March 31

Chris and I are talking demolition tonight... hopefully we'll have some interesting house projects happening soon. Or at least, we'll demolish what is currently here, and then our children will be running amok in a construction zone. Whatever.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of our nearly-mobile girl and her beloved baby doll.

I'm not even kidding when I call this thing "beloved"; Lily's face lights up and she grins the moment she sees this little doll.

However, it appears that she mostly likes to chew on the doll's appendages. Oh well.

It was just barely warm enough today for a picnic lunch on the deck. But then Daisy got cold and came in side. And then it started sprinkling, and Caleb panicked. It was actually really funny to watch how much he freaked out over a little bit of rain. To appease the poor, damp boy, I offered to let him finish his lunch on the (sheltered) front porch. He was so happy!

Yum. Yogurt on the porch!

While the big kids napped, Lily and I had some quality time. I decided to take some video of her and just let the camera run for two minutes; it's kind of boring, but it's a pretty accurate representation of what life with Lily is like right now!

I think it's especially funny to watch her "eat" the string cheese. I'm not actually sure that any of it made it into her belly! 8 months old is a fun age, but I have to admit that I'm itching for this girl to start moving!

March 30

I'm not sure if I even dare type it, but...

today felt like spring!

Could it be? Is it possible that spring might finally be here?

We filled our morning with church and naps, but spent the whole afternoon doing yard work and playing outside. Just after Lily woke up, Chris' mom stopped by on her way home from work. Lily was delighted to get some one-on-one time with Grandmother!

I know you can't really tell from this photo, but Lily loved swinging with Grandmother. It was too cute!

When it was time for a rest, I spread a blanket on the deck for Lily. 

I'm not sure what she liked so much, but she was giggling and grinning and it was really funny.

This girl is so ready to be on the move; she's started twisting and bending and reaching, all while keeping her  balance. She's getting pretty strong!

Look at that. She's pretty much in the splits, but lounging like it's no big deal. I wish I still bent like that!

And then - oop! - back up to seated! 

I'm so curious to see whether she ends up scooting, like Caleb and Daisy did, or crawling, like a normal baby, or something entirely other.

That smile is just for Grandmother.

And then Caleb and Daisy finally woke up after naps that lasted well over three hours. While they slept, Chris and I spread mulch, tilled the garden, raked leaves, bagged yard waste, and took a rest. But I saved one task for when the kids woke up:

planting kale.

I didn't get any photos of the actual planting because... well, because I was doing the planting with them. But once it was in the dirt, I got a few shots of them watering the seedlings. 

Caleb was so excited to plant the kale, which is why I waited. 

He dug his little hole, then carefully placed a seedling in it, then used his shovel to fill in some dirt. Then he carefully watered each little plant with the hose.

I'm not sure what Daisy was watering, but she was happy, she wasn't disturbing Caleb, and no one got wet, so I call it a win. 

I think they really just wanted to play with water, not plant the seedlings.

After this, we put up some wildlife netting. I'm hopeful that of our nine sprouts, at least two will survive the deer!

March 29

Today we got to celebrate the first birthday of our sweet friend Andrew. His parents - our friends Dan and Jen - put together an awesome party, conveniently located across the street at our neighbor's house. What fun!

There's the birthday boy, representing the Cardinals on Grandpa's lap.

Hannah, who is the same age as Daisy, and Jen rocked the mustaches.

There was even a mustache-shaped cake!

Caleb was pumped that he won one of the games, which involved tossing a pretzel into a cup.

Meanwhile, Daisy wore a new dress and some new-to-her shoes, which were hand-me-downs from Hannah. (It's nice to have generous, well-dressed friends!)

Lily spent most of the time on my back, which kept her happy and let me stuff my face with delicious party food enjoy myself.

Eventually I put Lily down, and she was delighted to play with all of the toys!

(No, her feet and legs aren't really that big. It's just a bad angle with a weird perspective.)

Fun!

Daisy felt snuggly, so she crawled into my lap. She loved how her feet lined up with mine, so we took a picture of it.

After the party was over, Caleb and Hannah came over to our backyard to play while I made dinner.

Our Caleb was so excited to be playing outside with friends!

This makes my heart beyond happy, because it is a concrete example of answered prayer.

Chris and I tried to sell our old home for nearly a year before we realized that it wasn't possible to sell it without taking a major loss and moved on to renting it out. Over the course of that waiting year, I prayed often and fervently for the home and community where we would end up. I prayed specifically for neighbors who would be friends; neighbors who we could bless and who would be blessings to us.

God answered that prayer so abundantly with the neighbors up the street who, even though they barely know us, blessed us with this swing set.

And with Mary and Terry across the street, who helped us assemble this swing set and love us like family.

And with Dan and Jen and their kids, who, even though they aren't neighbors, might as well be.

I am so thankful.

I'm also thankful for this: 

Sweet Daisy, pushing Lily in the swing.

Love it!

March 28

I only took two pictures on my big camera today, and I don't even care. Cell phone photography is kind of liberating!

Here's the one real photo I took today:

That's Daisy, helping me make muffins for my mom, who stopped by after an emergency dental appointment. Daisy was so happy to see Grandma again, and so happy to be able to help Grandma by making soft muffins that she could eat.

The rest of today's pictures are just snippets of daily life from my cell phone.

While Mom was still over, the Fed Ex man delivered a package with two of these - kickboards to help the kids learn to swim. They were so excited. The pool they visited in Texas had similar kickboards, and they loved them, so Chris was eager to get something similar for them to use here.

Daisy wore a muffin wrapper as a hat, and smeared her face with chocolate.

A blurry, but happy, Lily.

Madame Kickboard Head!

One of Caleb's favorite old/newly discovered toys is the Word Whammer, that lets him make three-letter words. Today, it actually clicked. He was able to create and read words, and he (and I!) was so excited. My little boy is almost a reader!

Lily practiced her reading skills, too.

While I made dinner, the kids got my phone and began taking pictures. Caleb took this one of Daisy,

And Daisy took this one of me wearing Lily while I made dinner.

Lily was so happy that I couldn't resist a baby-wearing selfie. I'll never get tired of taking those!

March 27

After much debate and inner turmoil, I finally registered Caleb for kindergarten today. I feel like we're making the best decision for him, but it was still a tough thing to do!

Later, my mom came over to watch the kids so that I could visit the dentist. I returned home after the longest dental appointment ever to find three happy (manic?) children, and one exhausted grandma. So it goes - at least she gets to go home and sleep through the night!

Caleb, giving his sweet sister a kiss.

(Do you like his new shirt? Chris and I were both impressed that he chose to pair the t-shirt with the yellow, long-sleeved shirt. It looks pretty good!)

Someone loves her Grandma!

And what's Lily doing here? She's showing off what I think we can officially call her first word! Mom said that Lily definitely said "Cat" while I was gone. I clarified; Did she say "tah", meaning "cat"? Nope. Mom insisted that it was "cat".

And then Lily decided to prove she could say it:

Yep. That's my daughter, at 8 months, 1 week, saying "cat". And she knows - oh boy, does she know - what it means! I'm not entirely sure it really counts, but it's so much fun that I think I'm just going to go with it. Yay, Lily!

March 26

Have you noticed that the blog has been a bit Lily-heavy lately? Maybe it's not noticeable to most people, but as I edit photos each night, I've found that there are a lot more of Lily than of the other kids.

It makes sense, really. Lily can't run away and hide from my camera, she doesn't pout and scream "NO!" every time I try to take a picture, and she really is pretty cute.

So what are Caleb and Daisy up to?

Yoga.

Caleb has learned a few yoga poses at preschool, and apparently Daisy has picked the skill up, too. This is her tree pose - not too shabby for a not-quite-three-year-old!

Not to be outdone, Caleb showed me his best tree pose. He's got it down!

He also asked that I take a picture of his new t-shirt. We just got it a few days ago, and he really likes it. And that's peanut butter smeared on it, in case you were wondering.

But really? This is the reason you don't see as many pictures of the kids these days: 

No, it's not that they've contracted a rare disease that causes their faces to be malformed. It may shock you, but these faces are intentional. It appears that at this stage of life, they're only capable of goofy faces, and I can only photograph so many goofy faces before my eyes start involuntarily crossing.

I asked them to show me nice faces, and this was the best they could muster.

After the big kids went down for naps, Lily and I had snack time.

She munched on some fresh bell pepper and blueberries. (She also managed to smear blueberries all over herself, but I suppose I'm not allowed to complain about that because I didn't think it was important to put a bib on her.)

Hi, messy girl! Do you like snack time?

I guess she does!

(I also guess that it looks like my children's play kitchen in the background has been ransacked. I feel kind of bad posting pictures that show such chaos, but let's be honest: it's a struggle for me to keep my real kitchen clean and organized. There's no way I can keep my kids' kitchen clean and organized, too. Or maybe it's just that the kids are following my example with their kitchen? *sigh*)

March 25

Baby proofing? I don't do much of it. I draw the line at a baby gate at the top of the (steep!) basement stairs, plugs in most of the outlets, and a good does of common sense.

But it appears that Lily is not impressed by my meager attempts at baby proofing.

Mmm-hmm. That would be Lily, who scooted over to the outlet, then removed the outlet plug.

Now she has it in her mouth. Can you say "choking hazard"?

Oops! Dropped it.

Examining it.

Thinking about it.

And now she's attempting to put it back in the outlet.

I'm pretty sure my 8-month-old is mocking me.