The Last of the Summer Days

I would be lying if I said I wasn't more than ready for fall! I do love summer do not get me wrong. I love it a lot. In fact I begin looking forward to it again in November. That being said this summer was hard. Trying to juggle two babies outside doing things with the older kids many days overwhelming. I managed and had fun, but I can't say it was my favorite summer for all things summer. That being said I did try to slow down and enjoy these last few summer days. Bring on Fall though! I think an Indian Summer would be perfect for this fall. 

Things we have been enjoying.........

Summer Storms, the kids usually grab their rain gear and yell we are headed to play in the rain. 

Summer Dresses for the babies....

 Yummy Baby Toes, lots of Toes

Sleeping Baby Cheeks

Popsicles, Lots of Popsicles

Paint Peeling, I mean Ari is enjoying paint peeling. We just painted and he didn't like the color so as you can see he decided to fix it. 

Babies in high chairs while I cook. 

Sibling Love 

My personal favorite...watching the sun go down in the evenings on the front porch while the kids ride their bikes. 

My favorite time of year is coming for lots of wonderful fall light. September is my favorite and hopefully beginning next week I will be out in the evenings taking advantage of it. Summer you have been good to us. Now bring on the apple cider, sweatshirts, crisp evenings, and fall colors!!

7 years of dreams

When we moved into our house almost 7 years ago we could not wait to work on it and do so many projects. We had hoped to update it and fill it with children. Well, we have the filling it with children part down. We also have done a lot. The first couple of years needed a furnace, fence, and other things that were not cosmetic. Then of course we had the epic upstairs gut. Like I said before being over 100 years old it is in a constant state of needing repairs. Thankfully it has good bones.


For 7 years we had wanted to replace the downstairs carpet. We would get ready to do it and life would happen. Ari was one of those. For years I joked he was my new floors. Then it became needing to finish the upstairs gut. Well, finally we couldn't take it anymore. If you had visited my house you knew that the carpet was on it's very last legs. I am not just saying that. It literally had 3 areas that basically seams had ripped apart. Besides the fact even with carpet cleaning the carpet was yuck. Also there was carpet in the dining room. Who does that?!? I had already been through 3 babies learning to eat with carpet in there, I was not doing it with two babies at one time. So we have taken all summer to get this project done. We are a bit crazy I think. It really still is not complete, but for now it is much more functional and we are enjoying it. Eventually the new flooring will go up the stairs replacing the lovely rainbow carpet and through the hallway connecting to the home school room. It all matches. The stairs need some work first though and Anthony and I need a break from house projects! 

This is the before. 

Dining Room 

Living room looking into dining room 

Dining room looking into Living Room

Working on the project. We still have some painting to do and trim. I know backwards, but we really needed to get the floor in when Anthony could use the saw outside. We can paint all winter. The carpet had also been ripped out of the dining room at this point.

At one point I came down to banging. I figured it was Anthony. Nope, it was Ari. He wants a kid mallet, and kid saw. Basically he wants to be just like Anthony. It was cute.

We had to work in stages each weekend. So it was half done at this point. Lilliana loves to sweep everyday. I let her. I wonder when it will wear off. 

This was last week. The house still had everything all over, but the floor was completely in. Like I said, still some painting to do. I have to pick out curtains and a rug. We also have to get all the kickboard in. Progress is good though! Thankfully the house is somewhat back together also because I might lose  my mind if it were out of order for much longer. 

Now I can finally begin decorating and we can begin purchasing furniture for our house. We have avoided that until we were done. The sad part is, I am decorating challenged so it may sit like this for several months until I can figure out what I want. Either way another house project is almost complete thanks to my wonderful husband! 

Rolling, Toes, Tongues and Mom is Crying-6 months

Well, I think it is a record. It has only taken me six months but I actually might get this post done on the day they actually turned 6 months! This means I took photos and edited today. I can also say I didn't skip homeschooling, dinner, or cleaning to get it done. I even managed to make some cookies and get my SAM's club groceries ordered. Tomorrow ends the day of shopping with 5 kids and everybody stopping me about the twins. I will be picking them all up at the pick up kiosk. I digress. The point is, it was a miracle that I got this all done today. I still can't believe they are 6 months! They have had a BUSY month with lot's of new milestones.


Annalise

She has begun to roll over both ways and is into a lot. We actually have to baby proof things. The thing keeping her from going everywhere is the new floor which is hard. She has discovered her tongue and toes both of which are some of my favorite things. She kisses on demand. She had one rough week of no sleeping which was torture since I was use to her sleeping through the night. Thankfully we are back on track in that area. She absolutely adores her daddy and Eli. She moved to 6-9 month clothes a week and half ago and weighs almost 19.5 lbs. She is a chunk!! She is almost sitting on her own, but not quit there. She also is trying to grab food off our plates. We will be waiting until she can sit to begin solids. I am actually hoping to wait closer to 7 months since they were early. We will see. I am sure in the coming weeks she will grab something and I will let her have it. Her new favorite toy is a wooden ring given to us. We still call her Missy Moo. 

Yay for toes!! Seriously my favorite age to photograph just because of them grabbing their toes. As soon as we lay her down she grabs them. 

Daphne

Daphne is now rolling both ways and in our bed and the crib getting up on hands and knees. I anticipate that moves to the floor soon. She has been army crawling backwards. She is content not to get into things which is nice. She is constantly moving and gets called Happy Feet or Spaz because of it. She also discovered her toes within a couple days of Annalise and of course has always had that tongue sticking out. She also had the same rough week that Annalise had with sleeping. I am sure it was just their brains going a mile a minute with all the new things they are doing. They definitely have hit a new point of interaction and abilities this month. Ari is her favorite person. They are peas in a pod in so many ways. I foresee an incredible bond. She also likes Lilliana because Lilliana constantly picks her up and packs her around everywhere. She weighs about 17.5 lbs. She has also moved to 6-9 month clothes. She is close to sitting too. Some days I think she is actually better at it than Annalise. She is not close to solids yet. She could care less and at this point we probably will hold off until at least 7 months unless she shows more interest. Her favorite toy is Sophie the Giraffe.

TOES, TOES, TOES!!

Today is absolutely bittersweet! This has been the fastest 6 months of my life. In some ways it has been the hardest, but for the most part it has been the best which has made it easy. I never realized how much these girls would change the dynamic of everything. The older kids are becoming so big and helpful I can't help but enjoy it all. They love to have conversations and enjoy older kid things and at the end of the day I can snuggle  babies. It is absolutely amazing and wonderful!! I plan to do a full 6 month session outside with them this month too. I pray the next six months goes slower and I can love and appreciate all the kids even more. For a quick comparison since I have done this collage with all the kids. Although Eli was not a baby, but that is ok.....

Eli at 2 years old
and also for reference 6 months. He was already pulling up and standing to things and had been crawling for a while! He also had a mouth full of teeth, but those eyes! Daphne looks very much like him and Ari.

Lilliana 6 months

Annalise and she look a lot a like! 

Ari at 6 months.

Daphne looks a lot like him and he looks very similar to Eli. 

Annalise 6 months

Daphne 6 months 

I could pinch myself some days! All amazing wonderful kids and they are all mine. Needless to say, I am very blessed.