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April 2015

Potpourri

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Once again I have a million pictures saved up that I feel compelled to show you, so here’s another installment of Potpourri!

The kids wanted to go to Yogurtland.  Dallas said it was too expensive and that we could have a similar experience buying our own ingredients and doing it at home.  Then he proceeded to go to the store and spend more money on ice cream and toppings than we would have had we gone to Yogurtland in the first place.  (Dallas would like to point out that at least we got multiple servings from the ingredients he bought.) Either way, we all had fun:

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Dallas allowed us an authentic trip to Yogurtland. (It was the day they were giving out yogurt for free.)

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One Sunday Dallas pulled out the hard drive with all of our kids’ baby videos on it and let them watch.  They laughed and laughed and laughed:

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Dallas had a birthday (…four months ago…):

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Brooke made a stuffed pony:

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Dallas thought Spencer needed a stuffed animal so he got him a Hobbes tiger.  Spencer loved him immediately:

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We’ve been trying to be better at using our children for slave labor while we sit back and take pictures:

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I stumbled upon the kids and this setup.  I asked what was going on.  Caroline was in the baby’s room speaking into the monitor so her voice was projecting into the living room where the rest of the kids (and stuffed animals) were in “church” listening.

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Brooke made a house:

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Apparently the kids felt like we didn’t get enough use out of our sleds this year during our winter of no snow so they pulled them out of the garage and gave each other sled rides:

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Looks like Madison likes sledding!

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When we’re outside Madison heads straight for our porch stairs because she loves nothing more than to perch precariously on slabs of cement, threatening to fall with each movement, and smiling at me as I save her from tumbling to her death.

One day Caroline gave herself the job of keeping Madison off the stairs.  She started off with just using the umbrella to keep her away.  Here she’s introduced the sled as another obstacle, or as Caroline explains, “Madison is on Level 2.”

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Madison with her cute cousin:

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Brooke learned how to weave paper baskets at school and came home excited to show us her new talent.  She made Madison an Easter basket which doubles as a helmet:  M4 - 1

Madison has taken a liking to sleeping with her doll:

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Spencer told us Hobbes was trying to get on the couch:

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Then Spence put Hobbes to bed along with all of his prized possessions:

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Now how about some pictures with no captions?

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How Long Can I Call Her Baby?

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My little Miss Madison.  How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.

I love watching you experience new things:

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I love your silly faces:

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I love your happy smiles:

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I love cuddling you:

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I love watching your siblings adore you:

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I love your pigtails:

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I love when the big kids try to barricade you in a corner so you won’t get their things:

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Or when they banish you to the laundry basket, again, so you won’t get their things:

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Or when they put you in a container.  (Seriously!  Stop getting into their things!)

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And while we’re at it, stop getting into my things!  You are a little Tasmanian devil wreaking havoc on EVERYTHING in your path.

Like, the pots:

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And the trash:

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And this cupboard:

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And you love to dump your unwanted food on the ground:

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Did you notice you were wearing the same thing in the last four pictures?  Because you made all those messes on the same day in practically the same hour which makes living with you and trying to keep the house in some type of order frustratingly, annoyingly impossible.

You’ll make messes of anything, really.

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Did I mention you also pull out the lid drawer, get your body stuck underneath it, and then lie paralyzed on the floor trying to figure out how to get out of the predicament you now find yourself in?

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(And then, once rescued, you’ll empty that drawer of all its lids, of course, because I needed another one of your messes to clean up.)

Or how about that one time you killed our fake plant?

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I had forgotten how exhausting it is to live with a one-year-old.  A one-year-old!  You’re one!  You turned one at the end of February.  Your dad made you a cake and you loved it:

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You’re starting to walk more and more.  You love dogs and books and bananas and slides, but your number one love is “Da!”

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You crawl through the house pointing to every picture we have of him and shouting, “Da!” When he comes home from work, you’re all smiles.  This wouldn’t be so bad if you ever occasionally, even ACCIDENTALLY said “Ma!” but no, that simple syllable rarely comes out of your little body.

“Da” did a photo shoot of you in honor of your first birthday and the pictures he got were adorable.

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I love you my little baby girl.

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