First Day of School

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve seen the girls’ first day of school pictures, but if not – no fear! – I have them right here for you!  We made sure to pack lunches and pick out outfits the night before, just in case we were feeling a little rushed.  That morning was great – everyone got up fairly easy, got dressed, and headed out the door without some bribing (which is what goes on some mornings.)

Hadleigh started Kindergarten and was very adamant about riding the bus.  She did amazing – no tears were shed at all.   We let her ride the bus, but Daniel and I met her up at the school to see her walk in.  If she wanted us to walk her to her class we would have, but she caught up with a friend from preschool and was 100% fine.  I walked away proud, but still shed a few tears. 

Hayden started her 3 year old preschool class.  She will be in there for the next 6 months before they move her to her next class.  She has amazing teachers and it is a familiar place to us, so I wasn’t worried too much.  It was a little bit of an adjustment being in a new class and now going to school every day versus three.  Hayden still gets upset in the morning when I drop her off, but she has great days.  I’m sure she forgets about me 2 minutes after I walk out of the door!

We started Harper in the 18 month classroom 3 days a week.  I was so worried about Hadleighs transition, that it didn’t really give me time to think about Harpers.  Plus, Harper is a social butterfly so I knew she would adjust well.  I was right.  I sat her breakfast down at the table and she immediately walked over to sit at the “big girl” table to eat.  I gave kisses and told her bye and she looked at me and waved!!  Totally different than Hadleigh & Hayden!  She loves it which makes for a happy mama!

Linking up here today!

Harper's 1st Birthday

Harper Madden, I cannot believe you are already ONE!  You definitely complete our family and you are such a joy!  Our social baby for sure, she lights up the room with her smile, red hair, and laughs. 

I still mourn that you are the last baby in this family when I really sit down and think about it.  Physically, I know my body can’t handle another pregnancy, but you and you sisters are so amazing, that I think about another often.  Then there are days, when you are crawling around crazy, getting into everything, and your older sisters aren't listening and I think, “yep. I’m good with three!” Your sisters absolutely adore you and you adore them.  You already stand up for yourself when they take things from you.  That red hair stands true to that feisty personality you have! 

You’re sleeping better at night, but still wake up once.  You take 2 naps during the day, although only one of them I would consider a good nap.  When you are awake – you are 100% full force.  Crawling, climbing, throwing, laughing, pulling…anything and everything you can get your hands on.

You love food – any food at that really.  Yogurt is your favorite, but there isn't much you don’t like.  If someone is eating, you think you should be eating too.  I’ve pretty much started giving you anything and everything – peanut butter, jelly, olives, pickles, chicken, rice…anything!

1 year stats

Weight: 21 pounds 11 ounces (78 percentile)

Height: 30.25” (86 percentile)

Head: 18.75” (98 percentile)

 Your birthday party was so fun to plan and everyone had a great time.  You loved swinging, playing with your gifts, eating, and diving into your cupcake. 

 Birthday Party details:

On your actual birthday, our family went to a local diner and had dinner & ice cream to celebrate. 

 You are so loved!!

Easter Weekend {Re-Cap}

 Our weekend consisted of matching outfits and eggs…pretty much sums it up.

Friday:  The girls had their Spring parties at school.  Their classes had egg hunts and then good food to follow!

Saturday: Hadleigh, Hayden, and I dyed some eggs and then dressed them all up.  We took advantage of Harper taking a nap and daddy going outside to cut the grass.  They wanted to dye most all of the eggs pink as you can see.

I dressed the girls in their matching Lolly Wolly Doodle dresses, so I had to get some pictures.  I’ve told Hadleigh that every time the three of them are dressed alike, that I need to take a picture.  So, she gets it.

Sunday:  The girls woke up and came downstairs to see what the Easter Bunny had brought them.

 They were pretty excited and immediately wanted to eat candy.  They had a few pieces and then we were off to get them all dressed in their matching Easter dresses (from Zulily.)  We met Daniel’s family for breakfast.  We were in and out of the restaurant in an hour (benefits of not going to church on Sunday).  

 After breakfast we came back home to start our Easter Egg Hunt.  The guys did a good job hiding all the eggs and the girls did awesome finding them!

  More candy was consumed while Daniel and his dad worked on our ½ bathroom (which is DONE by the way – update coming this week!)

We missed spending Easter with my family as they were in South Carolina, but we got to chat with them through FaceTime!

How was your Easter weekend?

Threenagers

I just came across this article. So, I wanted to comment and elaborate a bit more on this.  I'm not entirely sure I would only include three year olds - can we add the age range 2.5-4?! Who's with me?! 

Here are some of the crazy things Daniel and I deal with {on the regular}:

• Putting on socks the wrong way. "Mooommmm! It's tickling me!" (the seam, oh the seam) AND for the record - seamless socks are SO damn expensive!
• Tags. "Daddy! It's scratching me!" "Take the tag out" Then we are followed into the kitchen, so she makes sure we cut it out.  She's not into the "faking out" thing.
• Going limp while trying to get her dressed. A whole new level of frustrating.
• Some days Hayden will cry/whine/refuse to get dressed unless it has a picture of Elsa on it
• Hayden wanted pizza the other night for dinner.  I made the pizza and then she decided she didn't want it.  She heads to the fridge only to pick out a pizza lunchable --- it's the same thing just not melted cheese! 
• Wanting a drink, but not picking the right cup(she wanted one with, no without the top)
• Hadleigh ate turkey lunch meat and pineapples all the time and then overnight (literally) she decided she didn't like these anymore. So for the next 2 weeks, on our way to school, she asked me what was in her lunch to make sure I didn't pack those 2 things.  Some days even checking behind me to make sure.
• Hadleigh had a friend in class whose parent got them Chick-Fil-A one morning.  The next morning she wanted it and when we told her we would go over the weekend instead - she cried. ..the entire way to school.
• If you have more than one kid, one of them will want EVERYTHING the other has. EVERYTHING - drinks, underwear, gloves, shoes, shirts, hair clip...everything.

Please share your crazy stories to make this mama feel sane! 

Harper 8 months

Harper Madden is 8 whole months! She is so happy almost all of the time – definitely our most social baby girl. 

Weighs: 20.5 pounds

Loves: Sesame Street, Being held, Being talked to, her bippy (pacifier), baths, doing anything – as long as she’s occupied and doing something, she’s good.

Hates:  Being left alone, the act of putting a shirt on, and waiting to be fed

Milestones:  Harper is crawling!! This past weekend she officially started!  She’s not super fast, but she’s moving.  She’s also started pulling herself up onto things.  I know it won’t be too much longer until she is walking.  I’m betting it’s before her 1^st birthday, which is faster than either of her sisters.

Eating:  Girl loves to eat!  She watches your food intently if she’s not eating with you.  She usually gets about 1.5-2 jars/pouches of baby food and then some puffs/yogurt bites to snack on.  She still nurses when I’m around too.  We've given her a bunch of table food since she seems so interested and she has done really well with it.  Anytime we are having something that I know she will be able to eat, we offer it to her.  Harper is picking food up great when it is set in front of her.  I think she’s been doing that for almost 2 months now.

Sleep:  Not sleeping through the night and not sleeping in her crib. Womp. Womp.  She wasn't feeling well, so we had her sleep with us and she’s been sleeping with us ever since.  We’ll put her in her crib to begin with, but she wakes up within 2 hours to come into our bed.  She will also wake up about 2 times to nurse.  Right now, it’s not a huge deal that she’s in our bed so we’ll see how long it goes!

Hadleigh & Hayden: love their little sister SO much!  Sometimes too much!  They always want to kiss her and hold her hand.  A lot of times we are telling them not to touch her because each one of them will hold a hand and then she’s not able to do anything.  They’re very protective over her and make sure she stays safe and is clean from any food on her face J

Christmas 2014

Christmas was a whirlwind!  We spent a lot of time with family, some time with friends, and most of our time with our little family of 5. It was a holiday break that was both busy and fun.  Both sides of our family are in town, so we are on the go a lot Christmas Eve, Christmas, and the day (or two) after. This year we switched some things up, so we were able to be at home more which was so nice!

We spend Christmas Eve with Daniel’s family.  Early evening is spent with my father in-law’s family and then we head to Daniel’s parents’ house to have Christmas with his immediate family. 

My sister, brother in-law, and nephews came into town that evening, so we were able to see them as soon as we got home that night.  We put all 5 kids to bed and waited for Santa to do his magic J  The five of them must have been realllyyyy good this year!  My parents came over super early Christmas morning to see all the grand kids and so we could have our annual breakfast.  My nephews were up bright and early – I had to go wake my girls up!  It still took Hayden a little while to warm up, but they all loved what Santa got them for Christmas. 

The morning quickly flew by before it was time to leave for our next family gathering!  Christmas Day afternoon is spent at Daniel’s parents’ house with my mother in-laws side of the family.  We even managed to get a group photo!  On the way home Hayden had a bloody nose, which scared the crap outta Daniel and I.  So random and didn't last too long, so we think it was from a dry nose or she hit it on something before we left.  Needless to say, that evening was spent at home relaxing; the girls played with some of their new toys, and I did some laundry to make sure the stains didn't stick to Hayden’s clothes. 

The day after Christmas was low key for the most part.  All 5 cousins played all day while my mom, sister, and I got some things ready for my dad’s side of the family to come over.  We ate too much food, which was a pretty consistent theme!  That evening my mom offered to watch all of the kids, so my sister, brother in-law, Daniel, and I could go out for a little bit of adult time with our cousins Matt & Nikki.  We brought out all the sleeping bags so the older 4 could watch a movie before we left.  We had drinks and dessert at Shyndigz – it was so yummy and the company was great. We laughed a lot.

Saturday rolled through and we had one last family get –together to attend.  Brunch with my mom’s side of the family was fun and the kids had an even better time running around!

This Christmas season was one for the books – I can’t wait until next year to celebrate all over again!

Cousin Time!

Back in the beginning of December, we packed up the family and headed to Charleston, SC to visit my sister and her family.  The drive seemed longer than usual because of it getting dark earlier.  The girls actually did fairly well.  

We were all excited to get there and spend some time just hanging out.  We really didn't have plans other than my nephew Erik’s 6^th birthday party.  The girls love running around and playing with the boys, so it was nice for them all to be together.

We did eat at this BBQ buffet, which was amazingly good.  Full of southern comfort food.  We had never heard of a BBQ Buffet, but apparently they are everywhere down South.  Who knew?!  I should have taken a picture, but I didn't.  You’ll just have to imagine BBQ, coleslaw, green beans, mac and cheese, pies, cornbread, squash casserole, collard greens….and so much more. You’re welcome.

Uncle Daniel /Daddy played a little game of football with the kids outside :)

Our first night there we walked around the neighborhood checking out all of the Christmas lights.  Cold beverages in hand, family, and Christmas Lights = a good night!

There's nothing better than a baby getting a bath in the kitchen sink!

Saturday was Erik’s birthday party and the kids had a bounce house to keep them busy.  By night time they were definitely tired!  Do you have family you visit out of town? Do you pack in a bunch of activities or just lay low like us?

Do you have family you visit out of town? 
Do you pack in a bunch of activities or just lay low like us?