Pine Wood Derby Rides Again

Hastily glued on coins covered  the bottom of Andrew's car, paint jobs were mucked up by something or someone, and Greg and I were thinking how glad we were to only have two boys, but the boys couldn't have been more excited. (Par for the course, my pictures are terrible, but at least we have some- right?)

Andrew's face is covered in graphite.  He might have gotten a bit carried away, but he loved his tiger striped car.

Emmy Girl

Isn't it funny how nicknames randomly become a part of your vocabulary?  Emmy turned to Nemmy (because of a Dr. Doofenshmirtz song). Then Nemmy turned to Nemmers because of Mack.  Suddenly, Emily is called Nem or Nemmers.  Weird, but we love that Nemmers.  

She asked for a pink kitty cake with pink polka dots.  I exceeded my expectations with this one.  Thankfully, she was pleased as well.

Here she is with all her treasure.  Em loved her Ariel doll because, "She has red hair, like me."  Every morning she comes down the stairs with a smile.  She lights up my day and makes everyone so happy.  I am treasuring my days home with her, reading books and playing games.  I love that little sweetheart.

Natali's 11

Another beautiful April baby girl turns 11.  When did she get so big?  Her feet are the same size as mine now.

Her stash of gifts.  I love that her interests are so diverse.  She has a gun, kite, paint set, weaving loom, books and clothes.

She loves to decorate other peoples birthday cakes but would always rather eat poppy seed cake with food colored glaze.  She wishes glaze was a food group.  

A few weeks after her birthday, Natali ran another 5K with her Girls on the Run group.  Greg ran with her and they finished in just over 30 minutes.  She never ceases to amaze me.

I am so blessed to have Natali.  She is helpful, fun, smart, a good example, loving, confidant, capable, has a good since of humor, I could just go on and on.  I rely on her so much because she is so responsible and obedient; our family wouldn't be the same without her leading the way.

Kater Tot

 Oh, my Kate is growing up.   I thought I had her all figured out, but she has changed so much in the last year.  When we get to school each morning my little girl, who used to be so shy, is swarmed by friends.   Her baby voice is nearly gone and she has really stepped up to meet the demands of Kindergarten.  She loves to please her teacher and is learning that she can do hard things.

She is also learning about the power to choose and the consequences of choices.  For example, letting Andrew smear your head in chap stick results in nasty, greasy hair that has to be washed in all sorts of strange things over and over and over again.  Not such a fun lesson, but a good one.  Another thing Kate learned this year is that short hair gets less tangled than long hair.  A few weeks before her birthday she declared that she would never let me comb her hair again.  "Just cut it all off,"  she said.  I was sad to see it go but she was thrilled.  I've realized she really doesn't care much about her hair as long as it doesn't have to be brushed.

I love to listen to her sing or play with Emily.  Sometimes the two of them will just disappear for hours.  She also loves to talk and play with Lily, but I think her favorite thing is my phone.  If she needs a distraction or incentive, I use the phone.  To get her to do her homework, we use the phone.  I often get my phone returned with hundreds of photos and some very strange videos.

 Pretty excited over clothes huh!  She got a Brave doll and numerous other toys but for some reason we only have these silly clothes pictures, but those faces are priceless.

Natali convinced Kate to let her decorate the cake.  Kate gave the order and Natali carried it out. 

This picture was taken in February but I just love it.  Lily was asleep on the couch and Kate just snuggled up next to her and fell asleep.  I love that little sweetheart.

Basketball Brothers - Feburary

This year for basketball Mack and Andrew got to be on the same team (hurray!)  Our neighbor was the coach so he picked them up and brought them home whenever I couldn't (which was far too often).  The boys loved it. 

Can you see Mack’s taped together glasses?  Mack got new glasses in November and we had already replaced the frames entirely once and taken them in for repairs three other times.  It is tough to play sports with glasses.

Apparently, our bad genes have been passed onto Andrew as well.  The last week of 2^nd grade he joined the older Eastons and got glasses.  That is 3 for 3 kids getting glasses in the 2^nd grade.   The primary kids sang in church for Father’s Day.  As I looked at all the little kids I realized that only 4 of the kids out of 70 or 80 had glasses.  Of those 4, 3 of them were Eastons.   Maybe my little girls will get better eye genes – I can only hope.

I know Greg has some pics on his phone and we took video of them in action, but that takes too much coordination to figure out.  Maybe someday, but for now I am just going to post this so I don't forget that the boys actually played basketball 7 months ago.

Two Staples Later

I'd been home from the hospital one week.  I was on the couch just holding and enjoying Lily when the shrieking started and Andrew sulked down the stairs.  I debated whether this cry required my assistance or would blow over.  Then Natali's voice suddenly joined in, "Mack's bleeding!  Bleeding a lot!",  repeated over and over.  I looked at Andrew, "I didn't do anything," he said, but his face mirrored guilt.

I put the baby down and ran upstairs to find Mack with a golf ball size lump sticking off his head.  I could tell he was bleeding but wasn't sure how bad the cut was.  Mack was hysterical and Natali was pretty concerned.  In my head I was trying to figure out how I could go to the ER with my new baby and 5 other kids...I pushed that out of my head and focused on calming everyone down.  

 Pictures of his head taken on my phone to show my Dr. brother-in-law.

Natali held screaming Lily but wanted so badly to help Mack.  She gave the baby to her friend who was over playing and proceeded to bring me rags, water, ice packs, the phone... the list goes on.  She called Greg on her own and told him what was going on.  I was so impressed with how she wanted to help and thought about what things might need to be done.  I was relieved to hear that Greg was only 20 minutes away.  So we just tried to keep Mack calm.  

Once Greg arrived we decided to take him to quick care.  At this point Natali started to cry.  She was so worried about him; she even asked if we could say a prayer.  The last few weeks the kids have been making me crazy with all of their fighting.  It was wonderful to see that in spite of all the quarreling, they really do care about each other.

Hearing both sides of the story, we eventually concluded that during a game of basketfootball (if you've never played this it is basically basketball where tackling is permitted) Andrew pushed Mack who fell into the corner of a table.

 Can you see the staples?

So Mack got three staples in his head (they messed one up and had to redo it) without any numbing or anything.  He was a little loopy that night but the next day he was outside playing football like nothing had happened.  Mack's favorite part was that they told him he couldn't comb his hair for a week!

Meet Lily

After much waiting here is our little Lily Ellen.  She was the closest to her due date and my biggest baby  weighing in at 7 lbs. 11 oz.

Lily, just minutes after she was born.

She didn't like getting clothes on or being strapped in the car seat but as soon as we started the car she stopped screaming.

First days home.

 Here she found her thumb and loved it.  Too bad her other fingers jabbed her eye and ended the fun.

 I tried my hand at photography and learned it was trickier than I thought, but I did catch a few good ones.

First Bath

We love our little Lily.  Emmy loves to bring her diapers and burp cloths.  The other kids all love to kiss and hold her and Natali is especially helpful.  We are still waiting to see what color her hair will be and I'm holding out for a brown eyed girl; genetics are in my favor but I'm 0 for 5 thus far.  We still have a lot of adjusting to do but we are so excited she is here.