Florida Vacation 2011

We had such a great time with family for a week on Destin's beautiful beaches! Olivia experienced her first plane ride and did great! This was also her first time on the beach! Nick and Ella were troopers too, I think getting on the plane was Ella's most exciting experience of the whole trip. It was so nice to get away and spend some good family time together. It has been awhile since Chris and I have been with all the kids for more than 2 days (like on our weekends). I see why families need vacations if at all possible. It just gives you uninterrupted, 'unscheduled' time to create the family bond that we don't always have time for during our busy week.
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Who's got Powder Sugar?

Tonight Chris and I were back in our bathroom/closet getting ready for bed when in comes Nick saying Ella got out the sugar. We both thought "great", and Chris immediately insisted he was "too busy" to deal with it. I knew it was going to be a bigger mess than I thought when I saw little white footprints tracked all over our bedroom and down the hallway outside our room. Ella had dumped 2 bags of powdered sugar out in the entry way and was having the best time stomping in it, letting it sift between her fingers, and of course tasting it. I just busted out laughing as soon as I saw her. It's so hard to keep a straight face when things like this happen. As mad as I thought I was going to be and as much as I was dreading picking up her mess, it was all a little hysterical. I really haven't seen those two laughing so much in awhile....all over a bag of sugar. You have to love the simple life!

Ella's M&M Olympics

Ella attended her first olympic ceremony! Her gymnastics has a super cute spring session where at the last class the kids do a routine and get a trophy and of course M&M's. Ella was most excited about the M&M, and second most excited about wearing her 2 sizes too big, hand-me-down, red shoes she got from her cousin. She loved gymnastics, but I think we are going to wait awhile to participate again! It was just too hard trying to keep up with busy little Ella and take care of Olivia at the same time. I'm sad for Ella because gymnastics was defiantly second nature for her. She was born a little gymnast and has so much body strength- it was so much fun watching what she could do.

Memorial Day

We had a wonder, fun Memorial day this year with the Easley family at the lake. We left Friday after Nick's last day of school and came back Monday morning. The kids were wonderful, so I really had a great time. Let's just hope the rest of our vacations go that smoothly. They loved tubing, riding the jet skis, swimming, and playing on the beach. We ended the days with great food, a little wine : ) and some delicious s'mores! I forgot how much fun the lake was - it's been 2 years since I've been because I've been pregnant and I was not in the mood to go-ha!

Olivia - 6 Months

Our sweet Livi, where do I begin? This month she has hit so many developmental markers it's crazy. It's like she went from a baby to an active infant over night. She is the most delightful little baby. She is easy going, happy, and the best feature to me is that she's a snuggler!!! Here are some highlights this month:

She's crawling! (6 months, 1 week)
Can pull herself up to a standing position
Can put her pluggie in her mouth by herself
Is eating finger foods (Cheerios, Mum Mums, crackers, ect...)
Drinking from a sippy cup
Loves being outside
Got her first boo boo (on her head)
Nursing every 4-5 hours
Eating oatmeal, and baby food for lunch and dinner
Started gabbing "daddadada" and "mamamam" when she mad
Can stand up in her crib on her own (must lower that now!)
Rolling over when I change her diapers (not a fun stage)
Loves musical toys- ones that play music
Wears size 3 diapers
Weights 16 pounds
The bottom half of her hair is coming in blonde
Has the cutest smile where she scrunches her nose.
Loves playing with her brother and sister- and wants to be where they are



Here are some pictures I took of Olivia for her 1/2 birthday. It's true what they say- you're not as on top of things with the consecutive kids. I barely got these pictures done when she was still actually 6 months old! I just love this cutie patootie!(