Matching...

Since Emma and Elsie are best of buds...it is only natural that they want to wear matching clothes! Elsie is wearing a pair of Emma's old jammies and Emma is wearing a pair we picked up at a garage sale...and they match! Never mind that they are both squeezed into too little jammies! They we happy! I think I want to try to find all the kids matching Christmas jammies...imagine how happy they would be!

What a Daddy...

Last weekend Jon was outside with both the kids...and Elsie wanted him to wear her bright Polk-a-dot hat! And being the good daddy that Jon is he happily wore the hat for her!
I think Jon looks pretty snazzy...and he looks good with a little baby all wrapped in pink!

Miss Elsie Jane...

The end of last week Elsie and I went outside to take some pictures of her before fall arrived in full force...a good thing we did it when we did...today it had been super chilly and very windy! Elsie has been more and more independent lately...her new thing is to pull her little chair where ever she "needs" to reach...I am always finding her in the bathroom with the water on full blast...washing her hands and getting water everywhere!

Learning New Tricks...

We are slowly learning new tricks of how to get Lilly to sleep...she seems to have a difficult time falling into a deep sleep...which is very normal for a baby with withdrawal...so walking around with Lilly in the front pack never fails to put her sleep!

Sleep soundly with her beloved paci in her mouth...She is 10 lbs 1oz...so I don't know how long my back will be able to carrier her!

Picture Time...

Today I took some portraits of Lilly...I used my mom's vintage kitchen scale and a low vintage tray...my mom helped to keep a very wiggly baby from falling off the scale...
So sleepy...

I love a yawning baby...so innocent looking...

Toes...

Little baby fingers...

Wide awake...

More toes...what can I say...baby toes are my favorite!

I love Lilly's lips...so perfect looking...Lilly has terrible baby acne going on...so I tried my best to filter it out...but this pictures shows it all!

Lilly is getting bigger and bigger everyday...she now weighs 9 lbs 6oz.! It is almost time to put away all the newborn clothes...her toes are at the very end!

Fall...

Now that Fall is officially here we get to start decorating for for the new season! We have the Fall wreath on the front door...and a Halloween sign in hopes of luring some trick-or-treaters this year!
We took down the summer welcome sign and replaced it with a scarecrow welcome sign...

Last year for part of a Christmas gift Becky gave me lots of Halloween and Fall table cloths, runners and place mats...Elsie was super excited when I brought all the pumpkin decor out!

Pumpkins everywhere! Elsie especially loves the little pumpkin with a handle...she pretends to make me soup in it while I feed the baby...

The pumpkin on the counter in the kitchen...we still have to find the candles to put inside this pumpkin...

Table centerpiece...2 tin buckets with scary faces and pillar candles inside...

The one lone little pumpkin sitting on Elsie's little table...Elsie spotted the baby pumpkin while grocery shopping and really, really felt she needed it...soon we will get the kids big pumpkins to put outside on the front step...carving pumpkins with Elsie will be a fun experience!

Getting the Hang of Things...

Now that Lilly has been home with us for over 2 weeks I think we are finally getting the hang of things a little bit...last week I didn't think we ever would! One evening last week my Mom and some of the girls stopped over to bring my garbage out...(I can't lift it!) and they found me sitting in the rocker with 2 crying kids! Lilly was fighting sleep and Elsie was upset I couldn't cuddle with her!
So far this week had been better...but it is only Tuesday! Lilly is only getting up 2 times a night and Elsie is finally getting used to laying in bed alone while I sit up and feed and Lilly...

Today Elsie had a big melt down in the grocery store when she realized her spot in the front of the cart had been taken over by Lilly! I Think Elsie was purely devastated and didn't know what to think! I explained to Elsie that she could sit in the back of the cart...so all was good again! Elsie totally loves Lilly and was very worried yesterday when we had to leave Lilly at social services for a visit...Elsie is quite a little helper and mother to Lilly!

What a night...

Last Friday evening was a home game for the school football team...so my dad and all the kids except Emma went to the game. My Mom and Emma spent the evening with us at our house...much to Elsie's delight! We had an eventfully evening...Lilly was getting tired but would not go to sleep so my mom and I decided to pack the 3 kids up and go on drive to get Lilly to sleep. After getting shoes on we rushed out the door...apparently listening to a baby crying was getting to me...because I locked the front door and forgot the keys in the basket by the door! Than meant we were locked out! We tried to get a screen off a window so we could crawl in...but the screen would not come off! Next we tried to pick the lock open with a credit card...no luck! Finally we had to call my dad and beg him to leave the game and use his spare key to get us back inside...by the time he got there the baby was sound asleep...thank goodness! My dad had the wrong set of keys so our house key was not on the chain...but he had better luck picking the lock! Finally we were able to get back in the house to get the van keys...so off we went for a little drive...
We just started on the drive and the baby woke up and started crying again...but we drove hoping she would fall sleep...we drove by the football field and stopped on the road until a car would come up behind us forcing us to move! Before long Lilly's cries turned into screams...so we headed home...as we approached the driveway Lilly fell asleep...and Elsie started whining that she wanted to drive longer...so we backed the car up and started out again...and Lilly started to cry again...I think I have come to the conclusion that the kids will never be satisfied at the same time!

When we got home Emma and Elise enjoyed some watching Hannah Montana and cuddling on the couch eating rice chex...

Emma "reading" to Elsie...those two went quite strong until after 10 o'clock...as soon as the house was quite Elsie crashed!

Honey...

This last week Colter and Laura have been working on harvesting all the honey from their bees...it's called "extracting the honey"...They put the frames in the extractor, turn the crank on the side and out comes the honey...I am sure it far more work than it sounds...they were out in the garage one day all afternoon extracting honey and they only got through a few frames!
Honey still waiting to be extracted...it looks super good just like that...the frames I saw were loaded with honey!

The kids taught Elsie how to lick the honey straight off the frames! She had never had honey before...and now she has a new favorite food! This evening she was asking for a bowl full of honey for a bedtime snack! (just for the record Jon and I said no!)

Laura and Colter taking turns cranking the extractor...

Lisa even helped Elsie have a turn cranking the extractor...all the kids were taking turns...I think it looks like far to much work for one!

This evening Colter told us so far they have 20 jars of honey...and they still have more frames to do! The kids proudly gave Elsie a jar of fresh honey...she likes to dip a spoon in the honey and lick it off for a quick little treat! I think we will have to make some corn bread muffins so she can drizzle some fresh honey over the top...Yum!

Stylin'...

A few days ago Elsie, Lilly and I went for a little walk around the block...and Elsie had quite the style going on! As we walked out the door she grabbed her bright polka-dot hat...love the look!
Fancy blue sunglasses...(notice she has regressed to a sippy again...I am sure it has everything to with having a baby in the house!)

Who wouldn't be happy with so much colour and pattern! A girl just has to have her own style going on!

Weeding the Garden...

Sunday was such a nice day out...we pulled the baby outside in her swing...and Elsie I attempted to weed the flower garden. If anyone reading this is a gardener in any way...please help! It is very hard taking care of a garden someone planted! I think for now we have a big jumble of weeds with a few flowers mixed in!
Elsie does not mind the weeds one bit...she kept commenting how pretty the weeds looked! I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder as the sayings goes! Jon and i have great plans to tear this flower garden out next year and re-plant it the way we want it to be...that way we will know what is meant to be there and what is not! But for this year we will just enjoy all the beautiful weeds!

Playmate...

Elsie has 2 favorite friends...Missa and Em...Elsie fondly refers to them as "aunties". The 3 of them get so wild and creative together! Last night the aunties were teaching Elsie how to dance the "hoe-down" dance from the Hannah Montana movie! Elsie was trying to sing and dance along...She is now a fan of "tanna" and "tayla"...( Montana and Taylor Swift!)
When Elsie wants to go play with her aunties she always asks me if we can go "home!" I really hope she only calls their house "home" because the aunties do! We have been spending a couple nights a week at the aunties house so I have night time help with the baby...and Elsie always insists on wearing her aunties jammies...and she usually ends up in their clothes the next day! I guess there is nothing better than wearing your aunties clothes!?

Nap Time...

On Sunday Jon and Elsie went out for a little walk...and Elsie fell asleep in the stroller! We have noticed that if Elsie gets a nap every day she does not sleep well at night...so we have now switched her naps to every other day. I seems sad to think that my baby has grown up to the point of not even needing any naps! When she does have a nap I try to make sure Lilly and Elsie sleep at the same time so I can have a bit of a break...which is why I am blogging now!
On Sunday Elsie fell asleep with her cowboy boots on! Never mind that it was in the high 70'!

Growing Like a Weed...

Lilly is 2 weeks old now...and this morning we brought her to the doctor for a weight check...and she is now 8 lbs 2 oz! The Dr. was very pleased with her progress! She is now off the medication for withdrawals...and the dr said we can now regard her as a "normal" infant...we don't have to watch for any withdrawal signs or seizures! Now we just a healthy and contented baby to care for...and a very big eater! She is eating about 4 oz. at a time...quite a bit for such a little girl! All the preemie clothes are far to small and the newborn sizes are getting a little too short for those long legs!

Peek...

While eating dinner a few nights ago Elsie was being goofy...she would pull her shirt up over her head and wait for Jon or I to say something...than she would pop her head back out with a deep belly laugh!

Elsie has been working on getting herself dressed and undressed...she can get shorts and skirts on all by herself...we just need to help her get it over the big diaper butt! I love watching her attempt to get zip up sweaters off...she un-zips the sweater than leans way back and shakes her arms...it never falls off quite the way she expects...so after having a bit of a fit about it we have to help her pull her arms out! While I am glad she is leaning so many new things I am not looking forward to when she can completely dress herself...I know that than her room will be a constant mess of heaps of clothing and we will see her in at least 5 different outfits a day!

Pictures...

If there is a baby around I can't help but take pictures...on Friday as Elsie took her nap I put a cozy blanket on the dining room table and took some pictures of Lilly...We had lots of natural light streaming in...perfect for taking pictures...
A pink blanket and a big hair bow...can you get any more "girly" than that?

Lilly has the most perfectly shaped lips...we joke that her parents could be Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt!

Sleeping peacefully...

Peeking with open eyes...She is having more awake time and Elsie loves it!