first day of preschool

Here is Ivy right before leaving for her first ever school experience. 

My mom is bossy and not as funny as she thinks she is.

She picked out an outfit and posed for me.

Vogue.

Then she pointed out that I forgot to buy her a backpack. Which is true.

Tough luck, third child.

There was no nervousness--Ivy just wants to throw herself in. I've been going back and forth about whether I really wanted her to do preschool this year, but watching her pleasure this morning sold me.

This wonderful amazing Ivy-girl is going to have a wonderful amazing year. I just know it.

tiny dancer

Birthday Girl

Ivy had her first ever birthday party this year, and she was so excited. She talked about it for weeks. Finally! Her own party with her own friends!

the birthday girl, showing her own Lellow hair before receiving a giant red wig that she would like to wear forever.

I talked her into having a water party, because that sounded easier to plan than a fairy party. But what do I know? At the end of the day, I still felt like I was run over by a train.

some of the attendees. I couldn't manage to get everyone gathered for a picture.

Anyway. After much waffling she decided she wanted a cakepop cake.

it's possible the wind blew out her candles before she started blowing.

And I made Pina Colada Shakes.

Which, alright, yes, that was mostly for me. I love all things pina colada. But they were excellent! And the kids really liked them! Plus, adorable umbrellas!

Her favorite part was opening presents.

Her other favorite part was the PVC sprinkler we (Chris) built.

It was a lovely day.

cousins!

just to make sure Maggie knows Gray had a great time

The End.

princess time

Ivy Elizabeth's birthday party was yesterday, and her Grandy sent her what she really and truly wanted more than anything in the world:

Her Grandy is nice like that.

Lucky girl.

Please notice her teeth. We still need to talk about this.

Her friends couldn't wait to come over this morning and help her try out her new costume. And then, of course, what good is a princess without her princess friends?

A Posse of Princesses. And now they are busy fighting Obi-wan Kenobi (William) and a clone trooper (Michael) for the safety of the kingdom.

In conclusion: Grandparents are the best.

A couple of stories about Michael and Easter and also a few pictures of our easter egg hunt

So, do kids really believe in the Easter bunny? Is that actually a thing? Because I was under the impression that it was a fun story but nobody really perpetuated it as truth. And that's why I took my kids with me to buy candy for our easter egg hunt. We were standing in line at Target, our basket full of plastic eggs and treats, other Moms eyeing me discreetly, and Michael asked why I was buying so much chocolate. So I told him, "It's the Easter bunny chocolate."
He looked at my sideways, then shook his head and said, "Mom, the Easter bunny brings his own chocolate."
It took me by suprise, but it was loud and crowded and I decided to let it go.
Then on Sunday morning while I was brushing my hair for church he asked when the Easter Bunny was coming.
"Michael, we did our easter eggs yesterday, remember? With cousins?"
"Yeah, but that was you. When is the Easter bunny coming?"
"I am the Easter bunny. The Easter bunny is just pretend, just for fun. Parents are the Easter bunny. " I glanced out of the bathroom to see Michael and William and Ivy and Christofer all staring at me. "...I thought you knew that."
"Okay," he said.
Christofer stared at me meaningfully.
"Uh, does that make you sad?" I asked. "Is it alright?"
"It's fine." He shrugged. Then he went downstairs to wait for us while William and Ivy and Christofer and I finished getting ready.


Picture interlude! On Saturday I hosted a big Easter egg hunt for the kids and cousins. We hid plastic eggs in the back yard, then the big kids had a treasure hunt inside the house to find the big treats. (I might have gone overboard with the clues, there ended up being around 45.)

On Sunday nights we have Family Home Evening after dinner. We say a prayer, sing some songs, have a little lesson, then usually eat a treat or play a game. While we were cleaning dinner up, Michael got out his notebook and a pencil and told us he was writing a talk for our Family Home Evening lesson. It took him about five minutes. This is the talk he wrote (with some spelling corrections; everything else exactly as he wrote and read it):

I am having a talk about Easter. Easter is very important. We celebrate
Easter because Jesus was resurrected and because he died on the cross.
Easter is not about hiding Easter Eggs. It is not about the Easter bunny. It
is about Jesus. I have a testimony that Jesus died for us. In the name of
Jesus Christ, Amen.

swim lessons

Ivy and William just finished swim lessons for November. Winter swim lessons are the best.

Ivy practicing floating with a life jacket.

William learning to float. (William is great at everything else, but cannot float. It's kind of hilarious. When he flips onto his back he goes rigid and sinks. I think he is very brave because he keeps trying, despite all the water up his nose.)

reader

(These are old pictures. I took them at the beginning of September and forgot they were on my camera.)
(Before we get started, how cute is Charles?)

William has been learning to read. He loves it. He especially loves to read to Charles, because, he tells me, Charles is his favorite, he loves Charles more than he loves the rest of us. That's a direct quote, by the way.


I told him it was okay to love everyone the same. He said, Okay, I love my whole family the most. But maybe I love you guys half as much as Charles?

I can live with that, I guess.

this is halloween (halloween, halloween)

(We're going to pretend like I didn't disappear for two months, and just get back to business, okay? okay.)

solids, pt. II

Ivy sat and watched while I fed Charles. She watched while I talked to him and made faces, and while I wiped him up and cleaned the table off. Then she decided she wanted in on the action.

"Do you want some more to eat, Charles?" she asked. He didn't say anything. She took that as an affirmative.








So she made him some Chicken Pot Pie Soup, using a baby spoon and a sippy cup.






And she tried to feed it to him.






Unfortunately, Charles didn't much care for Chicken Pot Pie Soup.






But she persevered, as one must when introducing new foods.





The end.

the fourth