birthday, evangeline, spring, st. louis

Four is Fantastic


I’m afraid to even put it in writing but I think we have finally exited the season of sickness in our family! The past few months were rough but I am grateful that all the sicknesses were just minor and that we are all finally back to our “normal” selves.

I’m behind on my blogging but I have multiple posts lined up if I can ever find the time to sit, edit pictures, and write. But of course I had to start with Evangeline’s birthday. On May 5th, our little Cinco de Mayo baby turned 4 years old. Our baby girl, my best friend, our firstborn daughter. The girl I had been dreaming of for so many years. There were many days when I thought I would forever be a boy mom (and that would have been perfectly okay.) But I am so thankful that I have been blessed with, not one, but TWO precious girls.

At 4 years old, Evangeline loves all things pink and purple. She loves changing her outfits approximately 357 times a day. She loves princesses, fingernail polish, lipstick, and braids. She loves My Little Pony and all things girly.

But at age 4, she also loves playing with Legos with her brothers (what she is currently doing.) She loves playing in the dirt and racing with the boys until she eventually falls over and scrapes her knees–which then leads to the next 5 hours babying those scrapes. She loves Star Wars and Transformers and doing everything her brothers do.

If you ask her her name, she will give you one of a few different answers: Miss, Missy, Miss Evangeline, and rarely, she will let you know her name is Evangeline.

She spends most of her days sitting at the table, drawing and coloring pictures. And writing “miss” in her sweet handwriting.

She is the sweetest, outgoing child with a hidden switch somewhere that turns her into a shy, stubborn, sassy little girl (I’m still working to find that switch to make sure it gets permanently set to “sweet” haha) She loves all of her siblings so much and has such a special unique relationship with each of them.

We are so blessed to have this sweet girl in our house!

On her actual birthday, we went to the usual Mcdonald’s and came home for her choice of dessert, “a heart cake.” I know you all are currently in awe and praising my decorating skills on that cake but I have to just let you know, I charge a high price for cakes like that. (Can you read the sarcasm there?)

A few days before her birthday, we headed out to the zoo for the morning. Of course it was the first nice day we had had in quite a while. We had so much raining and flooding leading up to that day so I’m pretty sure everyone flocked to the zoo all at the same time.

We ended up at the park that evening, trying to find some photo locations for a project. We ended up not caring for any backgrounds but took a few shots of the kids while we were there.

Clem’s face makes me wish for the heart eyed emoji on here.

Actually, so does Desmond. Most pictures of him involve him pointing at the sky and saying “bird” so I’m glad Don caught a candid smile as Des was running towards him.

Okay, and one more time…this picture of both of them together. Des loves his baby sister with all of his heart–he even shares big bites of his food with her. Food that she doesn’t even know how to chew. That is love.

The past 4 years have zipped by so quickly. I can barely remember Evangeline as a baby..which is so sad. But I absolutely love having this sweet 4 year old.

also–a little throwback

Evangeline’s first birthday pictures and her first birthday party

Evangeline’s second birthday

Evangeline’s third birthday

I hope you all are having a great week! I (along with Don and 6 of our closest friends) are on day 7 of Whole 30. I was actually considering writing up a few posts about it. Not as an expert, but as an honest perspective from the pickiest eater in the world. So I’m hoping to recap the first week pretty soon! In the meantime, I hope you all are thoroughly enjoying cheese right now. Because I am not 😉 Have a great day!

iphone, Month In A Minute

April Recap


Looking through all my April pictures really has me missing the warm, DRY days. Missouri has so much flooding right now. So on this chilly, rainy day, it’s the perfect time to recap April and dream of the nice weather returning!

Sometimes I try to get a picture and can’t decide which one is my favorite. Usually I pick one and the others never get any love. And sometimes I make a collage of some of my favorites.

And usually I have to work really hard to keep Desmond from photobombing the picture haha. Speaking of Desmond, his favorite thing to do right now is to stand at the window and point out every bird or car that he sees.

Spring is my favorite (probably because I don’t suffer with allergies) and I really have been loving getting out of the house with all the kids. I know I’ve mentioned this before but it’s just become such a breeze to get out with the whole family. I used to feel frazzled, frantically counting children in busy places. But I feel like we’ve finally found our groove. I’m already looking forward to getting out next weekend!

These lemon pictures were taken for a company that ended up using a different picture of mine but I couldn’t just not post them. Also, I just realized that they aren’t even iphone photos so I kind of cheated.

And of course the Easter bunny ears were worn frequently over the month of April!

Our church has this very hip distressed white wall on the side that has become a favorite spot for taking pictures haha. I love that Clem and her BFF, Mabel, are starting young with their pictures in front of it. Also, I love Mabel’s big personality. It’ll be fun to see how Clem responds to it when she’s a bit older. Mabel always lights up when she sees Clem and it is the sweetest thing in the world.//Also–baby bffs with their mama bffs.

I’m pretty sure I already posted about it here but our front door got a little makeover recently. I asked the kids if they wanted one more picture in front of the teal door before I painted and they ran outside and did this–I love it!//And now I’m loving the pink door!

Clem was outgrowing her bassinet and started rolling over in her swaddle so she was upgraded to a big crib recently and was cut off from swaddling. She is doing great! And now I stop to take a picture pretty much every time I pass her because there’s no sweeter sight!

In addition to Kai’s birthday at the beginning of April, we celebrated Don’s on the 25th. Our new birthday tradition is going out for donuts! Evangeline’s birthday is on Friday. Since Don works that morning, we may need to have a backup plan. But you better believe that plan will involve donuts!


And if you don’t get Clem’s letterboard reference, I don’t know if we can be friends. Just kidding 😉 Don didn’t understand it either. Just look up Justin Timberlake and “it’s gonna be May” and you can join in on the inside joke. But you better be prepared to enjoy the joke next year!

I’ll leave you with Kids Say and our Month in a Minute videos. If you only have time to watch one, I would definitely recommend Don’s because his is always much better haha. I hope you have a great week, without any flooding!

 

The balloon guy at Culver’s, making conversation with Liam…
Balloon guy–“So who brought you here?”
Liam–“God.”

—————

Liam–“Today I washed out my toothbrush with flamin’ hot water.”

—————

Liam–“mommy, can I ask you a question.”
Me–“yeah, what is it?”
Liam–“if there was a guy in town who was like the best at juggling..and then another guy who is also good at juggling comes to that town, is it good or bad if you say that the first guy is still better at juggling.”
Me–“well, that wouldn’t be very kind to say that to someone.”
Liam–“I know. I just mean is it okay to think that?”
Me–“yeah, that’s fine if you think that.”

—————

While it was raining–
Evangeline–“Look! The windows are drooling!”

—————

Kingston–“Mommy, when I touch my boo boo it feels like a pokey-pine. It feels like it shots me.”