Loving the weather!

We practically lived outside the past week, with such wonderful weather in the 70's.  With fall just around the corner, we know the warmth and sunshine is bound to leave us, so we soaked it up with walks, fun in the yard, play with friends and eachother.

We discovered a large toad that has taken a liking to the sand box, returning to the same spot each day after we finish playing.  The girls were intrigued, but did not want to move it themselves.

 Ezri gave quite a concert one afternoon on her little stage in the front yard, singing, dancing, bowing to the applause and just entertaining her heart out!

 Tierney continued to work on her hands and knees, now lifting one hand for a second or so.  She is becoming quite good at scooting around on her tummy, army crawl style, to get something she really wants.  She also likes to sit up, though unless she is propped or held it just isn't quite her thing yet.

 Sadie is becoming a full member of the family, and she's now a part of our routine.  The girls love to help me teach her tricks, especially when it comes to giving her treats.  Alora and Sadie have not quite become attached, as Alora can be loud and a bit rough, which scares Sadie.  But, Alora does try to be gentle when she remembers, and it was in one of those moments when she snuck out the door without permission (a regular occurrence lately) that we caught this...

Life can't get any sweeter than it is here...

And We're Jumping...!

Baby T has moved into the jumper and is loving it!  She always wants to be standing, so we pulled it out and she quickly figured out how to get it moving.  

 This past weekend, we were part of putting on a carnival at our church.  This meant bounce houses, food and games - all free!  The girls had such fun in the bounce house, and spent hours just running and jumping with their friends.  Big sister got to hang with her buddy Allie for the day, which was very special as we only get to see her every other weekend at church.  They had such fun!

 Little Sis was crazy with excitement and it was hard to keep track of her.  She just kept running the inflatables and jumping in the bounce house.  It was fun to watch her go, but it makes me wonder about how she will react the next time we see a bounce house but have to pay, as she quickly learned she could just go in whenever it was her turn.

Even the big boys got some time to play in the bounce house...

 There was also face painting, which was a big hit!

Cutest little kitty!

 Little sis kept wanting more and more, so she ended up with at star, a butterfly, a sparkly nose, and then proceeded to roll up her pant leg and ask for red!

 Love that kid and her enthusiasm!

 Back at home Saturday night, we hung out with our friends the Sebrights.  The kids had a mini slumber party while the adults spent time together.  It took a couple of cartoons and an episode of Thomas to get them all asleep, but it was so wonderful to be able to spend time with adults and know our kids were all safely sleeping!

Sunday was a busy day for this Mommy as we discovered earlier in the week that we had mice in the house.  After spotting droppings on our basement pantry shelves, Tobi caught one and brought it up to our bedroom where we found it dead as he toyed with it on Friday night.  Saturday night, I woke to hear him playing with another one , still alive, in our bedroom again.  On went the gloves and Alex rescued it and released it outside.  Sunday I spent the afternoon, 4 hours worth, cleaning pantry shelves and packing all food into plastic totes and containers.  While doing so, I tossed out a bag of chips, a big package of cereal, some pet food and a few boxes of baking mix they had chewed into - so frustrating!

We deduced that the mice must be coming through the conduit pipe connecting the house to the garage, through which the electrical wires run and connect to the garage electric box.  We had opened the box to access power when the big tree knocked out our power and we had to use the generator a few weeks back.  So, we closed up the box and filled the opening with steel wool to deter entrance.  Hoping we had ended the fight, we went to bed.  Sunday night, I heard Tobi jumping in the kitchen, so Alex got up to find him playing with another mouse, still alive.  After catching it and releasing it into the park we went out and bought traps on Monday.  Another mouse met it's demise in a trap Monday night!

Thankfully, the food is all closed up, but it is so frustrating as we do not know where they are hiding or if there is another place they are getting in, and how many we have yet to find.  The week will be filled with tearing apart the basement bit by bit to clean and search...

Naptime seems to be taking a hit with all of the extra activity, contrary to what one would think.  Little sis is almost unbearably moody, but spends nap time sneakily playing and doing things like this...

 Thankfully, Baby likes to nap and is shifting into longer sleep patterns (though is much hungrier at night) as she likely heads into another growth spurt.  Now pushing up onto her hands and knees, and at times even hands and feet, she is so close to crawling.  She rolls front to back now and loves to stand.  Sitting, not so much, she wants to be up and moving!

 Peek a boo!

We're so grateful for the stretch of beautiful warmer weather falling upon us and hope to be outside soaking it up for days to come!

Big Events

True to form, we were again busy this past week.  Monday found the girls and I at the fair again with our friend Kelly and her little guy, where we looked at the elephants, explored the fair and watched the beef cattle show.

Thursday found us at the fair again!  It was $1 ride night, so Daddy and I took the girls to ride.  We met Grandpa and Grandma there with Aubrey and Wesley.  The kids had such fun going on the rides together!

 Tierney was just happy to sit back and watch it all, to see the lights and hear the sounds.  Just happy, as usual!

 We watched the elephant show again...

 And this time Daddy rode with the girls, because of course if the cousins are riding, they must also ride...

 And once again, Alora was very taken with the elephant and had to stop and pet her as well as give her another kiss.  Love that kid!

 After seeing the girls ride, Wesley changed his mind and decided to go after all, so he and Grandpa went for a ride...

 Saturday night, we hosted a grocery shower for our friends Jay and Becci, who will be getting married in a month. We had such a great time together with our friends, playing games and laughing!  Even with 7 kids in the house, we managed to have adult fun while the children had their own fun with few interruptions.  What a fun night!

 Sunday we shared the joy of baptizing Little T with our friends and family.  The big sisters did a great job on the stage with us, though Alora was a little confused and wondered if Tierney was going to get a bath (she interpreted it as BATHtize) :)

 We definitely felt the truth of how blessed we are in those moments, and know what a wonderful treasure we have in our little giggle boxes.

 Tierney looked so sweet in her special gown.  Over 100 hours of crochet work done across the past 4 months, many while holding Tierney as she slept, I was so excited to finally be able to put the finished product on my sweet baby.

 Little ham!

 We shared lunch with many friends and family after the baptism and enjoyed another day filled with laughter and contentment.

 There were 12 kids - everywhere...

 And one very sleepy tike who, after all the excitement of the morning, crashed in Grandma's arms within moments of getting her pacifier.

We're recouping from the weekend now, trying to get Tierny the rest she lost over the weekend as she only slept 1 hour the entire day on Sunday - too many distractions.  The girls are extra tired to from all the excitement, and Daddy and Mommy sure are not going to complain about a little extra sleep!