Happy 5 Months!

All my girls are sick, which is rather tragic.  I despise sick babies.  I'm praying Cooper and the grown-ups can manage to stay healthy.  However, even in the midst of not feeling so great (Zora) and sanitizing ever surface and toy in the house (me), we still managed to catch a few smiles and celebrate five fabulous months with this beautiful face.  So incredibly blessed by this treasure of girl!

We Went Walking

A favorite book in our house is I Went Walking by Sue Williams.  The kids love the pictures, the rhythm, the simplicity (as they can easily memorize it) and so, we routinely will use the book to make walks more fun by playing a game based on the book.  Saturday morning, we'd been almost a full week without Todd and the kids were done, I was out of ideas, and then, mercifully, a friend invited us over. It was a properly cold, grey, autumn morning and I therefore dressed the kids accordingly.  Em, my consummate girly-girl, wanted tights, which meant Harper wanted them as well and when all was said and done, the kids looked like the Crayola Crayon factory had just melted onto them.  On the way over to our friends' house, I realized just how sweet and adorable my rainbow children were and decided on an impromptu photo shoot at the nature reserve.

The kids saw the gate into Kloofendal and immediately, Em starts in with, "I went walking!!!"  The whole thing was so much fun and I know what most of you are thinking, "Really?  Fun??  Four kids on a damp, grey day by yourself???"  But honestly, the kids were having a blast just running up or down the hills, and it felt like Fall, my favorite season!  We don't get many fall days here, it seems to tend more towards the straight-from-summer-to-winter.

 I mean, honestly, how can you not have fun with these three characters?

 Absolutely cannot believe she turns 5 this week.  F.I.V.E!!  What?!?  Where did the time go?

 These two are (usually) best buddies, I love them dearly for it.

 And these two, well, let's say I caught them both in a moment of weakness :)

Three kids, one camera and they'll never all be looking... oh well.

 Gotta love this hair and those rosy cheeks.

 Only a boy's-boy would look at a long wooden log and think, "SLIDE!"  Go Cooper, go.

I love this girl!

Sickies, Sinks, and Singleness

Sometimes, you just have a day, know what I mean?  One of those days where you know, waking up, it'll take everything you've got just to get through the full 24 long hours of it.  I recently had one of those days and I promise you, sleep is totally wasted on the young!  Cooper and Harper woke up in the middle of the night sick.  Really sick.  Em complained of a tummy ache but the other two spent the next two days unable to be trusted with food or water.  We'd already scheduled the plumber to fix my sink (finally!) so that the water would go down, not down and then back up.  I wasn't about to reschedule because of a few sick kids!  The plumber came in and started to look around, only to find that another problem was afoot- he literally picked my sink up with his hands.  Awesome.  

So a few hours later, some silicone caulking and a new facet which means I can wash a decent pot in my sink (wahoo!!!), the plumber was gone, the water was back on (yes, sick kids and I was without water for hours... always fun times) and I'd managed to get a cup of coffee (from a neighbor) and some reinforcements (otherwise known as peppermint chocolate).  :)

One thing I hadn't counted on was the difference in sealing the silicone caulk.  Here, they put weight in the sink while the caulk dries, which translates to an unusable sink because it's full of water for
24-hours.  Well, at least the kids weren't wanting any real food.

Then, in the midst of the kids slowly recovering, Girlfriend #3 decides it's going to be HER day.  She sat up for the first time!  Apparently though, she has some kind of inner-mouth issue because as soon as the pacifier/dumby leaves her mouth, she topples over.  I always thought this problem was for ears only but you learn something new every day.

And just as I was prying myself away from my precious little girl for a much needed shower, Cooper woke up and was so sweet with his littlest sister (after I'd scrubbed his hands raw for fear of germs) that I figured I could be smelly a little while longer and just enjoyed my Big Boy being a great Big Brother. These kids are growing too quickly :(