Miscellaneous May

Well, the month of May flew by with the school year wrapping up.  We were out and about so much that I don't think I can do an "around the house" post this time.  So, here are some miscellaneous snapshots from the past month...

Last day of school!

Hard to believe this little gal was still months away
from being born when the school year started!

I promised Jane a popsicle after her last day of school.
Not even a torrential downpour could deter her from this plan,
so we dashed out to the popsicle store and ate them in the car.
She was thrilled. 

Corn-on-the-cob is one of my favs. Guess it runs in the family!

Feet are fun

Watering the "Jane Magnolia."
How can you not buy a tree that has your daughter's name?
Besides, it has really pretty spring blooms. 

Jane learned how to pump this spring.
She is soooo proud, and Mommy is grateful for the break. 

Ouisey's first swim!
(We are at the beach now, so more on that topic to come...)

Saw this baking soda and vinegar balloon trick on Mr. Rogers. Super cool!

This next picture is of all the kids born into our small group on the quilts Anna made for them (plus one quilt made by Kate for Anna's baby!). The catalyst of this idea, sadly, was the inevitable departure of the Davies, who are moving home to Omaha. We had to get all the kids together before they leave!

Kids are arranged oldest to youngest from back left to front right.
Jane is second oldest, and Ouisey is the youngest!
Katherine calls the front row babies the "blobbies." Love it! 

The Nickel picture

Ouisey is six months!

Happy half birthday to Ouisey!  

 Wow, half of a year already!  Lots of milestones to report:

1.  Cutting her first tooth, which quickly turned into both of her upper teeth at the same time. Yikes!

I tried to take a picture, but she did not like it when I
peeled back her upper lip. This picture was better.

2.  Rolling over. So far she only goes over her left side from front to back, but she's working on it! Not much incentive so far, since she does not enjoy being on her tummy. Oh well...

3.  First food! This morning we tried a little oatmeal, which went pretty well. She LOVED chewing on the spoon, and I think the oatmeal was a welcomed side effect. We'll see how it goes from here!

Here are some of the monthly pics I took. It was harder this time because she kept trying to put the bear/dress/hand/foot in her mouth. I guess that captures her at this stage, though!

Around the house: April edition

Hello!  

We took advantage of warm days this month to plant our garden (and rainy days to help it grow).  So far the lettuce and zinnia seeds are taking off beautifully, as are the tomato, squash and pepper plants we bought. Randomly, the cucumber plants died, despite getting the same treatment as everything else... no idea.

"Pinky" is keeping watch.

Rainy days call for more indoor fun. Dressing up and jumping are two of Jane's favorite options.

I was laughing so hard when I saw this
picture that Jane asked me what was wrong.

Saturday morning:
Yay for Daddy being home, and making coffee!

"Wait a minute... Where are all the Nickel pictures?" you ask. Ah, here they are...

Yes, Nickel, there is another one.

"Kitty!!!"

Ouisey is five months

I'm five months old!!!

Ouisey is such a fun little doll these days. She can dance and twirl in the doorway jumper...

...bang on the excersaucer...

...and is working on rolling over.

It has been really great for Jane, too. She loves to make Ouisey laugh. I wish I had a video of Jane dancing to the techno beat on her toy piano. Ouisey and I were both cracking up.

The only down side of Ouisey waking up and entertaining/being entertained more is that she's now becoming a less reliable napper... ah, well... it's always something! We love her so and are so thankful for her!

Around the house: March edition

Hello!  April is flying by, so I thought I'd better go ahead and post a few pics from March. Not a super eventful month... mainly trying to entertain ourselves during the remaining winter days. We are so happy to be playing outside now!!

I know Jane's obsession with Nickel is old news by now, but somehow I never tire of it. I think it is hilarious how many ways Jane has found to play with or pester Nickel. I mean, she's a cat for goodness sakes. They are supposed to be just boring old lap warmers. But Nickel is pretty awesome.

Brought her breakfast over to sit by Nickel on the floor.

So, about a month ago Ouisey starting rejecting a bottle. She would just scream and scream before it even touched her lips. Then one day I realized that she also hates being held in a cradle position, which is how we were holding her to give her a bottle. So it occurred to me that maybe she was just upset by the position and that the poor bottle never even had a chance. I mentioned this to Richard who agreed to try feeding her in an upright position... voila! An added bonus was that Richard can walk around an show her stuff while she eats, ha!

I started a reward chart for Jane to encourage her to cooperate, make good decisions, be helpful, etc.  I told her I would take her to get a treat when she filled the whole chart with stickers (thirty!). She chose to go get cake pops. This girl is seriously motivated by sweets. Me, too!

Look who's big enough to sit in the Bumbo chair! Oh, and Jane is wearing a swim suit just because.

A successful stroll!

Did you know there is a wild peacock who lives in our neighborhood??! His name is James. We went to dinner at our neighbors' house and they were telling us that he lives in their backyard, and maybe we would see him if we were lucky. About ten minutes later, he appeared on their roof! He was beautiful. You can't see the colors well in these backlit pictures, but his body was bright blue and and his tail, of course, was amazing. So cool!  

Happy April, everyone!