The Best Sound In the World

Tonight Eliza laughed out loud for the first time, and it was just beautiful.

She was sitting on my lap, and Cat and I may or may not have been making tooting sounds. But whatever we were doing, Eliza thought it was funny enough to give us several good belly laughs! And to make it even better, Ben had just gotten home and was eating his dinner when she did it, so he got to witness it as well. Then about an hour later, Cat made Eliza laugh all by herself by burying her nose in Eliza's belly. I love it!

Never a Dull Moment

Once in a while, something happens on my watch that is embarrassing enough that I never want to admit it to another person. But those events are usually just too funny not to share. One of those things happened yesterday while I was putting laundry in the washing machine. Let's just say that Jack's creative juices were flowing and he had to get something down on paper. Or... scalp.



I would say this ranks up there with the time Ben was taking care of Cat and she managed to pour a 5-pound bag of grits on the floor in the living room for the purpose of making a sand castle. Luckily, Ben became aware of the situation seconds before she poured water onto the "sand."

Sunday Play

It all started innocently enough. A couple of years ago I put together a scripture dress-up box. It was my attempt at finding a simple and appropriate activity to keep the children entertained on Sundays, as well as something that would encourage us to act out scripture stories during FHEs. So, a couple of weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon, the kids needed something to do and I pulled out the dress-up box, complete with a few tunics and robes, some faux fur, toy weapons (sword, knife, bow and arrow, tomahawk), crowns, wraps, etc. One of Cat's favorite scripture stories is that of Queen Esther, so of course she donned her Biblical queen attire and she and Ben acted out the story together while I narrated from the Old Testament Reader.

Then... things got a little more interesting. The weapons came out and Cat (as Esther) started acting out the part of the story where the king tells the Jews that they can kill anyone who tries to kill them. Then Jack got a sword and started trying to kill things too. And before I knew it, I was trying to direct the children to "kill" something that wouldn't be harmed in any way by a foam sword or a plastic tomahawk. And what was the first thing that caught my eye? A Cabbage Patch doll. Imagine me saying something to the effect of, "here kids, kill this baby instead!" Maybe not my most shining moment as a mother. But they had a great time, and there was a little bit of a lesson in the scriptures somewhere in the mix.

4 months old!

Eliza is now 4 months old, and she's just so fun. She's still a very easy baby: quick to smile, and happy to sit and watch while the big kids provide her with entertainment. She still doesn't have a real schedule, but has started to have more of a nap routine: usually one long nap in the middle of the day, and sometimes another one before or after. This month, Eliza got earrings (sorry, no good picture of that), started cooing a lot more, and has begun to have an interest in some toys. She also developed some serious cradle cap, but we'll get that taken care of--no worries. Because, in Cat's words, "Eliza is the cutest baby in the world!"

Back in Business!

Our new card reader arrived in the mail today! Yeah! It was so fun to look through the pictures we've taken over the last month. I have lots to share, but first I had to dedicate a post to Cat and her budding photography skills. If Cat keeps the camera attached to herself (via the strap), I usually let her snap a few pictures when she asks. (I have been known in the past to use this as a way to buy myself a few minutes of getting something done right before or right after I take pictures...) But I cracked up when I saw the pictures she took one day in June. Here are a few of my favorites.


I like that she posed some puppy dogs; included the messy laundry/sewing room; documented me copying a Bon Jovi smirk for my sister's bday note; captured the enormous oak tree in our back yard and an art session; photographed an impromptu pretend dining table made from the piano bench, a receiving blanket, and an old placemant; and apparently caught Eliza by surprise at some point. And of course, the classic picture-of-myself-taking-a-picture shot. (No, I didn't tell her to do that. She came up with it on her own.) Love it.

Random Act of Wetness

More pictures from a month ago that I haven't posted on the blog. We should be getting our card reader to retrieve the current pictures from the current camera soon. Till then...

I was scared about summer. I didn't know how I would handle having all 3 kids home all of the time. But thankfully, things have gone very well so far. First of all, I have to admit that as much as I shake my head at the things my children do, they are comparatively good kids. Secondly, the younger two (and Cat occasionally) are pretty good nappers. And thirdly, we have a great yard. When I am willing to brave the heat, the yard is a welcome es-ca-pe. (Anyone else hearing Dory's voice right now? Just me? Okay.)

So, right after Memorial Day weekend I wanted to do something fun outside with the older kids while Eliza was sleeping and the baby pool wasn't inflated yet. I knew I had to involve water, if only for my own sanity, so I decided to bring out every container I could stand to be outside and just let the kids go for it. They had a blast for over an hour, and didn't get me soaking wet, which I appreciated, even though I was playing some too. Here are a few of the pictures I snapped as I tried to create rules that allowed me to get them wet, but for them to mostly get me wet from the ankles down. (Don't judge. We're on a well. That water is COLD!)


Uh-oh, the lawnmower is dirty!

We'll take care of that.

Uh-oh, Cat is dirty too!
Well, not anymore.

I hope you're all enjoying your summer!

In case you were wondering why the lighting is so different in these pictures, I was playing with all the different settings on my camera at the time. No, we didn't have a freak storm or shadow or anything.

Long (Overdue) Post about Memorial Day

I haven't been good about blogging lately because I'm discouraged that I can't currently upload pictures from our camera. (It's a long story.) For some reason that fact has kept me from blogging with the pictures I already have uploaded on the computer. That's about to change! I know you've all been on the edge of your seats, so here you go!

We had a wonderful mini-vacation Memorial Day weekend. We spent the weekend in Tallahassee, FL with Ben's folks, hereafter referred to as Mema and Papa. After driving to Tally Saturday morning, we ate lunch at Mema and Papa's house before getting back in the car to drive to St. George Island, a beautiful barrier island off of Florida's panhandle, and a favorite spot of mine, since it's where we always went to the beach when I was going to college at FSU. It was cool to take the kids there, and for this to be Eliza's first trip to the beach. There was hardly anyone else there and the weather was perfect: warm but not unbearably hot.

We invited our friends Tim and Cassie and their 3 kids to join us. Ben and Tim were best friends in high school, Tim was the best man at our wedding, and all of our kids are almost exactly the same ages. We love hanging out with them!

Cat and Lana were pretty much playing in the Gulf the whole time. They took a few breaks to play in the sand, grab a cookie or a drink of water, assist the fishermen, and inspect the catch of the day, but then they went right back into the water.



Eliza seemed to really enjoy herself. First, she napped under the canopy. Then, she tested the water before deciding to just hang out with her buddy Jacob:


Jack was wary of the water for the first few hours, spending most of his time watching the girls, playing with cars (surprise, surprise), and helping Daddy and Papa with the important business of catching Sunday's dinner:


But finally Jack decided it was okay to play in the water after all. (I wish I had a good picture of Jack with Madi, Tim and Cassie's 2-year-old daughter. Next time!!)


Jack even seemed to enjoy tasting the water. See for yourself:

And I had to include this video of Jack running. Just because I love the way he runs!

We had so much fun with Mema and Papa and Tim and Cassie's family - playing, fishing, swimming, and just enjoying eachother's company - that we didn't leave the beach until after 8pm. By the time we got some dinner and ice cream and loaded up, the kids were completely exhausted, and slept the whole way home. What a lovely day.

After Church on Sunday, we enjoyed a delicious fish fry and had some play time with cousins:


On Monday, Mema took us to a park with a fun playground and a lake, where Cat was looking for sharks:



My awesome sister-in-law, Lindsey, is starting a photography business and asked if she could take some pictures of our family. Umm... sure!! If you're on Facebook, you can see her "Lindsey Lou Photography" page here. For those of you who, like me, are not Facebookers, I'll post a few of her pictures later.

Then, we had a little more play time before it was time to head home:


Thank you, Mema and Papa, for a wonderful weekend! We can't wait to come visit again!