Behind the Scenes

As promised, we're going to bury you in more pictures from this weekend's festivities. 

The girls had to bring this fancy necklace to the graduation ceremony. They called it the chocolate necklace. And Vivian was often seen chewing on it.

Can you spy Aunt Maria singing in the choir at the graduation? Funniest part of this picture is the redhead seated below her.

What do you think they're talking about?

Sarah's mom took lots of pictures!

Somehow Miriam got her hands back on the chocolate necklace.

Michael with Annette and Bridget...too bad he's so busy texting again...

Our favorite part of our church: a mosaic of the Immaculate Conception

Miriam, Mommy,

Lydia, and Vivian got to open all Felicity's baptism gifts.

And then the girls enjoyed the gifts!

Ok, that's it for this past weekend! Thanks to all who made the trip for Felicity's baptism!

New Life

It's been QUITE the weekend! People are beginning new lives around here! The highlights: Uncle John graduated and Felicity was baptized! We took many, many pictures. And you may be subjected to more of them later, but for now, just these. First, the graduation ceremony.

Uncle John: Receiving his diploma

Hats off, Class of 2013!

See the big medal around his neck? He received that award based on recommendation of his high school teachers. Pretty awesome kid. 

The post-ceremony cigar

Our family with Uncle John

Uncle John and his godfather, Uncle Drew

 Then we were on to the baptism! Fr. Derrick warmed up the crowd.

We all crowded around the church's new baptismal font.

Felicity was well behaved for the most part. Her sisters cried through their entire baptisms, so a little crying at the end seemed like perfect behavior.

Uncle Michael kept the sisters under control. 

And Felicity really enjoyed Fr. Derrick pouring water over her head!

Her godmother, Aunt Bridget, dried her little head.

And her godfather, Uncle John, got to light her baptismal candle.

And Aunt Michelle got to meet Felicity!

God has been very good to us this weekend.

Check out the chins on that baby!

And we're counting on more good things for our families in the future.

Felicity with her godparents

Visitors, Cupcakes, and Tea Time

School is winding down, summer is winding up. And there always seems to be lots of family in town during the summer months. We got to spend some time with Tim's Aunt Sue this past week and she got to meet Felicity!

Speaking of Felicity...

...yes, you're right, she is the cutest kid in the universe!

And as we said goodbye (literally) to Aunt Sue, Sarah's sister Annette and her fiance Tom arrived.

They were immediately roped into playing the cupcake game.

It is an awesome and well-loved game. If you have a little person in your life who likes Disney princesses or cupcakes, they will LOVE this game. And it's educational, if you play it right. Which we don't seem to do often because Miriam likes to make her "own creations".

Annette and Tom spent the night. In the morning, Aunt Annette helped to arrange a tea party for breakfast.

It was beyond fancy. And they enjoyed every second of it. Tim is very surrounded by girls.

Happy (gummy) Mother's Day

Our Mother's Day treat? 

This gummy grin. Cannot get enough of it!

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful, giving Moms we know. Especially our own two mothers who continue to teach us how to really love as Christ and His mother love. 

Now we're off to make caramel corn and watch a movie together on a sparkly, blue blanket in the living room.

Tweet

We're getting back into the swing of the new normal around here. Which looks a lot like the old normal with plenty of breaks to feed the baby and clean up messes made while Mom was feeding the baby. And very little leaving the house. Because that's suddenly a bit more complicated with three children and only one adult (during the day).

Last week we had a theme week: circles. Very basic. So basic, we didn't bother to take pictures and after a couple days both girls were ready to move on...

This week was bird week. Inspired by the red-breasted robins who love our backyard. "Rita the Robin" is frequently spied sitting on our fence or pecking around the still barren garden. 

We made a few bird crafts and used up lots of glue this week. (You're welcome, Elmers.) And we made two kinds of bird feeders. One with cereal and another with bird seed.

 The bird seed feeders were such a mess we didn't attempt to take pictures.

We will share that Vivian tried to eat the bird seed. Decided it was disgusting. And then tested to see if it belonged in her nose. It didn't.

And the little beauty above? Oh, that's supposed to be a model of a nest made out of glue and yarn. Surprisingly, neither Miriam nor Vivian were interested in covering their fingers in glue. When they did have glue on their hands, it was nearly impossible to pick up just one piece of yarn to add to the nests. Nope. Not the success story we thought it would be.

 However, they both LOVED painting with feathers!

So we spent an hour doing that instead.

Pinned and One Month

Last week, Sarah's sister Nichole was "pinned". She is graduating from college with a degree to teach math. At her school, there is a ceremony pinning students into the profession of teaching. Nichole asked Sarah to be the one to pin her. As we prepared to attend the event, Miriam asked over and over if this would hurt. Can you imagine her anxiety for Aunt Nichole? Poor Aunt Nichole was about to be stuck with a pin and we were going to watch. Yikes!

Luckily for everyone (especially Aunt Nichole), Mommy just put a pin on her clothing. Whew! 

Way to go, Nichole! We know you'll be a great teacher!

And guess who is one month old?!?!? ALREADY! That went so fast.

With each of the girls, we took their pictures every month on the changing table to watch them grow. Here is Felicity at One Month. She was not into the photo shoot at all. Maybe next month will go over a little better.

There's a Baby Here

We have a baby in the house. They can keep you busy and tired...which explains why we are not so great about getting new pictures up here. She's a pretty easy baby (to date). She put herself on a napping schedule from pretty much day one, doesn't cry too much (except when her mom accidentally eats cabbage), already sleeps up to 6 hours straight at night, tolerates her sisters...she just doesn't like going to bed at night. We're working on that. Very slowly. She's only three weeks old so we'll give her a break. That's hard for Mom and Dad. We get work done and relax with each other after the girls go to bed. Felicity wants in on that time, too. Some undivided attention from her parents probably sounds fabulous and she's figured out the best time to get it.

But on to other news...We celebrated Aunt Maria's birthday here a week and a half ago. She had to wear our silly birthday hat. But got to hold the baby. Fair trade.

And wouldn't it be lovely to have beautiful blue eyes like these?

Felicity also met her Great-grandma (Sarah's paternal grandmother). She has one more Great-grandma and a Great-great-grandma to meet.

This Great-grandma had six children and 19 grandchildren.

 So she's pretty comfortable with babies.

Felicity is growing and filling out (arm rolls and a double chin)!

Gets plenty of attention from her sisters.

Is even starting to learn to smile (which we could prove if her hand would move).

Three girls. We're still kind of in shock.

 They grow so very,

 very

quickly.