Just hanging out...

If you ask Caroline what she has been doing any day of the week her response usually is the same. She says something along the lines of "Oh, we are just hanging out, having a wonderful day!" She sounds so sweet. So happy. So optimistic about her days. We have been having some wonderful days...doing just that...hanging out.

Literally...Hannah hangs out on me in her favorite position.
We've been taking some walks enjoying God's beautiful world around us- taking note of flowers, birds, and gorgeous weather. I do get a few odd looks and "mercy" smiles when people see me pushing my 2 bigs while wearing my 1 little. But...it's nice to get outside. Especially at 5 o'clock in the evening when everything falls apart.

 

We've been getting lots of baby Hannah kisses...and Caroline has been practicing her photography skills. 

 

 

 

We have been wide-eyed at the beauty of the spring weather. 

 

 

We've been reading A LOT. Emily has a new found love relationships with books. All books. Any books. She reads them all day (usually upside down) and has one in her hands at all moments. She has even slept with a different book the past 2 days. She even knows to pick a "soft" book at bedtime because there is no way mommy will let her sleep with a hard book in the crib. I think last night she slept with a Chick fil a kids meal book about Confucius. She woke up extra wise. The day before she carried around a book about Harriet Tubman.
 

 

We have been wearing pj's a lot lately...when it rains outside...we take that as an excuse to stay jammied up all day long.
 

We have been learning about the Fruit of the Spirit. Every few days we do a craft and visual reminder about a certain fruit of the spirit...we have covered love, joy, and peace. We used the banana to be our "smile" because our hearts are full of JOY! Caroline can recite the whole verse already... but we are really working at learning to use this vocab/terminology in our day to day convo, discipline, and life.
"The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control." Galatians 5:22

 

Speaking of JOY...this girl fills my heart with joy:) 

 

Emilys hair is a thing to be envied. It just is. Her ringlets are amazing when her hair is down, and this perfect bun/twist makes me envision her as a teenager. Love. The hair. Not vision of her as a teen. Don't love that. :( 

Caroline has a new found love affair with glue. Elmer's, clear sticky glue, ANY glue. And I'm the crazy mom that lets her go at it:) Last week it was scissors (and this same crazy mom went and purchased 3 pairs for her). She loves to "craft" and "do projects" as she calls it. It usually just entails making a huge mess all over the floor with tiny snips of paper, washable markers and lots of sticky glue. Sometimes I just draw some simple pictures and let them glue tissue paper all over it. It kills about 10 minutes and it brings this red head SO much joy...
 

Even Em likes to craft.
 

Hannah Banana

Who knew a 4 month old could be so cute?? (Well, I did of course because we've done this whole "growing up" thing 2x now) but Hannah is such a sweet treat- always giggling, easily amused, and a fairly easy baby. If only she would get the nighttime feedings under control we would be on a roll.
She adores her sisters and will laugh and play with them.
She likes her Bumbo.
She LOVES being outside...SO much that when she is fussy I will prop her bouncy seat up on our tiny front porch and let her enjoy the beautiful outdoors while she "collects herself". (I have the door propped open of course:)
She almost rolls around when she is on the floor. She is very close to being a roley poley
She is so long!! She is wearing 9-12 month clothes because her legs and feet are so long.
She loves being worn in the sleepy wrap. She will hang out in that thing for as long as I will let her. Very productive for grocery shopping, afternoon walks, and even as I am moving around making the big girls their meals.

 

 

 

 

As women, we all know that some days are better "hair days" than others. It starts early. 

Baby doll Allie offered her condolences on the hair issues but didn't have much advice sInse she is bald. I love how Caroline set her up to "babysit" Hannah. It worked for about...2 minutes.
Sweet Hannah baby- you have all of our hearts. You are the first thing your sisters ask about when they wake up in the mornings and the last thing your mommy thinks about as she lays down. You are our sunshine. We love you to the moon and back!

She said it for me...

I'm pretty sure I could have written the post below. Every single thing she said is so true of what I feel many (most) days. Just yesterday I had my best friend on the phone and we vented about this exact issue. I'm so thankful that we get to wake up each morning (and even after naps) and try again! This blog is amazing and I am continually finding new encouragement for training our precious children. I hope this will encourage you and spur you on if you are a tired mommy looking for some relief...

When You Rise: It's Been A Rough Day: Ahhh, nap time. I will the tension to release from my body so that I can breathe again. I am hoping for peace and yet all I hear are th...

Emilyness

My precious 2 year old continually takes my breath away with her cuteness!! I always find myself bragging on her stellar smile and beautiful curly-q curls.She is so much fun and is finding her "role" in our crazy family of 5. She is starting to talk more and more but still has a hard time communicating. That leads to the ever so common 2 year old tantrums through out the day mostly because of miscommunication. Although I cannot stand how stinking cute she is right now- the terrible twos are not that much fun. How quickly I forgot with Caroline...now just 15 short months ago we were in this stage with big sis. We will get through it and in the meantime, I will think on these precious peculiarities of my sweet Em:

-She still loves to name and talk about farm animals. If she is ever at a loss of words or doesn't know what to say...the response is inevitably "COW".

-She is changing! It happens with all of them...when they turn 2 their sweet little baby faces turn into big-girl faces. Just as beautiful, but different.

-Emily has just now started showing a real interest in reading/books (SO different than CGH) She will sit and read for a good while and then enjoy reading with me when I can give her 100% of my attention. I love it. 

-She will giggle and cackle laughing ALL day long if you play her games with her. She and Caroline make each other laugh and it warms my soul to hear them.

-She loves her bellybutton- what 2 year old doesn't??

Anyway...I just wanted to take a quick moment and highlight her super special Emilyness. Oh how I love that girl. :)

 In this picture you can see her sleepy-eyes...I love it. My favorite time of the day is in the mornings when they wake up and then after nap when they are still still, quiet, and sleepy. Hmmm...is that wrong?? lol

PS- I need to document the "passing" of her dear green lovey she has in all these pictures. Somehow Lovey disappeared last Thursday and we haven't seen it since. :( Thankfully she hasn't put up much of a fight and we have replaced it with another one. I am counting on finding the lovey at some point down the road...I bet in a few months it will show it's face, but by then, her love and affection will belong to the new one.

Niki has a camera

Aunt Niki has a camera.
And she always has it with her.
And everyone and their brother is always asking her to take pictures.
 And I'm so glad she does :) 

The pictures in the next 3 posts are from our time spent in Milledgeville during our Georgia trip last month.

A girls trip to the cupcake shop on Valentines day.

An evening spent on front campus...it was so nice and quite nostalgic to be at the college that Brad and I went to...and have our 3 kiddos with us! It is still as picture perfect as before and we loved playing outside.

The girls got to meet their 2nd cousin (?) Caylin.  We loved visiting with Dena and Phillip.

I am PRETTY confident that this is a little bit of a different picture than the ones we used to take...but I love it 3x more!!

Aunt Sarah had the fantastic idea of taking the girls to Monkey Joe's in Warner Robins. I had never spent a Valentines Day in an inflatable jumping place...but their is a new normal we are embracing these days. We are so thankful we got to run, jump, and play with all of our family- and friends! We had a surprise visit from my friend Misty and her 3 kids and we got to visit with Brian and Jill and their 5 (almost 6) sweet little ones. We had the whole joint almost to our selves. The girls enjoyed the slushies the most...then the carousel, THEN the fun inflatables:)

More pictures in the last post...