6 Months

Avery is 6 months. Seriously 6 months. Crazy.
She is doing so great sitting up.
Her laugh is like music.
Loves to snuggle.
Does what we call the penguin flap with her arms.
Smiles so big for her family.
Talks a lot.
Loves to be held.
Is a good sport getting carted everywhere.
Sleeps pretty well at night.
She is called Newblett(coined by one of my MiaMaids), Aves, May, MayMay.
We love this girl.

Sisters

I am so happy that my girls have each other.

Natalie and Ella share a room. Avery currently shares with Eric and I. We have discussed what to do with bedroom arrangements when it is time for Avery to move out. Do we give Natalie her own room? Have Avery and Ella share? Have Avery and Cameron share? Keep the playroom? Get rid of the playroom? And on and on.

It seems that since Natalie is the oldest she should have her own room, but I think the big thing keeping me from this is that I love the idea of my girls going to sleep talking to each other. Tonight I was reminded of how much I love that. I was in the hallway doing what else, laundry, and I could hear the girls talking. First they were pretending to be the kids in the story that we had just read. Taking turns acting things out. I could tell they were out of bed, but I resisted going in and telling them to get back in bed. Then I heard them talk about people and happenings at school. Natalie got quiet and soon Ella says, "Natalie, are you awake?"

Natalie responds with a very groggy, "Hmmm."

Ella in a very awake voice, "Will you tell me a story."

"What kind of story?"

"A happy story."

Natalie starts with once upon a time and then her words become a bit slurred, as they do when you are fighting to stay awake. So Ella says, "Say it so I can understand you."
Natalie perks back up and finishes the story.

I smile to myself thinking how happy it makes me to overhear these happenings.

Last week the conversation was a bit different.

Natalie: "Hey Ella you know that guy Brandon I was talking about?"

Ella: "Yeah"

Natalie: "Well he really likes me. Everyone is saying he likes me."

I think there was more on Brandon but I must have blocked it out because 1) Natalie hadn't said anything to me about this and I was a bit hurt to realize she was already hiding things from me and 2) I thought I had more time before the nighttime conversations were about boys!

So for now I will keep them together and work on what room assignments don't involve splitting them up.

Cameron's Future

Cameron played his first arcade racing game this weekend. He had a great time. Such a great time that I think it was the inspiration of our conversation as I was putting him to bed.

*******

Cam: Mom, when I grow up to be a mom...

Me: You mean when you grow up to be a dad.

Cam: Yeah yeah. When I, when I, when I grow up to be a dad.... (Light bulb goes off in his head)
Do I get to drive the car?!!!! (because when we all go somewhere Eric drives.)

Me: Sure you can drive the car when you are a dad.

{He is so excited at this point I can just see his little mind envisioning the wild racing he had done a few hours ago.}

Me: How many kids are you going to have?

Cam: Four, in the back.

(pointing his thumb back as if he was sitting in the drivers seat and gesturing to his kids in the back)

Me: {Trying to figure out how to ask him about his wife, but not sure he knows what one is}

So is there going to be a mom?

Cam:Yeah, yeah you will sit in the front seat by me!

(awww, melt my heart)

*******

So there you have it.

My little man can't wait to be a dad with four kids driving the minivan.

HIS Dad sure has the life!

1st Place!

A few weekends ago Natalie's soccer team competed in their first tournament.

They played so well and had their toughest competition of the season.

The took first place in their age division and maintain their winning streak.

Gooooo Red Flames!

Some Summer Fun

The kids loved jumping on the tramp with the sprinkle under it. One day our neighbor girl brought all her pool toys which made the whole thing even more exciting. I think only one toy didn't make it though the kids jumping, surfing and sliding.

I think Cam felt safer on the grass.

The girls also set up a lemonade stand on the corner with the neighbor. They had a ton of fun waving cars down.

Cameron, Avery and I walked down to check out the sales. Over all they did pretty well and after raking in the money the girls wanted to do the stand EvErYDaY! But we didn't. Cause I'm no fun. So Cameron would say, "You are not invited to my birthday party!" A pharse he likes to throw at you when you don't give him what he wants.

Enjoying some delish Popsicles from Grandpa. On our deflated pool. With plywood in the background. And a broken screen door. Yeah, our neighbors our jealous.

Maybe I will get around to posting the oh so fun project that the plywood was for.

Skinny Jeans

Skinny jeans are all the rage these days. You can even get them with zippers. Quite the flashback to elementary school. Ahhh, almost nothing I wanted more then pink Guess jeans with zippers in the back. Well, my super nice neighbor gave us some clothes that her daughter had grown out of. In the bag were a cute pair of gap skinny jeans in great condition. I had Natalie try them on and they looked so cute! Her response to my enthusiasm was, "I don't like skinny jeans! I want fat jeans!" I was a little unsure what "fat jeans" were so I asked her. The response, "Like your jeans." Hmmm. Fat jeans = mom's jeans. After thinking how that made me feel I informed her that the word she was looking for was bootcut.

Avery's Blessing

We blessed our newest addition a while back and I am finally getting around to putting it up. Avery is such a sweet baby and we love her to pieces. Eric gave her a sweet blessing that was maybe cut short because she started crying. Really loudly.
She wore the blessing dress that all of my kids, myself and all of my siblings wore. All of my girls wore the cute flower headband. I think it may have been a bit stretched out since it kept falling down and looks more like she is wearing a sweatband in most of the pictures. The blanket was one that my Grandma bought for Natalie and all of the kids have used it the day they were blessed. It made me miss her.