Attempts

Every once in a while I will line the girls up and try to entertain them in some way while I attempt to get a good picture of the three of them.  I'm telling you it is an impossible feat.  It always makes me laugh to go back through them

 Silly face... eyes closed...

 crying...

checking out belly button??  "I'm over this" smile..... and lost one all together..

Family

"The big girls"

 Henry, Connor, & Will

 Parks & Hadley

Me & Kate

New Cousins

The newest cousins, Hadley and Connor.  Connor is just adorable.  I'm surprised he isn't smiling in these shots because he is giggling most of the time.  Lily Kate calls him "Big Buddy".  He's a sweet chunk of love!

Chattanooga Children's Museum

We had a wonderful time in Chattanooga with Parks' family this past week.  It was really a treasure for us all to be together.  We went to the Chatt Children's museum, which the kiddos loved.  

 Lily Kate and Lillian are inseparable, they are two peas in a pod, so similar in so many ways.  They really love each other.  We have started letting them video chat some on the IPADs and they will spend half an hour talking about their toys and what they did that day, it's really cute.  Lillian will be 4 in two weeks so she is just 1 year younger than Lily Kate.  

 Charlotte doing what she does best, dancing.  

 Hadley with Granmar (Parks' grandmother) & her Soni (Parks' mom) 

Introducing Eva

This is Eva Gerstmyer.  Isn't she precious!?  I have been dying to meet her.  On our way to TN we drove through Winston Salem to visit with my long-time friend, Lauren & her husband, Brad.  Their daughter, Eva Elizabeth, was only 2 weeks old.  When you have a 2 week old the thing you want most is the Carpenters with their rowdy kiddos to come stay with you, right?  They were very gracious to let us come visit.  We love them very much.  

Thanksgiving Preschool Program

I can't sing the praises of Lily Kate and Charlotte's preschool enough!  I love it.  They have great teachers and they love going.  Last Friday Lily Kate's class had a Thanksgiving program.  There she is in the center, all smiles.  

 Here we are visiting Charlotte in her class.  

 Lily Kate and Nadia, one of her buddies, at the "Pie Party" - now that's my kind of party.

Birthday Parties

So, I get a failing grade on picture taking for the last few weeks.  I cart my camera around to the places I go but I also cart around 3 kiddos and usually it never leaves the diaper bag.  I have good intentions.  Last week we celebrated Ben Phelp's birthday.  I have no pictures of Ben at all, of course.  This top picture of Charlotte and Samuel, two peas in a pod, is adorable.  Grace took it :)  The only 2 pictures I took were of the cute frog cupcakes that Sherry made and of Charlotte showing us hers.  

 This afternoon we went to Maggie Dorosko's birthday party at the gymnastics gym.  Again, no pictures of Maggie, no pictures of her awesome cake (which Wrenn made to look like Rapunzel's tower!), about 11 completely blurry pictures of Charlotte jumping into the pit of foam blocks, and these three, which aren't too bad.  

Hannah & Lily Kate cheesing for us,  LK on this really awesome swing (that parents aren't allowed to ride), and Hadley and her giant cheeks!
Happy Birthday, friends!

Sweet Snuggles

Sweet Babbles

Here is our sweet Hadley doing what she does best.  Were you able to overlook the facts that our house sounds like a pool hall (block towers falling down on hardwood floors) and that apparently we leave our fridge wide open for periods of time?  Ooops.

Quality Time

Every afternoon Charlotte takes a 2-3 hr nap. This leaves a big chunk of time for Lily Kate and Hadley to hang out every day.  They really love each other.  

Preschool Day at the Fair

Our local fair had "preschool day" last week.  It really is a brilliant concept: a cheaper fee to enter, they don't even open the rides that the kids can't go on, nor do they open the booths that sell $7 funnel cake or give you a chance to spend $20 to win a goldfish.  Thank you, fair, for not making me think of creative ways to say "no" all day long.  We had a great time as a family, laughing a LOT and bumping into friends all day.  Here's an example of how a picture turns out when you make a 2 year old take a picture she doesn't want to take.  :)

 You think that bow is big enough?  

 Charlotte's favorite ride was the "merical round".  We rode it 4 times throughout the morning and she was just as excited every time.  No one tell her we have of these in our mall, just down the street from our house.

 Our fist attempt of millions at a "girl shot".  Charlotte is rubbing her eye and I'm pretty sure Lily Kate is twisting Hadley's wrist.  Give us a couple years, we'll get a good shot.