Molly's Birthday Celebrations

 Saturday Molly and Layla celebrated their birthdays with their friends (from daycare, preschool, and friends).  Since Molly's 2nd day of life her and Layla have pretty much been two peas in a pod and have done so much together.  It makes me smiled every time I think about how my best friend was right down the hall from me on the same floor in the same hospital and that our two little ladies have absolutely loved growing up together.  Since they pretty much have the same friends and are just a day apart we had another combined birthday party.  This time it was at the place where they have their gymnastics class.  It was fabulous...the teenagers that are in charge pretty much take care of everything so Chrissy and I were able to snap some pictures and chat with friends while the kids completed obstacle courses, jumped on the trampoline, swung on the rope, did the bars and the balance beam and had some free choice which pretty much equaled to running around wild. This was all followed by some pizza, happy birthday times two, cupcakes, and presents.  I know Molly had a blast and she said the best part was having Layla there!!  She was completely worn out and slept in this morning.

Then after Malory's morning nap we headed to my parents house to celebrate again with Nana, Auntie Shay, Uncle Drock and Gracie.  Thankfully the weather has gotten nicer so the girls were at the park and outside playing most of the time, followed by more presents, more happy birthday, and more cake!

 

Malory 4 months

At 4 months our little miss Malory is not little at all...

 
4 month stats:
weight - 14 lbs 3 oz (50%)
length - 25 3/4 inches (93%)
She is actually the exact same length that Molly was at 4 months, but a whole pound bigger!  She eats plenty and is quite the little chunk!!  The doctor visit went great, Malory smiled the whole time and only cried for a couple seconds when she got her shots.  She is doing all she should be from what the doctor noted.  She gave us the ok to start cereal and then pretty much once she has the hang of that she can eat whatever.  So we gave it a little try....

 

Malory sleeps through the night when she can, the Dr. Shaw said we were spoiled with the other two, but she will get into the routine eventually.  She takes 2 two hour naps (give or take). She is still swaddled and I am trying to get rid of it.  She can almost roll over from her belly to her back.  She smiles and laughs and talks and spits up but is happy about it....we absolutely love her!

Easter

Our Easter preparations started on Friday.  We waited for Maggie to get home from her sleepover and then the big girls colored eggs.  Nana requested we bring some over so she could make some deviled eggs to go with our first Easter dinner.

On Saturday we headed to my parents after Malory's morning nap.  The girls patiently waited for their cousin Grace to arrive.  The Easter Bunny had instructed Nana to hide some eggs in her backyard.  It didn't take long for the girls to find all 63 eggs.  In fact they did it so quickly Papa didn't even have his cigar lit before it was over!!  It was nice enough to head down to the park and play and then we enjoyed a feast together as a family!



Sunday morning everyone was up early.  The girls discovered their baskets, at some breakfast and got dressed.  I said if they were ready before church they could find their eggs.  The Easter Bunny hid them in the basement again this year so that Marley wouldn't mess with them.  I took the big girls to church.  Then after Malory's morning nap we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  We were hoping to get Malory down for a nap, however, she had other plans and after just about 20 minutes she joined the rest of the group for yet another egg hunt and family feast. 

 

and...of course it was Malory's first Easter...

We also managed to squeeze in an early birthday celebration for Molly with all of Andy's family.

So much fun to be able to spend time with the people we love the most!!

Spring Break Illinois 2015

Its spring break and once again we find ourselves still here in Oswego, Illinois.  Its not that bad, I have a long list of things to try and get done around the house here this week and the girls have a list of things they wanted to do as well.  Today I took the girls to "Color Me Mine."  A friend of mine from work gave them a gift card to the pottery painting place.  Maggie had been before, but this was Molly's first time.  Before we left the house she was set on painting a unicorn.  I told her we would have to see what they had, but she could pick what she wanted!  And lucky for her (and me I guess) they had a unicorn.  Maggie finally settled (and I say this because it took a good 10 minutes for her to decide) on a cupcake that is actually a holder too so she can fill it with treasures.  They are very anxious to pick them up!

The weather has been very good to us this week.  Yesterday we managed to reach the 70s.  Today started with thunderstorms so Andy took the big girls to see Cinderella, a perfect rainy day activity.   It didn't take long for the storm to blow over and the afternoon brought sunshine and warm weather again.  This has given all of us the opportunity to be outside, go for walks, head to the park, get the legs moving....etc.

Since we have just been around here we were able to arrange a few play dates.  Today Maggie is headed to her friend Mia's house for a sleepover.  Her first real one.  She was so excited to pack a bag and go...I hope we all manage to get a little sleep tonight!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Malory 3 months

Better late than never...four months is just around the corner so I figured I better get this pic on the blog!!

Malory Photo Shoot

As a gift my friends went together and got us a gift certificate to have a newborn photo session for Malory.  I never did this with the other girls, but we also have three girls and there was nothing we really needed so this was a perfect surprise.  It was definitely not something we would have done on our own.  In early January, when Malory was just about 4 weeks old, Chrissy came with me to the photo session.  It was crazy, I had never seen anything like it.  The lady that took her pictures, Cristiane Laird (www.cristianelaird.com) was amazing.  She had anything you could think of including space heaters, sound machine and soothing music.  She had incredible patience and it shows because the pictures turned out beautiful.  Thank you so much ladies for the fabulous memory!!  I wanted to be able to share them with everyone that contributed to the gift so she put together a slide show for me, but I was also able to get a few prints....
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9rVEekIGhT8OE83eGpEWEY2UkE/view?usp=sharing