Miscellaneous July Pictures

Karly - 18 months

18 months - this is a magical age!  She has really blossomed from a baby into a little toddler lately and she is hilarious!  She is quite a talker these days and surprises us daily with the sentences and thoughts she is putting together.   Here's a few funny things that come to mind:

-- Says 'bless you" when we sneeze

-- wakes up singing happy birthday, then says "mom, dad, where are you?"

-- loves to watch bubble guppies, and has discovered the wonder of the TV in general.

-- constantly says, "mom, watch" over and over again about everywhere she goes and everything she does.

-- she yells "no mom, it's not funny!" when she is upset

-- when we ask if she is stinky, or needs a new diaper, she says:  "No poop, just wet!"

She loves music which always results in singing and dancing.  She knows a lot of song lyrics already and has her favorites.  When we are driving in the car and the song changes to something she likes, she says "Oh I like this song!"  and insists that we have a dance party.  She will call us out one by one until everyone is dancing.

She is a little parrot to her older siblings.  Everything she hears them say, she tries to say.  Every time they jump or skip or flip, she tries to do it too. I suppose this is exactly why she seems and acts so much older than she is.  She is mimicking them and learning quickly!  She is very smart and picks up on things quick.  She is a smart little cookie, in a tiny little body.  She is precious.

She loves purses, shoes, and any accessories she can get her hands on.

She loves peanut butter and will eat it by the spoonful if I let her.

She loves to play babies or "family", and in this case even let us swaddle her because she was the baby.

She is a great sleeper!  She loves her blankie and binkie still so she looks forward to naps and gets excited when the time comes to go in her bed and snuggle.  She sleeps great through the night, and takes good solid naps which makes for one happy baby and mommy!

Update: In November, I took her to her 18 month well child check up.  So she was actually just under 22 months, but here are her growth stats on the 18 month scale:

22lb 15 oz  -  14% for weight
2 ft  8 inches  -  22% for height

Tiny cute little baby!

Olivia Rae

Our adorable little ball of fire!  She is one sassy, fun, outgoing, stubborn, confident, entertaining, fit throwing, singing, screaming, loving little gem of a girl.  She gives us a run for our money, but she also makes life so much more fun.  We never know what to expect with this girl, and the spontaneity adds a freshness to our family dynamic which we appreciate  (most of the time!).

She walks life to the beat of her own drum, and as her parent that can be pretty frustrating at times, but I'm so confident in her that she is going to make herself known throughout her life and I'm already so proud of her for that.  She is going to do great things, I have no doubt about that.

She loves her dresses and boots and anything fancy and sparkly.  I love that she's dressed like a princess while playing in the sandbox, or wrestling with the boys.  She is very well rounded.  :)

She definitely adds a spark and light to anywhere she goes.  She loves to talk to strangers, and quite often does all the question answering for her older siblings whenever things come up and they start to get shy. 

Her thin and wispy hair is always crazy and messy, and for some reason that look just fits her.

She is still loving those fingers when she gets tired.  Both Eden and Bentley self weaned from sucking their thumbs at 3 years old after having a few logical conversations about why they should stop.  Olive has those conversations with me too, she knows she should stop - but "Nah - maybe tomorrow".

The other day we were playing a little game to work on learning the letters. I introduced the letter U and told her the sound it makes, and some words that start with U.  I said, "Ok, so that's the U. What is that letter?" and she said, "Oh that's a me!!"    Working on learning with her is definitely a little more tricky, but she will keep us laughing and messing around for sure!

Olive is a handful - she makes life unpredictable sometimes, but how very boring it would be without her.  We love you Olivia Rae.

Bentley James

Oh my boy - he is such a little treasure. I know I'm his mom, so this may come across as biased, but really, I couldn't have asked for a better little guy.  He is still so young, but he is already so well rounded and mature and wise.

He loves to play sports and wants me to sign him up for everything. He has a natural coordination and can pick up the skills quick for anything he plays.  He also has a competitive drive that pushes him. In fact, the challenge of the competition is what makes it worth it.  He doesn't want to go outside and kick a soccer ball around, just for fun, but if I challenge him to a game to see who scores more, he will play all day and never want to stop.

He loves to play video games with his friends, and board games with his dad, and so far he really is good at everything he tries.

He is very smart and learns quick.  He is already reading the BOB series books and loves the challenge of figuring out new words.  He is very patient and persistent when things get hard and this is a strength that will benefit him so much in life.

He is so kind and thoughtful.  He is patient with his sisters, and thinks of them when he isn't with them.  For example, Eden and Bentley went to sleep over and grandma's house, and Olive and Karly stayed with me.  My mom said a couple times he said, "Olive would really like this" and told grandma that Olive should probably come next time.

Whenever Karly is crying or sad, he is quick to jump in and do something silly to try to make her laugh.  She is very fond of him and he is very affectionate and loving with her.

Bentley and Eden are like two little peas in a pod.  They have a lot of similarities and are good friends.  They enjoy being together and doing a lot of the same things (like playing legos, or playing school).  The encourage each other to be better, and I love that.

So yeah, the list could go on and on about all the reasons I love this boy.  He is amazing, and I'm so grateful he came to our family.

Eden Noelle

I still can't believe this baby of mine is 8!  She has grown and matured so much this year.  We really have a beautiful little lady on our hands.   She is the sweetest and most kind hearted girl.  She genuinely wants to do and be good, and to help others along the way too.  And isn't she just the cutest, little thing ever?! 

Lately she has really enjoyed getting in the kitchen and baking things.  She loves to work independently and have as little interference from me as possible.  She does really well at reading recipes and I hope to have a little chef on my hands who will enjoy taking over dinner planning and prep before long.  Ha ha!  (one can dream.......)

She loves going to ballet, learning new songs on the piano, and of course - reading!  She loves to read and has just started the Harry Potter Series. 

Eden is a learner.  She likes to learn new things, and soaks up environments around her.  She is quiet and observant, but her little brain is constantly working and soaking everything in.

She's still pretty shy and timid in new settings, but when she's comfortable she is so goofy and silly.  I l love to see this side of her.  It's fun when I'm driving her and a friend in the car because they laugh and goof and talk about the silliest things.

She has a pretty competitive side too though and likes to prove herself.  She's willing to try new things and I appreciate that about her.

She's stable, reliable, and very responsible.  I can always count on her, and I think that's a great strength.  

And one more strength I love about her - she knows what some of her weaknesses are and she owns it and isn't hard on herself about it.  She's a great example to me.

I can't imagine my life without my girl.  She has a wise and understanding soul. She is a big piece of Heaven in our home and I'm so grateful to be her mom.

Mud Party!!

Well the family may have all moved away and left us alone here, but that wasn't going to stop us from our annual mud party!  Grandma and grandpa prepared the mud pit, and down we came! 

There's nothing like sitting in a big pit of mud, soaking in the warm summer sun.

Karly wasn't as excited about the idea of actually getting into the mud, but she played along the banks where it was a little less squishy.

After many hours playing in the mud, Brad introduced a new game to help "shower" them off a bit.  The dunk hat game -  which allowed their siblings to throw balls at the targets dangerously close to their faces to then eventually send a bucket of water pouring over their heads.  ha ha  Eden was a little nervous to go first.  They all tried it though and were great sports!

Brad never does anything to them unless he is willing to take it himself.  I love this picture and the expressions on each of their faces as they just hit the target to soak their dad.  He is awesome, and someday I hope they realize how lucky they got with this playful and engaged daddy. We have a lot of laughter in our home because of him.

After a long day of playing outside, it was great to finish the party with s'mores.

Karly was sad I wouldn't let her get close to the fire pit, but the crying dried up quick after she got that s'more into her hands.  Yummy!

Thanks grandma and grandpa for another successful mud party day!!

Clones...

If Bentley could be cloned - that clone would be something very similar to Karly.  She is so much like him.  She looks like him, laughs like him, and has so many similar personality characteristics. It's the cutest.

Spending their money at Toy's R Us

One morning we were killing a little time before swimming lessons so the kids decided they wanted to look around Toys R Us to see if they wanted to spend some of their allowance.  We got there about ten minutes before the store opened and they were having a hard time being patient.  It was cute watching them try to check out their options through the store window, and deciding where they needed to start once we got it.  Olive kept waving to the lady inside at the counter while yelling "let us in!"  The lady kept trying not to look, but she couldn't help it and it was driving Olive crazy!

Both Eden and Bentley ended up with some new Legos that became a great source of entertainment for the following days.

Olive ended up having a completely different experience.  When we were checking out she asked if I could buy her a sucker that was displayed next to the register.  I told her we had lots of treats so we would get something at home later.  Off we went to swimming lessons.   Fast forward a few hours until we are driving home for the day and I look back to see Olive enjoying a big round sucker.  Of course, a discussion ensued and she said when we were at the store she put the sucker under her dress and took it because she really wanted it.  We talked about stealing and why it's wrong and the following day we went back to Toys R Us so she could pay for her sucker.   Olive was nervous about it, but she was so confident when she told the lady what happened.  It was something like this - "Ummm.... so last year I was here and I took this sucker under my dress and didn't give you money.  So here is my dollar and I'm really sorry."  The lady was so surprised and impressed but she did well to tell Olive, "OK never take something again."    It was a really great learning experience for us all.  Hopefully this will be our only experience with stealing.  

Swimming Lessons

I signed the kids up for swimming lessons at the Paradise Hills pool this year.  They were all so excited for the classes to begin!   I wasn't sure how Olive would do this year with lessons (because last year she REFUSED to get into the water), but is was a pleasant surprise that she hopped right in and was a very good listener to her teacher.

Albuquerque has a free lunch program during the summer and the swimming pool was one of the locations to get free lunch.  It was so awesome because they would finish their lessons right as the lunches were coming out.  They would dry off a bit and then enjoy their lunch poolside.  It was dreamy - for the whole two weeks, I got a break from making lunches. Then after finishing lunch, we would sometimes stay to swim a bit and then go home for naps.  Ahhhhh..... sweet success.

Karly was my little sidekick while the other kids did their lessons.  Sometimes she would do great hanging out in in the shade and watching lessons. Other times she was insistent she needed to get in too, so fortunately they didn't mind me sitting on the edge of the pool dangling little Karly in and out for 30 minutes.

Unfortunately these kids still need lots more work when it comes to swimming, but we made a little progress and had a lot of fun doing it.  I'd say it was a success.