Do you remember lemonade stands?

Do you remember the last time you had a lemonade stand?  My mom used to help us set up the best lemonade stands.  She would make a huge batch of her famous and delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and a couple gallons of lemonade, and we would set up shop at the top of the street, trying to catch the eyes and quarters of passersby.

When my mom was here, helping us survive our first week with child #4, she helped my girls set up their own lemonade stand in the front yard.  They had grand visions of earning big money.  "Mom," Mimi gasped, the night before the big event, "Nana says that sometimes her kids could earn a whole 10 dollars."  An unimaginable sum.

I was gone for the first half of the sale, but when I came back, I was assaulted with memories.  Memories of making signs and finding the best place to stand for advertisement purposes.

Memories discussing our earning potential.

The joy of the first customers.  (Our bishop is a compassionate soul.)

The need to relax after an hour of hard work in the hot sun.

And the thrill of counting the money once it's all over.

In the end, they earned $17.  Not too shabby, eh?

A Recent Photo Shoot

It is almost impossible for me to get a good picture of all my girls together.  It would help, of course, if I would ever do their hair.  Or if Bella would contemplate the possibility of cooperation.  But those are pipe dreams, so this is as good as it gets.

Seriously, Bella.  Can't you sit up one time?

And seriously, Em, can't you brush their hair?  Just brush it?  

It's a good thing they're cute anyway.

Roll over.  Good Bella.

Happy Birthday, Bella!

Annabel turned two last month, which is almost impossible to believe (except for the fact that we have another tiny baby living at our house, so she darn well better be two, right?).  We were lucky enough to have my mom fly in for the day on her way back from visiting Mike, Kelly, and baby Ruth in North Carolina.

When a crazy little girl turns two, she get to wear her swimsuit while she eats pancakes for breakfast and opens baby dolls from Grammy.

She gets to pick orange "cacakes" and chocolate "I-beam-tones" as her one request for the party.

She gets to have her sisters decorate the house with orange balloons, orange streamers, and orange scraps of paper because orange is her favorite color.

She gets to have so much help opening her presents.

She gets to blow out two candles in one tiny cupcake.

She gets to dress up in whatever she likes.

And best of all, she gets her own "mu-ic", a CD player and CDs to listen to all day and all night long.  (Completely unrelated side note:  How many times can a mom listen to "If You're Happy and You Know It" without losing the last shred of sanity she's clinging to?)

My favorite things about Bella:
*She is almost always happy, and when she's not happy, a minute in time out is all she needs to chill out.
*Our family calls Puff Pancakes "Hootenannies".  Bella calls them either "Auntie Boos" (what my girls call John's sister Rebekah) or "Poopy Panties."  Either one is good for a laugh.
*She loves to swim and she loves to wear a swimming suit even more.
*She's perfectly sweet to her own babydolls and Baby Maddie.
*She chatters happily to me all day long, and when I don't understand what she's saying, she smiles, slows down, and says it all over again.  Sometimes that helps, sometimes it doesn't.
*She goes to bed like a dream.  (That maybe should be the first thing I listed.  It's the thing that makes my life the easiest.)

I love you, Bella Boo!  I can't believe I've already known you for two years!

First Day of School

Madeline and I arrived home late Tuesday night, and school started early--too early--Wednesday morning.  Luckily, Nana (my mom) was here to assist the girls with the night-before-the-first-day-of-school rituals of picking out an outfit, packing up the school supplies, and getting together a delicious lunch.

Mimi started full-day kindergarten, and she loves being with Miss Kobb, Olivia's old kindergarten teacher.  She chose her favorite dress (a Lilly Pulitzer jumper I got from Once Upon a Child), some sweet red cowgirl boots, and a snazzy hairstyle from this website.

Olivia was nervous about second grade.  Our neighbor, Simone, who is one year older than Liv, had spent the bus rides home last year telling her how hard second grade work was.  But she picked her favorite dress as well (another great second-hand find) and faced her fears with style, if not courage.

They were ready WAY too early, so John had an impromptu photo shoot on the front porch.  Bella joined in, of course.  Who could miss out on this much fun?

Simone caught the bus (with a big third-grade smile) when it came,

. . . but I drove the girls to their first day.  I wanted to see who Olivia's teacher was.  (Our school waits to sort the kids into classrooms until the first day.  I have no idea why they prefer that chaos over an orderly Back to School Night before school starts, but they've made their choice.)
Mimi found her teacher and her classmates (and even an old preschool and church friend) immediately and excitedly.

Olivia was nervous, repeating to me with a quivering chin that second grade was "really, really hard."  However, when we found the second grade line, we found these familiar faces. . .

. . .and Olivia realized it was going to be just the same as first grade, only one year later.  Phewsh!  Crisis averted.

They've both adjusted to the school schedule beautifully, and now I'm the only one floundering in disbelief that I could actually have two kids in school.  When did they get so big?

To Answer the Hair Question

I think our babies are getting gradually hairier.

Exhibit A:  Olivia
Not bald, but nearly.  (And it took FOREVER for that child to grow some bangs.)

Exhibit B:  Naomi
A little more hair, especially above the ears, in lovely old man fashion.

Mimi was not the most attractive newborn.  (She's gorgeous now, so I feel okay posting that publicly.)

Exhibit C:  Annabel
Certainly a fuzzy baby, and her hair was distinctive in that it refused point blank to lay down.

Exhibit D:  Madeline
Hairiest baby ever.  I need to take some more pictures because she is much cuter now.

Introducing. . .

Madeline Susanne

Born 8/22/10

10:33 p.m.

6 lbs 12 oz

20 inches long

Having convinced myself that I was going to be overdue with this child, I was unprepared to go into labor (on my own--apparently my body is actually capable of that!) on Sunday.  I had contractions all Saturday night (annoying, but not really uncomfortable), contractions all through church (uncomfortable, but liveable), contractions as I sent John out to his moonlighting assignment (45 minutes away), contractions on my Sunday afternoon walk with the girls (quite uncomfortable), contractions when John came home and I was cooking dinner (I couldn't talk through them very well by that point).  I couldn't emotionally set myself up for disappointment by considering that I could be in labor EIGHT DAYS EARLY.  I was trying to tell John that he was going to be fine a) going in to deliver his patient who was laboring in the hospital, and b) completing another moonlighting assignment in the ER that night.  Fortunately, John was better able to contemplate the possibility, and he set up contingency plans for his responsibilities.  

Lucky he did.  By 7:30, I was pacing the rooms during contractions (in John's words) "like a caged animal".  We hurriedly set up child care for the night (thank you, Larisssa!!) and were admitted to the hospital by 8:30.  Even as they were putting in my IV (with me jumping off the bed every time a contraction would hit, trying to move my way around the pain), I couldn't believe that I was actually going to have a baby that night.  I got my epidural at 9:45 and finally believed it.  Also, I finally relaxed.   Ahhh. . . epidural.

Relief lasted 35 minutes.  Pushed two? three? times with the assistance of my lovely nurse, Cheryl. . . 

. . . and met Madeline.  My doctor had said, during one check earlier in the process, that this baby was probably going to be bald.  He was almost right.  :)

Her sisters love her.

We all love her.  

What a lucky family we are.

When Uncle Pete Comes to Visit. . .

. . . we:

1) promise a trip to the big, fun neighborhood pool, but arrive after closing.

2) have so much fun anyway, even in just our little tiny kiddie pool because Uncle Pete makes everything more fun.

3) discover that three little girls and one 6'3" uncle fit perfectly in the world's smallest pool.

4) love that there is someone much more willing than mommy to snuggle, hold, and carry the (sometimes grouchy) two-year old.