Three weeks old

I can't believe that our little Meg is 3 weeks old!  After a rough start with breastfeeding, Meg has become a pro and is really starting to fill out.

She is so tiny.  This is a newborn size outfit and she still has some room in it.  

Her 0-3 month clothes are still really baggy.

I haven't been able to catch it in a picture yet, but Meg has some pretty cute dimples in her cheeks.  They are really starting to show with her added chubbiness.

Merry Christmas Morning!

All of the girls were soooo excited for Christmas this year.  Olivia and Emily had the hardest time falling asleep.  Emily was up until near midnight and Olivia one!

Rylee really was excited... she just didn't want to be in the picture with her sisters.

Our beautiful REAL tree!

Rylee got Toy Story figures from Santa.  She loves them and hasn't stopped playing with them.  

She was out of control Christmas morning... opening every present she could get her hands on and then ate every piece of candy she could find.

Audrey got the Patriot colt and Elizabeth's riding outfit.  There were a few tears that she didn't get Felicity, but she quickly bounced back!

Santa gave Emily the Get Better Set and wheelchair for her American Girl Doll.  She's been wanting it since she broke her wrist last school year.

And Olivia got a writing desk for her doll.  There probably won't be too many more doll presents for my oldest girl!  That is soo sad to think about!

Meg slept through all of it!

Princess Marcella got a load of princesses from Santa.  She was sooo funny.  She squealed every time she opened a present!

It was a magical, wonderful Christmas!

Introducing....

The newest member or our family...

Here I am, in all my glory. :- /  This was taken Sunday.  I was induced Tuesday.  The inducement went really well, except that I wasn't able to have an epidural...again.  My platelet count was under 100, so to avoid me bleeding out, I guess, no epidural.  Ah-natural with pitocin!  At least I knew what to expect, 

since Rylee was the same.  

Meg Elizabeth was born just before noon, weighing in at 7 lbs 12 ozs and was 19 inches long.

As you can see, the hospital here rounded up.  If Memorial would've done that with Audrey, she would've been 10 lbs 15 ozs.

My mom flew out for the delivery and to help out the week after.  She was an angel!

The nurses returned Meg after her hearing check and bath with her hair mohawked and a bow!  

Too cute!

A friend from our new church congregation watched all the girls and then brought them to the hospital to see their new baby sister.  I love this picture of Todd with all of his girls!

We only stayed one night at the hospital and then went home.  Here we are getting ready to leave.

A few days later we gave Meg her first sponge bath.  And like all my other girls, she cried through the whole thing.

We all wished that Grandma didn't have to leave!  Grandma spent time doing crafts, painting nails and playing dolls with her grandbabies.

These pictures were taken when Meg was just over a week old.  Isn't she the sweetest thing you've ever seen?  These are purely braggin' photos.

At exactly 2 weeks, Meg lost her umbilical cord.  Yeah!  A real bath.  She really liked sitting in the water...

The scrubbing, not so much.

Thank goodness for binkys!

Birthday Week!

So it was birthday week at our home!  Emily turned 9 on the 3rd and Olivia turned 11 on the 4th!  It's hard to believe that I've got girls that old.  I wish they would stop growing up and stay in grade school forever.

Soooo, Marcella has started a new tradition in our home.  She asked for breakfast in bed for her birthday in March and the rest of the girls have thought that is the best present ever!  Emily got waffles and grapes.

Emily asked for a horse cake.... again.  I stole Kathryn's idea and put horse shoes on the side.

Olivia got oatmeal with rasins and toast on the side.  This breakfast really wasn't a punishment.  My girls all love oatmeal, and rasins is a treat we usually don't have (it's really that I don't remember).

Olivia asked for cheese cake!  Ahhh, truly a child of mine.  Give me cheese cake or pie any day over cake.  I made a scrumptious chocolate chip cheese cake.  

Silly Sisters.  They were just as excited to watch their sister's open the presents.

It was a fun week, but I must admit, I'm so glad it's over.  It's a lot of work to have to plan for two birthdays a day apart!

Halloween

Olivia, Rylee, Marcella, Audrey and Emily

Happy Halloween!  Everyone was sooo excited to dress up this year.  Let me tell you, getting 5 girls dressed and makeup-fied is quite the ordeal!

Marcella is our Pop Star.  Make sure you say Pop Star, not Rock Star.  She will be sure to correct you!

Emily is our Angel... Fallen straight from Heaven.

Olivia decided to be an Indian.  Olivia's Indian costume is my first official sewing project that I completed all on my own (If you don't count a couple of emergency phone calls to my mother).

Audrey wanted to be a Witch again.  But she specifically did NOT want a green face!

Rylee was our Little Pumpkin.  She didn't last long trick or treating.  Last year we packed her in a wagon, but this year she graduated to walking.  Living at the top of a hill means lots of up and down stairs to front doors.  She still had fun and loved that everyone kept giving her candy.

May Piano Recital

May 28th 2010

Olivia's piano recital!

Olivia and her piano teacher, Meggi

Olivia was so excited because she earned third place in the students practice minutes competition. Her teacher rewards the top 3 students with movie vouchers, and after coming in around 6th place last recital, she was bound and determined to place in the top 3 this time around. She truly practiced hours and hours and was still afraid that she wouldn't place in the top three. It was pretty stiff competition!

Requested by popular demand (Aunt Ashley's request, actually)... here is Olivia's piano recital piece. I thought she did a fabulous job.

George Philipp Telemann's Rigaudon, performed by Miss Olivia

American Girl Doll Paradise

Can I just say, $money$ can go very quickly in the American Girl Doll store!
Denver has the pleasure of being the next special city to claim an American Girl Store. I thought it appropriate that my 5 girls and I be some of the first to check it out on our very first day of Spring break. It was soooooo much fun!

Here we are, piled in the mini van, just itching to go!

Aren't they all so cute? I really should have taken a picture of myself... I'm sure I was glowing with excitement too!

I spent the first 15 minutes of our car ride doing doll hair. The girls all wanted to take their dolls to this new store looking fabulous, who can really blame them, certainly not me.
(I've taught them well, already!)

We ended up getting there waaaay too early. I misread the time. The store opened at 9 am for media and VIP, we had to come back at 10. But we passed a Krispy Kreme on the way, so off to eat donuts to burn some time. How much better can one day get?!
Well, Donuts didn't take as long as we thought, so we were back by 9:45. So all 5 girls were just hanging all over the big picture windows staring at all of the great things inside.
Our day got better...
An older woman waved me down from inside, then came strolling outside to us. She told me she was going to my mother and my girls grandmother today, and would we like to come into the store early and look around?! Heck, yeah!
So, to make a long story short, we got to be in the store a little earlier than most to gawk at the hundreds of doll things that little girls dream about and grown women, mothers and grandmothers still love to dream about.
Todd surprised me by wanting to tag along and was a great sport of helping to round up 5 (sometimes 6) girls, all trying to run in different directions in the store.

Here they are back at home with all their loot. We did limit how much they could spend, but honestly, it doesn't take long to empty your wallet with 5 girls in a store like that.

The rest of the day was spent playing dolls...sigh...really, truly, a perfect girl day!