Blessing Day

Amelia was actually happy and let us take a few pictures. I couldn't make a big bow or flower for that hair because she has so much the headbands make her hair go crazy. so just cute and simple.

All the girls. They just love her so much.

The adoring fans. Such a posed picture. It was hard for them to figure it out, kept looking at me through their side view.

They thought Nixon should get in on a couple of shots. But then the pouting started with who didn't get to hold the dog and the photo shoot fell apart. No fighting over baby holding, just dog holding. Go figure.

The adoring big brothers.

Clint will probably not be happy I posted this one. No one took one of me and Amelia but look at this handsome dad and his little princes. Couldn't pass this one up.

Susanna and Amelia. I think these two look a lot alike.

The little sisters. Best friends. I love it when she "holds" her.

Lisa came over and took a family shot. Happy family. Good day.

Amelia -the faces I love

My little Amelia is going to be three months old next week. I can't believe how quick it going, and how fast she is growing. It makes me so sad and happy to see each minute. She is not always the happiest baby but I love every tiny bit of her.

This picture kept flipping but it is still pretty cute.

And the goofy smiles have definitely started. She coos all the time and now the kids are waiting for the laughs to start. Any day now. We love you Amelia.

Eliza turns 3

Happy Birthday little girl. I adore everything about you. It is so much fun to have you in our family and all of your sunshine. We started the moring off with birthday breakfast and a few of your presents.

Grandma and Grandpa Fillmore gave you this darling scooter (like the big kids) You keep wanting to go ride it outside but I have avoided you so far (it is still so hot outside) We had playgroup at our house on your birthday so you had a mini unofficial birthday. It was the letter B so we had bubbles, balls, birthday cupcakes and lots of fun times.

That night we celebrated again with an ice cream cake and a couple more presents. We decided to just string it out for you.

Then, came the real party. You have been talking about your birthday since Susanna had hers back in March. I had to throw you one. You helped plan it and had 4 little friends over. We let Clara come home from school to help because she is your sidekick. Here you are waiting for your turn to hit the pinata.

Halle, Bliss, Eliza, Joshua, Clara, Betsy

I love this one with you looking up at Daddy who is holding the pinata way up high. (thanks to April for taking the pictures, could never have done both)

We also got flashlights and went on a picture scavenger hunt to find the pinata. Up and down the stairs and inside and outside. By the end a few wanted to be carried. Thank goodness we had big kids Betsy and Clara to get us through.

Eliza had her first daddy daughter campout that night too. (which is why we gave out flashlights). They rode up with and stayed in the same tent as Jones cousins and had a blast. BUT, daddy doesn't take cameras so no pics...sorry. They came home plenty dirty and happy and Eliza was fast asleep. She said she liked sleeping the best. Happy Birthday Liza Lou We love you.

cousins

We have a lot of cousins in our family. Sometimes family gatherings get a little crazy. Each of my kids has at least sometimes 3 or 4 cousins their age they can pal around with. This is the newest set of close cousins. Little Oliver Grant was born on July 22 just 6 weeks after Amelia. My sister Emily came down this weekend with her little 3 week old and we managed to squeeze in a few shots of the two of them. We had a hard time getting them both with the same emotions. As soon as Oliver stopped crying...

Amelia decided to be very very sad. This face cracks me up. I'm sure they will have many great memories over the years and lots of pictures together. He is such a cute kid with his jaundice tan.

We finally smashed them together and managed to get a couple cute ones.

My mom got to come home from her mission in Guatamala for a week and I just soaked her up. I think maybe she knew I really needed her to come home. Things always seem to have a way of working out. So when Emily flew down, my mom got to see both new grandbabies.

My Eliza has a cousin that is just 10 days younger. She calls him "my Joshy" and loves him to pieces. She especially loves it when he comes over and she can plan some mischief, which she is getting really really good at. It is a good things she is so dang adorable. This is at my grandpas funeral. They were very intent on their conversation. Here they are teaching eachother how to say SSHHH because we kept saying it to them.

First Day of School

I love how excited my kids are on the first day of school and hope that all their expectations are met and they stay this excited. Fingers crossed. What a lame mom that just never got a picture of my ninth grader. Justin has a crazy schedule. He goes to the high school for math in the morning and then races over to get to Junior high late for his first hour there and then gets bussed to a differed junior high for high school swim team. I will have to re-create his first day another time.

Clara is all lined up and ready to go to school all day, can i handle it? I think Eliza misses her.

Susanna is with all of her best friends and two of her cousins and has the best teacher in the school so she is very excited for fourth grade.

Nathan is in sixth grade and has just a couple of friends in his class. (you only need one right). Here he is with cousin Jack getting ready for the day.

new school hair cuts

I think one of my girls favorite things of all time is to get their hair cuts. They decided long ago how they wanted it done and I made them wait til just before school starts. I think maybe part of the reason is because of this fantastic hair phenom, my cousin Natalie (snuck her in the background of picture). She makes them feel so special. Susanna always wants her hair short and I fight the cut as long as I can. She wanted side bangs so Natalie just gave her some long layers to make it feel a little like it. She was very excited. I think it makes her look older.










How excited is Clara to cut off all that hair she spent the last 2 years growing...so excited, can you tell. She has been dying to get this haircut again. She loved it last time.

We think it makes her look a little spunky, which she is. It fits her personality so good. We love this haircut on her. We are all ready for first grade. So much fun. Thanks again Natalie, you are the best.

Garner Beach Blast

We love our beach trips and they are filled with traditions. One of them is visiting the big tree park. I don't even know the real name of the park but have been going since I was a little girl. The kids love to go and get their traditional picture in front of the giant tree.

We had lots of sun mixed with cold wind. One day was sunny enough we all spent a little time being bathing beauties.

Susanna and Eliza both got in on the sunbathing. Mom got super burned...picture erased thank you very much.

We spent lots of time in the sand. There was a big sand castle the neighbors built and Eliza was dying to stomp on it so big brother justin made her a bunch of little castles that spelled her name. Then she got to stomp them all flat. Was she in heaven.

We had lots of fun with Jones cousins. Annie and Clara are buddies.

We spent not enough time sleeping. This was the first day and the only nap Susanna squeezed in. Amelia got plenty of love and attention.

Amelia got all dressed up in her darling swimsuits twice. But never got any closer than the deck. Too little for all that sand and cold water.

This is what she really looked like on the beach.

Nathan did lots of boogie boarding and spent a little time surfing. He is getting the hang of it and will be a surfer dude yet.

Boogie Boarding Babes

Eliza found a new rockstar to worship names Betsy Belle. This little girl took her under her wing and entertained her all week. She couldn't wait for her Betsy to come every day.

Betsy turns five tomorrow and she had these little beach toys she shared with Eliza. Fun for hours.

how happy do they look? Everyone played lots and lots and lots of games. Sunday was spent playing frisbee and catch.

Parker, Lark, and kids were there for one day of beach fun, hot dogs, and ice cream. I only took one picture (after driving all day) of their kids and got this one of Mimi after her ice cream.

We love Thrifty ice cream. Went through about 8 cartons. yum

When the kids were done swimming each day, they just moved the party inside and kept playing more and more and more games.

I think we had a great time at the beach. Mom even boogie boarded (about twice). We found tons and tons of sea glass to add to our collection (thanks max) and loved being with the Jones family. I tried to get video of Justin and Nathan surfing so didn't take as many pictures of them. We had a great time and are now getting back into schedule mode. Only a week and a half til school starts, eeek.

As fun as it was, this is what I wished I had done more of. Don't you love sleeping babies?