An alteration

Manah found these 4th of July skirts for the older girls, but they shrunk about an inch in the wash. So I added this trim to make them knee length again. I think it turned out cute, and the girls are happy too! My models...

Reading with Daddy

The girls got a little extra Daddy time yesterday while Mommy was sick.

Two milestones!

Stephen's second tooth is officially in. Whew!

And he started saying, "Mama" today in mass! So now Austin and I are all tied up. Allia and Mariana said "Dada" first, and Gloria and Stephen said "Mama."

Update

Stephen weighed 19lbs 14oz and was 27 inches long. So he is still a big guy, but his growth is slowing down a little. He was so brave for his shots! You can see his spiderman bandaids. :-)

6 months old!

My baby is 6 months old today! Wow! What a fun age. Stephen is a very smiley, happy guy, and we all just love him so much. He is very giggly, and he loves to track Daddy and Pawpaw around the room when they are here. He already knows the guys have to stick together around here! He will have a weigh in and shots tomorrow, so we will see how much he has grown.

Happy Father's Day!

We were blessed to spend the day with my Dad (aka pawpaw) and my sweet hubby, father of our 4 beautiful children. Many blessings to all the fathers who work so hard to provide physically and spiritually for their families! St. Joseph pray for them!

Dance Camp Finale!

The girls both did beautifully! Mariana actually danced this year (sat on Manah's lap last year!) and seemed to really enjoy herself. Allia was all smiles and had her moves down really well. Such cuties!
















One tired ballerina!





(my videographer, aka Austin, forgot you can't video portrait style!)

Dance Camp Day 2

Allia and Mariana started dance camp yesterday, but the first day was too crazy for photos! Here are the little ballerinas (including one extra!) getting ready this morning.

First Tooth!

Stephen's first tooth poked through today! Yay! One down, nineteen to go. *sigh*

Last day of swim lessons

Both girls were awesome! Allia made great improvements in her strokes and especially in diving. Mariana improved a lot in her ability to control her legs and arms in doing the strokes too! Gloria and Stephen were great spectators, especially since we had our sweet friends, the M family, to keep us company. Great job everybody!



Mariana practices back stroke while Autumn from the M family smiles at the camera






Kneeling dive


Excited because she did such a good job diving


Standing dive

Giggling boy

Mariana really had Stephen tickled!

First Bites

Stephen had his first bites of baby cereal this morning. He did great...reaching for the spoon, opening his mouth and lots of smiles! This big guy is ready for some food!

A little mass funny

Sunday at mass:
Mommy: Gloria do you see the statue of Mary?

Gloria: (all in one breath, gaining volume as she talks)
Noooo.....yes, there she is. She is praying with the angels. Whoa, he is wearing "flip lops" to mass, Mommy!
(one of the extraordinary ministers up in the sanctuary was indeed wearing flip flops and perhaps will reconsider next time he is getting dressed for mass due to the *loud* first row commentary!)

A birthday and a story

Manah's birthday is today, and we had a celebratory dinner Sunday evening








Then Tia Becky told the girls their bedtime story. Here is her captive audience.

Her debut

as flower girl! Allia was the flower girl (and Austin sang of course) at a wedding of some friends of ours yesterday. What fun!

Getting ready...


Mariana insisted on having her hair curled too, but about halfway through the process decided she had made a mistake!


At the reception (I will have to get one of the ceremony from someone else. The wedding was 45 min away, so I had to skip the ceremony and tote everyone over for the reception after naps!)


This next one is too funny...just as I went to snap the picture, Stephen (the baby, being held by Stephen the young man) pulled his soaking wet hand out of his mouth and right into Josiah's face!




Gloria kept pointing to Christiana and saying, "Mommy, see looks so bootiful!"


Lovin that Blue Bell!


Allia the ring leader...she kept organizing all the kids and making games for them to play together!




And a prayer for Happily Ever After goes out to Paul & Crystal!

Rainy day fun

We just barely made it through swim lessons, and it started raining on the way home. The girls were already in swimsuits, no thunder or lightning, so I figured why not?

Chapel veil buddies

Swim lessons

And so we begin 8 days of swim lessons. Allia and Mariana both did great their first day, and Mariana even has a good friend in her group!