Because I'm sentimental and doing some reminiscing tonight...

Here are my 4 kiddos at around 6 months of age.  All so different.  All so sweet!

Hide and Seek

Saucy has a nightly ritual all her own. When we say it's time to head up for bed, she races upstairs before any of us and hides until we get upstairs.  She ALWAYS hides under Annabelle's bed but she thinks she's sneaky every time.  Then after saying goodnight to the big kids, she races to her room where she hides behind her rocking chair and thinks it's funny when Darrin peeks back there and "finds" her.  She does this every night (that all the kids go to bed at the same time).  Last night she did her mad dash up the stairs when we said "time to head up" but everyone else was a little slower making their way up.  By the time we all got upstairs, this is how we found her.  Terrible picture but it explains everything.  She cracks us up!

Sleeping under Annabelle's bed without her pajamas on.  Poor thing was worn out...and so patiently waiting.

Today

Bennett had his 1st/2nd grade program.  It was cute!

When it was over, we let the kids play on the playground for a bit.

Annabelle on the tire swing with her friends Sophia and Allison.  And Bennett and Eliza in the background by the swings.

Big brother pushing Eliza.

This girl finally likes the swing.

And our sweet, sweet CallaMae is 6 months old today.  Her personality is really developing.  She is so much fun!

Lists

Annabelle loves to write lists.  She often asks me what groceries we need so she can make my list for me.  On Saturday, she sat on the couch with a stack of paper and a magazine and made lists.  When she ran out of list making ideas, I suggested we make a summer fun list.  We would all think of things we'd like to do this summer and she'd write them down.  We want to check these things off the list for sure.  Everybody came up with some fun ideas :).

 Translation:

tubing, swimming, a parade, fireworks, eat popsicles, go to a zoo, hotel, go to a movie, horse riding, wash the car, pick flowers, home-made ice cream, sell lemonade, water skiing, eat at a new restaurant, visit lake Michigan.  

Oh my goodness I love that girl.  

And when I asked her what she'd buy at the store if she could get anything she wanted, she came up with the items on the above list.  (in my handwriting)

And I'm turning 35 on Saturday.  Wow!  I swear I was 23 last year,  Anyway, I've decided to celebrate my birthday all week by doing little things I/we don't normally do.  Starting today.  Today I had a Bud Light Lime-Arita and Darrin took full charge of the kiddos so I could really sleep in!!  CallaMae doesn't sleep through the night and had an especially rough night last night .  We think she's battling allergies.  And Darrin got home after midnight and I can't sleep until he's home.  So needless to say I really appreciated it!!

Some other ideas I had include,
Having ice-cream for dinner from Nottawa.
Decorating the house like we're having a party (because the kids would get a kick out of it).
Bringing friends a birthday treat of some kind.

I need to keep thinking.  I plan to jot down what I did for my week long birthday celebration at the end of the week.

Today

was a proud day...

our family had the pleasure of attending a banquet/ceremony tonight at the high school.  Seniors on the NHS choose an influential educator and write a speech about them and present it.  These two young men chose Darrin.  Both wrote very nice speeches (tear jerkers in my opinion...but I cry easily :).  We found out when we got home that the speeches were longer than what they read during the presentation.  The kiddos and I are so proud of him.

And even better, all 4 of the kids sat amazingly well (along with the three Burgess girls) through the whole thing.  And it was fairly long.  We even got compliments from the principal.  They were rewarded with celebratory cake and time with friends in the cafeteria.

 I'm 5'6".  My 7 year old is tall.  

And to top the night off, we came home to a message on the answering machine from Mrs. Himes, Bennett's teacher, who wanted to tell us how well he is doing on his research project about habitats (he chose the rainforest).  She said he has been so enthusiastic and has really encouraged the class to get into it.  Nice day.

In addition, today...

Eliza learned about manners at preschool.

We played outside a long time at Jenny's after the preschool lesson.  It's always nice because I get friend time and so do the little girls.

I used up leftovers in the refrigerator for dinner tonight.

Bennett and Annabelle played some baseball in the front yard with Darrin.

Darrin mowed the lawn for the second time this season and also fertilized,

Bennett did not have homework today :).

Annabelle spent a good deal of time working on an outfit for the banquet tonight.

The house is kind of a mess and I still have to pack lunches.

Nice day.  Nice day!

Today

highlights in my hair

not needing to leave my home or get a babysitter to get the highlights.

frozen coffee drink

a walk with some adorable kindergarteners (Annabelle being the most adorable :)) to the food pantry to drop off over 100 items collected.

a proud biggest sister who loves to show off her little sisters.

eliza running around on the big kid playground with big sis...having a ball.

enjoying time with friends and the amazing weather in Jenny's backyard.

eliza's first time in the sprinkler this year.

bennett forgetting to do his homework until right before bed.  we're starting to see a pattern :).

dance for ann...she's loving the hip-hop.

a bonk on the head for E by the door as I swung it open.  Sorry Eliza!

a very "go with the flow" CallaMae who was dressed in an adorable pink with little flowers outfit.

a lot of time in the bjorn for C today.

a compliment from a substitute teacher I ran in to who wanted to tell me how kind my kids are to others.  made me smile.

bennett and darrin spent time at school tonight for open mat.  bennett learned/practiced several techniques.