See? Whale.
I don't believe I have ever introduced you to Jini's third. She was born right next to Kylie's birthday, so here she is two months old.
She has very bright eyes and is very alert and aware of what is going on around her. She had a rough start because her top lip was attached to her gum all the way down and she couldn't breastfeed properly. It took a little while to figure this out but a dentist, a laser, and a patiently stubborn mom and she is doing fantastic now.
Her name is Lily.
Like I have said in the past, any pic of Em running is going to be one of my favorites.
There is the birthday boy!
This might be my favorite all-time pic of this guy...he makes me smile.
We found Em's first pair of glasses...she tried them on.
Getting back into school has been fun...now that Andrew is three, he joins in for as long as he can handle it. (Which, ironically, is a lot longer than his older sister could handle at this age!) :-)
One of our school days, we decided to take a break and do "Sports Day".
We learned the basics of soccer, basketball and baseball and did our best to play each one.
Telling them there are 5 players on a basketball team.
Learning to shoot.
and dribble...well, sort of.
Stretching at the end.
We had a lot of fun and decided we better do this again soon.
Well, Andrew turns three means Adey turns five. Off to another Frozen party...my little Elsa and Anna.
They wanted 'coronation day hair' (a scene in the movie). So I utubed it and this is what I came up with. I bought ribbon today so we could do it right and I liked it enough that I will try again for Easter. Em doesn't actually have enough hair to do Anna's look, but then I found out online that no one does. It's a cheat braid they put on the front, so Emmy only gets the back.
The castle they found was HUGE!
It had like five punching bags inside and we had several adults and loads of kids in there all at the same time...yes, we got in there! We were wrestling quite hard. I almost lost my shirt but after the second kid got 'hurt', I got kicked out. :-(
And here is the birthday girl.
Emmy and Olaf
He is so darn cute.
We started out blindfolding Em and then realized we didn't need to and just let her go.
It turns out that K has a pretty decent swing. No, I am not putting her into that sport. I have to survive watching it too!
Layla was most definitely the best at taking down a pinata tho.
Nice cake! Yep, I stole all those plastic pieces from the garbage. You will most likely see this cake again, but it will be like a year from now, so hopefully you will have forgotten. :-)
The foursome...
and Drew.
They are holding snow-globes of Olaf pieces. They were very cute.
I almost died when Andrew willingly did this...
Well, that's all folks! We are doing quite well, like I said, just trying to find more balance. I am getting back into the habit of school (mainly that means all the planning I have to do the night before). I also started up our garden again (since we are clearly not going to have a winter, I decided I should start taking advantage of the sun). I am trying different veggies this year -artichokes, onions and peppers - as well as our favorites - tomatoes, snap peas and strawberries, just to see what grows well here. And, I am still in the midst of my elimination diet - trying to determine what foods from all my allergies and intolerances have been causing all my symptoms (which really means a lot of time spent planning and making food). Right now I am making separate meal plans for me and the girls (so they stay healthy while I do this), and with M's schedule, this means I prepare food at least five times a day, most days more. This week I get to start making my own bread so this will take even longer. Once I have it all figured out, we will all go back to our new normal, but during this testing phase, it just feels like a lot of work.
I must confess that I can see where this will be worth it in the end. To see what an individual food is doing to you when you eat it is more than just eye-opening, it feels like a revelation into your whole life. I can't wait to eat a balanced, healthy diet again, but I am also glad to be finding out what has been bothering me for the past few years. And, I am super-duper glad it is just food and not an auto-immune disorder!
I hope this finds you well! God Bless!
