My Girls

They sure are cute together.

Evie loves her "baby wiwwy" and loves to tickle her (i.e. poke her chunky little cheeks) and try to hold her.

Lily is happy with the attention - cooing and smiling.

It makes me laugh, given that Lily's head is about the same size as Evie's. I think Evie's got about 7 pounds on her.


Just when I think Lily's looking like her own little person, I look back at pictures of Ev.

This is Evie at 3 months:

And this is Lily:

Really, Lily just has more chins.

Birthday Bonanza

We had Luke's birthday party - complete with 16 6 year olds +a couple little sisters.

Yes, 16.

Yes, we are crazy.

Luke was ecstatic.

But we had a sports party at the nearby gym (read: no cleaning up at our house and a huge gym for the kids to play in). That was my smartest decision yet.

We played scooter hockey, soccer, and ran racing games.




I taught Evie how to play hockey. I love hockey.


We only had one minor casualty (a bruised cheek), which I felt pretty good about. We did have 16 little boys, all on wheeled scooters and all holding hockey sticks. It could have been much much worse.

This picture cracks me up. Evie was right in there, playing with the biggest of 'em.
We topped it off with pizza, purple cupcakes (very manly - loosely based on Vikings helmets) and a ton of presents.

Luke was thrilled. Ken and I wanted to sleep for about a week.

This Baby

Turned 3 months old on Friday.

She is getting so, so big. I packed away her bin of little teeny tiny clothes last week - it was not fun. I held up her little polka-dot pink sweater she wore home from the hospital and couldn't even fathom how her roly poly arms made their way into those little sleeves.

She continues to be the happiest, sweetest little baby. She greets me every morning with a smile so big her whole body shakes. She coos and tries to talk. She grins at her sister and brother, us, the dog, her grandparents, the fan, and anyone who will stop to talk to her. She lets out a giggle when you tickle her under her chubby little cheeks. She is happy.

This Boy

Turned 6 years old on Friday.




It seems to me that he has grown into a kid, a boy, this year. Not a baby or a little boy any more. A boy.

He loves school. He loves to ride the bus because he gets to see his friends. He does math at home with us because he thinks it's fun. He bounces through the door everyday with stories about his friends, the songs they sang in music class that day, the library book he picked out (non-fiction, he points out), information about the hot lunch, or the schedule for the week.

He loves to read. Especially books about science and history. He can quote them, too ("Mom, did you know that

He loves his friends. He spent four nights with his best friend while we were in Michigan. I asked him on the phone one night if he wanted to come. He informed me that he "wanted to stay there forever." He did pretty well on his first report card - except for the 2s that he got in "works independently" (too distracted by his friends) and "listening" (talking to his friends).

He loves his family. He plays with Evelyn and tries to teach her. He loves to hold Lily and give her hugs and kisses at night. He is still my little Momma's boy and is happiest snuggled up next to me on the couch. When I picked him up after said 4 day trip, he attached himself to my leg and got a little teary eyed, then asked to go home.

He is learning to try new things. He thrives on order, on knowing what comes next (he hates new-to-him movies because he doesn't know what's going to happen) and on having a plan. But he's trying - he jumped right into kindergarten, he played soccer in the fall and is back in ice skating now. He surpises me by trying new food at dinner (sometimes even without being threatened with no dessert). He is trying.

We love you, Luke.