Freedom

 I really wanted to spend a little time on Memorial Day appreciating and observing the day.  And using the opportunity to teach my kids about respect and about why and how they have the freedoms that they do.  So, in that vain, we started off our day at the Annapolis National Cemetery.

The Annapolis National Cemetery is one of 14 National Cemeteries established by President Lincoln in 1862.  

 During the Civil War, Annapolis was the site of a Union training and recruiting center.  Soldiers were housed in camps and many died from small pox and typhoid epidemics.

 After talking to Lacey and Tanner about some of the things they liked to do, we explained to them that they get to enjoy doing those things because of men and women who have fought to gain and keep our country free.

Lacey and I read the Gettysburg Address together

 I am so grateful to be living in the United States of America and for all of those who have fought on behalf of this great land!

 Afterward, we headed downtown Annapolis to do one of our favorite past times.... feeding ducks in the Harbor.....

 Followed by getting ice cream at Storm Brothers and playing in the park!

We wrapped up the day by meeting with Dave's family for some family pictures.  We'll get the "real" pictures from the photographer in the next couple of weeks, but here is one that Dave randomly shot during one of the rare instances that Riley was sitting on the bench :)  Papa and Nena with all 9 of their grandkids.

4 Months

 Happy 4 Months to my sweet Ella Grace!

 I had to get at least a couple shots without any hair bows to document just how much hair this girl has! She came out with a huge mop of blonde hair and has kept it all!  We get comments all the time on how much hair she has.  I call her my little monkey because she has a ton of hair and then this cute little "person face" that peeks out.  So cute :)

 And yes, she is still going strong with her thumb!  It is her favorite thing to do - get all cozy and put her thumb in her mouth.  I realize this may be a problem down the road, but right now, I think it is the cutest thing ever!  And.... I don't have to worry about packing/washing binkies all the time.

I don't think a whole lot has changed in the last month, but she is consistently sleeping through the night now - YEAH!!!!  She is still 100% nursed/pumped and still loves to be held and loves her papazan swing.  She is, against my will, getting bigger :(  She is now wearing Size 2 diapers and although, she still mostly wears 0-3 Month size clothes, I have started putting her in Size 6 Month too.  She has such a sweet, content disposition.  So grateful for that since my attention is so often divided between the 3 other kids!  Love our little Ella Grace!!

Addendum:  I took Ella to her 4-month check-up on June 5th, a week and a half after her 4 month mark.  She weighed 13# on the nose (50th%ile) and was 24 1/2" in length (50th %ile).  She's Perfect.

Something is missing.....

Lacey lost her first tooth on Tuesday.  She was SO excited!!

What a Difference.....

A Year Makes!  This was my Mother's Day picture last year -- I was barely pregnant with Ella and had absolutely no idea that I was.

And here we are this year, with our sweet little addition!  I kept looking at her all day long yesterday and just thinking "I can't believe that last Mother's Day, I didn't even know I was pregnant with her and now this year, I have this little person that is such an intricate part of my life and this family!"

I had a very nice Mother's Day.  I came downstairs to a delicious breakfast and several fun Mother's Day cards, one of which included a gift certificate for a massage.  Can't wait to redeem that one!

Before going to church, we took some pictures.  My first born and my last born.....

My cute Lacey bug

My Tan-Man.  For posterity sake, I have to record this incident..... Before church, Tanner asked me if I could pack some raspberries to bring to church for a snack.  I said yes.  But, as usual, I was doing 10 million other things when he asked me and it completely slipped my mind.  After the sacrament, Tanner asked for his raspberries.  "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Tanner, I forgot!"  I tried to offer him animal crackers, apple slices, apple juice, but to no avail.  He threw a ROYAL FIT!!!  There was no consoling him.  So when it was time for all the kids to go up and sing their mother's day song, Dave was out somewhere with Riley (who was totally hyper and running around like a crazy woman) and I was dealing with a VERY upset little 4-year old who adamantly refused to go up and instead just sat there on the bench and pitched a fit.  Awesome.

And my Riley girl

And my greatest Mother's Day gift of all.  My sweet baby girl.  I reflected today on my last several Mother's Days.  And I realized that every single Mother's Day since 2006, I have either been pregnant or had an infant in my arms.  This will be my last one, so I just soaked it all in the best I could and loved holding this little ball of sweetness.

After church, we hosted Dave's family for Mother's Day Dinner.  There were 16 of us in total.  So fun to see the cousins get together and play.  Despite the age difference, Tanner loves his "boy cousin!"

Becky is our baby-lover!  She was in this position, holding Ella the entire night!

My sister-in-law, Heidi, had the idea to get Dave's mom and her three daugthers/daughter-in-laws and their 8 children in a picture together.  Here is the best one we got!

And to appreciate the above picture, you must see this one of Riley and how much work we all had to do to get the one of her not screaming her little cute head off!  Oh, the joys of motherhood!

But in all seriousness, I love Mother's Day because I get a chance to reflect on the wonderful women in my life.  I was raised by a wonderful, wonderful mother.  Love her SO much!  I have two sisters that I love.  I have so many wonderful friends, and relatives - on my side of the family as well as Dave's that I  am so lucky to have in my life.  And yes, my four children that I love to the moon.... and back.

Closer to 40.....

Than he is to 30!  On my 25th birthday, my Las Vegas roommates threw me a party and I still remember my friend, Ken, walking in my apartment and saying, "Happy 25th!  Closer to 30 than you are to 20!"  So, I always think that now on the "half-decade marks!"  And if you're wondering why this cake is pink.... well it's because I actually made this cake for Mother's Day (which we hosted for all of Dave's family), but doubled it as a birthday cake so that his family could all sing to him :)

I was terrible about taking pictures on Dave's birthday, but here's how the day went.... I got up and made him eggs, toast and fresh-squeezed orange juice for breakfast.  Then he went to work.  When he came home from work, we enjoyed a nice family dinner of a new Spanish recipe I tried followed by his requested dessert of trifle.  And then we opened presents.  He was very excited to get a package of cupcakes delivered to our door!  One of his really good friends from college started a cupcake company in Chicago called Foiled Cupcakes.  And they are now starting to deliver nation-wide and Dave was lucky enough to be one of their first shipments :)  Next he opened his two gifts from me....

Gift #1:  Tickets to Six Flags America!  I had told Dave several weeks ago to take the day after his birthday off work, so he knew I had something planned, but didn't know what.  I hired a baby-sitter for the day and the two of us felt like we were in high school running around from coaster to coaster kid-free:)  But we laughed later about the non-high school moments.  For him, it was after riding several rides back to back, Dave realized he was definitely no longer a teenager and had to take a nice long break!  For me, it was when I had to run out to our car in the middle of the day so I could pump.  Definitely didn't do that in high school! :)

Gift #2:  Tickets to the Cubs/Nationals game.  We came back from Six Flags mid-afternoon and picked up the kids from their baby-sitter and then picked up our night-time baby-sitter.  Then we took Ella with us to her first Cubs game!

Unfortunately, Ella wasn't the good luck charm that I was hoping she'd be - Cubs lost 7-2.  Oh well!  It was a busy, fun day.  Happy Birthday, Dave!

Half Way....

Okay, this is my third post I've done in the past 30 minutes, but I am now officially caught up (until the next event, anyway!)  Well, Riley Jane hit her 2 1/2 year mark yesterday, so we are officially half-way through the "terrible twos!"  Although, it's hard to get too excited about that considering the fact that I know from past experience that you have to tack on a good 6-12 months on either end of that!  Even so, as much as I don't want to wish any of this childhood phase away, I have to say that I will not cry when Riley turns 3.  Or 3 1/2.  Or 4.  Love her to the moon and back!  But there are no two ways around it - she has been a tough toddler!  She was such a good baby.  But from the time she learned to walk until now, that girl has been a holy terror!  Has colored all over the walls (of our new house), furniture and (new) carpet.  Loves to yell and scream.  Has the cutest little scowl ever that she uses multiple times a day.  Has already started fighting her nap.  Favorite word is "no", etc, etc.  HOWEVER, she has the cutest smile we've ever seen (when she decides she wants to smile :)) and she is lovingly known as the "funky chicken" in our house because of her quirky, fun personality.  She loves her teddy and her "baba" (with milk) and her "shows."  Her current favorites are Little Einsteins and Peppa Pig.  She loves her big brother "Ta Ta" and her Teddy (shown here.)  She loves to be outside.  Has zero interest in potty training.   Having a hard time with "connector words" so we started Speech Therapy a couple weeks ago.  And she has yet to have her first hair cut.  Her hair's a little out of control, but I can't stand to cut off those curls!

Bottom line:  This little girl can drive us nuts :)  But we absolutely love our little Funky Chicken!!!!!

Class Picnic

Ella's first picnic :)  This picture actually has nothing to do with the post other than the fact that Ella was there and I snapped this picture of her while we were there.  I know it'll be bad news bears when we have to kick this thumb-sucking habit down the road, but for now, I think it's the cutest thing in the world!

Lacey's Kindergarten Class.

Lacey has the best room mom ever.  So grateful for all the time she has invested in this class!  She had the fabulous idea of organizing a picnic with the entire class.  It was held at a big park.  All the kids ran around and had a great time.  School doesn't actually end until June 14th, but I think the feeling was that the closer it gets to the end of the school year, the busier everyone is going to get as well.  So, we were able to have this class picnic last weekend and 17 of the 20 kids in her class were able to make it.  We all had a great time!  We have had such a good experience this past year.  Lacey loves her school, her teacher and her classmates!

Date with my T

Dave and I have realized, with the addition of Baby #4, that in order to still go out and do all the things with our kids that we want to do, we have to "divide and conquer."  The downside to that is that we don't do as many things as a family, but the upside to that (which we have decided outweighs the downside, especially since we still spend a lot of time together as a family) is that we get to do a lot more things!  So, about a week and a half ago, I took Tanner out on a date while Dave stayed home with the girls.  Here we are ready to go!

Where did I take my 4 year old guy on our date?  Why, to a skateboarding event, of course!  When we got there, each child was given this balancing bird, which Tanner played with all night.

The skateboarding event consisted of two professional skateboarders that incorporated science into their show to help teach the kids about balance, center of gravity, etc.  But at the end, they turned up the music and just did lots of cool tricks!  Perfect way to spend the evening with my T!