Everybody love Evelyn!

 Evelyn is smiling a lot now-and is much easier to catch on camera now!

 It's such a blessing to have a child who unreservedly smiles at a word from you!  (I'll try keep those precious smiles in mind when she's grumpier later in life. ;)

 She has discovered her hands a few weeks ago too-and she can spend up to half an hour chatting to her fists-and sometimes even figures out how to get them to her mouth so she can suck on them!

 Occasionally I remember to give her tummy time.  Like all my kids, she's not a big fan of it.

 I like to take her around the house to do chores-that way I know she's safe from her siblings.

(My Mom put me in the laundry basket!  I can't believe it!  She better pick me up when I show her my cute bottom lip pout!)

 Jennifer likes to give her special bunny to Evelyn.  For a few minutes, anyways.s

 All the kids love to chat with Evelyn and have her coo and smile at them.  So it isn't often that she is alone with just her hands for company.

 I still swaddle Evelyn at nights-and for the hot and muggy nights we've had, I've just swaddled her in a receiving blanket, but it couldn't do her arms and legs both-so I just did her arms. 

Very cute little legs poking out!

Evelyn is such a cheerful sweet girl!  She is only fussy for obvious reasons, and with her needs addressed, is set at ease very easily!  No, she does not sleep through the nights yet-only occasionally.  But since 4 out of 5 on my kids waited 'til 6 months to do it, my expectations are really really low!  (And that helps me out-no need to be disappointed at getting out 1, 2 or even 3 times-'cause I was counting on it anyways. ;)

Walk along Rouge River

 We picked a very hot day for an afternoon walk on a rugged trail.  This may be the trail where we wrecked our previous bike stroller.  The stroller survived this trip-but maybe next time we should bring packs for the kids instead!

 We stopped in the shade so I could feed Evelyn-and the mosquitoes joined us.

 I carried Evelyn-and the fresh air was lovely-though hotter than I prefer.

 It was lovely and green, and hardly a person to be seen.  Just how we like it!

 Philip had fun with the stroller-this was a tame section on the trail-there were places Nathan had to life the front wheel over a big root or step, or onto a rickety bridge.

It has been much too long since we've done this walk (or any other, for that matter!) and we should do it again sometime!  The kids all had a good time-most of the time.  Daniel did not like being in the stroller for the treacherous stretches.

8 Years!

 For Nathan's b-day, I was very ambitious and made him a treasure hunt.  I also let him have two guests (brothers) instead of our now usual one guest.  Last year his party got cancelled last minute-so he got two parties worth of my effort this year!

I made 7 clues, which took them over an hour to solve!

 They found the treasure in the garden-although Nathan was hesitant to dig it out.  He looked at me first to be sure that it was really okay.

 I had found a mini wooden chest and chocolate money at the local dollar store.  I didn't dare take off the plastic (which would have made it look more real) and good thing I didn't 'cause we had a thunderstorm and pouring rain on his birthday morning.  It was a great relief to see it dry up for the party! :)

 I had swords hidden for one of the clues-to keep the ones who found the clues too boring occupied.

 The other activity I set up was a plank-they had to walk blindfolded along it-and they decided to chop the person if they fell off-and if they made it to the end safely they would still get attacked, but then they could take the blindfold off first.

 Evelyn didn't get to play any of the games.

 It's always fun to watch the response when presents are being opened.  Especially when they open something that doesn't make sense. ;)

Here are all the clues (plus a cheat sheet in case one got lost) I made for the treasure hunt.  Evelyn helped me. ;)  But by the end she was very mad because I was ignoring her and just trying to get it done!   One of the clues almost got attacked by a weed-eater!

Play and the elusive baby smile

Spring!

 We had some spring weather that hinted of summer. 
And last night, frost again!  Turned on the heat again yesterday!

Rewind 5 years

 Nathan, Melanie and Matthew were gone for a day.

 Daniel, Jennifer Evelyn and I had a blast! (So did the big kids.)

 Thumb sucking ballerinas:

School and piano

 Evelyn is the most studious of our children.  She pays attention to all her lessons. ;)

 Melanie and Nathan have some "school work" that they need to do every morning before they can go play.  A bit of this and that so they don't forget what they've learned while their teacher takes maternity leave.

Jennifer gets time in her playpen still.  She usually doesn't mind it.

When she's not in the playpen, she's often doing things she's not allowed to do.

 She's thinking "But I thought Evelyn needed her soother!"  Poor Evelyn gets fed the soother even when she's sleeping if I'm not their to monitor it.  So I try to be there-lest she's woken up because her siblings think she needs assistance. ;)

Nathan practices piano with less enthusiasm than we'd like-but I suppose that's normal.  He volunteered to play a song at our church's talent evening which amazed me!  I thought he did really well.  "I was the youngest person playing, Mom!"