Lucy Turns 7!

Lucy turned 7 this year!!

Here she is in Nauvoo a couple weeks before her birthday. This is her namesake's headstone.

Nana and Papa were here for her actual birthday and she told them numerous times they had better not leave before her birthday. Luckily they didn't and Nana took her to pick out this cake.

Then we went to the rollerskating rink.

This is the renaissance dress-up dress she begged for.

Lucy is still as glued to me as ever. She's excited to start 2nd grade and she still lights up the room with her smile.

Hattie turns 2!

Hattie wasn't a particularly early talker but holy smokes in the last 4 months she has taken off. She speaks in full sentences and articulate her thoughts so well for a 2 year old. She gets herself dressed and doesn't like to have a dirty diaper. I'm pretty sure this little one is going to potty train fairly soon. She doesn't let anyone boss her around but will choose which older sibling she wants to play with.

Aw the sass on this little girl. I just love that she mimics everything.

She was so excited for presents and kept making this "oh" face. Also, her poor little blonde feather hair is coming slow. But we're hoping it'll thicken up just like Mallie's.

I love this picture because I'm the youngest of a big family. I don't have many memories of some of my oldest brothers but I always want Hattie to know this is how she was doted on by her older siblings. I also have a theory that youngest kids in big families are spoiled in big families because the older siblings don't like to hear crying or whining so they give the little ones whatever they need to make them happy. That certainly is the case over here.

Her sprinkle cake that started out twice as big but slowly dwindled down to this side when the first round of sprinkles slid off the entire cake. Too funny.

You can't see her well but this picture embodies who Hattie is. She hates nursery and doesn't love strangers but this girl will go places all alone and it scares me to death. One day this summer while I was packing up from the lake she went out of my eye sight for a minute. I looked through the water and on the grass and couldn't see her. I started to panic but then I looked up. There she was just hanging out on the empty lifeguard stand. I love this girl and all the fun she brings into the family.

Mallie turns 9!

Mallie had a fun filled day planned for her birthday. She woke up early and got to open her jewelry making kit and stilts. Oh boy did she love those stilts!

Normally she loves to make her own cake but this year because we were going to be out all day playing Nana bought her a unicorn cake. I bought her fondant so she could make her own toppers. I hope some day she can work in a bakery and make little figures to her heart's content because she already has such a gift for sculpting tiny things.

We went to Nelson's ice cream where she ordered the lumber jack to share. Three of them were working on that and they still couldn't finish.

We got home in time to blow out candles.

Mallie has endless amounts of energy and talents. She is one of our shyer kids but is the absolute loudest in our house. She is always cartwheeling everywhere and loves to leap off things. She is an incredible big sister. She loves to play with and dote on Hattie and Sophie. All the kids want her to play with them because when she is all in in a game she is the best partner. She has the stink eye in our entire family and she can hold a grudge but when I tell her to look in the mirror at that mad face she'll cut right up. She has lost some of her organizational tendencies since we've moved to this house - we blame it on the small room but she still has moments where she'll clean something as a past time. We love her and all her craziness. She brings so much light and laughter to this house!