Easter 2014...and some tee-ball practice!

This Easter was low key...and frankly I prefer it that way! We enjoyed a morning of a delicious breakfast made by Daddy (of course!) and Nana joined us to open Easter baskets. Sadly, I didn't get any photos of them digging into their baskets. They got lots of new clothes from Nana, and a a variety of things from the "Easter Bunny" such as a hula-hoop for each, bubbles, candy, gardening gloves, sand toys, and a tee-ball set with bats, balls and the tee. The big hit though...the hula-hoops! Anna got a new sippy cup too!

Then we headed to my parents house for an egg hunt and to eat dinner. It was a beautiful day outside so we stayed outside almost the whole time! :) The girls were warn out by the end of the day!

The girls were SO SO SO into the egg hunt! Oh my goodness, they loved it. Last year we kinda just scattered the eggs around and they "found" them, but this year my dad did a great job of hiding them (just like he always did for my sister and I as kids!) and they LOVED finding them! They seriously could have done it all day! And I loved how I would say, "let Emme find that one, Maddy" and Maddy would call Emme over and say, "here, Emme, look right there!" :) Melt my heart!

Finding candy and sneaking chocolate before dinner...

I finally got some good photos of the girls individually too! :) Happy Momma!

Emily

Claire

Natalee

Madelynn

And I took a bunch of Annabelle since this was her first Easter and she looked so beautiful in her dress! Here are the triplets wearing that dress in Easter 2012.

And some photos with Grandma and Pa-Pa...

And then after dinner of ham, sweet potatoes, green beans and rolls, it was back outside to play tee-ball. And let me tell you, these girls LOVE to play sports! They did so good, as they have done with all sports we introduce them to! I am so glad we decided to sign them up for a sports camp this summer!

We had some delicious desert and then packed up to head home for bathies and bedtime!

Hope everyone had a blessed Easter! 

A Little Comparison...

...because who doesn't love a little comparing when it comes to photos...

My babies are growing so fast!!!

Anna Katherine; 6-11mos

I feel so overwhelmed that I haven't done monthly posts for our sweet Anna, and updated our family blog on a regular basis. Anna is my last baby and yet with five little girls running around giggling all day, keeping me so busy, I long for nothing more than the serenity of my warm sheets and blankets at the end of each day. Blogging is the last thing on my mind, but yet it nags at me with a constant reminder of what I haven't done. I hope Anna will understand that it wasn't my lack of caring but just the lack of time in a day to write these posts. 

Without further waiting, here is what our little Anna has been up to.

Anna is 11 months, as of today, Tuesday, April 22. I cannot for the life of me believe that my littlest baby will be ONE in ONE month from now. My last little one to turn one. It is for sure, very bittersweet, as every milestone has been with Anna and I'm guessing will continue to be. I constantly struggle with the fact that she is it. She is my last baby. Our last baby to bless our family and make us a mommy and a daddy again. On one hand, it is great; I have been able to pass down lots of stuff and make room for bigger things, but on the other hand, my body already aches for another baby. Having all five girls in such a short time, my mind and body know nothing else. It knows pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and caring for babies. With my babies growing up, I already feel a sense of unsure feelings. I try to relish in the happiness when a milestone passes; no more exersaucers to trip over, no more bottles to prepare, no more pump to EVER be attached to again, no more pains from pregnancy, birth, and afterbirth, no more lots of things that I happily have put behind me. 

But who doesn't love a peaceful sleeping baby? That smell of a newborn. It is simply the best and no one could tell me otherwise.

Anna is taking her time at crawling, standing and walking, which I am fine with. She scoots/crawls and gets anywhere she wants without any assistance. She loves playing with and giggling at her big sisters. The big girls are SO helpful and always quick to help Anna if she gets "stuck" under something or bring her toys when she cries. I love that they have sweet souls that watch out for one another. It melts my heart seeing the five of them together. They are my heart and soul and everything that makes me.

Anna started boycotting baby food at around 10 months. She would just shake her head "no" from side to side. Silly girl. She loves loves loves yogurt and all fruits and her rice cereal still. She gets her yogurt in the am (9am) and then rice cereal with a container of fruit (11:15am). The rest of meals are real food.

We started out calling Anna, Anna-Kate but we really never call her that. We call her Annabelle all the time, or Belle, Belle of the ball, and of course, Baby Belle. I still love the name Anna-Kate, and maybe soon I will start calling her the name I intended to, but Tim and I have always loved the name Annabelle (and if it wasn't for our families disapproval of the name, she would have been named Annabelle) so that's what she is right now.

She has been sleeping through the night since about 3-4 months old, in her room with Natalee and Emily. She sleeps from 7pm to 8am, and only has woken up a handful of times in the middle of the night. She loves her toys in her crib and her mobile. She can pull the string to her bear that plays music in her crib all by herself (started doing it around 8 months).

She drinks 3-4 bottles a day, but I am starting this week to transition her to a sippy cup because honestly, I can barely get her to drink 2-4 ounces out of a bottle anymore. She just wants nothing to do with it and much rather eat "people food". She loves bread, cherrios, puffs, yogurt drops, cheese, veggies, fruits, rice, pasta, mac-n-cheese, ect. I have only given her a handful of meats at this point since she doesn't have many teeth, so she has had chicken and pork. I don't think there has been anything she hasn't at least attempted to eat when it's put in front of her. 

She has four teeth as of today. Two on the bottom and two (almost three) on the top. She can bite very hard too and loves to try to chew on our fingers! ;) Everything goes right in her mouth and I am sure it will be that way for awhile.

She still loves to suck your thumb. And she loves to chew on her toes too. She is almost always smiling.  She can shake her head "no" when she is done or doesn't want something. She loves to blow raspberries and of course, giggle! 

She has been saying "mama" for about a week. I have been trying to get her to say it and finally I kept hearing it a few times, but thought maybe I was just imagining it and then Tim heard her say it over and over again, so we knew it was for real! I am SO happy that I got at least one baby to say "mama" first instead of the typical "dada"! :) She now says it all.the.time! "mmamamamamamamamamamama" :)

These were all her 9 month photos...

She wears size four diapers. Size 3 shoes. Wears size 12 months in sleepers, onesies and most clothes. 4 teeth. Barely any hair, but it's brown. Bluish/brown eyes. A chunka-monka! A little short, IMO. But.....just perfect to us!!!

Anna does great in the car and in the stroller. Everyone always says how good of a baby she is, and really she is. She didn't come that way, but I've trained her to be that way. She is very easy going and I am so glad for it!

And these were taken just the other day...on Easter Sunday...my big 11 month old!!!

A BIG Catch!

On Saturday Tim went fishing in the Chesapeake Bay with his good friend Chris. They caught two huge (40 inches each) rock fish! I couldn't believe how big the fish were! 

All in a day's work...so blessed to have a hubby who can bring home the meat!

Easter Bunny Photos 2014

I am not normally one to jump at the chance to see the creepy Easter bunny, but free is free...and so we went. 

Of course the girls loved it...even if these photos don't do it justice.

Natalee was a little scared; she isn't quite sure of people in costumes...so I had to join in the photo. And since it was Anna's first Easter, she got an individual photo. :)

The bunny gave out jelly beans (yay for more sugar in two and three year olds! HA!) and a stuffed bunny (yay for more stuffed animals being adopted into our house! HA!)...I could have done with my children having either but oh well.

Claire has her eyes closed, but this was the best photo of us all!

sweet Anna

Hoppy Easter!!!

Weekend in PA!

A few weekends ago we headed up to PA to spend the weekend with family and celebrate Lily's (Tim's cousin's little girl) first birthday party.  We will take any chance to get to go up and see our families in PA! (We even looked around at some houses while we were up there this time!)

We first visited with one side of the family and enjoyed a delicious breakfast and morning play time. The girls had a blast visiting with everyone and were very well behaved for waking up so early and a two hour car ride!

Nan, Taylor and Baby Ally

Aunt Megan (TiTi) and Baby Ally

Anna and Taylor

Emme loved the Mr. Potato Head on the fridge!

Uncle Tim and his niece!

Then we headed to the birthday party. The girls had so much fun finger painting (which I didn't get any photos of because I had to be hands-on), pinning the candles on the cupcake, eating cupcakes and candy, making cereal necklaces, and pulling strings for a pinata! 

Watching Lily open her presents!

We then headed back to Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Russ' house and settled in for the rainy afternoon and evening. The girls love helping Aunt Bonnie at whatever she is doing and they love that she lets them make their own pb&j sandwiches! She is brave!

They are always ready to help!

Hopefully it won't be too long until we are back up in PA! We are looking forward to our yearly trip in June and already have lots of fun activities planned!