Out of order post

I know this is kind of uncalled for and way out of order but I have a random post of the day.  David left for a five day trip to Alaska today and for whatever reason, I lost my voice today.  As a result, instead of talking on the phone, I wrote him an e-mail about my day which is basically a blog post.  Anyways, here it is if you want a random blog-post in the middle of my monthly catch-ups.  I even included a couple random pictures:

Church went well.  Getting ready for church was not good, Haley was super bad and I ended up just spanking her which did work.  I did the stick and we had a talk after and everything.  She was being especially ridiculous and had been literally screaming and crying for about 5 - 10 minutes.  I'm surprised she hasn't lost her voice.  At church we sat with Kelsey and Michael which was perfect.  Haley did well and Kelsey held Emily most of the time.  Emily stayed in panties during her class and didn't have any accidents at church period.  As we were driving out, Steve Mason flagged me down and invited me to go to Tele's with them (the restaurant near Skinner's).  They had the Liebengood kids with them since Marietta stayed home with Kelly who is still feeling under the weather.  That worked out really well because Chloe helped me with the girls.  Libby fell asleep at the restaurant and Emily was accident-free.  She went two times while we were there and one of the times she actually requested to go which is a first in a long time for me.  After Tele's we came home and I put the girls down for naps.  Emily and Libby both took a little bit to fall asleep.  Haley slept in our bed and went right down.  I did my Bible study and then took a nap as well.  I let them sleep until about 4:45 and then Libby woke up and I laid her next to Haley which woke Haley up and then Haley "used her wand" to wake Emily up.  I got them dressed and everything and then we went to wal-mart on the way to the Freeman's.  When we walked into Wal-mart, Haley and Emily both started to climb onto the side of a cart together.  The cart tipped over on top of them.  A black man walking out of the store helped me grab the cart before it fell completely and I put Libby inside and then picked up Emily who had fallen flat on her back/head and was crying hard.  Haley was fine and not really crying.  The welcome lady was an older black lady and she asked me if 'he' was okay and said that she had to have someone come do a report or something.  I told her I needed to go after a couple minutes but by that time a lady was walking up.  That lady was younger but she said, 'is he okay?'  I said, 'she's fine.'  Then she said, 'do you want me to report it, is he going to be okay?'  Then I said something like, 'she's really okay and it is a girl.  Can I go?'  And she said it was fine and I went and we grabbed some ice cream and a pack of diapers of Emy at night.  After wal-mart we went straight to the Freeman's who were grilling steak for fajitas which were awesome.  They had El Pollo chips, salsa, and tortillas.  During dinner Haley declared "this is the best dinner I've ever had."  I told her to be polite so I guess she wanted to take it to the next level.  They had also invited Katie Hopkins and her daughters since Jon is out of town so they were there and I knew they were going to be so it wasn't a surprise or anything.  Meg, Katie and I talked for a bit about women's Bible study and during dinner we all (including Vance) talked about birth stories.  Apparently it was kind of a bummer that Owen was a C-section but it actually ended up saving Sarah Cate's life because then she had to be a c-section by default and as it turned out, she was so wrapped up in her umbilical chord that the doctor said she probably would have died if they had tried to deliver her vaginally.  Vance said her face was blue and the chord was all wrapped around her and she was wedged up into the corner of Meg's uterus.  I guess Meg has a heart-shaped uterus.  Anyways, that's probably more than you wanted to know about that.  Jon Hopkins was in Dallas for the weekend and he got home around 7:45 and came to the Freeman's so we saw him too.  We left around 8:30 and came home and put on jammies right away and brushed our teeth and then skyped you.  Then I read them books.  I didn't even finish one book before i put Emily to bed because she was getting cranky and wild.  Then I read to just Haley until I pretty much couldn't talk anymore because of my voice.  Now we're going to bed.

Haley and Emily helping Daddy fix the mower.  You can tell this is earlier in the summer because our grass it much more brown now.  It was in the mid nineties today.

Emily loves to help

It seems unsafe to help in panties though...

Libby 

Trip to PA Part 2

We decided to head to the beach on Tuesday for the day.  It was going to be one of the warmest days of the week and there was no rain in the forecast and it turned out to be a beautiful day.  If anything, it was a little bit on the chilly side because there was a lot of wind but all you had to do was lay down on a beach towel to start sweating, the wind wouldn't hit you there I guess.  Libby slept most of the 2 hour drive there which was a big blessing.  When we got there I dug her a little perch in the sand and she hung out for a while 

She probably assumed she was in her bouncer seat

The girls got right to work with their shovels and buckets in the sand.  Dave took them down by the water but I think that was as wet as they got during the whole day, the water was cold.

Daddy and the girls

Instead they spent a lot of time digging holes and catching crabs with Pops.  Mimi had bought a bunch of hoagie sandwiches so at lunchtime we ate in shifts at the pier which was a short walk from our spot on the beach.  After lunch the kids went right back to playing.  I held Emily for a while thinking that maybe she would go down for a nap but she was way too distracted.  David laid down with Haley too and she laid there for a while but never fell asleep.  Grandma and Grandpa DeWalt came along which turned out to be a super nice for us because Grandma held Libby through most of her afternoon nap!  David ended up being the only one who actually got in the water.  He swam around and rode some waves in, we all thought he was crazy.  We headed out around 5pm and the girls fell asleep almost right away in the van.  We stopped about thirty minutes later for dinner at Chick Fil A which worked out well because then they didn't sleep too long and were able to go right to sleep when we got home.  

Hard at work

Cousins in the sand

 WEDNESDAY we woke up to a pancake breakfast made by Pops.  We didn't have much planned for the day except for a facetime date with Aunt Rin!  She caught up with her on facetime and she gave us the details of her upcoming trip to Nigeria (actually at this point in time they are already back, haha!).  It was cool to talk to Rin for a while, we missed her so much this visit!  Grandma and Grandpa DeWalt had invited us for lunch and they live not even a mile away so we decided to walk to their house and stop at the playground on the way.  I'm sure we looked like quite the parade walking down mainstreet with a bunch of strollers and scooters.  We stopped at the playground at the community center for a while.  

It was a perfect opportunity for a cousins' picture.  Except Haley wasn't cooperating and I didn't know because I was feeding Libby.  Her aunts were a little soft on her I guess!  Aunt Kimi made those adorable matching dresses for Ellie and Emy: the first set of 'twins'

When we got to Grandma's house she had a big lunch spread all ready for us.  The kids ate and then played in Grandma's living room and out on her porch.

I immediately passed Libby off to Grandpa so I could eat.  Haha, just kidding

Haley and Emy playing with Jay.  Isn't that dress adorable?!  Kimi made it!!

Changing Libby's diaper at Grandma's.  It looks like Ellie and Clark were getting tired!

Playing on the porch, I'm guessing Haley was the baby?

After Grandma's house we went home and put the kids down for naps.  Then those of us who don't nap (the adults and Calla and Kelsey) swam in the pool for a while until the littles work up and joined us.  Haley and Emily had so much fun swimming in the pool this year.  I bought Haley a puddle jumper and in retrospect I should have bought one for Emily too because she was all about getting in the water and she made me a little nervous.  Haley considered swimming with her puddle jumper on to be actual swimming (opposed to being lifted up by a flotation device and randomly swinging her legs which is what it was).  A couple times I heard her mentioning, to no one in particular, that she was a great swimmer.  I even heard her singing a song about how she was the best swimmer.  Oh my.  Well I didn't break it to her, maybe next summer.  

Clark, Haley and Calla.  They are all the oldest in their respective families

Mimi made a huge lasagna for dinner and an ice cream caramel dessert.  Everything was so good and my kids ate tons after playing in the pool all afternoon (except Libby, I feel like that goes without saying...).  After dinner we put the kids down and played games for a bit before bed.

Dinner outside, the weather was so perfect

Next time I will hopefully close up our trip to PA posts, it probably seems like we were there forever, haha!

Trip to PA Part 1

Dave and I had hoped to leave Texas for PA on the morning of Friday, June 20.  As it turned out, David ended up having to work that day and we didn't get to leave until 7:30 pm.  Our original plan was to drive a full day, stay the night somewhere Friday night and then finish on Saturday.  Instead we decided to try and drive it straight through and if we got too tired during the night we would abort the mission and just get in super late on Saturday.  I had packed dinner for Dave to eat in the car (the girls and I had already eaten) and he took the first shift.  Our van gets almost 400 miles to a tank on the highway so we could easily drive 5 hour shifts.  I had the second shift from 12:30 until 5:30.  I had asked the ladies in my Bible study to pray that I would be awake and of course my family was praying.  Anyways, it was nothing short of miraculous that I felt as awake as I did.  I never once felt sleepy, it was absolutely amazing!  On top of that, Libby did not wake up once during my shift so David did not have to give her a bottle or anything.  David took over after my shift and finished the drive to PA.  He claimed that he would rather drive than deal with the children.  David picked up some donuts at the gas station when we stopped at 5:30 and then we all got out to eat lunch at our 11:30 stop (10:30 our time).  The last stop was Elverson, we rolled in around 4:30.  We decided that driving the trip straight through the night is not too bad as far as the children are concerned.  They were only awake for one of the stops!  The other two stops we just grabbed gas, used the bathroom and jumped back on the road.

Emily stretching her legs at Wendy's (our lunch stop)

Our goal had been to get in by 4:30 because Pops was leaving for Chicago at 5:30.  I wanted him to meet Libby before he left to go help Carly make her 11 hour drive to PA (Jonathan had to work and was flying in on Wednesday).

Mission accomplished!

Saturday night Grandma had everyone over to celebrate Grandpa's 81st Birthday.  It was so fun to introduce everyone to Libby and watch all the cousins play (minus the Brusts :( ).  My cousin Katie just had a baby a couple weeks ago so I got to meet baby Caroline and hold her for a little bit.  

Grandma holding Libby

After dinner we came back to Mom's house and talked for a bit and then went to bed.  Dave and I had a lot of sleep to catch up on!  

SUNDAY morning we slept in a bit and went to the late service at my parent's church.  Aunt Kimi was in Libby's age class so I decided to leave her in the nursery.  I told them she would probably get hungry and she did so I was buzzed out towards the end of the sermon.  I fed her and then just took her in with me to finish the service.  Haley and Emily were actually together in a class so I didn't feel too bad leaving either of them.  Emily could have actually stayed with Libby but I didn't realize that until I had already dropped her off.  It was too bad because cousin Ellie was in there and they could have had some bonding time!  It was not matter because we got to see the Mountzs and Fentons over pizza for lunch.  The girls took naps in the afternoon and I think we just hung out and talked in the afternoon and evening.  Pops and the Brusts got in super late on Sunday night, we did not wait up for them.

MONDAY we woke up to see the Brust cousins!  Pops made pancakes for everybody (on four hours of sleep no less) and the cousins played while we all caught up (the Fentons and Mountzs arrived before we were even awake I believe!).  In the afternoon Grandma and Grandpa came over and we swam in the pool.  We bought a puddle jumper for Haley and made the rule from the beginning that she always had to have it on around the pool.  I thought she might give us a fight about it (she doesn't like to wear shoes or underwear) but she was fine and kept it on and was actually quite a fish the whole week.  In retrospect, we should have bought one for Emily because she liked the water just as much and ended up borrowing Kelsey's once Kelsey learned how to swim (about mid-week).  Libby did not get in the water on Monday, I brought her bassinet thing outside and she took her naps in the shade.  Monday evening Mimi had Mom-mom and Linda Smith and Grandpa and Grandma all over to grille out and celebrate Kelsey's Birthday.  Mom-mom and Linda got to meet Libby and we got to make smores on Dad's fire pit which the in-laws built him for Father's day.

Mom-mom is holding Libby if you can tell!

Ellie, Emy and Haley wanted to go for an evening swim so Aunt Kim sat with them on the steps so they could put their feet in.

Smores

Sorry I know I've hardly gotten started but I'll try and finish the rest tomorrow!

Haleyism:

About two hours into our roadtrip Haley said, "driving to Mimi's house is really really hard!"

End of May/most of June

Sorry I have not posted in a while (I feel like I start every post with that…).  We have had a very end of May and month of June so I am going to try and fill in as much as I can remember and then hope that the pictures make up for the rest.  

We'll start with a random picture of Emily

The first highlight I would like to recount is the visit from Dave’s parents, Abuelita and Abuelito (often pronounced weeto and weeta).  I believe they arrived on Wednesday, May 28^th and stayed until the following Monday.  We had a great time catching up with them and introducing them to Libby.  Sheryl showed me how to get Libby’s crazy hair to stay down with a couple of tricks and they both read dozens of books to Haley and Emily who were sure that they the visit was for the sole purpose of playing with them (especially Haley).  

We put them to work immediately holding babies and reading books

They did read a lot of books...

Abuelita brought a bag of clothes down from Aunt Adj that we went through with the girls.  It was like Christmas!

Here is Emily trying on a dress and a winter coat

Then she pulled out a Wedding dress that she had found somewhere, I forgot to ask her where!  Anyways, Haley and Emily were both thrilled.  Haley was throwing her clothes off to try it on even before it was completely opened.

It's actually a flower girl dress (obviously I guess) but it is perfect for playing 'wedding'

The original flower girl may have been a bit older than Emily, or bigger at least.

  Abuelita and Abuelito came to Wednesday night church with us, went on several outings to the park with all the girls, went to the Canton flea market on Saturday and went to church with us on Sunday.  We also had breakfast on Monday morning before they headed out.  It was a pretty packed visit but we had a lot of fun catching up and introducing Libby.

Libby and Abuelita

More books.  Emy looks funny in this one

I feel like the pictures make it seem like all we did was read books!

After the Canchés left, we didn't really have anything going on until our visit to PA later in June.  We spent the middle of the month trying to stay cool, usually at the splash pad.

Emily wearing a bucket

One day when we were there she stood like this for about fifteen minutes

And then when she was done standing like that, she did this for a while.  What a weirdo

Routinely we would wake up, get breakfast, and then head to the gym for an hour while I ran and then took a shower and got ready for the day.  Libby regularly takes her morning nap after being awake for about an hour so I timed it so she would be sleeping during her time at the gym and they really have yet to see her awake.  She would typically fall asleep on the two minute drive to the gym and then still be sleeping when I picked her up.  She goes down for her morning naps the easiest.

Emily hanging out in one of the cubbies at the gym

On our anniversary, David and I got a baby-sitter for the big girls and ate out in Shreveport.  Libby got to be our first baby to come along on an anniversary date.  I was glad we brought her along because she was going through a serious growth spurt that day and was eating every 1 - 2 hours.

Mommy, Daddy, and sleeping Libby

We got one without her too

Speaking of Libby, she is getting huge!  We went to her 2 month well-check at the end of June and got her stats.  She was 9 obs. 10 oz which put her in the 25% for weight and I don't remember her height but it put her in the 50% percentile.  She is definitely my biggest girl.

Big girl Libby

Haley and Emy are pretty pleased with her.  I love Emy's arm around her in this one

And of course we spent more time at the splash pad.  We went a couple times in the evening before bed to get the girls nice and tired.  Also then there is usually a higher chance of David getting to come along.  When I take them by myself I sit with Libby and they play together.  When David comes they are pretty excited because he will play with them while I stay with Libby.

Dumping water on Daddy's head

June also brought Father's Day!  David was home for Father's day so that was nice.  We hung out and took naps after church and lunch and then had two families over in the evening to grill steaks.  The Feenstras and the Fergusons came and brought sides and dessert.  The Fergusons brought dessert which consisted of homemade ice cream which they made in our backyard.  It was pretty cool to watch and tasted so good.

David with his three girls

As you may notice, Haley is smiling nicely in the previous picture and Emily is smiling nicely in this one.  You can't win them all.

Haley dictated the card and I wrote it, she had some interesting things to say including, "I am glad that you are at my house."  Um, okay.

So that was our end of May/beginning of June.  My next post will include pictures and details of our visit from PA which spanned June 20 - 29 (including traveling).  Actually the week before the 20th was pretty much just spent packing and cleaning for our trip so it's probably good I didn't include the details from those days. 

Reading our Bible story before bed.  If all of the laundry is clean, those are the jammies that Haley picks out for her and Emily to wear.  They are both princess jammes but Haley prefers the size 18 month pair and she gives Emily the 2T.

Haleyism:

I got my haircut one morning in June and my friend Kelsey was coming over to watch the girls while I was gone.  I told Haley that Kelsey was coming over to play with her and Emy while I got my haircut and she seemed happy with the arrangement.  A couple minutes later she asked me, "well, is Calla coming too?"  Oh my, I had to explain to her that adult Ms. Kelsey was coming over, not 5 year old cousin Kelsey.  

Emilyism:

Emily likes to say "Go away Anna" which is a line from the movie Frozen.  She says it quite often and it sounds really rude if you haven't seen the movie.  

Libbyism:

Libby sleeps like a champ.  I am usually up 1 time during the night and her first stretch is generally 6 - 7 hours.  Haley and Emily were maybe 6- 9 months before they slept like that.

Catching up and Libby's getting big

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while.  I'm not gonna lie, I don't remember the day to day through the end of April but people brought us meals every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.  When our friends the Grubbs brought us a meal, we had them stay and eat it with us and the Caldwells had us come to their house to eat dinner instead of bringing it.  The month of May included two Birthday parties we attended, both boys turning three.  We also went to the pediatrician for Libby's 1 month well-check.  She weighed 8 lbs. 12 oz and was 21 1/2 inches tall.  That put her in about the 30th percentile for weight and head circumference and the 50th for height.  I've never had such a big baby before, she's already starting to wear 0 - 3 month clothes.

Her hair gets kind of puffy after baths

Haley loves to cuddle with her

Another post-bath shot, she looks kind of mad, haha

Another one of Haley and Emily cuddling

The first Birthday party we went to had a superhero theme and the favors were superhero masks and capes.

They got to arrive in costume, Haley was pretty excited about that.  She had a great time.

Emily had a good time too

They tried to get a picture of all the kids with superman but it didn't really work out.

May also included Mother's day!  Dave had to work so that kind of put a damper on the day actually.  He did rally the children together and they made me a mother's day cake.  I also got a necklace pendant with the girl's names on it which I just love.  Mother's day evening we had the Yeakley's, Grubbs, and Feenstra's over to play games.  

My mother's day cake.  Apparently Haley picked out the colors.

Also, sometime in May, Haley and Emily took baths and acted silly

Emily especially

Another picture of Haley and Libby cuddling

I'm not sure why this one is upside down

The girls watching presents get opened at the other Birthday party

Last Sunday the girls wore matching outfits from Amanda Caldwell

They were pretty excited about it

Random picture of Emily being weird

It has started getting hotter down here and we've gone to the splash pad a couple times.  The big splash pad that we usually go to is no open yet because they are adding on to it so we went to a smaller one at a different park.

Haley braving the cold water while Emily watches on

Libby has taken some nice naps while at the splash pad

Haley insists on wearing her bathing suit from last year and it is almost always riding up in a permanent wedgie.

A video of them playing

Haleyism:

Every night we ask Haley to share prayer requests before we pray and put the girls down for bed.  More recently she has consistently been requesting that we pray that Emily will not hit or bite or pinch and be nice to her.  By the way, Emily does not do those things very often and only when provoked.

Emilyism:

Emily likes to yell mommy and daddy repeatedly until we are right in her face asking her what she wants.  She is not satisfied with us simply acknowledging her, she wants us to come up to her and be inches away before she will stop yelling our names.

Libbyism:

Libby has not pooped since Monday (today is Friday).  We're all gearing up for a big one.