Everyday happenings

I can't think of anything particularly memorable about this last week. Just the normal stuff. I snapped a shot this morning of Chloe in Genevieve's hand me down nightgown. She loves it. 

 The kids setup a bed on the table the other day while I was still transcribing. I overheard Aaron tell Chloe after a few minutes that they should go get on his bed because the table wasn't comfy. Made me laugh!

 Chloe loves being big enough to push these shopping carts now.

 A square for one of three quilts I'm working on. This is the only square so far for that quilt.

 There was a rainy day and Aaron involved in this. That's all that really needs to be said. Chloe always ends up covered in mud.

 Her black eye is coming along nicely. It's still there nine days later. Those things take forever to heal!

Bits and pieces of this week

Chloe learned to open her bedroom door this week. So yesterday when she finished her nap she just came out and hopped up in my lap. Score! One more thing she can do. Obviously that also means some amusing conversations with her about how no, she can't come out of her room during nap time, but hey, I like the progress.

 Bill made alfajores. They were delightful.

 Got a new duvet. It's comfy and squishy and cuddly and wonderful.

 Took a little hike with a friend this week on a warm day. Chloe was all over that. She loves her sunglasses and it makes me smile every single time she puts them on.

 Spencer and Genevieve performed in their school talent show Friday night with each of their classes. I wasn't at a good angle, so I think I can see Spencer's knee in this picture, but he was there and was so excited to perform.

 I told Chloe soon she'd be able to wear her own underpants, that being her favorite word. She first ran and got some of Genevieve's, then found some of her bloomers and put them on instead.

 This girl is so on the edge of being ready to potty train. I'm so not. When she can string more than two words together, sure. But she's so observant of her older siblings. She sat on the toilet one day while I was getting ready and grabbed some toilet paper and proceeded to "wipe" her bum. Whoa girl. Slow down! I want to be done with diapers too, but give it a few more months.

 We moved onto her riding on the outside of the cart as well. Her face is no indication of how much she loves this.

 These school pictures made me laugh so hard. Spencer lost his neck somewhere in his photo and apparently they didn't tell Genevieve to smile. 😁 There was another shot for each of them that was better, and I'm not buying them anyway, but I do love a good terrible school photo.

Lots of fun this week

This has been a fun week. T-ball and baseball are going great. The kids are having a really good time. We went to a couple birthday parties this weekend. The weather is warming up, though it's back in the 40s today, so that's weird, but we're getting outside a lot and that's lovely. Good times.

I took Genevieve to get a new pair of church shoes this weekend and as soon as she saw some she decided nothing but heels would do for her. This girl of mine is so stylin'. She's going to keep me on my toes. Look how cute she dresses? :) 

 And these are the beauties she picked out. She wore them all weekend and told us she feels all grown up in them. Oh my goodness. She's five going on 17!

 We did a girl's day while the boys went to a birthday party at a fun park in Greenville. We got haircuts and bought the shoes and went to a couple other stores. Both girls completely crashed in the car as soon as we were done with the haircuts.

 It's really sunny at baseball these days, so Chloe was all over wearing the minions hat while her siblings had their team hats.

 Spencer's team.

 Genevieve's team

I've waited for a year or two longer to start activities than I might have, but this year is just perfect. Baseball and t-ball is so fun. We're doing swim lessons in June and I'm looking around for what to do next. It's so nice to have four mobile children. Chloe gets more capable every day. She's a rock star. Not gonna lie, it's kind of expensive to do activities for all four, so I have to plan, but turns out it doesn't bother me. It's awesome to see them loving the new experiences. I have a feeling the next decade is going to be full of a lot of sports and dance and gymnastics and on and on. Good times!

Mostly a Chloe post

I finished my second quilt top this weekend. This one is for Chloe. I don't know when I'll actually get them quilted, but I have one ready for Aaron and Chloe now. 

 We picked up some long socks for baseball. Both Spencer and Genevieve love them! It's cute to see them running around in them. First games for both of them start this week.

 Chloe is oh so pleased with her new sunglasses. She always puts on this super serious face when she first puts them on. Blue Steel I guess?

 And another high fashion day.

 I looked out the window one morning this week to see Chloe climbing up on our tree house. Eeee! Talk about nerve wracking. I couldn't get outside right then to do anything about it, so I called out to Genevieve to make sure she stayed safe. Next I looked Aaron was coaching her away from trying to go backwards straight off the side and instead down the ladder. She descended with no issues and now she's super proud of the fact she can climb up and down. She is fearless and I swear she thinks she's just as big as all her siblings. She certainly attempts everything they do.

Of late things Chloe has done that I think maybe she's too little to do, but she does it anyway:

1. refusing to sit in her high chair. She'd rather stand on her own chair.

2. climbing the tree house

3. repeatedly taking her clothes off and trying to put them back on.

4. Puts her own shoes on

5. Eats a bowl of yogurt without getting it everywhere

6. climbing into the car and into her car seat without any help

7. riding on the back of a shopping cart

8. climbing from the front of a shopping cart into the back when they don't have working a seat belt

9. giving up on napping at least 60 percent of the time

10. sleeping in a normal kids' bed and oftentimes sharing a bed with Genevieve

She's a keeper. She's a climber. She's opinionated. She loves to read. She brings me books all day long, demanding I "read it!" She says book with a heavy emphasis on the 'k'. So cute. Basically she's everyone's favorite and we love her to bits. 

Easter and Conference weekend

Well this weekend was the most exciting General Conference I've experienced in years, probably since they changed up the ages of the missionary program. I love all the new changes and can't wait to see them implemented at our ward level. And seven new temples, including India and Russia! That makes me so happy. Ever since I spent a couple semesters in Moscow back in 2004 and 2005 I've had a special place in my heart for Russia and this is a long awaited dream come true for the people there. We were hoping for the first stake in the country back then. What a huge leap forward in 14 years!

I love celebrating Easter during General Conference. It seems like such a great way to celebrate the Savior's resurrection as we listen to so many talks about the Savior and how to be better people and refresh our spiritual buckets.

This weekend was fun. We did lots of fun activities for the kids. Went to a community Easter Egg Hunt in Seneca. We've always gone to the Clemson one in previous years, but we changed it up this year and it was a great decision. They did such a great job. For the hunts they just had empty eggs out on the field and each age group would do their hunt and then turn their eggs in to trade for a bag of candy. Then they'd put the eggs back on the field for the next age group up, on top of eggs already out there, so each group got more and more eggs. It didn't take too long to wait between groups either. So all my kids scored a zillion eggs collected instead of our memorable year last year when the younger kids had a great time but Spencer's group was crazy competitive and he walked away with four eggs, crying his eyes out. This activity restored my confidence in going to those sorts of events. I had sworn off it after last year's experience, but this one looked promising and it delivered.

The kids loved the hunt and then they loved the bounce houses and the petting zoo and face painting and the Disney princesses to take pictures with and the Easter bunny and so on. We stayed for two hours. They all discovered petting bunnies is the best. Aaron decided he doesn't like goats, lol. Chloe climbed up and slid down a bounce house slide all by herself. She's not even two yet. The girl is a maniac! She was so excited to do it.

On Sunday we did our own Easter egg hunt in our yard and that was so fun. Bill hid the eggs and made the kids climb our trees and things like that to find them. It was awesome.

Both days we watched Conference and loved everything about that. My two oldest are finally starting to stick around a bit to watch, at least they did on Sunday, and that was lovely because we've been managing chaos for years now, so seeing that they might be starting to get a bit interested is a parenting win if ever I've had one.

It was just a great all around weekend. This week is Spring Break, so hopefully I can cobble together some fun stuff for the kids and me to do and maybe Bill will take a break and come along as he can. His Spring Break was two weeks ago, unfortunately, so he still has normal school stuff. But hopefully we can have a great week.

 I got tons done on my quilt while I was listening to Conference this weekend.

 I was trying to get a shot to show how blue Chloe's eyes are, but couldn't get a great one. Suffice it to say they match her shirt here.

 Our family Easter egg hunt was a rousing success.

 We dyed eggs for the first time too and the kids loved it. They even tried the eggs for breakfast the next morning. Weren't huge fans, but no worries.

 The community hunt was a huge success too.

 Genevieve ran into her bestie there. She talks about her every day. They're so cute.

 Spencer did his hunt on his own while we watched. He was so excited to be big enough to go on his own.