August Fun

We'll start with some pictures from July that I missed since they were on Andrew's phone.  

Andrew took the girls to the ward pioneer day celebration while Connie and I stayed home with Cora.  They rode in "handcarts", 

did a three-legged race, 

fixed their handcarts, made candles, and played lots of other pioneer games!

Grandma Smith saying goodbye :(

We still miss her!

Now on to August.....cutie pigtail braids for Abigail!

And Halle let me experiment with her hair a bit....

Back scratching train!

Trying out the bouncy seat again, harness and all!  As long as I flattened the bottom by stuffing a towel under her, she seemed to like it and was able to keep her leg flat.  A welcome change from laying in the pack and play all day, every day!

Eve vacuuming her own room - she's such a big help with chores now!

Abigail loves to feed Cora - 

And so does Halle!

One day, Abigail pulled my meat thermometer out of the drawer and "called" Aunt Kelly and then Grandma :)  

Shopping at Costco while Eve's at school:

Sister snuggles!

This past Saturday, Andrew was at school all day, so the girls and I went to the mall for a kids' fair and some shopping (the shopping was a mistake - they were awful).  

And the "fair" was pretty lame...

Practicing brushing on giant teeth!

Chick fil A!  We did get a coupon for a free bowl of fruit, which we redeemed a few minutes later....

Curious George was there too, but in the commotion, I didn't get a picture.  

We did the animal rides around the mall again and with just a bit of warm up, all the girls were pretty good at steering!  Only crashes into furniture and walls, no people.  Although there was a near incident with Abigail and a guy in a wheelchair....

Chick fil A fruit!

Then since I'd forgotten the coupons I had come to the mall to use, we had to go home, take naps, regroup, and try again that afternoon.  It did not go well.  The highlight was me maneuvering through Bath and Body Works holding a screaming Cora, pulling the double stroller with Eve eating snacks and a screaming Abigail in the back trying to touch everything.  Halle was walking, also touching everything.  So not worth the free body wash I went in for.  I just grabbed the first scent we passed and got out of there.  Unfortunately, we still had to stop on Costco on the way home.....long day and fussy girls (including me!).  

But cute Cora snuggles always make things better!

Yesterday we went to a birthday party for a friend from church and Halle and Abigail had a great time!

They both got turns on the pinata!  When it finally broke, the kids all rushed in, grabbed one piece, and starting eating it.  There was tons of candy left that no one was picking up because they were too busy eating that first piece :) 

Quite a crazy group of kids!

And that's been our month of August.  Next up, a trip to Galveston that starts tomorrow for my cousin Christopher's wedding and a Klosowsky family reunion for my Grandma's 80th birthday!

Goodbye Harness

Wednesday, August 24th, was Cora's last day in her harness - and she was excited to hear that!

And so were her sisters!  

5 weeks in this thing was plenty long!  And it was pretty gross - covered in spit up and baby poop (although thankfully she waited until only 2 days before it came off to really poop all over it).  

Freedom!

We took her right to the bath, which was a bit of a shock at first, but she quickly warmed up to it and had a good time.  She had lots of dry skin, and gross molting to wash off.....

All fresh and snuggly in her warm pj's with yummy milk and mommy snuggles - we were both pretty happy with that!

Eve is so happy to be able to hold Cora again!  Cora's in a milk stupor, or she would be showing more excitement too....

The doctor told us to just be gentle on her leg for a couple of weeks, but that she won't need any physical therapy.  She definitely favors her good leg, but will kick and move her left leg too.  She doesn't seem to want to move her hip joint much, though, but I'm guessing that will just take some time?  

So happy to have this girl harness free!  

Eve Starts Kindergarten!

I won't dwell too long on it, but how in the world is this girl old enough for kindergarten???  And all-day kindergarten, at that?  :(

Despite my reservations, Eve was very excited!  Cinnamon rolls to celebrate her first day, Monday, August 22nd.  

When we opened the front door to head out, we found a loaf of bread with a 'happy first day of school' note from a friend in the ward - so sweet!

Sad mommy, happy Eve!

We all got to drive over to school to drop Eve off.  Andrew walked her in since he'll be dropping her every day on his way to school.  This was also Andrew's first day of year 2 of law school!

Watching them walk in from the car (with Cora and Abigail screaming in the background, so it helped distract me - I didn't cry at all; and more importantly, neither did Eve!)

Eve with her teacher, Mrs Brown:

Eve is so lucky to have her friend Naomi from church in her class.  It definitely helps her be less scared!

When I picked Eve up that afternoon, she was full of smiles and stories about her day!  School starts at 7:45 and goes until 2:55 - long day for a 5 year old!  On Mondays and Wednesdays, they have P.E., art on Tuesdays, music on Thursdays, and computers on Friday.  Any day when the kids are good, they come home with a smiley face on their hand - Eve was excited to show me hers!

Since we have no income right now, we qualify for free school lunches, so that's what Eve had on her first day - ham and cheese sandwich.  I told her to pick a couple of fruit/vegetable sides to go with it and that she could also pick a chocolate milk.  She was really looking forward to that!  I'm not sure exactly what happened, or why no one was helping her, but she ended up with only a sandwich, no sides, and a carton of chocolate milk that she couldn't open.  She was too shy to ask for help, so had to throw it away untouched.  So sad!  That lunch was traumatic enough that she has begged for me to pack her a lunch every day since.  So for now, that's what we're doing.  She picked a Paw Patrol lunchbox at the store and is enjoying taking her lunch.  

Despite a couple of mishaps on her first day, she was up and ready to go back on day 2!  So proud of this girl!

Here are some stats about Eve as she starts kindergarten:

-Favorite color: turquoise

-Can read and do addition and subtraction with numbers 0 - 20

-Very shy and super sweet!

-Has started a daily routine of house jobs, reading me one book, and keeping her room clean to earn a weekly allowance of $1

-Is very responsible and always honest

-Loves to read scriptures with our family, including reading one or two verses by herself

She's growing up so fast!  

Cora's Two Months

Cora is the happiest, cutest two month old ever!  

Here are her stats:

-12 lbs 8 oz (but that's including the weight of her harness and diaper)

-Estimated 25.6 in long (with the harness, they couldn't stretch her out to measure her)

-Smiles and coos constantly!

-Goes to bed easily around 8pm, then wakes to eat 2 - 3 times per night

-Loves attention from her sisters

-We're able to hold her a bit more as her leg continues to heal

I took Cora to the orthopedic specialist for a brace check the day after her 2 month pediatric visit.  They took x-rays and while the femur bone had moved back into place, the crack in it was still visible so I was worried that they'd leave her in the brace for another month.  But the doctor said the leg looks great and that we could take the harness off in one more week.  No need to even come back to see him again!  Almost done!

We love you, Cora!