second biggest student for both measurements. 

We are looking forward to the summer off. Sadie is mad that Kindergarten is every day, instead of 3 days a week like her preschool was.