July

This month has been a month full of play.

After that rainstorm, the kids cuddled on the couch with popcorn and a movie.

Lily lost her first tooth on top.  Her other one is loose as well.  We'll see how long it takes before it comes out. 

We have a bunny that comes into our yard every day to eat our grass.  I guess zoysia is so much yummier than the bermuda next door? 

Lily fitting in Thad's 9M pants.  For some reason she thought they were her own shorts even though she'd never noticed them before.

A little frog that likes hanging out on our porch.  At first we thought he was a little leaf or large bug, but when we got up close we realized he was a frog.  The kids love him!

This month marks a year since we've moved into our house.  Can I tell you how much we love it here?  It really does feel like home and that's the most important thing to me.  Our neighbors are fantastic, our neighborhood is fantastic, our ward is fantastic, having a fence is fantastic -- in short, it's fantastic here.

Ben and I have talked dozens of times about how grateful we are that the Lord kept prompting us to move much faster than we had originally planned.  Our goal was to be moving somewhere now, not then.  But the Lord knew what we needed and He knew we wouldn't have been able to afford it here now with how much they've raised the prices of homes in our neighborhood.  There was recently a house that is extremely similar to ours (every home in our neighborhood is different since they're custom built) that was sold for $80K more than what we paid.  I can't even imagine.  It reminds me of that quote that says "Having faith in the Lord means having faith in his timing."  Typically I think of that as meaning I have to wait and be patient for something.  But with buying our house, Ben and I both kept feeling prompted to hurry -- and it made very little sense to us at the time.  Isn't it funny how when the Lord is trying to bless us we often get in our own way and make things harder?  I'm thankful that I learned that before we had these impressions, otherwise I'm not sure we'd be here!

Ella's 2nd

Today Ella turned 2.

(On a side note, high five to me.  This is the 2nd time I haven't cried over one of my kids having a birthday.  That's two birthdays in a row!  Woot!)

Ella freaked out during the birthday song.  Let's be honest, it's so much more fun to see toddlers freaking out over candles than it is to watch an adult blow them out.  I know, I know.  Hand me the Mother of the Year Award.

Evolution of Thad Eating His First Cupcake:

"What is this?  Doesn't matter.  I'll stuff it in my face."

"Oh this is good.  Nom nom."

"I feel a cupcake coma coming on.  Oh this is amaaaaaaazing."

"That was amazing.  I wanna do that again.  Yep.  I'm gonna do it again."

"I can't believe I ate that much.  What. Have. I. Done."

I was busy getting lunch together and when we called the kids to the table Skyler mysteriously came in his Bumblebee costume.  I'm still unsure of exactly why this happened.

We had our friends, the Roths, over one last time before they move to Arizona.  

[Insert one million frowny face emoticons]

But I guess since they know they're supposed to go, I'll let them -- and [try to] be happy for them.

I'm 99% sure this is Awen.

Which makes me 99% sure this is Marinn.

And little Marek!  Skyler's totally going to miss his running buddy!

Sometimes at night I just look at pictures of the kids and wonder how I got so lucky to have such beautiful children.  This is one I adore of Ella.  Her sweet face, chubby legs, gorgeous hair, and infectious personality have Ben and me easily wrapped around her tiniest finger.

I had searched for months to get an Olaf doll for Ella.  Any mom who was doing the same thing knows that for months they were hard to come by unless you wanted to shell out a ridiculous amount of money for one.  So when a 1-day $10 deal popped up I knew I had to grab it.  I stashed it in my closet for months, giddy with anticipation for when she would get to open it.

She pretty much looked at it, said, "Snowman!" and went on to the next present.

Pity hugs are now being accepted.

But this little pup stole the show.  It's a remote controlled dog.  I didn't realize when I bought it that a cord attaches the dog to the remote.  I was a little bummed until I saw that Ella was using it as a leash while she was still pushing the buttons.

"Oh this is nice.  My first walk with a human."

"Wait.  She's dragging me backwards.  Save me."

"Save me!"

"SAVE ME!"

When Ben later took Lily and Skyler to a baptism I gave Ella a big bowl of ice cream as a special treat.  Note Mia watching Ella closely.  Mia is BFF's with the babies when they're eating at the table because they're such sloppy eaters and she ends up with all kinds of delicious treats on the floor.

Then our home teachers came over to bring Ella a birthday present. I think it's safe to say that we have the best home teachers ever.  They even brought me and Ben a homemade cheesecake for our birthdays (which by the way is the best cheesecake ever).  I didn't have to make my own birthday treat!  Ella is obsessed with her new bath foam letters and numbers.  She is so territorial over them that I'm currently not allowed to touch them.

Oh, Ella.  You were the only one of our four that I had to wait for.  And you are more than worth it.  Not a day goes by when you can get away without being smothered in kisses and making me burst out laughing.  You are brilliant and beyond loving.  You love your siblings more than anyone in the world.  You are basically Thad's third mom and your most common sentence is probably, "NO THADDEO!"  You think Mia's name is "Bark Bark -ia.  Awww!"  Your favorite Primary song is Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam and you beg for me or Lily to sing it to you constantly.

Oh my goodness I adore you.  I've told you a million times to stop growing because you're beyond cute.  But every day I take it back in my head because you get even cuter.

Oh the humanity.  If this keeps going on for the next 16 years, I'm a goner.

Rainy Day Photo Shoot

This morning I told Ben I was thinking about taking the kids to the lake to walk around.  I pulled up the weather on the computer and it looked like there was a chance of rain.  I was bummed.  Literally 60 seconds later it started pouring.  So we ran outside to play.

A weird fusion of Lily and Skyler's faces while they're both in the air.

"Smile, Skyler!"

You know, our house is seriously loud sometimes -- to the point where Ben and I can become really impatient.  Noise breaks us down faster than anything else.  But today was a reminder of how wonderful it really is to have all of our kids to close together in age.  Having 4 pregnancies in 5 years was truly hard but also completely worth it.  We knew from the beginning that it would be an investment and that it didn't make financial sense -- or really any other kind of sense -- but we knew our kids would be close and we thought that was the most important thing.  My kids love to play with friends, but at the end of the day they really are each others' best friends and spend the night giggling in their rooms when they should be sleeping.  Where one goes, the others follow.  When one gets a special treat or a trip somewhere they're sad that their siblings don't get the same treatment.  Our life at home really is crazy, but it also really is beautiful.  Your siblings will be your longest friends and I'm grateful my kids are off to a great start.  Even if that means my house is deafeningly loud.

Little Thaddeo

Oh my little Thad.  I wish I could describe how much I love this little guy but words just don't suffice sometimes.  He is my babiest baby and I love his tiny-ness -- even though he is 10 months old and is ridiculously huge for his age.

Thad started crawling when he was 7 months old and has been on the go ever since.  He has zero interest in walking, but cruising is a nice way to grab all the toys that Lily and Skyler think they're hiding from him.  He has 7 teeth and loves to eat everything although there's one food that I can't remember that he "secretly" lets dribble from his mouth.  Hopefully I remember what it is tomorrow so I don't feed it to him.  Ha!  Oh the joys of having to keep up with knowing everything about 4 completely different children.

Thad's favorite things are playing with Skyler at night when he's supposed to be falling asleep in his crib, speed-crawling around the church halls, getting tickled, being bounced on a bed so that he's up in the air, having all of his siblings yell, "Nigh Nigh Thaddeo!" every time he goes to bed, and eating a bunch of women's jewelry and purses in church.  (FYI look at those dimples.  Hello.)

Sigh.  He is so cute.  One thing that people ask me ALL the time is, "Doesn't he just make you want to have another?" which always makes me respond, "No, but we sure are thankful to end on a high note!"  I am thankful Thad came last.  He seems to be so chill with whatever situation he finds himself in.  I feel like after all the vaseline and paint on walls and carpet that I've dealt with, I've earned this baby.  

So Thad, that means you're not ever allowed to change your personality, ok?

At least don't get paint on our carpet.