Freya at 8 months

Freya is now constantly crawling around and she is fast. She still army crawls but she will lift up her belly if she doesn’t have a shirt on and the floor is cold. One of Freya’s favorite pass times is crawling into the playroom and dumping out bins of legos or play food. But if legos haven’t been left out she’ll settle for anything really.   We usually keep the playroom pretty tidy but Freya is happiest when it is a mess of treasuresHer pincer grasp has vastly improved and no piece of paper, no crumb is too small for her to pick up. I’m constantly vacuuming. Freya is starting to display her affection, mostly her affection for me. She surprised me early into March and waved at me after I nursed her. She doesn’t wave often but she has done it a few times. She gives me big, wet, open mouthed kisses. She also sometimes pats me on the back when I pat her on the back while we hug and she has a nice firm and steady pat for a baby.

Tea Party with Hope and Nicolasa

We had a tea party with our friends Hope and Nicolasa recently. Norah and Hope were in preschool together when they were 3 and 4 and I can’t look at these pictures without being amazed by how much they have changed. For example, here is a picture from Norah and Hope’s preschool Christmas party in 2012. You can see Hope on the far right and Nicolasa has snuck in there too and then little Felix and then Norah. Alice was probably strapped in the Ergo. Nicolasa and Alice at Dallas Heritage Village March 13 2013 Norah and Hope on the same day Norah and Hope at some point in March in Preschool May 2013 at Scottish Rite Hospital I’m sure I could find many more photos of these 4 girls if I started looking through phone pictures but on to our tea party The girls changed for dessert

Garden of the Gods

We spent Sunday at the Garden of the Gods. The last time I was here I was 32 weeks pregnant . . .it was nice to have Freya in the stroller this time.The kids had a great time scrambling around on the rocks and playing hide and seekAndrew kept Grandma very busy The redheads stayed in the shade

Louis and Alice Spring Break

Grandpa Dean, Bryan and Norah went skiing at Loveland on March 14th and Grandma Lorraine, Louis, Alice, Freya and I went on our own adventure to the Nature and Science Museum. It was really fun to watch Louis and Alice bond.  Playing with Andrew

Zoo and St. Patty’s Party

March 15th we went to the zoo and had a St. Patrick’s day party. We made Reubens and drank gourmet root beer. Actually just Matt and Bryan made the reubens. They had some lively discussion about how to equitably assemble and distribute sandwiches. When I suggested they save the smallish sandwiches for Ashley and me, Matt accused me of supporting gendered sandwiches.   We had a treasure hunt for the kids with illustrated clues by Bryanwhich led to a pot of goldVance and Debbie Mitchell came with their two kids Lisa and Kirk. Lisa is the same age as Alice and Louis and they had fun playing together. Freya and Kirk are the same age and have common interests including Sophie GiraffeI think Norah took this picture of me I’m pretty sure it was Norah because here is the next picture

Lovers Lane Pizza

We have a lot of fun with the Prentices. We went swimming with them almost every weekend over the summer and after it cooled off we kept up the ritual of joining them on an outing most weekends. A trip to a park or the arboretum usually ends with some pizza. Jenna is always super prepared when it comes to snacks and pre-dinner entertainment. Our kids have come to expect her to have crayons and activity books. Maybe when I no longer have to pack our potty chair to the park and a spare change of “emergency clothes” for every single kid I’ll aim to be prepared in other departments as well . . . Meanwhile Freya had no idea what to order Oh dear, this menu is in words and I can’t read Jenna? Some help please? hmmmm dessert!

Sister Pictures in March

I’m posting a bunch of the following because it’s too hard to choose between pictures where Norah is actually sorta looking at the camera and pictures where you can see Alice’s dimple