camo pants and an oversized sweater

i'm kind of digging the printed legging trend

and camo

so why not combine them?

am i right or am i right?

a grumpy baby wearing a turban

i made eleanor this turban yesterday using this tutorial

don't mind her scrunched up nose or her i-need-a-nap eyes

these were taken after a long day at church

and did i mention that she has a burst eardrum and an ear infection in the other ear?

(poor girl never got a fever so we didn't know she had an ear infection until her ear was draining fluid)

it's been a rough week for her

sewing: a refashioned "princess" dress for hazel

i have a thing for clothes (clearly)

and when there's a rummage sale or yard sale with cheap clothes

i see potential in, i buy them

i bought this tank at a rummage sale last year

thinking maybe i could layer it........or something

but since i couldn't try it on i didn't know if it even fit

when i got it home, it didn't fit and looked horrible

but i kept it for refashioning purposes

and the color reminded me a little of belle's dress from beauty and the beast

so this is hazel's new "belle" dress 

i could have embellished it more but i like things simple

 can you tell she loves it?

i worked on it this afternoon before michael got home

with olive shoving me off my chair

and hazel begging for it to be done

then michael took the kids out to dinner (mcdonalds) 

so i could finish/perfect it (and regain my sanity)

as in..bust out the seem ripper and redo the sleeves while watching project runway

not too bad, right?

i'm a mom

you know how you always hear those things about moms

like it's the greatest sacrifice

you lose yourself

you give up your body

you were never the same

you cook the same five things

you're a short order cook

all you ever do is run the kids to and from things

the house is never clean

etc

well somehow i like to think i'm the exception to the mom things

like i can have 4 (or even more) kids and rock it

and come out unscathed

wrong

it turns out...it's just how it is

and i'm trying to be ok with it

ps. you know what makes me feel most like a mom?
vacuuming with a baby on my hip
and helping the kids with homework
what makes you feel most like a mom?

hazel can read

hazel has been learning all the sounds the letters make this year

and can now put them together and read! 

this last weekend we let her go through noah's old kindergarten books

and she loved it

she is so proud of herself

and we are super impressed at how well she's doing 

at only 4 and a half years old

it was a good day

full of a trip to the new trader joe's in salt lake (my favorite),

some mall shopping, thrifting and lots of cute baby smiles

it was a good day, indeed

i hope you had a happy martin luther king jr day, too

our sunday

:: hazel all ready for church in a new (consigned) dress :: 

 :: olive got ready for church, too ::

 :: and then i bribed her to stay home with me and sick noah :: 

:: noah's fever broke and he started feeling better and he let me take a picture of his new smile ::

(funny story: eleanor got a new top tooth the same night noah lost his)

:: after church popcorn and a little admirer :: 

 :: eleanor has been extra bright eyed and happy today thanks to a full night of sleep :: 

my two favorite shirts

shirts: jcrew, leggings: forever 21, boots: nordstrom, watch: target

i've got to hand it to michael

he really nailed it this Christmas

he gifted me both these shirts (which i LOVE)

and these boots

all on his own...with a little help from a certain pinterest board :) 

in other news

it has been SO COLD here, like under 20 degrees most of the time

so don't mind the snow

i don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon

one more thing...we went to ikea tonight (surprise, surprise)

and right before we left

i tried pulling on noah's loose tooth

something i've been doing for weeks, with no luck

and it totally came out

to all of our surprise!

he was even mad at me and spitting blood on the floor

i felt so bad! but his new tooth is already coming in

so it really needed to go

we love his new and improved smile!!

an indoor picnic

noah had last friday off of school

and set up an indoor picnic for all the kids

a very healthy one, too

all fruit

they loved it

and thought it was so fun having him home

but it turns out he makes lots of messes..

my whirlwind trip to washington

one of my siblings has been having a hard time

so we all met up in washington this weekend to see each other

and give support

it was just us---no kids, no spouses

my brother chris and i flew stand-by together there and back

we left friday evening and didn't make it there until midnight

 we mostly all just came and spent saturday together

we went to azteca in kent for old time's sake

it was delicious and so much fun

here are all six of us kids

 then we thought it would be fun to drive by our house

the one we all grew up in that my dad and grandpa built
and my parents sold 8 years ago

we even got brave enough to drive up and ask to look around (outside)

and the renters there were super nice and let us

it was so much fun to be there all together after all these years

here's the bottom of the hill

the sports court as you drive up

it's even for sale which kills me

it's still the house i dream of (like literally, it's in my dreams)

and we all wish my parents still lived here

 sadly it's in bad shape and needs some work

and to be cleaned up

it's hard to see it like this and minus our farm

but it was still so good to see it

the barn

i love this barn

and here's the back

 so this morning my brother and i tried our luck with standby again

and headed back to utah

we were totally blessed to make every leg of our flight

we had to stop in san francisco each way

it was a quick trip but so good

and michael survived at home with all four kids!

this week...

michael had to shave the beard he grew out over Christmas break

since school started again 

(boo. hiss!)

 eleanor found markers 

and fishie crackers...

 we pig-piled on noah

 we had our friends the claytons over for dinner and the kids had fun playing xbox

 we enjoyed the start of downton abbey season 3 and celebrated with ice cream 

we discovered olive's love of eleanor's jumper

(eleanor hates it)

 we had fun with the dixons and claytons at ikea

 and we watched tv waaaay too close

ready for bed

i'm not making any real resolutions this year

but i do want to be better about taking pictures of the kids
i take a lot of pictures, sure, but i don't have many of them all together
and i don't use our nice camera as often as i should
i've also been working on making sure i'm really connecting with each of them
on a daily basis
that probably sounds funny if you only have one or two kids
but when there are lots of kids
it can be tricky to do more than just take care of basic needs
and i want to really make sure each of my children
feels loved and special
that's all

eleanor is nine months

at nine months eleanor

waves and says hi

 is the sweetest cuddler and rests on the floor while she plays

 loves the bath and loves to splash

crawls super fast and climbs all the stair

loves toys and puts every scrap of paper in her mouth

is a bit of a fussy sleeper

goes by ella bella most of the time

has super curly hair

is working on standing on her own

and is in the 25% for weight, 50% for height and 98% for her head

hiiiiiiiiiiiiiya!

 noah started martial arts today

 here are a few reasons i love it:

1. he looks so cute in his gee

2. he loves it

3. martial arts is the ONLY thing i ever did when i was little

(youngest of six kids)

ok, that's not true, i did pony club, too and track

but other than that no dance, no ballet, no nothing

just martial arts so it makes me extra happy like he's taking after me

i am so glad we found something he's excited about
i think it will give him more confidence
and be really good for him