Another school year down!

Remember these little girls?  Now they are officially a fourth, third and first grader! This school year involved not only a cross-country move to a brand new school but also new babies in the family. I've already gushed about our school many times but it bears repeating what a blessing it was for us this year.  Carrigan's teacher had the entire class reading by mid-year and sparked a confidence in Carrigan we've never seen before. Brinnly's class was filled with girls and only one boy--and proved to be a fun example to her of what her family now looks like!  She and her two closest friends loved challenging each other in AR tests with the teacher's massive classroom library.  And Mali beamed most days about school and worked really hard to meet her lovely teacher's high standards. We had a fun first week of summer vacation and are all thankful that it is time for VBS now. 

I did not manage to get a last day picture of Brinn with her sweet teacher since their class scampered to the playground right after the closing chapel. (They all refused to go back to the classroom since they weren't second graders anymore!) Thankfully, we'll see her at church this summer.  But here's a picture of our one late-sleeper pajama girl anyway--she may miss school but she does love not having a morning rush!

Summer Vacation Day #3

High 5's after Carrigan's T-ball game

Three Months Old

 
One year ago we were praying that God would bless our family with a new member.  Little did we know we would hit the baby jackpot! Now they are smiling and cooing and starting to actually enjoy life.  Sometimes. They are great sleepers if we can just get them nursed and swaddled at the *exact* right moment. They love their big sisters tremendously. Several (gracious!) families at church this week remarked on how good the older girls were with them and we tend to agree. Hopefully that distracted from Grant's loud screaming during the service too. We love these little screamers so!

We couldn't manage to get them both awake, haapy, and dressed in cute outfits for today's Pooh picture shot, so here's one of them in sleepers.  Basically yoga pants for babies!

Church outfits from last week--so dear!

Summer Vacation Day #2

Everly's first big girl bath--with lots of helpers.

Summer Vacation Day #1

My biggest girls made rhubarb muffins all by theirselves today! (The blue/green added food color was theie own idea.)

May Recap

This May included the important ingredients of flowers, birthdays, rum cake, mud runs, celebrations, and rhubarb bars, baby cuddles.  We ended on a water-play note and plan to enjoy that for the rest of the summer!
 

B + E

First of all, these two would like to say a HUGE thanks to their Aunt Tonya for the gift of a new camera!  We've had fun trying it out this weekend. Before these babes get any bigger, I just wanted to jot down a few memories from this stage:

Everly is chattering away with her "coos". She usually has a happy stage after eating when she smiles and coos at any one around.  Her sisters call her "Ever-Lou and she charms them with her grins. She then gets so exhausted by it that about five minutes later she needs to be re-swaddled and soothed by her binky.  That girl loves her "super-swaddle", but when she is unhappy she had the saddest face around and cries real tears. When she's in her bouncy seat she also coos at the toys attached, as if having a conversation. She did her first stint of volunteer service cuddled in the Ergo on her daddy's chest while Skyping into a school board meeting. Very sweet.

Grant coos too but when he's in his bouncy seat he kicks at his toys, Typical boy.  His smile fills half of his face, but his head is so much bigger that he has a hard time moving it around to see who is talking to him. Jonathan called to him while holding him early one morning and Grant couldn't figure out which way to turn that head.  When he was very little, he'd just open his mouth (wide!) and hope for someone to put milk in it, wherever he was. Now he understands a little more who it works--good thing, since he LOVES to eat. That's why we call him "Chumba-Wumba" among other things.

Favorite twin moment so far?  When I was changing them both one morning and they were cooing away.  Suddenly they realized that they heard each other's voices and strained as best as they could to listen to each other.  That's right, guys--you're in this together.

Two Months Old

 Oh, these babies!  We love them so, but they are giving us a run for our money.  They have grown so much over the past few weeks but taking in the world is just hard for these two.  They do great nursing and some good sleeping...and a lot of screaming.  I am SO thankful for the recommendation of ring slings and the book "Happiest Baby on the Block" which taught me a few swaddling and white noise techniques.  Every little bit helps!  They really have such different temperaments than their older sisters that we have all had to re-learn how to care for such little babies.

On to the more fun details--at their eight week check-up, both were healthy and growing.  Everly is now 7 lbs, 10 oz and Grant topped the chart at 9 lbs, 1 oz.  He still glares around but has gotten to occasionally enjoy his bouncy seat and the bathroom mirror.  Eve is a huge smiler, especially at Mali.  Both have started to interact more with our facial expressions and have lost their newborn "gruntiness". They snuggle up sweetly to us when sleepy and are overall as cute as can be.  Fussiness and all, we are so blessed by them.

Growing out of newborn-size

Daddy declared today is the last day for this sleeper unless we want his toes to grow curled.

Six Weeks Old

It is a good thing these babies are cute because they have been quite the handful (handfuls?) lately. We are hoping that a six week growth spurt may be part of the issue with their constant scream/nurse/sleep cycle and that they will enjoy their bouncy seats and playmats more. Car rides and stroller walks are the other go-to for them so we are mighty thankful for the park nearby.Until they grow out of this phase, we will keep cuddling these two as much as they need it--Miss Sadface and Mr. Tarsier-eyes, as their sisters call them. (Seriously, if you Google "Tarsier" you can see images of what we think Grant's wide-eyed glare looks like)

One month old

60!

Happy 60th birthday to our very own Grandma Deni! We celebrated with carosel rides, pizza, and lemon treats. She is a gift to all of us!