Birthday Fun

As usual, our birthdays fell near Memorial Day, which means everyone parties for our birthdays! It also means that we're usually too busy to take any pictures. This is especially true as I find myself with more children to hold and/or keep from killing themselves. We had a blast at our ward Memorial Day breakfast and later enjoyed a fun swim with some friends. This might have been the only picture I took:

Sundresses are the best.

Also, blurry flailing baby arms.

We did at least TRY to celebrate properly. Mostly because our children insist on it. I bought myself a key lime pie from Wegman's. Jon's "cake" of choice this year was fruit pizza. Everyone in the family contributed:

Aaron by destroying the crust repeatedly:

Catherine by eating the dough:

And helping flatten down what she didn't eat:

Seth read a book and picked his nose instead of helping:

They all helped place the fruit on the pizza.

It's very clear which side was closest the raspberry and blueberry containers:

2-3 days late, we finally had the official cake & presents.

Catherine and Aaron were very enthusiastic candle placers.

On fire!

Jon sings to himself.

Elise is unimpressed:

Aaron gets to blow out the candles!

Thanks to the world's most obnoxious iPad app, Aaron is obsessed with birthdays (or "happy birfday yous", as he calls it). To have his app come to life was the best thing ever! He alternated between licking the icing off his candles:

And putting them back in his piece of pizza to make his own "cake":

Celebrating our birthdays with the kids is so much fun! Jon bought me two pairs of cute bermuda shorts and took me out to lunch. He also didn't throw too big of a fit when he saw how much it cost to frame the painting I bought for Elise's room. Sorry, sweetie!

Summer Time!

After a long, miserable, wet & cold month, we FINALLY saw the sun! We went from 60 degrees and rain to 80 degrees and sunshine in one glorious day. We were so excited that we didn't even care about the humidity (or the fact that we had now missed our chance for nice spring days and gone straight to hot and miserable). We turned on the sprinkler and celebrated!

Aaron celebrated too, just in a way that didn't involve sprinklers:

And Elise enjoyed the shade. No sunshine for this pasty baby yet!

We also found several caterpillars, which are practically sacred objects at our house:

Aaron loved his caterpillar as gently as he knew how:

He also tried to share with Elise, who was very excited and not so gentle:

The slightly-maimed but still living caterpillar:

I would like to personally apologize to all the caterpillars my children have unwittingly loved to death. They really do try to be gentle...

Elise at Three Months

You are a doll baby and I love you!

Hooray for leaving the newborn phase! I love knowing that the most exhausting and unpredictable days are behind us. Plus more smiles and laughs--winning all around!  You are still just a sweet, mellow girl. You so rarely fuss about anything.

Here's what you're up to at three months old:

*rolling over is still hit or miss. Mostly miss lately.

*you've started taking naps in your crib. And your naps are generally terrible. 30-45 minutes. Sometimes you'll go back to sleep if I let you cry for a few minutes. By the end of the day you're exhausted from too many short naps. And I'm exhausted from constantly putting you down for naps.

Short naps are SO FUN

*you've started going to bed around 9 pm, which is great. Then you'll generally sleep until 2 am, then until 5 am. From 5-8 you're "asleep" but often restless and fussy. I either have to turn your swing on or put your pacifier back in your mouth 37 times.

*you love, LOVE to be talked to. You'll coo or gurgle or smile in return. It's adorable.

Happy social girl

*3 month clothes are getting a little too short for you. Fully in size 2 diapers.

The Chubs.

*you've started the arm-scratching phase. You also like scratching your own head.

*you are still a terrible spitter. But you seem to have good days and bad days instead of all bad days.

*we pulled out your play mat and you are very intrigued. You especially love the dangling bee. Still not really grabbing for it yet, but you seem to be trying really hard.

*you can fit almost your entire fist in your mouth. Skills.

*drooling. You are always wet, either from spit up or drool...

So. Much. Wet.

*We also still like to play "Catherine or Elise?" You are definitely sisters!

(Top are Catherine, bottom Elise)

Twin sisters

We are so happy you're here, little one!

Now for your three-month glamour shots:

Three months looks pretty good from here!

Pictures for Grandma

I love having sisters, especially when they are awesome and crafty and come up with sweet ideas for Mother's Day. My sisters and I have exactly the right number of kids to spell out GRANDMA, so we had big plans for an adorable picture. The reality of taking pictures is a little more complicated...

The Best:

The Reality:

(please note that she is sitting on a mat because she poo-sploded right before pictures)

Aaron was apparently allergic to his N:

He was happy as long as he wasn't touching it:

Nothing says "I love you, Grandma" like a deathly stare:

Better (with crazy hair):

A surprisingly adorable Seth picture:

"Seriously, Mom? Can we be done already?"

Maybe we should have sent the grandmas two--

one of the cute pictures and one with the "real" photos...

Aaron is a Dinosaur

When Aaron was little, I used to complain about his whining and clinging. We've since moved on to chaos and destruction. Turns out my Aaron needs LOTS of attention and will get it however he can. Having Elise around has limited the amount of attention I can give, so he's gone full dinosaur on me several times recently. I really wish I could get him to nap more than once a week! 

This was his most impressive episode so far. It happened while I was putting Elise down for a nap one morning. I walked out to see this:

A pile of salt on the nightstand and Aaron armed with the salt and pepper shakers.

I knew this was going to be awesome. 

Next: salt and pepper down the stairs:

Salt across the table and all over the apples:

Salt and pepper inside my glass of water (he was very proud of this one):

Salt on my laptop (thank heaven it was closed!):

Turns out he had pulled the stool over to the counter, climbed up, retrieved the shakers and gone on a rampage. The shakers now live much, much higher. Other episodes include dry erase marker on the rug, various messes with water, and running off with a pair of scissors (luckily I caught him before he got very far). 

But he also has a very sweet and caring side. He's always worried when his siblings cry (except Elise, since he's usually the one making that happen). He'll often go upstairs and bring down their blankets to comfort them. 

He also LOVES to hold Elise. He asks all the time and is quite upset when it's not always an option. Elise is simultaneously excited to watch Aaron's craziness and terrified of what he's going to do. 

I'd say Elise's look speaks volumes right here.

"Save me!"

Don't be fooled: he loves her, but some of his favorite activities include: trying to wake her up, trying to keep her from falling asleep in the van by yelling "LISE-Y BUG!" at the top of his lung, shoving things in her mouth, poking her in the eye, and trying to crush her. Aaron's variety of love is dangerous if you're tiny. 

Aaron is also more than a bit obsessive-compulsive. We had many tears over the switch from long sleeves and pants to cooler clothes. He also outgrew his most favorite shoes and much drama ensued when we put on his new ones for the first time:

He was finally won over after we made sure everyone who saw him told him what nice shoes he had. Now he refers to these shoes as his "nice shoes" and puts them on without complaint. Sandals were another battle entirely ("No! Want socks!"). 

We're still in love with his sad puppy dog eyes. We like to ask him where they came from. Catherine decided the other day that somewhere there's a puppy running around with "happy little boy eyes." I find this both adorable and terrifying, since all I can picture are the mutts from The Hunger Games.

Favorite Aaron words right now: "pee-nana" (banana), "a-boo-ca-doo" (avocado), and "chop-serries" (strawberries).  Also, "nummy-licious" when things are delicious (or candy), and "juicey-peas" (how he asks for his juice). Food is still high on his list of favorite things. 

We love our Aaron and his unique way of seeing the world. There was the day he told me about the "fish in the water."  He proudly showed me these goldfish, carefully placed on our blue bedsheets:

Or the time he insisted on drinking his water with a knife:

Or his almost-naked iPad playing:

We sure love you, little Aaron Dinosaur!