Our THREE Cute Kids

Well, they can't all have matching outfits now, but they can color coordinate :-).

Our first pictures of the 3 kiddos together...

Out and About

I have been feeling a little guilty about the amount of time I am spending actively doing things with the girls, so Wednesday night when I was going to bed I decided Thursday I was going to better. Little did I know at the time that Preston would be up and/or eating almost the entire night of course, but it wasn't the girls' fault so we trucked on through. Ella asks for pancakes for breakfast at least a couple times a week. I typically make gluten-free ones (and it is quite an ordeal) so I usually say no and give her some other options. When she asked yesterday we went for it though and made some good old fashioned pancakes...with chocolate chips in them. Ella was thrilled :-)! After admiring their reflections in the bowl, the girls had a good time mixing them up too...

Then off to the pool to meet up with friends. Preston slept the whole time which made keeping track of him easy :-), but it was a little stressful trying to watch Ella AND Addie when I was feeding him - especially since Addie doesn't always listen and was trying to throw huge rocks from the landscaping into the pool.

We went back to the pool today and it was much better. Addie brought a bunch of her bath toys to make the baby pool seem more exciting and I had a much better night with Preston last night which makes EVERYTHING seem easier :-). Ella LOVES to float around in her Elmo floaty - she would stay in the pool "swimming" back and forth the whole day if we could.

(Addie with Ellie)
Try to find Ella swimming all by herself in the big pool - she's been much, MUCH more brave this year...as long as she as her Elmo ring of course :-).

Oh, Preston

If only Preston would do this during the night instead of the day my life would be much easier!

However, I get much more of this when I want to be sleeping...and he thinks he needs to eat every 1 1/2 hours right now.

So, now ALL day I'll be doing a lot of this as I try to keep up with the girls.

All I know is, he better let me sleep more tonight, or I will not protect him from the many dress-up attacks like this one that he is bound to encounter in his life!

He's HUGE!

Well, maybe not HUGE, but Preston had his 2 week check-up today and he is 7 lbs. 14 oz. now! (He was 7 lbs. 3 oz. at birth and 7 lbs. 1 oz. when we checked out of the hospital) He also grew 1/4" :-). No pictures of him today because we rushed out the door to get to the appointment on time and then he has slept the day away. Probably because he was up A LOT last night and the heel prick was semi-traumatizing for both of us. I'm glad I didn't see them do it at the hospital - it seems like so much blood to get from such a little guy!
We made our first trip back to the library today because it was puppet show day and we can't miss those! Plus, I knew all our librarians were anxiously awaiting Preston's first public appearance. He stayed safely in his car seat sleeping, but still won them all over, of course :-).

Ella was lucky enough to have a Strawberry Shortcake Dance birthday party this afternoon. She was told to wear her favorite dance outfit but she was more in the mood to be Ariel. My mom watched the girls when I took Preston to his appointment and she managed to get a french braid to stay in Addie's hair!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a nice relaxing holiday weekend...
I quickly got used to Mike being here to get up and help the girls get breakfast so I could keep sleeping until Preston woke up again...today was a sad, sad morning for me :-)! Kayley and Scott came down from Dallas to meet Preston and it was fun to catch up with them - we're so glad they live closer now! For those of you who don't know, Kayley takes after my mom and is a baby freak so Preston got plenty of love :-)! We had a yummy lunch at my grandparents' house yesterday and I stayed away from the computer ALL day...that NEVER happens! This morning I had lots to catch up on!

We were talking in the family room and Kayley spotted Addie sneaking some of her drink. I took it away after taking a picture and asked Kayley what was in it...a mix of Dr. Pepper and Diet Coke...Lovely :-).

We'll just keep attempting family pictures until we get a good one with everyone smiling :-)...maybe at Chrissy's wedding we'll get a winner?...I'm hoping!

Fresh Air Friday

The kids and I ventured out on Friday and took a little walk to our neighborhood park. Preston slept the whole time, just like he was supposed to :-), and when we got home Stephanie brought us some Chik-Fil-A...it was a wonderful arrangement :-) (thanks Stephanie!)! We definitely needed to get out and get some fresh air after a week of just hanging out at home. The girls got our their wiggles and gave each other high-5's whenever they climbed up something or found a new "trick" they could do. Next week I think it's time to get back into our usual activities before we all go stir crazy!

Ella needed to catch a ride home too after all that playing and later in the afternoon finished the Dalmation puzzle. She was SOOOO proud of herself (it was a tricky puzzle because so many of the pieces looked the same). We called Grammy to share the good news right away!

Ella's Preschool Graduation

Yesterday was Ella's last day of preschool (so she got to pick out anything she wanted to wear)...

It was the first time for me to go somewhere with all three kids (when we picked Ella up from school)...

And it was Ella's preschool graduation later that night...

A decent family photo...Mike's eyes were shut in my very favorite one :-(

Ella and her best buddy Lauren.

I missed them calling out "Gabriella Freeman" but Ella was the only kid who didn't just come walking on out. Apparently her little hat wasn't staying on and she was really upset about it...poor Ella. Luckily she really enjoyed the rest of the night though.

The slide show at the end started with Sarah McLaughlin's "I Will Remember You" playing in the background, which made me laugh :-), but it was cute and Ella loved seeing herself up on the screen!

We are really going to miss Ms. Nikki! She was a great teacher and Ella loved her so much!!!