Ellie, March to June 2011

Ellie has changed the most over the past few months, of course! She's a happy little girl, and we all love having her around. She's had a few eating strikes, but other than that she is doing really well. The doctor wants her to eat more, of course, but she's been really healthy - no illnesses or concerns!

In March, her grandparents came for Ian's baptism and her blessing. She was blessed in the same dress I was. She is much bigger than I was, and the bonnet didn't fit so I got some ribbon to put in her "hair" (it all fell out!). The dress is yellowing some, and the ribbon I found that matches is called "antique white." Didn't know I was an antique just yet, but I guess I am!


She has mastered the art of sucking her thumb! By the end of March she was pretty good at keeping it in her mouth when she wanted it.

Is she a girl, or what? Her brothers love to choose her clothes, and they usually choose all one color. This day it happened to be pink!

I took her 6 month pictures, because I didn't want to take her in a public place just yet (she was in hiding until May). This is one I like, I haven't yet chosen one to hang on the wall.

By April she could hold her head up! She only likes her tummy for about a minute, and then she gets mad. But she does like to look at Winnie the Pooh.

In May we took her to church for the first time. I did take a picture, just didn't put it on here. We started taking her out to places like the library and such, too, and thankfully she's still stayed healthy! She also had her first time in the swing in May, she liked it! Ellie went out of town for the first time, over Memorial Day weekend. She went to visit her grandparents and meet some aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Ellie isn't yet teething, but she almost always has some or all of her hand in her mouth! She likes to suck her right hand, but she sucks her left thumb.

Her hair is starting to really grow in after it fell out! She has a ways to go, but it's improvement!

Ellie has discovered her toes! She sucks on them, too. And anything that gets near her mouth, fabric in particular. When I put her arm in a long sleeved shirt, and her hand isn't completely out of the end of the sleeve yet, it's automatic - the hand feels something on it, and in the mouth it goes, every time.

Ellie is a fun little girl. She's a happy baby, and really quite easy. She loves her brothers, and she loves her daddy - she gets the biggest grin when she sees him! I was feeding her solid foods, but then when she didn't want to drink bottles, I stopped, so she'd hopefully be more hungry for formula. I've been starting to let her try what we're eating, mashed up, and she's not gagging! It's wonderful! She doesn't eat hardly any solid food, still, but at least it doesn't gag her, so there is hope. Ellie weighed 12 lb 7 oz at the beginning of June, at 8 months.

Levi and Caleb, March to June 2011

Caleb and Levi are two very different boys, and I try not to group them together, or even call them "twins." But as far as telling what they've been up to lately, and in an effort to actually get this up to date sometime soon, I put them together. They do, after all, spend probably 95% of their time together.

They've made numerous houses for their monkeys, the big one is "Papa" and the small one is "Ookers," because he says "ook, ook, ook, ook," of course.

The monkeys have both had lots of rockets and space ships made for them, too. Ookers is strapped to a block rocket with a rubber band here.

It was totally by chance we ended up with two of these shirts - my sister sent us one, and then John bought one at a garage sale. It took a while to even realize they are exactly the same. It's not often they wear them at the same time, though. I always wonder if anyone besides us can tell them apart. Can you?? I also think it will be interesting to see Ellie's response to seeing two brothers who look alike, if she'll be able to tell them apart right away or not. It was funny, there was a picture sitting on the counter of Caleb wearing a shirt they each have one of (from the hospital picnic) and Levi said, "there's a really cute picture of either Caleb or me." He couldn't even tell who it was (it was a recent picture, too)!

John's sister invited us to their hotel swimming pool when she was in town, they had a fun time. Levi and Caleb both like the water pretty well. They took swimming lessons in June, and did quite well. They both passed the first level!

A new sleeping bag? This is Levi, inside Caleb's pillow case.

They helped (a little) paint their room! I decided that it was about time Caleb and Levi got to choose how to paint their room, and to make them curtains. So I let them each choose a color and I painted two walls each color.

Levi wanted orange, although it's a little more yellow than orange. He doesn't seem to mind.

Caleb wanted green. Their curtains are green and orange, too.

When we went to visit Grandparents over Memorial Day weekend, Levi and Caleb shared the bottom bunk. This is how they fell asleep. They are best friends!

Most of the time, they really don't even sleep on their beds! They both seem to love the floor.

Digging in the dirt is a favorite pastime. Snow shovels are great - year round fun :).

They both seem to talk Daddy into putting them on his shoulders quite often :).

Caleb and Levi are fun little guys. They do love to play together, and they watch out for each other. They get along most of the time - but when they don't, they are really mad at each other! It will be interesting to see as they go to school, and meet new friends, how they interact. I can't believe they're almost 5 and will start kindergarten soon!!

Levi singing

When we visited Grandma and Grandpa recently, Levi was going to sing for them. We never remembered to have him do it! So here is a song. In Primary, they've been learning the song "Praise to the Man." It has lots of big words in it, and Levi gets most of them - but instead of "ascended to heaven," he says, "to send him to heaven." Caleb is in this, too, but he's not so public about singing, although he knows all the words.

Ian, March and April 2011

Ian had an exciting few months! It's pretty exciting to turn 8. He got to start going to Cub Scouts, which he LOVES! He has the Wolf Handbook memorized, I'm pretty sure.

Ian was baptized by his dad in March. It was pretty special to have both sets of grandparents make the trip to be here. We're glad he chose to be baptized.

Ian got to share his day with Ellie. Since our ward has each family plan their own baptism, we had Ellie blessed at the same time.

Ian loves Ellie! And she loves him! She will always laugh and smile at him. He likes to talk to her.

Ian entered the science fair at his school, he and his dad researched things about Mars.

Ian's aunt and uncle and two cousins came to visit, for business, and let us come swim at the hotel pool. Once Ian finally let go of the side, he had a fun time paddling around the pool.

This is Ian receiving his Bobcat (at a very cold and windy outdoor pack meeting!). He was beyond excited! Now he's working hard on the Wolf requirements.

March and April 2011

I'm very behind on updates on here, but I'll try to catch up. March started out very snowy. Very. It just kept coming! This is the side of the driveway where we piled it - one side, that is. The other side has a huge pile, too.

Our front yard, cars, all buried. Luckily the neighbors didn't need to drive these cars.

Group picture! Clockwise from top, Ian, Levi, Ellie, Caleb.

April Fool's Day. I tried to trick them with mashed potato-frosted meatloaf cupcakes, but Caleb wasn't buying it that we'd really have cupcakes for dinner. I got them on the juice, though - it was jello. It took a while for them to figure out why it wouldn't come out of the straw!

Easter egg hunt. It was pretty sunny that day.

My cousin made these rolls last year, "resurrection rolls," and I thought it was a great idea. The boys helped wrap the roll dough around a marshmallow, and then you bake them. When they're done, they're hollow, the marshmallow is gone. Hopefully they got something out of the object lesson. They tasted really good!

Coloring eggs.

That's some of the basics of the last two months, I plan to do an update on each child, as some exciting things have happened! Another day.......