May, June, and July

Life is certainly barreling right along.

What's been happening in the last few months?

In May, Eden turned 5. I can't believe I have a little girl who isn't a toddler any more. She's so helpful (almost all the time) and mature and loves her little sisters (most of the time).



She loves to dress up in skirts and dresses and does her own hair and cares very much about what accessories to use each day.



She's learning to read and add and subtract and can count to 100 and fold laundry like a champion.



What can I say? I love her.



Then Kevin's sisters, Mairead and Claire, and Claire's little boy Benson came to for a visit. It was a fun-filled all-aunts-all-the-time fun fest!











I completely forgot to take 3-month-old photos of Jillian in May, so in June I made sure to take 4-month-old photos.


Then the 4th of July rolled around and we spent the day with our friends having a picnic at their house.



Jillian turned 5-months-old in July. She's scooching around, sitting up almost unassisted, and chewing on everything. She loves to be tickled, especially by Kevin's head.











I also gave her some solid foods this month. A little melon, egg yolks, watermelon, and apricot.










And finally a shot with Kevin and all his girls.



Have a great summer!

Shooting for one post every month

Since I haven't been the best at keeping up with the blog regularly, but I do still use it as a way to share the photos I take with my good camera, I think I'm lowering my own expectations to try to write a new post once a month. I may be able to handle that. And because I'm feeling ambitious, I'm going to do April's today. (It's better to get stuff done earlier rather than later, right? Says she who is ALWAYS late.)

Anyway, April shenanigans included Easter, Winnie's third birthday non-party (no presents, no party hats, just friends and cupcakes), and Jillian's two-month photos (taken twice because I wasn't a fan of the first batch).

Easter:

So I'll go ahead and confess that we don't do the Easter bunny...or Santa for that matter. We've told our girls they are pretend and while very fun to think about, Easter and Christmas are celebrations about Jesus Christ and not an oversized rabbit with candy or a fat dude giving out presents. But I'm not a complete parental scrooge, so we did do Easter baskets filled with no candy (because you do NOT want to be around Winnie on candy - think crazed wind-up toy that at any moment explodes into tantrum-y screaming) but lots of Easter books (about Christ), art supplies, and puzzles.









Later, Kevin was so exhausted from the activities that he and Jillian fell asleep on the couch together.



Next up, Jillian at 2 months old.

Like I said before, I took these twice because the first batch wasn't my favorite. However, I got some candids of Winnie (who always wants her picture taken) and Jillian that crack me up.

This one is nice.



These next two make me laugh.





Here's the second attempt:





And the obligatory "TAKE MY PHOTO NOW TOO, MOMMY!" photo:



Finally, Winnie's third birthday. We had a non-party at our house. I made cupcakes with pink frosting (because pink is currently her favorite color) and we invited some friends of hers and their parents over to eat the 4 dozen cupcakes I made.









And there ya have it. Nothing else much is going on in April other than us hanging outside and enjoying the weather (while Kevin works on improving our backyard and making it more kid-friendly).

One more photo just because this photo is such a good representation of Winnie in every day life. A mess. A goofball. Bursting with personality. And love. And one heck of a tantrum thrower.

She came in like a lion, but once out she's a lamb.

This is probably the face you're making right now due to your shock that I've actually updated my blog.



I'll do a brief overview of January, February, and March (since March is almost over as it is).

We started January off properly with confetti poppers on New Year's morning. Eden loved them. Winnie thought they were loud.





February brought us our first visit to Philly with the girls, lots of snow, and our third baby!

We took them to the see the Philly LDS temple being built in the heart of center city. And of course, for ice cream at Franklin's Fountain (my second home in Philly).



On February 9, our third baby, a little girl (eventually) named Jillian was born in the wee morning hours at home in our basement in a birth pool.

This is our midwife weighing her about an hour after she was born.



The girls' first time meeting her the next morning:



Winnie LOVES her baby sister. Wants to hold her constantly. Kisses her all the time. Jillian's the last person she wants to hug right before she goes to sleep each night.



Eden loves being a big sister and being in charge. She's very helpful. "Mommy, the baby's crying!" is a sentence I hear all the time. She always wants to look at her when her eyes are open. "Are her eyes open, Momma? I want to see if her eyes are open. Look! They're open! They're open!"



Winnie is quite generous. Case in point:



That's her thumb. Who needs a pacifier when you can suck on your older sister's thumb? Pre-slobbered and everything.

Sometimes it's tiring being the oldest sister.



Sleeping babies are great.



Then a week after Jillian was born, we started having family visitors for three weeks straight.

Here are all the grandchildren of Kevin's parents. I have provided all the grandchildren for my parents.



And finally here is Jillian at one month old. Today she's already almost 7 weeks old. I'm going to try to take monthly photos like I kind of did with Winnie. Who knows if I'll actually follow through?



Taking posing suggestions from her helpful older sisters:



Jillian is a great baby. Sleeps lots. Eats lots. Grows lots. Doesn't cry lots. Toots lots. We love her.