Evelyn

 thinkin' 'bout crawlin'

 chowing down with her big sis

 watchin

 samplin'

 thinkin'

 hangin'

 laughin'

 fake laughin'

 posin 'x3

bathin' x3

Enjoying company's presence

 By listening avidly to stories and chatting together, and looking at pictures.

and playing with presents.

Toddler chatter and baby music

Evelyn is pretty proud of her musical talent.  So are we!

Beside Evelyn, but unseen, Jennifer is saying "Mommy, Abbey, Mommy, Abbey"
Which, translated means "Mommy, I'm pretending I'm Abbey" and repeats it until I say "Are you Abbey?" so she can say "Yah!"

Wet walk

Making things or watching/helping

 Nathan and Matthew were busy with Lego (a month or more ago ;)

 Making a chariot, and watching a chariot get made. 

Daniel and Jennifer were "helping" Melanie use one of her birthday craft projects.

 I'm not sure what the actually helped with, but they managed to stay out of trouble, so she must have let them do something. ;)

 She/they made a bunch of cards, which me mailed across the country.

And for Mom, the bike rack I made in the fall.

A piano quartet:

Baby, breakfast and feeling bad

Yes, we still have a baby!  And she is sure growing up fast!

 Another ear infection (probably).  We have to keep two pillows in his bed at night so his head is high enough at night...or this happens!  I took the pillow away for 2 nights and he has a bad fever!  Thankfully he should grow out of this.  But with two pillows, he's been okay, despite having more colds/runny noses since this pic.

Traditional breakfast pics.

" I can sit so well."

"And I'd love to sample that camera!"

"library" and play

 I created a "library" downstairs, so that I didn't have to worry about Daniel and Jennifer tossing all the books out of the shelf in their room to the floor.  Now they can do it in the playroom instead. ;)  It's my hope that the area will encourage a bit more quiet, and a bit more reading. (Hope, hope...)  It's not much of a loss though, since the play room is so big, I don't think the kids miss the space...sometimes rooms are so large they aren't used well..

Pretend birthday

 Sweet Seven!! 

 We did a lovely photo shoot a week or two after her b-day.  Then her last wobbly tooth had come out, so her smiles looked neater. ;)  But mostly, I had a new camera-she'd dropped mine the day before her birthday, and it wasn't functional for her day. 

She had a friend come over, and did a treasure hunt, some crafty things together, and played around.  We even ran out to the park 'cause it was such a sunny day. 

Melanie is a big help around the house, especially "mothering" when Daniel, Jennifer, or Evelyn wants attention.  She is good at figuring out what they want, and can keep them entertained for quite a while.  She's a bit lonely for girl company as she doesn't have a close girl friend at church these days...but her and Nathan are getting on really well at home, so that helps.  They love rooming together downstairs, and have become so much more independent!  And it is really neat to see Nathan look out for her. Yesterday he came to me explaining how my teasing of Melanie during a game had made her upset-and since she was downstairs and I was up, I would not have known if he hadn't come and explained it to me for her.  How sweet. :)