Lily

While your sisters are at school -

I'm loving my time alone with you, Lily.

I wish you could stay this little forever.

Baby Doll

My lily is REALLY into baby dolls right now. She loves being the mama. I took these pictures of her this morning as we were heading out to take Gwen to preschool. Lily-pie is always carrying a dolly around these days and of course loves all of the accessories. All of my girls have used this little bag to carry around dollies in. It happens to not really be a bag but it is my Easter Basket from when I was a little girl. My mom had cloth Easter baskets made for each of us when we were little. Mine was pink, of course. I love that it still has lots of little chocolate stains in it from years of milk chocolate foil wrapped eggs being in it on Easter morning. All 3 of my girls have loved this little "basket". It fits around them like a purse and dollies and bottles fit perfectly inside. Lily takes it with her everywhere we go. Adorable.

Gwennie

I've been calling my Gwen, Gwennie lately. She's named after my grandma, Gwen. We called her Grammy Gwen. Grammy's nickname growing up was Gwennie and she always told me she hated it. I personally think it's incredibly cute. Jon on the other hand has always called her Gigi. I called Gwen that the other day and she looked me square in the eyes and said, "Mom. ONLY DAD can call me Gigi." Alrighty then... I got it. My mistake.

Here's another picture from my phone. Elle's swim team practice is just steps from the ocean. This summer I would park and then Gwen, Lily and I would walk down to the beach. That's why we were there this day. It was unreal how pretty the sunset was this night. My little Gwennie looked so pretty in her sundress. 4 1/2 never looked so cute.

Secret Hide-out

Here's my sweet Elle. I love her so much. If I know she's sad and I can't find her this is the first place I look. She nuzzles in between the wall and the side of my bed. It's "her secret hide-out". She was upset the morning I took this picture because Gwen was being mean to her. I remember my secret hiding spot when I was little. It was in my closet. I had a really large closet so half of it was also used for storage. I would use the boxes to climb my way up and then I would sit on the top shelf. I wish I had a picture of me sitting up there sulking. It would be pretty funny now. With 5 kids in our family you didn't have much privacy so that is where I would go. This is Elle's spot and even though she's sad here, I still think she looks pretty cute. I love you, sweet Elle.

Mama Bird

My camera is broken. That is the reason for me not taking many photos this summer. It's killing me too. I see things as photographs in my mind and not being able to capture them is the worst. My camera is being sent out today to figure out what the problem is. I am sooo anxious to have it back. I have had my camera on my iphone which is what I have had to rely on. That first image of the bird is not mine. I wish I knew who captured that picture. Isn't it the cutest thing ever? It melts me. That's exactly the stage of life I feel I am in. My little "birds" still under my wings. I know this season of life will change but I'm not in any hurry. When I saw that picture of the mama bird it reminded me of my little girls hanging on my legs. The picture above is of my lily-pie hanging on me. She's the sweetest little girl around. It's for real. I want to just bottle her up. I'll post some of my pictures from my phone from this summer. I don't want them to get lost on my computer. My little birdies are growing up too fast.

Gwen's First Day of Preschool (again)

Gwen was super excited about going to preschool today. It's her second year (she's a December birthday and missed the kindergarten cut-off) so she was not nervous a bit this morning. She was VERY excited about her backpack and also that her hair is long enough now to wear in a pony tail. After I took these pictures Gwen asked if she could just walk across the street and back so that everyone could see how "bootiful" she looked. I couldn't stop smiling. Classic.

First Day of 2nd Grade!

Today was Elle's first day of 2nd Grade. She was sooo excited. She picked out her dress and of course her school bag. No backpack for her this year, she wanted a shoulder bag. The class lists came out last Friday telling her who was in her class and what teacher she was going to get. She hit the jackpot. An amazing teacher and a class packed full of her friends. We made it a family affair this morning walking her to her new class. She had the whole family at her send-off. I was just so happy to see how happy and excited she was as we waved good-bye to her from her classroom door. It's going to be a good year...I can feel it.