Matching Sisters

 This past Sunday, my girls were matching for church!!  They looked so cute!  I went back to Crazy 8s where I had gotten the kids their matching Easter clothes about a month after Easter, and found a dress that matched Amber's for a great price.  So, I bought it.  I finally dressed up the 2 girls in their matching outfits on Sunday.  I discovered the trick to getting Katelynn to behave and not cry for a matching picture....I just set her next to Amber instead of having Amber hold her!!!  :)

 I am so happy that I have 2 girls to dress up and match!!  :)  Amber loves her sister!  We finally got a working monitor, and Katelynn is too big for her bassinet now, so she will be sleeping in Amber's room!  Amber is so excited about it!

 A little bit later, I had fed Katelynn in the piano room and she had fallen asleep there with me.  She looked so sweet and peaceful!!  I just had to post these.  Sleeping babies are my favorite!!

 Look at that sweet, sweet smile!!  It just melts my heart every time!

 My sleeping angel!!  Katelynn does fuss, but as far as babies go, she is one of my best ones.  She is very sweet much of the time.

And here is my little buddy and faithful friend!  Evan loves to be where I am.  He was playing scripture heroes in with me while I fed Katelynn.  He obliged me and wore his matching sweater and matched his sisters.  I tried to get a picture with him in it too, but he was too wiggly and they all came out blurry.  :(  Oh well.  Perhaps next time!!

1st Day of School!!!

 Today was the first day of school!!  I can't believe that it is already here!!!  This morning went off without a hitch!  Barth worked from home making the morning run smoothly by watching Katelynn while I took the elementary kids to school!  Barth took Weston!  I can't believe that he is in 8th grade!

 I am anxious to hear how he liked his classes today.  Barth has gone to pick him up from school.  He is taking Spanish 1 and Band this year as his electives.  He is also in advanced Language arts and Geometry.  :)

 Brian was all set this morning!  He was excited to be starting 5th grade and changing classes.  He was especially excited to be in the advanced math class this year!!

 He is the top dog of elementary school this year.  His teacher seems really nice.  Weston had her in 5th grade for some subject, though I can't remember what.  All of the teachers Brian got this year for his classes were ones that Weston had.  That made Brian happy since he loves to be like his brother!  

 Here is Aaron all set for 3rd grade!!  I had heard of his teacher before, but none of the other boys had her.  She seems very sweet.  I noticed this morning as they all lined up, that she greeted each and every one of her kids with a smile and a hug!  I have a feeling that this will be a good year for Aaron!!

 My kiddos are getting so big!  I can't wait to hear all about every one's days!

 Amber wanted to make sure that I got a picture of her back pack!!  :)  So cute!!  Here is Amber all set for Kindergarten!!  She was so excited to go.  Once she got in the gym, she was a little nervous.

 Her teacher was one that Brian had in 1st grade and we really liked her!  She was hoping to be in class with her friend, but it didn't work out that way.  Hopefully they will see each other at recess!  

 Kindergarten here is only half day, so I have already picked her up!  She had a wonderful day.  She gave me the blow by blow on everything they did from coloring, to going to gym, to making a handprint page!!  It looks like it will be a good year for her!!

 Evan wanted to be a part of it all, and made a silly face for me!

 What a good looking group of kiddos!

 My elementary kids!!

 Evan and I made pumpkin muffins this morning and played outside.  I loved this shirt and had to get it for him!!  He is in charge of home while all his buddies are off to school!!  It was a perfect day out today!  It didn't even get to 70 today!!!!  I can't believe that!

 Katelynn sat outside with me and watched Evan ride his bike!!  She doesn't like to be down like this, so she cried!

 We enjoyed the nice cool morning watching Evan play.  Looks like the binky was caught in my shirt!!  :)

Happy first day of school!!!

A Few More From Melissa's Visit

 I just had to share a few more from Melissa's visit.  I meant to get them up sooner, but things have been so crazy over here!!!  Melissa came, then the Yorke's came the next day and we had the blessing and baptism.  Then they left on Monday and we went as a family to King's Island for a day of fun.  Then we had to do our school shopping since school starts on Wednesday.  Thursday we went to the back to school event where the kids found out who their teachers were.  As soon as we got home from that, Barth took Weston, Brian and Aaron on a camping trip for the weekend!!  So, anyway, now I am getting to these pictures from Melissa's visit!  :)  I remembered that Amber had a shirt and skirt that was similar to the outfit that I had gotten for Katelynn and Claire.  She wore it right before Claire and Auntie M left and so I had to get a few more matching pictures.  Evan and Amber's pink unicorn made it in the first few pictures.

 And then Katelynn started doing what Katelynn does best......crying!  I love this one, even though it is blurry!  Amber is smiling, Katelynn is screaming, and Claire is not really sure what to think!!  :D

 This one was my all time favorite though!!!  Claire has moved far away from the screaming baby! And she is giving us her "Popeye Palmer" look that we all love!  Katelynn is still crying and so very done with the whole picture thing and being held by her sister already!  Amber is just like, "Okay Mommy.  I think I've had enough of this!"

 See, she really did match pretty good with the other 2 girls!!

 Momma requested a few pictures of Melissa and I.  Weston was our photographer.  I thought that they turned out good of the 2 of us.  There were a few others, but I just put one in!

 Then I got a picture of Auntie M and Weston!!  He had a good visit with her too.  We all love Auntie M!  I was so glad that she got to come and see us!

 Then I wanted one of Weston and I.  He decided to stand on his tippy toes right at the last minute so that he could be taller than me.  That is why he and I are laughing.  He really is about a half inch shorter than I am!  We just got his school shoes this last week.  I had to buy men's size 9 for him!  He is going to be taller than me very, very soon!

 Amber was sad that Auntie M was leaving.  She wanted a picture with her.  Auntie M was snuggling Katelynn.  Look closely and you will see that Claire was not very pleased about that!  Every time Melissa tried to hold Katelynn she would cry, "No Mommy!!  No baby!  No baby!!!!!"  She is going to have an adjustment when it is her turn to have a baby brother or sister (though it isn't time for that yet- there is no announcement! ;)  )

 I bought this outfit for Amber a few weeks back for some of her school clothes.  While Melissa was here, she saw the cute one that Claire is wearing here.  I got it for her.  Only later did I discover that the girls matched!!  I pulled it out of Amber's stack of clothes reserved for the starting of school and the girls matched on their last day here!  They looked so cute together!!

 Oh sweet Clarie Belle, we all miss you!!!

 We wanted a picture of Auntie M and Brian together.

 Evan was busy playing beautiful music for us all.  He loves to play the piano!

 I miss you two girls!!  Come back and see me soon!!!!  We loved having Auntie M and Claire come for a whole week!!  We had such a fun time together!

 I am so rarely in pictures that I had Melissa snap a few of me since my hair was done and my make-up was on!  :)  Look at what a chunk Katelynn is getting to be!

Here in just a few days it will just be me and these two again!!  Oh school, I am not ready for you to start!!!

Aaron's baptism

 Sunday evening we had Aaron's baptism.  It was supposed to be on Saturday morning at 11am.  Saturday morning came and Aaron said he was feeling sick.  I figured it was just nerves or he was hungry or something.  So we planned on still having it.  I got everything all ready for the day.  I ironed Aaron's clothes.  I baked the brownies.  We were all set to go.  Barth had gone early to get things ready and to fill the font.  I was coming last minute with Aaron and the other kids since Aaron was not feeling well.  We had him dress in his jump suit so that we could just go right in and do the baptism.  I was almost halfway to the church (which is 30 minutes away) when I realized that I had forgotten Aaron's clothes to change into.  I turned around and called Barth to tell him that we might be a minute or 2 late.  We got almost home when Aaron calls from the back seat of the van, "Mommy, I don't think we should have the baptism today.  I'm feeling really, really sick!!"  And just like that, he threw up.  All over his jump suit and the back of the van.  We made it to the garage, and he hopped out of the car.  He threw up about 3 more times before he made it in to the bathroom.  I called Barth and told him we had to cancel.  We hoped that if he was feeling better later in the day that we would be able to have his baptism the next day before Grandma and Grandpa had to go home.  Turns out, that was the only time he was sick.  He felt fine by the evening!!  Thank goodness.  Barth stayed at church to tell people that the baptism was not going to happen that day.  So, by Sunday morning all was well!  We had Katelynn's blessing in the morning, and then Aaron's baptism at 7 that evening!  It turned out great!!

We were thankful that Grandma and Grandpa Yorke were able to come for Aaron's special day.  We missed Grandma and Grandpa Whitley, but were glad that we were able to see Grandma earlier in the summer when Katelynn was born!

Katelynn had been sleeping, so we left her in her car seat in hopes that she would keep sleeping.  It was nice to get a family picture.  It is hard to get everyone looking at the same place at the same time with a big family!  We all love Aaron so much!!

Barth and I are so pleased with Aaron and his good decision to be baptized!!  I am thankful for his decision to follow Christ and to become a member of his church.  He has a sweet and strong testimony and a love for his Savior.  I am very thankful for that.  He is a good example to others and spreads the gospel by telling everyone that he wants to be a missionary when he grows up.

For his baptism, Brian gave a talk on being like Jesus.  Weston gave a talk on Baptism.  Daddy performed the baptism.  I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.  Grandma and Grandpa gave the prayers.  We had some yummy cupcakes and brownies as treats afterwards.  It was such a nice evening!  I love Aaron and am so thankful for him in our family!!

Katelynn's Blessing

Grandma and Grandpa Yorke came in town the day after Melissa and Claire left for a whirlwind of a weekend!!  Sunday was Katelynn's blessing.  It was a nice blessing.  Barth's dad was able to be there to stand in for it.  That was nice.  After church, we came home and I tried to take some pictures of Katelynn to remember her special day.  This one is a little blurry, but it was sweet.

This one was good too, but she was thinking about crying here.  She was kind of fussy on Sunday.  And she was not really in the mood to have her picture taken.  I thought that if I put her in the swing that she might do well for the pictures since that is about the only thing she likes.

As you can see, she didn't do well for long before she started to cry.

I calmed her down and waited a bit.  Then I tried again by having her on a bean bag covered with her special blanket knitted by Grandma Yorke.  If I kept the binky in, she was okay.

As soon as I tried to take it out, she started crying again.  I guess that it wasn't meant for me to have a good picture in her blessing dress.

I think that Amber looked pretty much the same in her blessing pictures!  Hmmm.....they must be sisters!!!  :)

Museum Center

Monday was another beautiful morning here.  We had decided a few days before that we would go to the zoo on Monday morning.  I guess that everyone else had the same brilliant idea.  We got there before 11, and all 4 of the zoo parking lots were full.  So, we opted for plan B.  We went to the museum center instead!  It wasn't very full and the kids had a great time playing!

The kids all had fun playing in the energy zone at first with all the balls!  Little Claire loved it too.  I sat outside the netted area getting Katelynn to sleep.

So many fun things to do and explore.  I forgot my camera, so I had to take pictures with my phone.  They don't post as well, but I'll take what I can get!

Even the big boys love the Children's museum!

Katelynn finally fell asleep and slept for a bit.  I had brought the double stroller thinking we were going to the zoo!  It still worked, but was just more bulky!

Then we headed over with the littler ones to the store and house part while the big boys took off together to play else where.  Evan loved shopping and showing me what all he had found!

Amber shopped, and checked out the groceries!  She loved this part!

There was a basket that was slightly smaller that Claire could use and boy did she LOVE it!  She had a great time shopping and pushing that cart all around!  She is one busy girl!  :)

By this time Katelynn was awake again and chilling with me!

Then we moved on over to the building section where Weston and Auntie M built the arch!  Sadly, some other kids kicked it down.  :(  Oh well!

Auntie M, Amber, and Claire played with some things over on the far wall while I fed and burped Katelynn!  Then she fell asleep again for a bit!

Next we headed over to the water tables for some fun!  Claire loved this part just like the other kids, but she kept trying to drink the water!  Silly girl!!

Weston and Amber worked together to fill and dump the buckets!

You have to check out all the water tubes and on/off switches while you are there!

Claire had a lot of fun!  Eventually though, she and her Mommy went to another part since all she wanted to do was drink the water.

Evan and this boy next to him built water pipes out of the clear tubes.  Amber and Weston sent boats and things back and forth to each other through some tunnel.  You can see Amber up behind Evan.

Here was Weston on the other side of the table.

Brian came to ask me a question so I snapped a quick picture of him!

Then we all headed over to the tree climbing part for a last bit of fun before we left!  This area is so much better when there aren't many kids there!  It was nice.  I could see and keep an eye on everyone better!

Evan and Amber checking out the groundhog!

Claire loved seeing the fishies and turtles!!  She watched them swimming for a long time!!

She had to check out the fish from every possible angle!  :)

Claire is such a cute and spritely little thing!! I'm missing her already!

There was a little toddler area with the tree climbing area.  Claire thought that it looked like a great place to lay down and take a nap!!  :)  Silly girl!!  All in all, we had a fantastic day!  I am so glad that Melissa was able to come!  We had a great time together!!!