our little dishwasher

The other day Shailey started loading the dishwasher without even being asked. We usually only let the kids help with unloading the silverware since it's easy. But she really wanted to help, only she insisted on wearing the yellow rubber gloves which clearly did not fit. But we can't let our hands get gross and yucky now, can we? :o)

olivia's first laugh!

She finally did it! And it was completely by accident that I got her to do it. I was goofing around with Isaac while changing Olivia's diaper. I made a little duck sound that was intended to make Isaac laugh, but instead, I heard the cutest little giggle coming from the diaper changing table. Apparently, mommy as a duck is pretty hilarious! Isaac was there "helping" as usual. :o)

four months old

My how time flies! Olivia is already four months old. I can't even begin to tell you how much we love her. She has been such a joy!

Fun things about Olivia:

♥ ♥ ♥

-She has such a cute little personality. She is on the quiet side but she is so happy! She'll smile at anyone and anything.

-She LOVES Danny (which he doesn't mind too much, either!). She loves to sit on his lap. And she really loves to talk to him. She doesn't talk to me much, but it's so sweet that she'll go on and on with Danny.

- She loves her swing (unless she's hungry!)

-She loves to lay on her playmat and pull and grab her toys.

-She's very good in the slobber department. We go through several bibs a day (which is better than changing her outfits all the time!)

- She is so close to having a full on laugh. We've gotten a few little giggles out of her but we're still waiting for that first laugh.

- She takes a bottle like a champ, whether it's breast milk or formula, she doesn't mind. She loves to eat! Whenever she wants to eat, she opens up her mouth so wide it makes me laugh. And she gets really excited when she's about to eat because she knows what's coming.

- I wouldn't call her a thumb sucker but how about a fist sucker? She loves her fist!

- She doesn't sleep much during the day but has been sleeping through the night for a couple months now.

These are her stats:

♥ 15 lbs. 5 oz. ♥

♥ 25 3/4 in. ♥

She has already more than doubled her birth weight. She's in the 75th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height.

Before she was born I couldn't picture how she would fit into our family. Now I can't imagine our family without her. We all love her. She is such a wonderful blessing!

shailey's birthday party

It's been awhile since my last post and I feel awful that I haven't posted a thing about Shailey's birthday! She turned 7 on January 29th and here we are in March. I guess I can't do it all! We celebrated Shailey's birthday with a party. She wanted it to be a "Fairy Party" so I did my best to think of games and activities that would fit into the fairy theme. We just invited a few friends from church. I said no school friends...I know that sounds mean but if we invited one school friend we would have had to invite them all and I don't think I could have handled that many girls all at once!

The girls decorated their goody bags...

...and were given clues to find all the "Lost Things" that would go inside them (their goodies).

They had to play games to earn their "Lost Things", like Fairy Freeze (musical statues)...

...and Fairy, Fairy, Hawk (Duck, Duck, Goose).




I was "Fairy Mary" along with my fairy cute little helper (who was so sweet during that entire two hours that she was deprived of eating--judging from her cheeks I think she was fine!)

They made bracelets...

...and played Musical Mushrooms (Musical Chairs)...

...and Fairy Mary, May I? (Mother, May I?).

And the best part--cupcake decorating...

...and eating!

And here's where the boys were during the party--inside watching episodes of Transformers. (Because fairy stuff is icky, and we're men!)