Four

My girl turned four. Leaving three behind in a mess of krabby patty wrappers and jellyfish still hanging from our ceiling (more on that later), she is SO proud of her new age.


Insane Spongebob party pictures coming, but for now... sisterly love.
Aren't sisters great? I need to give a shout-out to my five amazing ladies and tell them it's been TOO long since there has been a girls trip!!!!

Seems like overnight

The comments have changed from "she's SO tiny!" and "oh, I LOVE the newborn stage!" to--
"Look at those THIGHS!" and "She's not missing any meals, is she..."




Baby Lu is:

Chunky
Smiley
Happy
Adorable
Smitten (with Ava and Mase)
Anxious (about new faces)
WIGGLY
Loved
Obsessed (with ME!)
PERFECT!!!

Top Twenty

Our Top Twenty pictures of the last 3 months--
(Or, in other words, a quick way for a busy mom to redeem herself from slacking on posts for a LONG time!)

#20-

Fun times at Goofy's Kitchen.

#19-

Mission beach. Too cold for swimming, but the sand was fun for HOURS!

#18-

The cousin club.

#17-

Squishy perfection!

#16-

Best ride on Splash Mountain! This one makes me cry... miss you Kare!!!

#15-


Ro made a FABULOUS Valentine's dinner. Seriously. Fabulous.

#14-

Sisters.

#13-

My favorite boy turned SIX! I cannot freakin believe it. He is huge and I am old.

#12-

The kids tolerated my green dinner for St. Patrick's Day. After convincing them all green food doesn't taste like brussel sprouts, they actually enjoyed it.

#11-

A princess at Disneyland.



Wait- I mean TWO princesses at Disneyland. (:

#10-

Cousin time with Pax!

#9-

This funky hand-me-down nightdress is ALL she wants to wear. We call her Cindy Lou Who when she has it on. See the similarities?



#8-

Our beautiful baby was given a beautiful blessing in a beautiful dress made by her beautiful grandma. :)

#7-

Cindy Lou Who channeling Anakin Skywalker dressed as a cat complete with a sword AND a lightsaber.

#6-

The face of a kid who was FINALLY tall enough to ride Indiana Jones.

#5-

A cute daddy protecting his girl from the scary fireworks.

#4-

The loves of my life.

#3-

Best kids on the planet.

#2-

The smiliest baby we have had yet. LOVE this baby!

#1-

No words necessary.


Honorable Mention:



Lu in her "grandma outfit". Love the knee-highs and gown? (: We could not stop cracking up at her that night.

Just a tiny bit of snow...

Equals some good fun!!!



p.s. In no way is the word "tiny" meant to act as a request to Mother Nature for more snow. The novelty of the dusted front yard is quite enough for me.

Moments

In the last six weeks, there has been a lot happening in our home. Sleepless nights, changing routines, Christmas, millions of diapers, traveling for Christmas, sharing attention, people (who shall remain nameless) struggling to follow directions at school possibly to seek more attention... all the fun stuff.
BUT... There are moments in our lives that make everything feel worth it. The world stops for just a minute and your little bubble feels like the very best place you could ever imagine. I have to document these moments when I can tear myself away for a second to grab the camera.





After a long Saturday of three great kids including a working husband, 7 loads of laundry, grocery shopping, trampoline jumping, cleaning, and lots more it was finally bedtime. I had just brought in the last of the groceries and asked the kids to be careful because I put Lucy on Ava's bed. This little sibling gathering was totally unsolicited, and as I switched the last load of laundry to the dryer, I heard laughing in Ava's room. Peeking in, I found this adorable sight. There they were, holding her attention completely. Each of them took turns reading her books and showing her pictures and she was clearly mesmerized. Nothing brings me more joy than seeing my kids interact happily and lovingly with each other.

Oh and one more perfect "moment"? Some of her first smiles!

Update

The holidays are officially over. We had a fun time playing and visiting with family and friends but I will be happy to settle into a routine again. A new one, of course, since our baby was born right in the middle of things.
Just wanted to document a few things about little Lucy. She is a great baby. She eats well, is generally content, sleeps well at night... Not to mention she is super cute! I love having a baby again.
During the day, though, she hates to close her eyes. I don't mean that she is all fussy and won't sleep- I just mean she is SO interested in what is going on around her that she fights to keep them open. When she was one day old before we even left the hospital, the nurses were calling her "Nosy" because of her habit of looking around all of the time. There was no "newborn sleep all day" phase for this one! But I can't complain about her funny trait because first of all I find it endearing, and second of all, she sleeps 5-7 hours between her feedings at night.
Oh and her nickname is "The Gruntster". She is noisy at night in her sleep and is always grunting around. She takes after her big brother this way. The kids nicknamed her "Lu Lu" and they are both just loving her. Ava took a little more getting used to sharing mommy but Mase was smitten immediately. We feel very blessed!
I have a ton of holiday pictures and she already looks so different, but these were taken at 2 1/2 weeks of age.