May 22

Mommy has her hands full with 6 kids today (Julia, Kat, Anna, Ethan, Emma, & Big Jonathan). It has gone surprisingly well though. All are napping right now except Big Jonathan; he's playing the Wii.

"Ethan Garfunkel" (he didn't care too much for getting his hair combed)

"Birth Control"... they are cute though, aren't they!?!

In honor of Anna's last day until the Fall, we made a chocolate cake (she likes to crack the eggs).

Mommy moved the van out of the garage so the kids would have more room to play... and this is how she was greeted when she came back to the house.

Frisbee golf

Mommy cut down a couple of branches that the van always hits when pulling into the garage, and the girls decided that they couldn't play anymore because it was their "work" to take all the leaves off the branches.

Julia story: Last night Julia wrote the letter "H" with sidewalk chalk (without prompting). When Mommy asked her what she had written, she said "H like Hunter" (one of her church buddies). Mommy has no idea how she knew that!

Kat story: Kat had a rough day yesterday. She was whiny and clingy all morning and even woke up whiny after her nap. After Ethan and Emma went home, Mommy took Kat, Julia, & Anna to the doctor to get her ears checked. She didn't have an ear infection, but still has fluid. At least we ruled out an ear infection (although it cost a $20 copay)! Thankfully she's been herself today!

May 21

Today Daddy is back at work and Mommy is babysitting for Anna, Ethan, & Emma. We played outside for about 2 hours this morning. Tonight we have our last Mission Friends at church until the Fall.

Playing in the sandbox; they pretended that it was snow.

Emma is getting to enjoy the fresh air too... and Kat is right beside her as usual!

Watching a movie before naptime

These are pictures from Joe and Tracy's house yesterday. As you can see, the girls had fun!

May 20

Yesterday Christy got to experience first-hand how the kids are with Emma

Daddy took today off work so that he and Mommy could go to another meeting with the Financial Advisor. The girls got to go to Tracy, Joe, & Jonathan's house to play. Afterwards we went to Chuck-E-Cheese for lunch. Julia earned enough tickets at C-E-C to "buy" a little lizard she named Dora-and-Diego. She carried it with her everywhere the rest of the day.

After dinner Mommy laid mulch out in the front yard... as you can see from the pictures, Kat "helped". Julia found many worms in the flower beds, which made her day.

May 19

Happy Anniversary to us!

Today is Mommy and Daddy's 7th Wedding Anniversary. We are going to watch our wedding video tonight with the girls. It's been a few years since we've watched it.

It's been a busy 7 years. We have moved 5 times (moved cities too), Daddy graduated college, had 2 kids, and lost 2 grandparents. Plus all the other busy day-to-day stuff! It's gone by fast! According to Daddy, it feels like forever! Hmmm... is this a good thing?

May 18

After the girls' nap yesterday we went to a baseball game. Kat ate her weight in peanuts!

As you can see, it wasn't very crowded at the game

The stadium has a playground for the little ones

When we got home and were putting the girls to bed Kat said "Night Night" for the first time.

Cute story: Mommy wanted Julia to try some green Jello that she made yesterday and Julia wrinkled her nose and said, "Does it taste like pickles?"

Another cute story: Julia's scared to death of most dogs (even little puppies that don't bark). However, this little girly girl was holding a baby slug tonight at Mamaw and Papaw's house. She loves worms, slugs, spiders, and snakes... but not fuzzy little dogs!?!

Julia was really nervous about Daddy riding his bike in the street. She kept warning him that the cars might squish him like a bug.

This morning we went to church. Daddy and Mommy had one of their secret dates (we get Chinese takeout and watch a movie - today we caught up on 2 episodes of "Lost") while the girls were napping. We all played outside this afternoon and then we went to Mamaw and Papaw's house for a quick visit before going to the movie rental store. We ran into Mrs. Judy, Julia's Sunday School teacher and Julia asked her why she wasn't at church. Julia thought Mrs. Judy lived at church; the mind of a 3 yr-old. Anyways, we rented "Barbie Mariposa" (something I bet Daddy never thought he'd be renting).

The girls doing the dance to Superwhy (a PBS kids show) this morning before church...

May 17

Last night both girls were fussy. They were acting like babies, so Mommy jokingly swaddled them up (like baby Emma) and sang "Rock-a-bye-baby" to them. Mommy took them for a walk and we played outside with the neighbors until bedtime. Daddy was feeling better by last night.

Baby burritos

Unfortunately it was Julia's turn to have the stomach bug. She threw up a couple of times last night; once in her bed. So, Julia and Mommy slept on the couch last night. She didn't throw up anymore, thankfully. This morning she was crabby, but kept her food down.

Mommy cleaned the house this morning. Then Mommy and Kat went to the library for story time; the theme was Teddy Bear picnic. It was fun to spend one-on-one time with Kat. Story time was outside in the beautiful weather and afterwards we had a picnic.

Meanwhile, Daddy and Julia watched a movie and played Play-Doh. Daddy took Julia to McDonald's for lunch. He said she scarfed down her hamburger and apples and that she didn't want to play on the playground until she was done eating; poor little thing was starving. Hopefully it'll stay down - not sure McDonald's was the best place for her to eat after last night, but what does Mommy know!?!

This afternoon we'll probably play outside and enjoy the beautiful day.

May 16

Julia and Anna playing baseball

Ethan was is timeout here, but he looked cute so he got his picture taken

Playing with sidewalk chalk

Emma watching the mobile, the "big girls" watching Emma

Orange you glad they're silly?

Today Daddy has a stomach bug and stayed home from work. He hasn't left the bedroom yet (5 kids is probably good motivation for him to stay in bed!). Since we finally have a day without rain we played outside for over an hour while Emma was napping. The kids have been cooped up inside a lot this week and have a lot of energy that needs to be burned. All five (and Daddy) are napping right now. Mommy is not looking forward to the day when they are too big for naps.

In the video, they are playing hopscotch.

May 15

The girls getting some Daddy time after we got home from church

Well, it's another rainy Spring day; our 3rd this week! Mommy was supposed to have 6 kids today, but ended up with only five (all 5 are napping right now- yeah!). At about 10:30 this morning it hadn't started raining, but baby Emma was napping. Mommy told the other 4 that after she woke up and was fed, we'd go out. But lo and behold, it was raining by the time we were ready. We played in the playroom instead.

Too many cooks in this kitchen! They are "helping" make Monkey Bread

Watching Nemo and eating the Monkey Bread

Ethan picked up a hitchhiker!

Tonight Mrs. Scottie came over to watch the girls while Mommy and Daddy went out to eat at Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse to celebrate their 7th Anniversary a few days early. The plan was to go to a movie afterwards, but after dinner, the idea of going home and putting on pajamas sounded like a better idea. A 9:15 movie is just too late - how lame are we!?!

May 14

The girls played in the sandbox again last night

Mommy stayed at Bunco a little too late last night so she's been tired and grumpy today... so has Julia! Ethan and Emma are back today. Julia and Kat want to feed Emma her bottles and Kat just wants to be near her and touch her all the time. She was even sharing her Duck (her most prized possession) with Emma. She reminds Mommy of how Julia was when she was a new baby. Kat got out of bed about 5 times before she finally stayed in her bed for a nap. She hasn't done this in awhile.

Having a morning snack

"There's no place like home, there's no place like home..."
Ethan has discovered the fun in playing dress-up

Poor Emma

Tonight we have Mission Friends at church.

May 13

Last night Mommy learned a valuable lesson: Do not leave the girls unattended in the sandbox for even 1 minute. Mommy was inside putting the groceries away thinking to herself, "It's nice that the girls are getting old enough to be out in the sandbox for a minute without me having to supervise." Just then, Julia came into the house and said, "Mommy, I just made Kat look like a princess." Oh yeah, how? "I put sand in her hair." She had dumped a bunch of sand on top of Kat's head. It was stuck to Kat's tears and to the snot pouring out of her nose. She was not too happy.

This morning Daddy went running for the first time since his wisdom teeth were removed. He's feeling back to himself again. Mommy and the girls ran errands this morning and then went to Mamaw's school to hang out for awhile. The girls got to pet Speedy, the class rat. It's hard to believe that in a couple of years Julia will be in school... she seems so small right now. She wrote the letter "I" on a piece of paper without being prompted - she'll probably just skip right over kindergarten. :P

Kat, wake up, we're home!

Tonight Mommy's going to Bunco to hang out with friends.