MAY MADNESS

May was an absolutely CRAZY month.  Filled with sports, end of year recitals and the end of the school year.  My pictures posted in reverse again...so here is our May in reverse.  To start a side by side comparison of the kids on their first and last days of school. 

Lou in utero at the beginning of the year...and 7 months old at the end of the year.

We visited Liberty Park on the last day of the month.  The kids loved feeding corn to the ducks.

We rode our scooters around the park and stopped at a couple of playgrounds.  Here is a picture of our little scooter gang.

We also visited Tracy Aviary.  It was a gorgeous cooler overcast day and the perfect day to be outside.

There was a perfect little spot where the kids could play the floor is lava.  They loved hopping between the rocks.

 Lou took a nap at the beginning of our visit.

 Late in the day on Memorial Day we decided to go to Lagoon.  We all rode the Skyride.

 The last time I rode this I was very pregnant with Lou. 

The kids also tried this ride for the first time.  The loading and unloading of this one took so long but they seemed to have a good time.

We also rode the firetruck ride together.

Silas and Millie were brave and rode the dragon.

 

Lou took her first ride on the carousel.

Puff is Silas favorite...I think because it is green.  You can see Millie's hand waving to Seth and Silas in this photo.

 Millie loved the press-on nails she got from Grandma Jo.

Here are a few photos of Phin's class throughout the school year.

Also a photo of the faculty of the school at our opening social. 

 We celebrated the last day of school with doughnuts.  Nona was watching Silas and Lou the last week of school so we took the doughnuts to her house.

We also took some silly pictures to celebrate the last day of school.

Silas had his lost soccer game of the season.  His coach was super sweet and gave all the kids a trophy at his own expense.  Silas was awarded MOST FRIENDLY...which was like the result of him being more focused on friends than the ball on the field.

 

We pulled out the walker at Nona's for Lou.  She loves being upright and able to move forward and backward.

A couple more photos of Phin's class...apparently his silly face is the same as his smiley face.

The last week of school I made shaved ice for all of my speech kiddos.  It was fun to see many of the students that had graduated earlier in the year.  When we got home from school the kids insisted that they needed some shaved ice.

One of my favorite photos from this month...My matching Captain Americas.

Millie finally agreed to wear this vintage dress when she realized her American Girl doll Kirsten has a matching outfit.

Our next door neighbors are moving and gifted us some instruments.  It has been awfully noisy around here lately.

 

Grandma Jo threw a tea party in May.  Here is a photo of me with my girls.

Here is the group photo.

 

Millie absolutely had the time of her life at the party.  She wanted me to take of photo of her with Grandma Jo's pretty flowers.

 

Grandma Jo had fairy gardens for the little girls to put together.  Millie was able to paint this birdhouse/fairy house.

While we were at the tea party the boys were at the Fathers and Sons camp-out.  They stopped at a little convenient station for some lunch.

Can you spot Silas?

Phin took his chess board and had many challengers.

It was very cold...luckily I sent the boys with lots of layers.  Seth commented that I should have packed for him too...he got pretty chilly in the tent.

While the boys were away we had a girls night.  We went to our favorite ice cream shop.  Millie has ventured away from her favorite "pink" flavor to cookies and cream.

We also went to my favorite Greek place for dinner.

Louisa and Silas also had their last day of school.  It was very hard to say goodbye to many of the staff who won't be returning to the center next year.  We are going to miss Miss Becky something fierce.

Silas' cheering squad.

Millie doing cartwheels.

One day I turned back and realized I was transporting a bandit.

Carver and Conrad arrived from Arizona for part of the summer.  They came the week that Millie didn't have Kindergarten due to end of year testing.  Millie was delighted to have some time with these two at Nona's house.

Silas' class had a water day his last week of school.

Millie and her best buddy Betty wanted to do a Otter Pop sale one day.  It is so fun to watch these girls figure things out.

For Activity Days this month we took the boys on a tour of Seth's new office building which is under construction.  These temporary stairs made my heart skip a few beats.

Silas also had a "teddy bear" picnic one day.  I realized that I had forgotten to pack a stuffed animal for him...luckily Seth was on the ball and sent Silas with his monkey stuffed animal.

Cousin Theo turned two and we were invited to a party in his backyard.  Silas thought their tree was just perfect for climbing.

Phin gave a talk in church.  He looks so grown up behind the pulpit.

We had cousins come and visit for an Ultimate Frisbee tournament.  The kids loved having out with cousin Gavin.

I finished another Triathlon.  I wasn't as prepared for this one as I would have liked to be...but I finished. 

Silly Silas in the trampoline net.

 We took our last trip to Cross E ranch.  We were able to see the calf bottle feeding...we have decided we need to do this next year.

Phin had his Bridges recital.  Here he is with his teacher Nora.

Phin joined Miss Natalie's students for the recital.  Natalie's husband played the drums while Phin played the "Darth Vader song." 

Phin and Millie also had their first track meet.

Phin ended up coming in 1st in his heat for the 400 m (one lap around the track).  He crossed the line and immediately broke down in tears.  He said his lungs had stopped working. 

Millie also ran the 400 m.  The whole track meet was definately a learning experience for us.  It was very confusing.  I didn't realize they had a printed list of the order of events.  Both kiddos had wanted to run the relay but then there weren't enough of their teammates to make a relay team.  Phin got separated from me and was scared.  They both ended up doing the softball throw and the 400 m before we had to leave to get to Phin's music recital.

Millie completed another year of Upstart.  They were doing a Kindergarten pilot.

Silas practicing with scissors at school.

We took Chess to Nona and Papa's for Sunday dinner.

Silas insists on having "dinosaur hair" on Sundays.

 

 A Mother's Day miracle.  All four kids looking at the same time.

Millie and her bestie Betty.  These girls have played outside non-stop all Spring.

We are trying to get to parks each Friday to use our new Pickle-ball paddles.

 

Another trip to Cross E ranch...Millie was brave enough to try the climbing wall on this visit.

She was also brave enough to enter the calf pen.

We went to see all the chicks.

They also had a 4H group offering horse rides and the kids were so excited.

Silas our soccer player.

Silas our student.

Millie wanted to try on Lou's Leia wig.

 

Silas was very excitd to help me make the wig.  He helped me cut each strand of yarn.

 

I had a special date with Silas one night.  We went to Cutler's for a peanut butter chocolate cookie.

Phin at one of his track practices.

It was fun to capture this photo of him doing the standing long jump.

Silas was content to play in the stands while Millie and Phin ran track.

My girls in their matching dresses.

Phin with another piano practicing reward. I feel like I deserve an award just for surviving May.

 

7 MONTHS

Lou hit 7 months back in May.  She had a well-check during the month and she is 28 inches tall (98th percentile) and weighs 17 lbs 11 ounces (71st percentile).  Lou often insists that she be held as I do household chores...so my arms appear to be getting quite a good workout.

Lou moved up to size 3 diapers and is now wearing 12 month clothing.

 

Lou's pediatrician sent us to a dermatologist to have her birth mark checked out.  Millie and Silas have had similar birth marks that have faded over time.  We actually call them their "AVATAR" marks because they are a triangle shape on their foreheads.  Lou's had very distinct margins so we wanted to make sure it wasn't something more serious or that requires treatment.  Her birthmark is called a salmon patch or nevus simplex.  When the mark is on the forehead and eyelids it is referred to as angel kisses.  When the mark is on the back of the neck it is referred to as a stork mark.  

 

Here are her monthly pictures this month. 

 

This is one of my favorite pictures from the month.  On May 4th we dressed Lou up as Princess Leia .  The fourth is finally with us and we are so delighted that she made it to our family.

 

Lou had her first trip to Lagoon this month.

She is a people watcher and loved watching all the people out at Lagoon.  She also loved her first train ride.

My mom found a few more of my old dresses and this blue one is one of my very favorites.  I thought Lou looked so cute matching Seth in his new suit.

 

Phin and Millie are always begging to hold Lou.  What a lucky girl to be so loved.

 Lou has a "square bottom" as Nona says.  She mastered sitting this month.

She also loved the warmer weather which meant we were able to spend more time outside.

She was quite intrigued with the goats at Cross E ranch...they tried to eat her shoelaces.

 

 The Easter dresses that I ordered arrived quite late...but don't Lou and Millie look adorable in their matching dresses.

One of my favorite things was getting picture updates of Lou when she was at childcare.

 

 

 

 

This is Allison the literal "Lou whisperer."  She was Lou's favorite at childcare.  She figured out how Lou liked to have her bottle held and all the other little quarks with Lou. She is not returning to the center next year and will be dearly missed.

 

  

 

 

  

 

Lou also tried her first solid foods this month.  She started with oat cereal...which really she didn't care much for.  We were able to do just a few bites at each mealtime.

Lou loved the swings at Cross E ranch. 

I love these pictures of Lou and Bart.  Bart is the baby whisperer in the family and he worked hard to win over Lou.

Lou is rolling around and scooting backwards quite a bit.  She has gotten herself into a few tight spots.

 She has loved being on the sidelines at the kid's athletic events.

Lou had her last day of childcare for the year.  Miss Becky has been the director for the last two and a half years and is now moving back to the South.  We will miss her Southern Charm and the way she loved on our two littles.

 

We had our first girls night and day this month.  Seth took the boys to a camp-out so we went out for dinner and dessert.

 

The next day we went to Grandma Jo's tea party. Lou actually turned 7 months on tea party day.

 

This month we also did some serious sleep training.  Lou had become quite accustomed to being swaddled and we knew we needed to break that habit.  It was a rough go for quite a while...but she is now getting used to not being wrapped up quite so snug.