Small talk

I brought Naomi along with me to my most recent trip to the dentist. I love my dentist and have spent many hours in her office in the past two and a half years. With her hands busily working in my mouth, she attempts small talk. "So did you shave the back of her head like that?" Yes, it's always been my dream for my little girls to have this beautiful bald spot in the back of their head. Seriously, are you kidding me? After her fingers were out of my mouth, I explained to her that it's a common occurrence for little babies to have a bald spot on the back of their heads. Ironically, last visit she was talking to me about the obstacles she faces to having children with her schedule. She'll have a few things to learn if/when she does decide to have children.

Elizabeth is nine!

Last Thursday we celebrated Elizabeth's ninth birthday. It was a day full of fun for Elizabeth. Her Aunt Beth surprised her with a visit on her way to Boston. Her friend Wes was with her and we had a friend staying here for a few days, Braden Spear, so we had a few extras here to celebrate with us. Shopping for Elizabeth is easy: anything crafty or from the American Girl store.


Elizabeth is such a sweet girl and such a big help to me with the little ones. Here are a few things I love about Elizabeth:

• If anyone is ever sick or having a birthday she is the first to make a card.


• She loves to play with her younger siblings and is great with keeping them entertained. She loves to play the role of Mom or teacher.


• She comes home from school everyday and asks me what is for dinner. She then always responds with an excited "yes, I love that!" (What Mom doesn't love to hear that!)


• Crafty, crafty, crafty


• Wonderful messages inside cards (my four or so Mother's Day cards from her almost brought tears to my eyes!)


• My shopping partner


• She notices anytime I wear anything new or try anything different with my hair or make-up. She's always full of compliments.


• She loves to plan things...anything.


• Stylish dresser. She picks our her clothes according to what flower she can wear in her hair!


• She savors her food and is always the last one done eating.


• I learn more from Elizabeth than any of our kids about what goes on at school, church, etc. She always gives a full report.

Here's to another great year, Elizabeth!

It's not even Mother's Day yet!

Yesterday morning Justin came in our bedroom at 6:30 all dressed and ready for school. He had a guilty grin on his face. This is what he had been up to:

This took some planning. The night before Justin had asked me my favorite color so that he could pick the right colored flower to go on the tray. What a sweet boy!

Mr. Handyman

We haven't had a swingset for the kids since we moved to Indiana and decided we needed to do something this summer. We've been looking at buying one, but Aaron decided he wanted to build one instead. I didn't doubt he could do it, but was worried about him finding the time because he's doesn't have very much free time these days. He took a day off work while the kids were on Spring Break and after several trips to Lowe's, we have four swings! He really wanted to use the trees in our woods and still has grand plans for a tree house. This is the end of "phase one" as he calls it.

Testing out the equipment

This may be the solution to my plans for getting some yardwork done this summer.

Our neighbor kids were out with our family and were great helpers which means they should be able to enjoy the fun too, right? (They just moved in last November and we love them!)

You'll notice all of our kids in at least one of the pictures, except Madelyn. Apparently, over the long winter, Madelyn has developed a few fears, swings being one of them. Aaron put her in the baby swing and she was terrified. I had a similar experience with her at the park a month ago, but I don't think he believed me until he saw it for himself. Happy swinging!

Look Who's Two!

Madelyn had two days of celebrating this year for her birthday. Saturday we had a cake in Ohio with our Easter dinner. She had a combined look of fear and excitement as everyone sang Happy Birthday to her. She was too overwhelmed with all of the attention to even blow out the candles so some of her cousins had to help her.

She opened gifts after the cake and loved this! We can't wait to have some warmer weather to go out with her bubble machine.

Sunday afternoon we had our own little party at home for her. By then she was a pro and couldn't wait to tear into her gifts. It's hard to believe our little girl is already two. She's been in the terrible two's since the day her little sister Naomi was born. Never has one of our kids had a tougher time adjusting than Madelyn has, but she is getting better all the time. She really does love her, but forgets she needs to be gentle with her. Madelyn is at such a fun age and gets lots of attention from her older siblings. They really get her going - especially at night when we're trying to get the kids ready for bed. Her favorite word right now is "no" - no surprise there. She has been a late talker, but is picking up new words everyday now.

Here's a picture of Madelyn as a newborn: 5 pounds, 13 ounces
We love you, Madelyn!

Easter

We spent a couple of days in Ohio last week during Spring break and were able to have fun visiting family and friends. Saturday Aaron's niece, Megan, was baptized and then we had our family Easter egg hunt and dinner. We came home Saturday evening after dinner so that we could be home for Easter and Madelyn's birthday. Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

Just a cute story about Will: Every year the younger kids are allowed to start the egg hunt a couple of minutes ahead of the older kids and have a different side of the house from the older kids. Will asked my sister-in-law Jenny if he could go with the older kids this year. She told him that since he was five, he was probably old enough to hunt with the older kids. I think he grew an inch when she told him this. Well, Bruce found his eggs on the "little" kid side and headed over to the "big" kid side. Will kept getting after him and reminding him that this side was only for the "big" kids. He loves to feel like a big boy!

Too cute!

Here's a recent photo of Naomi that I thought was cute. She Will be three months old in another week and has just started to giggle. It is so cute. I wanted to put some video on the blog of her doing it, but of course she wouldn't perform when we started recording. We'll get her another time. She is doing great sleeping at night. She usually gets up to eat once around three or four in the morning. Getting her to sleep during the day is another story. Or I should say getting her to stay asleep during the day! As soon as I lay her down, she wakes up and wants to be held. Good thing she's cute or it would be a lot harder!