today

noah and olive carefully made a little home for potato bugs

they played outside for hours this morning

if olive and noah are playing nicely together, hazel feels left out

so she decided to color inside instead

instead of going to the store to buy a present for a birthday party hazel was going to

i made her friend a cape 

then something amazing happened, hazel went to the party,

noah watched a movie and olive and eleanor napped at the same time

so i made use of my time and sewed eleanor a new ruffly tank

we spent the evening outside

noah rode his bike

hazel soaked her hair in the sprinklers

and olive copied her

then we moved to the backyard and did a little jumping

 last weekend we got a new hutch from the as-is at ikea for super cheap

because it was missing a drawer but michael made us one (hot)

and now it's good as new (other than a little hole and some paint around the drawer)

we are in love with it and need it to hold our food since we don't have a pantry 

anyway, today we got my pottery out from under the house and put it on here

i love it!

noah made lots of motorcycles

we had music on and michael and eleanor danced together

eleanor looooves music and even if she only hears a couple notes

she starts swaying and throwing her hands up

it's the cutest

and me laying on the kitchen floor

it was a really nice day at home

ps. after i sewed the cape i came down stairs to find this on the counter
noah made his own pb&j for the first time, even opening a new tub of peanut butter
and was laying on the floor in the living room eating it
what a big kid! now i just have to teach him how to clean up after himself...

check ups, freedom festival & provo bakery

olive just turned three and the next day eleanor turned 15 months

so one perk of them being 21 months and a day apart is that they could go to their check ups together

olive is in the 50% for height and weight which is funny since i always think of her as really short

and eleanor is in between the 25th and 50% for weight which is a huge jump since she outgrew her allergies

she is in the 25% for height and still 95% for head

they are both doing great

then we went to the freedom festival

(which turns out, is way better than art city days) 

they had free crafts for the kids, bounce houses

 and a snake and reptile show

what is this, noah's birthday?

 then we went to the provo bakery for a treat

they have the best doughnuts and it's so cute!

4th of july

we started our day by going to the provo parade

it's a pretty big deal and we were lucky enough to find decent seats

and have some friends join us 

 we are so grateful eleanor is feeling better today

 it was such a cool parade

there was no candy which the kids weren't thrilled about

but it was really patriotic and we liked that

 only in utah :) 

then we ate cafe rio, went to scheels and ikea 

then came home and put the little girls to bed and started the night with pop-its

when some of our friends drove by and we invited them over

we had an impromptu party

with chips and salsa, fruit wands, mini tacos, watermelon, lemonade

and brownie sundaes for dessert

 michael and trent had fun lighting fireworks together

 hazel and her best friend lily 

 hazel loved dancing with the sparklers

michael and i agree it was one of the best 4th of julys we've ever had

thanks for coming over, mcneils! 

and thank you olive and eleanor for sleeping through the festivities this evening!!

yipee, olive is three!

 it's hard to believe our little black haired baby olive is already three!

we'd planned a little party for this evening but eleanor has been sick the last couple days

  so we cancelled it

but, i can't let a birthday pass without making it special

so she woke up to a doorway of streamers

 balloons in the kitchen and ribbons on her chair

 poor little sickie

luckily lasted throughout the day ok 

 we moved the living room decorations outside for a few pictures

 did i mention this is olive's golden birthday (three on 3rd)

so we had a gold theme 

 we didn't open the pinata today because it's huge and has way too much candy for just our kids

we'll get together with friends when everyone is healthy and do a little celebration

 she was cracking up trying to hide her smiles from me

after a breakfast of cinnamon rolls and chocolate milk 

(all decked out in cinderella gear she got for her b-day)

 we went to see despicable me 2 and out to lunch at pf changs 

then we picked up her cake and went to get her special birthday balloon filled

the same balloon that back in february i woke up and ordered

it was a 40 inch gold mylar balloon in the shape of a three

 that i bought in preparation of today

well, today was the day to use it

and just as soon as it was full of helium it slipped off the ribbon

and went straight up into the sky

such a bummer

but luckily olive was asleep and didn't see it

(noah and i might have been near tears) 

we replaced it with three heart shaped balloons before she woke up

and she never thought a thing of it

 we came home and watched cinderella (her obvious fave)

and got dressed up to play outside with friends

 then we ate mini pizzas, watermelon in the shape of 3 

and had the long awaited cinderella birthday cake 

here's a video of us singing to her

this was the last picture i took before eleanor started vomiting a bunch

which made olive (a sympathetic vomiter) throw up a little, too

it was not a perfect birthday by any means

but olive was happy and felt really special

plus, birthday season is OVER!

four kids and husband's birthday within 3 months is killer

but i love it and i'm happy to make everyone's day special

a few things about olive at age three:

she loves to do whatever her brother and sister are doing

if noah or hazel wants something, so does she

it can work to our advantage or make things difficult depending on the situation

she has a thing for rubber duckies, child-sized chairs, and cinderella

she loves her siblings

she and noah are really similar and love to wrestle and play

she loves to be just like hazel

and she adores eleanor, always either tackling or doting on her

she was a realllly busy two year old (remember this?) 

but seems to be outgrowing that

she and hazel started sharing the top bunk a little while ago

and she sleeps way better 

i think she inherited the extreme separation anxiety i had when i was little

she is a total mini version of me

she is really excited to do ballet like hazel next year

lately she makes up little songs and is really good at imaginative play

we are so grateful to have her in our family