Little Girl on the Go

My baby is 8 months old. The time has gone so fast. It seems like it has been no time at all since August. It is funny how different she is from her sisters. She is doing everything in her own time. Mia was much faster in everything that she did...trying to keep up with Annalise. Ella doesn't seem to care what anyone else is doing, she does it when she wants to.

She is doing lots of things on her own now. She sits up by herself, feeds herself snacks, and now...she has started crawling. It makes me a little sad...maybe it is because she is my last and I want things to slow down...I want time to enjoy every moment of her being little...

It started out that she would roll around all over the living room to get where she needed to go. We would laugh and say that she didn't need to learn to crawl or walk, because she was the fastest roller any of us had ever seen and she got exactly where she wanted to go! Then we went through a time of crawling backwards everywhere. That was pretty funny too. My other girls did that as well. Annalise just scooted backwards and played with whatever was where she ended up. Mia would get incredibly angry because she couldn't make herself go the way she wanted to go. Ella was funny about it. She would look behind her and see where things were before she started scooting, like she knew she was going to go backwards so she needed to aim for whatever toy she wanted.

The scooting days are over...she gets where she wants to go now. She is not incredibly speedy yet, but she doesn't seem to mind. She gets where she needs to be! She doesn't crawl on both knees, she has her right knee on the ground and her left foot on the ground...it is strange...but that is Ella! She kindof looks like a crab... :)


CLICK PLAY

Poor Jacob...

So, it has been nice outside the last couple of days, so it has given us quality outside time! Yesterday, as the kids played outside, I noticed Mia clutching her chest tightly, she was not crying or looking upset, so I just watched her from inside for a while. Every once in a while she would talk to herself and clutch her chest again so I went outside to see what the story was.

"I am hugging Jacob." Mia said.

That is nice, I thought. Mia has a little imaginary friend named Jacob, apparently, and she is hugging the life out of him. That is when I saw it...a little webbed foot flailing anxiously beneath her death grip.

"What exactly is Jacob?" I asked.

"He is my best frog!" Said Mia.




Mia was so very proud of her frog. She carried him around proudly all afternoon, only putting him down so she could catch him again. She called daddy outside so he could see Jacob, and Ryan even picked him up-against his better judgment.




Occasionally, Mia would graciously let her sister hold Jacob, but under her very watchful eye, and not very long, just long enough for Annalise and Jacob to pose for a picture.




Poor Jacob, he was dropped a few times on the ground, but he seemed to recover, and she would pick him up gently and apologize...and....yes.....



...she gave him a big 'ole kiss to make it better!


Click the play button...

Happy Easter

Okay...so a little late on blogging...but here is our Easter. It was a busy weekend. We started on Saturday at the big Easter Eggstravaganza. We went out to Welch Park in Yukon and had a blast with an egg hunt, inflatables, games, hot dogs, etc...the girls had a blast. We stayed there all morning until early afternoon and came home for just enough time to shower and get the girls in their Easter duds...

We went to the park and took pictures in their Easter dresses, because, of course, we were going to have a cold front Saturday night with storms and it would be too wet and cold to take pictures on Easter morning, so we had kindof a dress rehearsal...









On Sunday morning it was rainy and cold. It didn't matter to us...Satan couldn't rain on our parade! We got up and got dressed and ready for our Easter morning. We had a great crowd at church. Annalise and some of the other kiddos sang a song at the beginning of service (Thanks to Shari Z. for working on that with them! It was awesome!). We had several visitors and hopefully those who were there left with what the true meaning of Easter really is.

We came home, ate lunch, dyed Easter eggs, had an egg hunt (indoors of course!). All in all it was a pretty great day!

Happy Easter! He is risen!

March Snowstorm

The crazieness of the weather is about to drive me over the edge! Last week I was so proud of myself. I cleared the girls closet off all winter clothes, and vacuum sealed everything and put them in storage in the garage. I felt so productive and was glad there was NO winter stuff left in the closets since the temperatures had been steadily in the 60s for a while.

Well, since we had a crazy cold front come through Friday night, I got to go out into my garage in my neatly organized winter boxes, un-seal them, dig down to the bottom of the bags, and dig out some winter clothes...so much for my productiveness!! I have to admit, I was a little skeptical of whether or not it would actually get cold...but we woke up on Saturday morning with snow on the ground. The kids were really excited. We started out the week with 60 degree temperatures and woke up Saturday morning with a "blizzard". The snowflakes were HUGE. It was snowing so hard, but the ground was so warm that a lot of the snow didn't stick. Some of it did and the kiddos got geared up in their snow clothes and went out to play in it.

It was really the first time that Mia got to play out in the snow. She had a blast. She was picking up snow and trying to chase her daddy and sister around the yard to pelt them with the snowballs. They made snow angels and stuck their tongues out to catch the snow.

The girls had a great time playing with their daddy in the snow...which, by the way, lasted only until the next morning because the temperature yesterday was near 70! Gotta love the crazy weather! Maybe this week I will re-vacuum seal the winter clothes!

Spring Break Finale

On Saturday morning we loaded the kiddos up in the van and headed to Jenks to the Aquarium. We met a few friends there and made a day of it. The girls had a great time. Mia loves fish. She could look at them all day. She got especially excited about seeing "nemo" and "mr. Ray" because she watched Finding Nemo in the car on our drive up. Several of our friends went, including Ron and Kelli and Mia's best buddy "Khy" They had a great time running from tank to tank and seeing all the different fish. Ryan even took a picture of a "Prawn" because that is what Uncle Ryan calls Mia. It was pretty funny because it was HUGE so it was probably the size of Mia! She also loved the Sting Rays. At the Aquarium they have a petting tank so it is open and Mia liked kneeling on the bench and looking down at the Rays. They would come up to the the side out of the water and splash the kids. They thought it was hilarious!

Aidan was there too! Annalise was excited to go with her buddy. She spent the afternoon reading all the information she could about all the fish. She liked the big sharks when we went into the shark tunnel. She had a great time telling the younger kids what she read about the different fish. She also liked the touch tanks where she got to touch a Sea Star. She had a fantastic time looking at all of the different fish, and the beavers and sea otters too!
Ella was a champ as usual. She hung out on daddy's back in the backpack. She looked around at all of the fish and bright colors. She was a trooper and never was unhappy. We had a great day looking at all the neat exhibits and going to dinner with friends. We are almost sad to go back to school next week. I love it when all my girls are home. I can't wait for summer, when we can all be together all day!

H1, H2 and H3

On Monday while we were in Texas we went to Aunt Jac's house to have a fun day with the boys. The girls had a blast. Annalise gets so excited when she gets to hang out with Harrison. She was chomping at the bit to get to his house. Jaclyn is right...the kids always just pick right back up from where they left off. They played all morning, inside and out. Mia is caught between Hudson and Hunter, and since Ella isn't running around playing with them yet, it works out perfectly! They ran their legs off, played games, ate yummy fish sticks and Cheetos and just had a great time. They were pretty sad to leave, especially Mia who cried for most of the way back. She wanted to see her "buddy Hunter". I love that they have each other. I love that even though they don't get to see each other all the time, they cherish the time they do have. We had a great day just being together and hanging out. Thanks for letting us crash your Monday, Jac!

Spring Break with Memaw and Poppa

We left on Friday of spring break to go spend a few days in Texas with the grandparents. We went to Grapevine Mills Mall where the girls conned Poppa into riding on the carousel. We shopped and had a great time. Annalise got some Judy Moody books, which she is already done with--big shocker! Mia's big purchase was her pet hedgehog...yes, the got webkins and Annalise picked a dog, and Mia said, "I need this hedgehog". It fits her...it is pretty funny!
On Sunday Morning, Uncle Ryan and Holly came to visit. We played games and had "taco day". Uncle Ryan and Annalise played the Wii and did some nails and hair! Poor guy! The girls think he is the best ever (even though he thinks they prefer Holly!) We had a great time hanging out with Memaw and Poppa. The girls played games, went shopping, played with uncle Ryan and "Mammaw on the white hair". They had a great time. Mom had lots of fun with the girls. Ella started giving kisses with her wide open mouth! She had fun hangin' with memaw and Poppa too! She just went with the flow and had fun playing with Mammaw. She slept like a champ and didn't give me any trouble! We had a great week and the girls were sad to leave. The blow was a little softened because Memaw and Poppa got them the High School Musical 3 DVD to watch in the car on the way home!