sunday best

this morning all the girls got baths and their hair done before church

it was quite the accomplishment

 look how cute eleanor looks with her hair done

 i just made hazel this dress this week after realizing she'd outgrown all hers

and after i couldn't find anything modest and reasonably priced in stores

isn't she darling? i love the coral/navy combo

 she's getting so old!

this dress was tricky, i thought i'd totally ruined it and that it wouldn't fit

i was going to give up on it but michael told me to keep going and i did

and voila

i love it, hazel is the cutest

it's my new favorite dress of hers

plus the total cost of fabric and everything was like $4 (thrifted a while ago)

and it's modest! win win win

olive and eleanor wore the dresses i'd made hazel and olive last year for easter

olive is so cute

 three pretty girls in dresses made by their mama

makes me happy

 and this is my new dress from target

i love it

 look at this handsome fella

wearing noah's old hand me downs

somehow i didn't get pictures of michael or noah

so you'll just have to trust me that they were looking handsome

saturday was the best

saturday i couldn't wait for michael and noah to get home

they were like an hour away with no cell reception

so me and the 4 little ones went to target to kill time

i found some cute clothes, bought diapers and 

michael and noah met us there! yay!!

michael thought it would be funny if i drove his car home from there

since it's a stick and i haven't driven a stick since i was like 18

but i did it and it was super fun

i didn't kill it once and i felt like i was in high school again

 we picked up our new stools from target 

and the kids ate lunch on them when we got home

they love them! 

it's much better than the two we garage saled that they were fighting over

later we tried to go see the boise river but the whole greenbelt was blocked by a triathalon

so we ended up finding a nice big new park

henry loves laying out on a blanket in the grass

i thought he was so cute stretching with his tongue out

 michael is so funny

hazel is a monkey bar expert these days

i love her determination 

 don't worry, that's paint on olive's arm

 i love these new jeans i just got at target

plus my fave shirt

 my three boys

 eleanor doesn't love playing at parks

she mostly just watches 

 michael laid his head on my lap

and i love this picture i took

 look at those gorgeous trees!

 these two are so cute together

eleanor loves laying with henry

 woo hoo

 noah took this picture of me feeding henry

 freckles! 

after the park

michael and the kids dropped me at a theater near our house

so i could go to my first ever movie alone!

i saw the fault in our stars and it was super good

i'd just read the book and i was anxious to see the movie

plus it was a super long week and i needed a break from five kids

it was AMAZING 

i felt so rejuvenated after having some time alone

michael was super sweet

and happily took care of the kids at the sweet outdoor mall next to the theater

 look at the signs they found

way to represent!

 he bought them pizza

 when i got out of the movie the kids were eating frozen yogurt and snow cones

such a good dad, and husband

friday

friday i manned up and took the kids to the little park by our house

they wanted to all week

they scootered and biked while i pushed henry and ella in the stroller

 henry liked being in the reclined back seat

 that little pool behind them is for our neighborhood

next i'll have to get my nerve up to take them there

but i think i'll try it out with michael there first

 eleanor thought pushing the stroller was super fun 

while the big kids raced each other down some little hills

friday after work noah and michael went on the father/son camp out

noah was sooo excited

 they had a really good time

and i missed them so much

the girls had a pajama party while they were gone

they watched two movies and ate popcorn before bed

they thought it was super fun

eleanor loved being included 

just a couple of (bigger) kittens

i just love seeing our girls in matching clothes

it can be hard to find matching things in their sizes these days now that hazel's bigger

but costco had their pajamas on sale 

so matching poodle jammies it is!

 they are getting so big

i am so grateful these girls have each other

here's a little side by side from almost 19 months ago and now

i love that they sat in the same order

it's fun to see how much they've grown and changed

this was back before we'd ever cut olive's hair

back before we knew eleanor had CURLY hair

and the last time hazel let me cut her hair short

i love our book end boys and three girls in the middle

it's so fun

 i'll admit being a mom to five is definitely not easy these days

but i love it anyway

and cute jammies help :)

what a week...so far

michael started work on monday

he seems to like it so far which is great!

 it's been a bit of an adjustment on this end...

 we're always reallllly happy when he gets home

 we've been keeping busy here

really, really busy depending on which person in particular we're referring to

sometimes the kids are already playing outside by like 8am

 i'm feeling really accomplished when i get dressed and do my hair/make-up

 i made sure to document it since it doesn't happen every day

and one day this week i even went until 6pm without brushing my teeth or any other grooming

gross

 any hopes of putting the tv away for summer 

have been dashed

i need the tv to help relieve some of the crazy

 at least i have a cute baby to snuggle

some days he hardly naps so we get lots and lots of snuggles..

 noah's been drawing (in between super mario brothers sessions) which i love

 i've been doing some projects/ getting all the rooms decorated

i traded out 4 framed cow pictures from habitat for humanity restore

for pretty pages from my favorite floral calendar 

i loooove them

 henry's making up for the not sleeping some days by 

sleeping lots other days and giving cute smiles in between

 eleanor helps keep me on my toes by making constant messes,

requesting food all day long that she never eats

and occasionally using my nice make up on her legs..

five kids definitely got harder once michael started working this week

one day he was gone for 11 hours because of a late meeting

i didn't expect this week to kick my butt so much

but...five kids on summer vacation kind of does that to you

not to mention not having a car until today..

luckily we have two cars again thanks to michael's dad for selling us his and delivering it last night

i've also stopped eating sweets and sticking to three healthy meals this week

i want rid of this excess baby weight

but it's not helping my stress level to not stress eat

wish me luck i can survive this summer! 

i just love michael

i don't know if it's because michael is going to start work tomorrow and i miss him already

or because it's our anniversary in two weeks (on fathers day)

and i've been thinking about what an amazing father and husband he is

or because he is taking eleanor to the urgent care with a burst eardrum

since we only have one car and i won't be able to take her while he's at work

or because he got up with henry last night so i could sleep because i had a fever and sore throat

or because he always takes care of me and is always happy

but i just love michael and i'm so grateful for him

and so happy to be married to him

 plus, look at this cute baby we made

and the way he looks up at his dad

what a doll!