Birthday Party Weekend

As always, the girls’ birthdays fall on the Fourth of July weekend, so we typically celebrate with friends either the weekend before or the weekend after.  This year we celebrated on June 26.  It is really such fun to have 3 girls born within days of each other in July.  Right now it means one birthday party each year.  We will see how long the joint birthday party satisfies the birthday girls.

My parents (Nana and Papa) came in on Friday.  The last couple of times they have come in they have stayed in a hotel.  This is super fun for Liberty because then she has unlimited access to an indoor pool.  After running several birthday errands, we spent time at the pool. 

I  Love this picture of Emory and her Papa

Liberty in the “hot pool”

On Saturday we celebrated with some of Liberty’s friends.  We were so blessed to have such a great location for the girls’ party.  A friend of ours has an absolutely gorgeous backyard with an in-ground pool.

Another friend of mine made the individual cakes for the girls.  She did such a great job and they were sooooo cute with their summer themes.

Emory’s Watermelon Cake

Liberty’s Beach Cake

Emory was so cute when she got her cake.  So very different from Liberty on her first birthday.  She approached it very delicately and just poked her little finger into the icing and then licked it off.  She continued to do this until she had a little tiny tunnel in her cake where she kept sticking her finger in.  She never did attack it and just dive in.  So sweet and cute.

 

Cake still intact and Emory licking icing off her finger

The girls got so many wonderful and thoughtful gifts.  Here’s just a few.  There were so many!

Oh my goodness all those girls are so sweet!

(Caroline, Kate, Liberty, Jewel, Emory, and Finley)

 

The girls had so much fun.  It was so hot and they all loved loved loved the pool.  Even some of the parents joined in the fun and got in the pool.  I was so busy that morning that I totally forgot to put my swimsuit on!

After the party we came home and cleaned up and headed to church with the whole family.  Liberty was so excited to show her church class to her Nana and Papa.  After church we all went to Bricktown for dinner.  Scott and I never go down there.  It is always such a treat when we do.  After we managed to find somewhere to park, we headed over to Chilenos.  It was out of this world good.  We all enjoyed being stuffed and walking along the river.  It was the perfect end to an absolutely fabulous Birthday weekend.

Liberty and Nana (and her new baby doll, Faith)

Beatrix Potter Coloring Books

My family and I were downtown Guthrie this afternoon cruising the Antique stores and I stumbled across the amazing coloring books.  I grabbed them up because I didn't know if they were vintage and if I could still get them online.  They were in perfect condition.  When I got home I started looking online to see if I could still get them and was amazed to find that Dover Publishing has so many coloring books that go along with some of the great classic children's literature.  I was able to fine the Tale of Peter Rabbit coloring book on the Dover Publishing website, but the other two I could only find on Amazon (and at a much higher price than I paid today).  What a fun supplement if you want to study Beatrix Potter or any other classic children's literature for that matter.  Liberty LOVES to color.  I know this will be such a fun way to get her more involved in the stories.  Oh, and the coloring pages are the actual outlines of the original watercolors.  Plus, the unabridged text is part of the coloring books so you don't necessarily need the hard copies in order read them.

Fishing and Kite flying--Fun in the sun

I love summer.  I don't care if it's 100 degrees.  It beats 30 degrees any day!!  First on the agenda for summer family fun was fishing.  We have a friend here in Guthrie that lives right on the lake and has a wonderful dock.  It is a wonderful private place to take the girls fishing.  We loaded up with a picnic lunch and headed out.  I must admit I am not much of a fisherman.  I did a lot of fishing growing up but truthfully I'm just not into touching worms and fish.  Liberty feels much the same way about touching worms and fish, but she loves to go fishing.  She usually just has someone else (not me) bait her hook and take her fish off the hook should she actually catch something.  For the most part, Nana, Papa, or her Daddy are happy to accommodate her.  This trip, however, she decided that she was brave enough to not only touch her own worm, but bait her own hook. 

Even after catching two good sized bass, we were unable to get her to touch the fish.  I personally don't blame her, but I do feel she made some significant progress this summer with the touching of a worm.

Emory and I spent most of the time sitting in the shade. It was so nice just to sit outside and relax.  Emory loves playing in the grass.  She doesn't often have this opportunity since our yard really isn't conducive to crawling around in.

The next day we got up earlier than usual and headed to Krispy Kreme for breakfast.  The closest one is about a 30 minute drive.  Since we were close to Lake Hefner we decided to take the girls to the park.  We stopped on the way a bought Liberty a kite.  Maybe I should have spent more the $1 on the kite.  Scott spent more time getting in up in the air than Liberty spent actually flying it.  Despite this, Liberty had a blast.

Emory scooted around and played with a red ball that I bought her.  She is loves to play ball and is so excited now that she can actually throw the ball herself.  I primarily like taking Emory out in the sun because that means I can put a hat on her, which is possibly the cutest thing in the world :).

So far our summer has been so enjoyable.  In addition to just spending time outside, we also bought a big Easy Set pool (that experience deserves a blog post all its own) and have enjoyed the Drive-In Theatre.  I love the laziness of summer and all the fun activities!!  More fun to come!

Headache go away!!

Since last Saturday, I have had the worst headaches.  I'm am feeling a bit better today and trying to catch up on all my housework, emails, and blogging.  I have no idea what is going on.  I've been to the doctor twice and the ER once.  The doc gave me migraine meds which didn't help at all.  In the ER I recived a shot of Demerol which only made things worse.  I am now scheduled for an MRI on Monday.  I just want to make sure nothing serious is going on and then we can figure out how to get the headaches under control.

All the medication has forced me to stop breastfeeding Emory, which was not in my plans for another 3 weeks.  This is causing me some stress, but Emory doesn't even seem phased by it.  She is taking formula out of a bottle like that is what she has been doing her whole life.  She has made it two nights in a row without nursing.  The first was rough and I ended up giving her a bottle at 4 a.m., but last night she only woke up once!  She was in bed with me, but I don't care.  At least she wasn't screaming all night (not good for the headache).

Liberty has been my little helper.  She is perfectly content to stay indoors and help around the house and with the baby.  This is primarily because she is afraid to go outside.  I think our hour in the basement last month has scared her for life.  Nonetheless, I am happy that she is happy.  She is probably watching way too much TV, but I really can't do anything about that right now.  Hopefully, we can get this resolved soon and enjoy the rest of our summer!

Scott is being extremely patient with me.  He is incredibly behind at work, but is somehow still getting things done and taking care of me at the same time.  Love him!