end of August

 We went on a date!  We have not had the best of luck with babysitters lately, so this was a fun getaway hiking with some friends.

 

I never get tired of waking up next to these sweet faces.  Little C is the one who seems to squeeze into bed with me after Clint leaves for work each morning.  She always looks so peaceful and angelic.

 We cashed in on our Christmas gift from my parents and spent an amazing 24 hours in Scottsdale at a swanky resort.  We slept in, ate lots of overpriced food, laid in the sun and basically enjoyed being kid free for a bit.  It always surprises me how much more Clint and I seem to like each other when work and kids and life is on pause.

 I love seeing Sage's school work lately.  She is learning so much and doing such a good job writing her little stories.  This one says,
"I went to Kinsey's house and swimming in the big pool and I had a water fight with grandpa Brad and it was his birthday and"

She obviously didn't finish.

 This. Kid.  

Maybe she will be potty-trained by the time she goes to Kinder.  In the mean time, I'll continue to change her adult sized poops.

 Crazy hair day at school!  We spent a decent amount of time doing this to their hair before school.  And precisely five minutes before we were walking out the door to leave, Charlotte had a serious breakdown because she did not want her friends to see her with her hair like this.  Sigh.

And just like that, August is over!

Our last FIRST birthday

This is such a bittersweet day for me.  My last baby turned one.  I'm thrilled to know I never have to be pregnant again, but I'm so terribly sad to know I won't have a new baby around again.  I think I will always crave having a baby and will always feel that pull to have a baby again, but my mental health would for sure drive me over the edge if I were to get pregnant again, and I know my limits.  So, I'll have to babysit babies or something.  

My sweet little Ivy Lee has been the biggest blessing.  She is such a fun loving, easy going, happy little baby.  We all adore our little Fuzz so much.

 First-ish steps {AUGUST 7}

 Little miss caught a bad cold and was so miserably sad for two days.  She wanted to be held and snuggled on all day, which was an easy task.  We were all fighting over who got to hold her.

 Enjoying her first cupcake on her first birthday!  (kind of.  maybe it was a little early, on Charly's birthday, but oh well.)

Charlotte is {FIVE}

Our little Charly turned 5 on August 16th.  The years with these kids seem to be flying by lately and it scares me so bad.  They are a lot of work and drive me crazy lots of the time, but man do I love them.  Charly woke up to balloons and her #1 most requested gift of the year...an Elsa dress.  Obviously.  After opening her gift and having chocolate chip pancakes, she went to school where she shared cupcakes with her friends.  She wanted to have a swim party at Grandma Shari's  house again this year, but also wanted to invite a few friends.  So we made it family/friends swim and BBQ party.  It turned out great and she was very happy.

I'm a fairly lame party thrower.  So our decor was easy.  I did blow up three of those huge round balloons, and they all three somehow detached from their post and flew away.

Shari made these awesome cupcakes.  Along with a whole platter of blue ones for the boy cousins!

Of course Em had her tantrums here and there.

And Ivy smiled the ENTIRE time.

Our sweet, sassy, spunky birthday girl

I sure love this girl.  She is the sweetest and most off-beat little Miss there ever was.  Her birthday interview went a little something like this:

Favorite color:  pink and yellow

Favorite toy: barbies

Favorite fruit: raspberries

Favorite TV show: Barbie Entertainment

Favorite thing for lunch: sandwiches

Favorite outfit: frozen dress

Favorite game: bean bag toss

Favorite snack: apples

Favorite animal: baby zebra

Favorite song: all the pretty songs

Favorite book: My Little Pony

Best friend: Gracie, Chandlar and Serena

Favorite cereal: granola

Favorite outside activity: swimming

Favorite drink: water

Favorite holiday: Valentine's Day

What do you like to sleep with: blanket

Favorite breakfast food: toast

What do you want for your birthday dinner: broccoli (this is a lie.)

What do you want to be when you grow up:  a babysitter and Elsa.

August

 I LOVE picking these two chicks up from school each day.  They are always so smiley and happy and are usually holding hands and/or waving and making silly faces at me.  It's the highlight of my day.  And yes, Charly insists on dressing herself each day.

 Snack time after school

 Charlotte has been so sweet to Emery lately.  She'll play with her all day and help her with things and is such a little mom with her.  It's so fun to watch.  She's also an awesome artist.  She drew this picture and came to me saying, "Mom.  See these dots?  Do you know what those are?  They are boobies."

Whoa now.

 My brother had a fantastic reaction when he found out he'd be having his third girl soon.  haha!

 A few days a week I take these two to the gym after it's closed and they get to play while I lift.  They think it's pretty magical.

 

This kid melts me.  Such a sweet little sleeper.  The one on one time we have had since Sage and Charly started school has been so good for us both.  She is so pleasant and loving toward me and has just really blossomed under my undivided attention.

Girls Camp

I have never wanted to be a leader at girl's camp.  Ever.  Maybe because I didn't always love girl's camp as a young woman myself?  Who knows.  But I wasn't pregnant this year, so....I went.  I'm so glad I did!  It was amazing.  Our theme was "Securely Anchored in Christ". It was so fun getting to bond with our awesome girls and get to know the leaders better.  It's way cooler going as an adult than as a young woman!  If I wanted to take a nap, I did.  All of my meals were made for me and cleaned up for me.  There wasn't any cleaning I had to do AND I didn't have to shower.  It was pretty fantastic!

I was blown away by the amount of work the camp directors and leaders did for the week.  They really went all out, and the love they have for the girls was so evident.  The talks were so good and I felt like the spirit was with us the entire time.  It made me so excited for my girls to get the experience of girl's camp.  I hope when they are in YW's, I'll get to be a leader in there with them.