First day of school

 Cecily's first day of 1st Grade at her new Charter school APA! She wakes up around 6:30 a.m. to her own alarm, gets dressed then meets me upstairs for breakfast (she always wants oatmeal) and to get her hair done. She Loves her school and teacher, I was worried about her being gone so long from home 7:15am-3:45pm but she does great and has lots of energy when she gets home from school! She has had a couple of moments of frustration adjusting to the new way of learning that APA provides, but otherwise is so happy about the school! She misses going to school with her neighborhood friends, but is making new ones quickly at school.

 She looks darling in her uniform! The uniform doesn't vary much from this, she can wear brown or all white shoes, white or navy socks, and this jumper or a navy blue jumper. On Fridays she can wear Khaki pants and a navy polo.

Kreg drives for the carpool in the mornings since his work is close to the school, then two other families pick her up and bring her home in the afternoons.

 

Oliver had his first day of 3yr old preschool! He has so much fun going to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He loves  playing with new friends and eating snack! I posted this picture on FB and my Aunt Shari commented on how great it was that I let him go to school with his mismatched socks, and how I was letting him be creative. I honestly didn't think twice about letting him wear his socks like that. He is such a fun, free spirited boy. He can either not care that his socks are mismatched or he can do it on purpose because he like it like that. The funny thing is in this picture his underwear were on backwards and a minuet before I took the photo I had to beg him to let me turn his shirt because it was also backwards. most days his shoes are on the wrong feet and if anyone points it out to him he will just say I like them like that! 

I know I parent him very differently than I do with Cecily, with CC I would have never left the house without her looking/acting perfect and I don't know if because of that she is a perfectionist in an extreme way now or if it a lot of her perfectionist personality is innate or at least because she is a first born. I am a control freak and so is she so we often have chats (that we both learn from) about having to let go of things that are not important.Her perfectionism isn't all bad, I can always count on her to follow/enforce rules and stay on track, but I think because I have her as my first born I really enjoy Oli's easygoing, not so rule following nature. He can drive me nuts some days as they all do in their own way. I sure do love these kids so much and  I feel so so blessed to get to stay home with them and enjoy their oh so different, fun, and silly personalities!

Our weekend

 We had Hudson and Bentley here staying with us for a few days while their parents were out of town. It was so much fun! They are such cute, sweet boys! Hudson and Oli are two peas in a pod! They are so much alike in so many ways it really made having them fairly easy! Oli and Hud were always busy doing boy stuff like peeing in every corner of the backyard, talking about poop, running in circles, playing in the water, and just being wild and crazy fun boys! Bentley is such a sweet heart! Oh I could just eat him up! It was fun having the boys here without their parents, because I got to know them on a whole new level and I loved it!

 We love having fires and smores! Oli loves to get as messy as he can with them!

 I love these two guys so much! Kreg has such a special relationship with each of his kids and the one that these two share makes me so happy!

 Cora is on the move! She is getting herself all around these days whether its by rolling or her version of crawling! We have to keep our eye on her at all times because she does not stay put. She was on the blanket I left the room for a second and she was under the chair! Today we found her under her crib! She really wants to crawl and almost has it, she gets up on her knees and then kind of pulls herself with her arms while she shimmys her legs. I give her a couple more weeks and she will figure it out!

Why do they have to grow up so fast!!!?

Cecily is 6 years

My CC girl! You are mature well beyond your years! You continue to amaze me with your knowledge and maturity.
You are so sweet and helpful.
You are always helping me with your siblings and around the house. You want to help with everything, you are getting to an age and capability that I can let you help with most things without worrying to much about it. You love to feed and change Cora's wet diapers. Your daily/weekly chores are emptying garbages, loading and unloading the dishwasher, cleaning bathrooms, dusting, weeding the garden, and cleaning mirrors along with making your bed and cleaning your room.
You love riding your bike everywhere and are very fast!
You are amazing at the hula hoop and doing so well at the jump rope
You are awesome at Gymnastics but wanting to play the Violin instead
You love being with your friends and being social wherever we go. You have no fear about being in front of a crowd!
You are such a happy girl, You are so thoughtful and always thinking of others and their well being and feelings. You are always praying for people and their needs, some specifics if you know them and always for people all over the world who are homeless and hungry.
You like to be in charge, you love responsibility, but we have to remind you that you are still a kid and not a parent. You are very responsible and trust worthy.
You are sensitive and want to please people.
 You also worry a lot. you worry about being perfect at things on the first time. I have to remind you often that we all have to practice, practice, practice to do things well. You get nervous to try new things because you are afraid of not doing it well like homework everyday, practicing a new skill in the pool, drawing a specific picture, anything that might be new or hard you resist. It can be very frustrating for me as your Mom because I see your potential as well as how easy things come to you and I just want you to realize it as well. Once you try "it" you always say this is easy peasy, lemon squeezy! You catch on so quickly with your school work or with sports and other skills that I can't figure out the best way to encourage or coach you to just try things without freaking out first. The Drama Queen comes out a lot, but we have to put her away and just try new things!
You still want to be an OBGYN, but you are starting to realize how much work that entails so some days you say you don't want to go to college, you just want to get married!
You love rainbows and all things girly!
You love to be clean and organized and never really play with your toys because you are worried about a mess.
You are so fun, and have so much joy for life! You make every situation a party and really live life in such a fun, happy way!
We are so grateful for your sweet spirit and for your joy and happiness in life! We are so grateful for your positive attitude and your loving, helpful nature! We are so happy to be your parents and so blessed to have you in our lives!
We are so Happy you are finally 6!!

 Her first b-day celebration was in CA with Aunt Paige. We sang to both our August birthday girls! Cecily loved putting the candles on the cake for her and her bestie Aunt Pager!

 Her birthday morning started out with a little balloon trap door! She was so happy about it!

 Then she got a yummy french toast breakfast and money, treats, and a nice card from the Fishers! per her request!

 Then we went to the waterpark with her cousins on the Reid side, she got a fun Princess sketch book from the Reids, a OBGYN outfit and kit from the Jackmans and a ribbon wand and dress from Gram and Papa! The pic above is the second we walked in the door from swimming. they literally walked in the door and sat right down to do some DR-ing.

 and then I caught Oli having a turn.

 Cecily has also been begging to feed Cora, so it was one of her birthday privileges!

 Getting ready for presents! We had just finished eating her angel Hair pasta dinner she requested.

 So excited about her new backpack and lunch box for school! She told me she wanted me to surprise her for her b-day with a pink sparkly back pack that had hearts on it and a lunchbox to match! Thankfully I was able to find one just the way she imagined!

 

Since we had cupcakes at the waterpark she settled for candles in her ice cream!

Cora is 6 months

Half a year already!! Our little Coco is amazing us by the day!

Likes and milestones:
Weighs: 14.2 10%
Height : 24 in 5th%
~wearing 3-6 month clothes
~Size 3 diapers: this girl has a Tush on her! all her weight is in her thighs and bum! It is so cute, I love squishing her little rolls! She is wearing the same size diaper that Cecily ended in before we potty trained her when she was almost 2!
~Holds her bottle and has been for about a month.
~Eating solids for about a week and doing great! I tried a few different times to feed her baby food between 4-6 months, but she was just never ready until all of a sudden last week she just seemed super hungry and her bottle just wasn't cutting it anymore. She is doing great and really getting the hang of eating. She is loving all the veggies ie green beans, peas, carrots, squash, zucchini, spinach she has had. I will give her fruit when she can eat it in a more whole form as well as any other foods. I did this with the other two kids and felt it was a great way to get their taste buds used to foods that were different and not very sweet. I give credit to my kids eating pretty much anything to this method of food introduction.
~Sitting up, she started really sitting without a need for any pillows around her a week before her 6 month mark

~Up-Dog, Down-dog this is hilarious she really looks like she is doing yoga. She pushes herself up on her feet and hands and then puts her head down then does the reverse while staying up on her hands! She also gets on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth. This is blowing my mind because my other two kids didn't even get to their hands and knees till 8-81/2 months.
~Talking/Yelling she is very verbal, I had to leave 2 church meetings this week due to her talking and then yelling! She is loud when she wants to be! Most often though she is still so sweet, quiet, and chill! Such a happy, easy going baby!
~Still sleeping well and will occasionally take a long nap during the day along with her two or three cat naps.
~Still loving her sibs and thinks they are more fun and more funny by the day!
~She outgrew the front pack carrier this month. well more like got to heavy for my shoulders. I have thought about investing in a carrier with more hip support, but she really enjoys the stroller and its more freeing for me so I think we will stick to that.
~Still takes a binky occasionally, but not all the time.

FUn with the Fisher Fam

 Cora and Owen playing toys together or next to each other!

 Oli said he wanted to go mountain climbing. Two different snow boots different sizes even and his too big snow coat. I just told him to stay where I could see him...

 So he took off running!

 For FHE we had the Fishers, Mark and Mal, and Zach, Madelin, Rue, and Harper come for smores!

 The girls loved the puppies!

 

Oli however was a little more nervous. He made sure he was glued to an adult most of the time! He kept saying how much he loves little dogs, but would not get close to said little dogs!

 Cora is a Daddies girl for sure!

 A little Baseball!

 We went downtown with the fishers too! We went on a tour of the Conference center then hit up Liberty park! We have fallen in love with Liberty park this summer and all it has to offer!

We also went to silver lake with the Fishers! We love when they come to visit and can't wait till we get to go see there home!