Happy Birthday, sweet girl.

Charlotte is 5 (and has been for nearly two weeks now). She's so proud to be FIVE! Mike and I nearly can't believe it. I still remember Mike holding her at a few days old, crying because she was already getting older. And here it is now, five years later. We love that girl so much, all of her: her big heart, her big feelings, her big imagination. Nearly everything about her is bold and bright and beautiful. All wrapped up in this cute little girl.

On the day of her birthday, the girls and I were at my parents' house while the guys were home. So we had a small celebration with cupcakes that Charlotte made with me and a special "Mom and Charlie" trip to go shopping. Thanks to M, she had a gift certificate to the bookstore and some money to get her nails painted. However, at the salon, they told her that her fingernails were too short to be painted. I suggested we check her toe nails and she said, "Oh, that's a good idea! I don't chew those nearly as much as my fingernails!"

Sadly, those were also too short. She wasn't too disappointed when I suggested she could spend the money on the doll she's been asking for! So we went book shopping and dolly shopping and then we shared a pretzel.

When we got back home to our house, we had her first real birthday party. She invited five of her friends and they had such a great time. They splashed around in the pool in the backyard, played on the playground, and picked berries in the field near our house. I have alot of great pictures but they include the other children and I haven't asked permission to post them.

Meeting Gabey the Baby

My brother and has wife had a baby named Gabriel in March and we were able to meet him for the first time this past weekend. I never imagined I could fall so completely and totally in love with a baby who didn't come from my own body.

I've decided that he's going to play professional ball (either football or basketball, we're not sure yet.) He's as big as a one year old baby, both in height and weight.

Dancing Queen

That's the "Harry Potter" song that she's jiving to. And yes, I do let her dance on the table. Guess I'm out of the running for "Parent of the Year."

Sweet strawberries and lots of pictures

Saturday we went strawberry picking. In New York, it seemed like Pick-Your-Own strawberry joints were every few miles. Here? We have to travel about 30 miles and leave the state just to get to the closest one. But we did. And it was a fun time. Full of red stains, busy mouths and smooshed berries.

Afterwards, since we were so close, we took an impromptu trip to Six Flags. The kids spent alot of time in the tiny houses. Again....fun.

Lest I make it look like every day we have is just full to the brim with fun and excitement, let me assure you we have our boring days as well. They just aren't interesting enough to blog about. Today, we laid around while the kids played (the current game is Harry Potter Wrestling). Mike mowed and I made dinner. I also napped but if you ask me...? You can't get much more fun that that.

All about Lu

!!!!SMILE!!!!

She's changing so much lately. It's exciting and sad all at the same time. Her language is just exploding and she's the funniest, silliest, cutest thing that has ever hit the ground running.

Her stroller is a "walk" and food is "sauce." She loves to play Little People and asks by saying, "Pa-pa-pa-poople?" She loves our neighbors' twin babies. Recently, I caught her holding two dollies, one in each arm, and rocking them in the rocking chair. She was making them talk, "Wah! Wah! I want muna's! (nursing)" Then she'd respond, "It's ok, babies."

She loves playing with her siblings but she also plays so nicely by herself. She loves running and spinning and jumping. She prefaces nearly everything she says by yelling, "YAY!" When she messes up, instead of saying "Awww man!" she says, "Awwww, baby!" She's a daddy's girl and Mike just soaks that up like sunshine. Her favorite thing is "Backpack," (Dora). She's got a way of tilting her head and gesturing when she asks questions that is just so cute and grown up.

She still loves to nurse and recently while at, of all places, Wiggles World at Six Flags, some nosey nelly took it upon herself to tell me, in a not so polite way, that I should go somewhere else to breastfeed (among other stupid but common falacies about nursing.) It was the first time in five years of nursing that I had ever received a negative comment and it was a doozie. Little Lucy just sat there, nursing away, completely oblivious, gently patting my face and twirling my hair, never breaking her eye contact with me. As long as she had me, she didn't care what anyone thought. I could learn a few lessons from that girl.

(There's another new post after this one.)

Note to self - charge camera battery prior to leaving for trip

For Father's Day, my wonderful husband wanted to go to Six Flags New England in Mass. So off we went. We surprised the kidlets with camping over night nearby. It took some planning and we managed to keep it a surprise even while driving around the campsite looking for our tent site. When we finally broke the news, Eli spent the next hour or two saying, "OH! So THAT'S why you (brought matches, packed our pillows, brought us here to this KOA ground, etc.)

Afterwards we went to Six Flags. It rained a bit and we got to see the most amazing rainbow. The pictures do not do it justice. The colors were brilliant and it was a full rainbow, from one end to the other. It was also a DOUBLE rainbow. You don't see that too often.

We went out to eat and headed back to our tent. What is it with kids and tenting? They just think it's the most fabulous thing in the world. Meanwhile, I'm laying there while everyone else is asleep, having panic attacks about someone slashing our tent and attacking us. Do I have anxiety issues, you ask? Why, yes I do!.

The next day, we decided to drive another hour or so to the shore. We went to a beach in Connecticut and the kiddos just had a blast playing in the sand, collecting seashells, and splashing in the water. The beach had a great playground and sprayground as well as a beautiful lighthouse. Of course, at this fantastic photo opportunity, the batteries in my camera died.

Just some photos

Nothing much going on around here except for a case of the chicken pox and a bad bout of the stomach bug. So I don't have anything for you except for some photos. But I'm sure that'll do. Because these kids are pretty darn cute.