Even at the park, these kids don't know how to play apart from each other for more than a minute or two.
This is gumby Eleanor. Seriously, is this supposed to be humanly possible?
Juliet likes being held at all times. Good thing there are plenty of willing volunteers around here.
Games with Juliet!
Eleanor got some new sweet shades and has an attitude to match. She wanted to wear them to dance the other week and I said sure, not knowing that when I would come to pick her up her teacher would comment on how she wore them for the entire class. Oops.
We had our first Deanna Rose trip of the season. Juliet's first time there ever!
We met up with our friend Amanda Houston who was visiting from Idaho. We'll told her Deanna Rose was the best place for kids and her kids were very excited to come see it.
Group shot!
Nathan and I are still taking Juliet on our dates while my folks watch the older kids. We'll see how long this lasts, Juliet is becoming more and more interested in checking everything out while we're gone and people come up to us and tell us how beautiful she is on repeat and oh my, I know how celebrities feel like now when they are hounded by the paparazzi.
Eleanor is perhaps the #1 person in Juliet's fan club right now.
Cuteness.
Cute picture of Eleanor at her friend's unicorn themed birthday party.
Patrick has been really helpful with Juliet at home and I'm so grateful that he's done with preschool for the summer because this sweet girl is horribly bored when there are no older siblings around.
Strong baby girl!
A friend gave us an electric car for the kids and I don't know if it's the best or worst thing ever. Check out Patrick's expression in this photo.
Watching the kids learn how to drive is cute but also fills me with fear for the teenage years.
Sometimes Juliet is very tired and a boppy isn't handy to prop her up on so we have to make do with what we have.
Not atypical for Nathan's evenings now - a baby in one arm, a cat in the other, and a cat on his legs.
Eleanor had just woken up in this picture and came downstairs for some Juliet cuddles to help wake her up.
Bradley was home sick for a few days. My least favorite day is the day that they aren't sick anymore but haven't been fever free long enough to go back to school. Patrick was ecstatic to get extra Bradley time and they did some amazing arts and crafts together.
Bradley was also delighted to finally get a chance to drive the new car.
Eleanor came home from school and we discovered that if you're dedicated enough to put a kid in the trunk, you can find a way to fit three kids in one of these cars.
I'm a big fan of this picture. Bradley can't figure out how to steer in reverse and Patrick adores him anyway.
Reading with four kids! Juliet is so enamored with all of her siblings.
She particularly likes it when she gets to join me and Eleanor on girl show time and we all watch Fuller House together.
Trip to the park. Happy baby!
Eleanor climbing over the top of the slide. This is basically all the big kids want to do at this playground anymore.
Look at this cute face.
And … this face.
Patrick has been really into his sunglasses lately which is beyond adorable and makes him look like a cool dude wherever he goes.
I'm really enjoying dressing Juliet up for church. Baby girl clothes are amazing.
Sweet Patrick is so happy whenever he gets to hold Juliet for a bit.
But sometimes he needs to be held too. We moved our new card table to the corner of the playroom and it's been getting some good use for family games.
More bedtime cuddles for Juliet. An evening tradition that everyone loves.
The kids still don't know how to play in separate areas of the house from one another and this is always what happens when we get out the Legos or train set or any other interesting type of toy.
Fun story: I thought it would be a great idea to go to the family board game night at the library. We all showed up, ready to game on and it was so exciting! Too exciting it seems. Patrick couldn't stop running around so he and I ended up outside digging in the dirt for worms. They also had a bunch of soda and snacks (in the library!!) and this booby trapped us as well. Even Bradley and Eleanor had trouble focusing on games with treats around. I swear these children get junk food on a fairly regular basis, I don't know why they all lose their minds at the sight of a chips ahoy bag.
At three and a half months Juliet is getting so fun and expressive. She lives for cuddles with her siblings.
Eleanor decided to wear her big sister outfit to school for the Mother's Day muffins event so of course we had to dress up Juliet too and take some pictures.
Muffins with Mom! So much fun.
I ended up waking up Juliet so Eleanor could show her off. Juliet didn't mind too much, she loves a crowd.
Patrick fell asleep during nap time that day so Juliet helped me wake him up.
And we got to go to Scheel's for packet pick-up for Running with the Cows! Bradley agreed to run the 5K with me this year, I don't know which one of us was more excited. We went on a few practice runs together in the park to prep for the big day and Bradley was a big fan of our routine of keeping pace together and then sprinting to the finish and seeing which one of us won. Bradley developed quite the strategy of inching ahead of me as we counted down to sprint time and then running directly in front of me so I couldn't pass him as we raced to our destination. One time he got confused about which park bench we were running to and I actually won one of these competitions and he talked about it for ages. "Mommy won once, but only because I thought we were running to the other bench." I also called him my little antelope on these runs because he would go bounding all over the place for the first part of the run and quickly grow tired and want to walk.
Colleen and Kerry drove out and visited us on the right weekend to see the Running with the Cows 5K. It was their first time meeting little Juliet, I think it's fair to say she made a rather sweet impression.
The next morning Bradley and I went ahead of everyone to the big race. Here we are with a token cow for a picture. Bradley wanted nothing to do with said cow and insisted that I be the one to stand near it.
Official race picture.
It was cold and very wet but we had a rather fabulous time together. We ran for the first quarter of a mile maybe before Bradley asked if we could walk (I was happy to oblige). We then walked, and walked, and walked and Bradley got slower and slower until we spotted the halfway food and drink stop, which he sprinted up to and loaded himself up on goodies. There was great delight when he discovered he got to throw his orange peel on the side of the road. I then tried to talk him into running for a couple minutes at a time on the way back and I set a timer on my phone to get us started. We ran for 30 seconds before he asked if the two minutes were up and another 30 seconds later he told me his stomach hurt so I said "Let's walk!" and that's what we did for the rest of the race. Except when he saw a cone, he jumped over every one of those he saw. I talked to him about video games for most of the rest of the run and he was delighted to sprint to the finish ahead of me and asked when we could do another run together so all in all I'm calling this a great success.
Our fan club waiting for us with their signs.
Nathan got a video of the end of our run.
Bradley summoned up reserves of energy when it came time to beat me to the finish.
And sweet Patrick ran with me and helped me make it to the finish line.
Official race picture of us at the finish! How cute is Bradley? Our official race time was 58 minutes, the clock started for the half marathon people who started about 20 minutes before us.
Me with the big kids after the race. Bradley is so proud of his 5K medal.
Post race treats! They have quite the impressive food spread at this run, the kids loved it.
Me and Bradley in front of another cow!
And then back home for a cozy morning.
I did end up taking Patrick and Juliet to a birthday party later in the day and it turns out even if you don't run a 5K you might be a little tired from waking up early to be part of the cheering section.
That said, Patrick rallied quickly and was crazy impressive at the bouncy house obstacle course that I doubt most 4 year olds can finish.
This kid is ridiculous and I love it.
Meanwhile, Grandma Colleen and Eleanor made a very impressive fairy garden together.
And then we got home and Grandma got to read to Patrick again. I love how much these kids enjoy being read to.
More Juliet cuddles!
This is how a lot of my mornings start. Nursing a baby with a kid on the side of the chair and a kitty in my lap. I love it.
Grandma got in some good game time with Bradley during her visit.
And an official group picture! I'm very proud that this picture happened, everyone but the baby was crying at some point while we were trying to get a group shot.
And I had a rather wonderful Mother's Day. With my new website it's been really easy to get me gifts that I'm very excited about.
My adorable group of children and a new game, Werewords!
Reading to the big kids while nursing the baby. Yep.
Juliet's hair continues to be amazing and whenever I let it do its natural thing it looks like she's trying to sneak into fair rides she's a little too small for.
And I'm loving this new phase she's entering where she prefers me to everyone else. She's started crying whenever I try to hand her off to a friend and I rather love it. It's nice to know that my obsession with this cute baby is reciprocated.
She is generally in my arms for most of the day, I guess a baby gets used to some serious Mommy time and then that's what she wants. I love it!
She's also finally big enough for some of the cute patriotic dresses a friend gave to me. Baby girl clothes are the best.
Eleanor's photo face is so great.
Almost as great as her deep love for her baby sister. It's a LOT of love sometimes.
The kids are wrapping up the end of their school year and Bradley's 1st grade teacher Mrs. Maddux posted this photo of his class at field day. They have such a great school.
I'm really grateful that I've had Patrick home to help keep baby Juliet entertained while the big kids are at school.
But we're all really looking forward to a summer of togetherness.
We need unlimited time for board games! This is 5 Minute Dungeon.
And morning cuddles. The boys in particular have been extra cuddly lately, I love that they come in and snuggle me when they first wake up every morning.
I need to get a video of Juliet's reaction when you make eye contact with her, she squirms in delight and smiles so big.
She isn't a perfect baby though, sometimes she decides things are chairs that are most definitely not chairs.
And when she got her first piggy back ride from Patrick the other day she pulled his hair quite a bit. It's lucky for her that he loves it and keeps on trying to get her to pull his hair again.
Patrick had his last day of 3's preschool in the Eager Elephants class with his friend Mabel. Her mom got a picture of the two of them on their last day of school.
They taught Patrick a lot of Bible verses at school this year and he has been enjoying reciting them to me while doing sign language. Sometimes the verses are a bit new to me but he assures me they are legit.
Eleanor helped me dress Juliet the other day and so we put on her old Snow White Halloween costume.
Snow White accompanied me and Nathan to brunch later that day.
And played video games with the big kids.
Staying indoors playing video games sounds like an easy afternoon but some of the games require a fair bit of energy. And sometimes it's more fun to watch the person playing the game than the game itself.
This is easily the best Juliet part of this blog post - we discovered that she likes the game peekaboo. A lot. Patrick got so many laughs from her the other day.
It does not get any more precious than this.
