happy easter!

i decided to make the kids easter outfits this year

after i heard michael grumbling at the thought of buying them:) 

noah just got a matching tie to his sisters dresses

and i shortened the sleeves of one of his white shirts since he hates long sleeves

he looks so handsome

hazel looks so pretty in her dress and she loves it

but she said she wishes it had long sleeves (of course)

this was the first time olive really cared that i made her something

she was so excited about the whole process

and loves to sit behind me while i sew

however she is not as big of a fan of having her picture taken lately..

this is the second dress i made eleanor

the first one wouldn't fit over her head

but this one came out ok

and even better after some alterations right before church

we also attempted some family pictures

happy easter!

love, the olsons

Easter Saturday

this year we decided to separate the easter bunny, egg hunts and candy from the spiritual celebrating

and the "real" reason we celebrate by doing the secular stuff on saturday

so today we gave the kids their easter baskets

and had an easter egg hunt at home

eleanor sure has grown a lot since last easter when she was just four days old

 the kids got new bunny ears and i think they look so cute in them

these pictures totally remind me of these we took of noah and hazel a few years ago

 after our easter egg hunt at home we went to a couple of city easter egg hunts

then had waffles from the waffle truck for breakfast

then we stopped at ikea and then to chipotle for lunch

after that we went to scheels for the first time

it's a really huge store with lots of sporting goods and even has a ferris wheel inside

they happened to be doing a scavenger hunt at the exact time we were there

the kids really liked it

now we are home and the kids are staying up late watching wreck-it ralph

they said today was the best easter ever!

so that was nice

and hopefully tomorrow we will have a nice day focusing on our savior

the living room

we've had a few changes since i last posted our living room

i think the biggest improvement is paint

but we've also changed couches, switched lamps with our bedroom,

added the expedit bench for toy storage and currently there's a little easter decor

we have considered painting the tv stand but that seems like too big of a job for right now,

i need to paint the black frames a lighter color (probably gray),

and i would love a new light fixture (michael doesn't think it's necessary)

other than that i love this room. it is so much brighter

and since we have painted most of the places we've lived during our marriage

this color, it really feels like home now

ps. do you love how eleanor made it into almost every picture?

pss. the paint color is sherwin william's crystal clear

eleanor's (hopefully last) GI check up

So just a reminder of Eleanor's issues: At 5 weeks Eleanor began to have blood in her stool.

She was a breastfed baby so I cut out milk protein from my diet for the next 2 months. She continued to have blood in her stool and it was increasing. This meant that she also had what we assume was a soy allergy. The two go hand in hand about 50% of the time. Our doctor was concerned that with how young she was, and the increasing blood in her stool she may have permanent damage to her colon so we switched to formula. She was on nutramigen for the next few months and still had small traces of blood in her stool. When we saw the GI here, he prescribed Elecare, a specialized formula that doesn't contain any milk protein or soy. The blood has gone away completely and we were able to introduce solids without any trouble. We've gradually introduced foods with milk protein in them and Eleanor has done great.

This last month or so, we've even given her straight cheese and little bits of ice cream without any ill effects. Today I went to the GI to follow up and get his advice on what to do next. He thinks we are ok to introduce milk and she may be over her allergies completely. A lot of babies outgrow it by the time they are 12-18 months old. If she has any bad reactions to it we will have her blood tested for allergies and switch her to Elecare Jr until she's 18 months old. Then we will re-evaluate and see if she needs almond or soy milk instead. Either way, I am really excited about her progress and super hopeful she is over it. Next week she turns one so we will probably introduce milk this next week. Wish her luck. 

ps. I have said the word stool way more times this last year than I hoped I would in my lifetime

pss. I've had a feeling she would be fine after a year

psss. Eleanor has never been fussy, even when she has had blood in her stool. luckily she never seemed to be in pain

citizen of the month

 we got invited to noah's school assembly today

because he was one of the kids recieving awards

 "citizen of the month"

way to go, noah! we're so proud of you

noah's first martial arts tournament

noah has been doing martial arts since january

and today was his first ever tournament

he got to chose what to do for it and he chose forms

here's his tough face

this is him performing his forms

he was so cute and nervous

 and this is him right after he got 2nd place, a silver medal

he was so excited

 we went to a celebratory breakfast at maglebys afterward

 such a cute boy

 eleanor has such a cute cheesy smile

 handsome hubby

we are so proud of noah

and hope that after today he saw that sparring and chimbara aren't too scary

maybe he'll choose to compete in those next year

insta-olsons

eleanor watching her siblings play outside, we registered hazel for kindergarten!!!

we painted our living room, the girls watching for me to come home from a run

all four kids jumping, never enough lap for these two

sleeping eleanor, hazel loves to craft and takes advantage of olive napping to do so

freckles

all the sudden noah has tons of freckles 

i am so in love with them
this boy is the cutest

and happy first day of spring!

st. patrick's day

other than trying to remember to wear green on st. patty's day,

i have never celebrated it

for some reason our kids are waaay in to it this year

i guess the schools around here go all out

in hazel's classroom a naughty leprechaun left green paint on the toilet

and noah's teacher suggested building a leprechaun trap

so when we let them pick dessert from a provo bakery the other day

they all chose shamrock cookies

then on friday noah didn't have school so we spent the morning decorating the box we would use to 

trap our leprechaun

last night we set the trap

using pretend money and gold coins

as well as marshmallows

 when i asked noah what he would do with a leprechaun if he caught one, 

he said "i would study it and then let it go" 

sounds like a little scientist

 sadly, he couldn't stick around

and he got out of our trap

but he left the kids a nice note and his favorite cereal

noah was a little skeptical that the leprechaun could buy cereal at the store

he thinks i did that...

happy st. patrick's day!

lately

we've been spending more time at home

taking less trips to stores

cooking more meals, eating out less

i am loving that we're on a good schedule

and i enjoy cooking for our family every night

after dinner the kids love to play outside with michael

while i clean up dinner

it's so perfect

tonight i snuck out to take some pictures

 eleanor looked like such a cute ragamuffin 

her hair is getting really long and wild

she is also getting better at balancing

and almost daring to take steps 

the kids looove to jump

and tonight they played catch with their friends over the fence

 hubsy chatting with me

 then when it was time to come inside

i was tired 

(a mix of staying up late and running in the morning is wearing me out)

i layed on the living room floor

and all the kids piled on top

of course

 eleanor is so obsessed with my hair

notice it's in her mouth

i love these wild kids

and i love feeling like i have a handle on motherhood

it doesn't happen as often as it used to..

picnic at the park

it was a gorgeous day today so we had dinner at the park

i made pizzas and michael made orange julius

we are sooooo happy it's spring and we can be outside again