Three Months

Caroline made her appearance three months ago today!  It's hard to believe that she's three months already and just as hard to remember life without her.  She is a sweet, smiley girl who has captured our hearts.  I remember when we were expecting Cade I wondered how I could possibly love another one as much as I already loved Luke, and a friend assured me that there would be enough love to go around.  God multiplies it rather than rations it, she says.  So true!!

Caroline is fascinated with her hands these days.

And like her siblings, she loves this crazy-looking rooster.  It's been chewed on and sucked on by the babies who came before her, but it has survived nine years since Nana Adams gave it to Luke, and it's still giving babies the giggles.  Thanks, Nana Adams!

Firsts

Saturday was the first time she found her thumb by herself...

And today was the first day of school for us...

First time making Monkey-bread for breakfast!

First day of school pictures of everyone... 

This one still looks kind of
tired - good thing she's just
tagging along!

Praise God, things seemed to go pretty well.  I've been a bit anxious about starting up again with a little baby in the house, but God is faithful and He's given us grace all day long.  It helps a lot that the baby has discovered the joys of her thumb and has started to nap better. 

I had planned to start up slowly with just math and language skills and add history and science in later after we hit our stride, but the crazy boys that I have insisted that we do history today because they "LOVE" it!  So we did, even though it meant we had to squeeze in a library trip for some books. 

I'm trying to get used to Tapestry of Grace, and I'm sure that we won't get the full benefit of their wonderful history curriculum for some months to come, but we're working with it.  And hopefully we'll retain much of what we read.

Our Mini-Vacation

No week-long jaunt this year with the new baby, but we did manage to squeeze in a mini-vacation to Cape Charles with Stephen's brother and his family.  I wasn't sure I could handle a week of sleepless nights if Miss Caroline decided she didn't like sleeping somewhere besides her bedroom, but I figured we'd manage two nights.  It turns out that she didn't mind sleeping somewhere else, and she did really well.  No sun for her, though, so I didn't spend too much time on the beach...just a few quick trips out while she slept and Auntie Anju hung out with her.

But Stephen and the kids had a great time playing.  The kids enjoyed the shallow, calm beach.  They found shells and crabs and even a ten-foot wooden post which they imagined to be their boat.  We were on the Chesapeake Bay side of the peninsula, so the beach was different than the ocean-side beach we've experienced at the Outer Banks.  Much quieter.  And almost completely deserted.  Very relaxing.

Six Sweet Strauberries

Heading out to sea!

    

School Room Make-over

It is nearing time to start our new school year again, and even though there is a new baby around to keep us on our toes, I'm looking forward to having a more structured day soon.

This year I'm planning a slow start...more like a dump truck than a race-car.  We'll begin with the basics - Bible, math, and language arts.  Then in a few weeks we'll add in science and history.  

So in preparation for beginning school, I asked Stephen about purchasing a new bookshelf for the dining room, and he ok'd that.  When I asked him which color he preferred, the conversation began to take a different turn.  I am much more prone to short-sighted thinking (one bookshelf) while he is ever thinking down the line (or maybe he just wanted the dining room to be a dining room again!).  

The short-take is that the request for one bookshelf turned into a make-over for our office.  Yep, it was a bit more pricey than the one shelf for which I had sought approval.  But it really wasn't my idea.  I do admit, though, that when he threw out the idea, I ran with it...

...all the way to IKEA...four times in four days (with four kids)!

I wish I had "before" pictures to share, but why on earth I would have taken a picture of my messy office/toy-room is beyond me.  So I only have "after" pictures.

We moved my desk (the brown one) and removed the top hutch that previously sat on it giving the space a more open feel.  We moved a large brown bookshelf to the dining room and replaced it with the Expedit shelf from IKEA (got the black boxes, magazine holders and Drona boxes there too).  We found the different colored chairs at IKEA too.

  

I love these Expedit shelves with the cube design as it lends itself to better organization.  And they are deep, too.  The Drona boxes will hide our junk very well, and they come in fun colors.

The smaller shelf actually came down from Elsa's room (but was originally from IKEA and was replaced with another shelf from...you guessed it...IKEA) and we attached the desk to it giving the boys a workspace large enough for both of them.

The other side of the room has space for the baby's play-mat (or a pack-n-play) and Elsa's whiteboard easel as well as our maps on the wall. 

I was able to attach our work-charts to the side of the shelf using those removable sticky-backed hooks.

Now that the organizing is done, we can return to using the dining room as it was originally intended, and we can try to contain our school mess in one place!

The Littlest Strauberry

She's two months old now, and she's not quite so little anymore. OK, she is still little, but for a two-month-old girl, she's not so little.  She's already wearing 6-month clothing.  I guess we just grow 'em big around here!

Checking out the bug toys on her play-gym.

Checking out the super-cute baby in the mirror!

Happy girl!

Hanging out with her big sister.

My berry sweet girls...just for fun...Caroline on the left at two months, Elsa on the right at 3.5 months.  And I just noticed...apparently I had put Elsa's pants on backwards that day! Oops!!

PS - Somebody please tell me that this girl's eyes are going to turn brown!  They are so much darker than any of the other kiddos whose eyes all remained blue...