May

I cannot believe May is almost over!  It has flown.  Do I say that every month??  Really I feel like it has more than ever this month.  We have had a whole lotta crazy going on at our house!  Emerson is teething!  She always has that tongue out and drool on her chin!  She has been such a happy girl for the most part!  This past month, she has been practicing rolling over and sitting up.  She can roll over from tummy to back like a champ especially in the middle of the night!  She's only rolled over from back to belly once but gets so close every time!  She isn't sitting up on her own yet but is working up to it!  Life will really change when she's able to do those things!  Eek!  At 10 weeks, she began sleeping through the night well.  But, at 20 weeks she stopped!  Every sleep training trick I know is not helping and now she and I are up one to two times per night again!  Needless to say, I'm a little more tired but praying that this little phase ends soon and is in fact a "little" not long, phase! 

 Love this pic!  Briggs is so annoyed!  He loves Emerson but does not like her to touch him when she has slobber on her!

 Emerson loves to be outside.  She laid outside on her playmat while I planted some flowers recently!

 She loves, loves her jumperoo toy!  And the big kids do too as evidenced by my consistent "Please do not get in the jumperoo!" statements I make at least 5 times a day!

 And lastly, it seems that the rain will never cease.  We have received enough rain to fill up our lakes, creeks and everything in between!  This is the waterfall in our neighborhood!  I think it is so pretty to look at when the creek is full!

Emerson at 5 months!

I just keep looking at Emerson thinking, "She is so pretty!"  And I see so much of Piper in her! The first three pictures are Emerson at 5 months.

And the picture below is Piper at 5 months in the same outfit!

Piper Learned To Tie Her Shoes!!

Piper can finally tie her shoelaces and ribbons and anything she wants!  One night she became determined to do it and kept practicing until Voila! She can tie!

The End of the School Year Is Wrapping Up!

 Piper was in her first school production called "Go Fish."  The first grade class sang in this musical.  Next year, they get to try out for speaking roles!

Briggs sang in the end of the year program at his preschool.  It is always a hoot watching little ones sing on stage!  Briggs did great!  He's standing on the end right next to Asher.

Briggs' last day of school was today!  He's had two great teachers this year that we have loved, Mrs. Macy and Mrs. Lockey.

And Piper and Michael went on their spring Daddy/Daughter campout a few weeks ago.  They had fun but it did rain the second night and their tent had some water issues!

The end of April...

 My cutie, chubby, Asian baby...I kid, I kid!  Emerson is chunking up!

 Nora & Piper at a "not quite sleepover birthday party!"

 And another soccer season is in the books!  Due to the rain, a lot of games were rescheduled so the season seemed to drag on!  But it was fun cheering on our Panthers!  And, Piper still has that determined look when playing!

Piper is 7!!!

On April 29th, I said goodnight to this 6 year old...

 and woke up on April 30th to this big 7 year old!

 She enjoyed a homemade birthday breakfast that mommy was very behind on because she did not hear her alarm go off!

 Emerson's gift to Piper was the little unicorn stuffed animal you see pictured!

I had lunch with Piper at school.  She requested Whataburger!  And she requested whopper cupcakes. Thank you Sam's club!

 Love this picture of these two!  They actually look like they could be related finally!

 That evening, Piper picked Spring Creek BBQ as her restaurant choice!  Uncle Matt, Maggie, Grammy, and Papa John joined us.  Family dinners is one of Piper's favorite things!

 After dinner, they came over to open a few presents and play.  Maggie gave Piper these cute singing birds and We gave Piper a karaoke machine.  Really, she just wanted a "real" microphone!

 Briggs loves the singing birds a lot!

 To celebrate with friends, Piper asked Nora & Campbell to paint with her at Ms. Helen's house. They all did such a great job!  That evening, Nora spent the night with Piper after a fun evening of playing and watching a movie!

 The karaoke machine has been fun for everyone...

Piper we love you so much!  My prayer for you is that you will know the Lord with all your heart and have a desire to have a strong relationship with Him throughout your life.  I pray your stubborn, strong willed personality will be used to do big things for Him and to lead others well!  You are so social, a quality I love!  And you are deeply tender hearted!  You are such a Piper!

The time when Briggs broke his foot...or so we thought!

During the last week of April (which happened to be crazy busy!), a friend texted and asked if Briggs could come over and play that morning.  Oh sure!  That would be great because I could definitely get a few things done, being it was a busy week and all!  Well Briggs was really braved while at his friends house and jumped off the top rung of the bunk bed ladder.  After that he couldn't walk!  He kept pointing below his ankle and at his heal when I asked where it hurt.  An acquaintance who is a pediatric physical therapist looked at it and recommended I make an appointment with an Orthopedic doctor. So the next day I took Briggs in and in less than thirty minutes he came out with a cast that he was going to wear for 3 weeks! There was no clear break he could see on the x-ray but he suspected a micro fracture on his heal and the only way to really know if it was broken was to get a CT scan, which I learned, is a traumatic experience for a child.  So we passed and treated it like a full break. At this point in the game, I was carrying a 15 lb baby around and a 40 lb kid around.  Fun!  But after a day and a little help from Michael, and Briggs' buddy, Asher, he started walking around on his cast! Things were looking up.  The following weekend, we took Briggs swimming (our first swim of the season!) in his waterproof cast.  And the next morning, I noticed the mesh underneath was falling down.  So back to the doctor we went, after a week with the cast!  The doctor looked it over and decided that the wear and tear Briggs had put his cast through meant he probably didn't have a break but a bad bruise.  So the cast was sawed off and that was traumatic and scary for Briggs!  Then it was back to Mama carrying a baby and a kid again.  Finally Briggs began bearing weight on his foot ever so gingerly.  It still is not 100% but he's able to walk and run again!!   

 Leaving the doctor.

Briggs with a cast at school.  Asher sat and played with him the entire time.

 He had a great attitude!

 Writing on the cast was fun!

Our first swim of the season, with the cast!

April

April is always are most busy month.  And this year is no exception!  But it has been a fun month too! Emerson is Four Months Old now!  She weighed 15.7 lbs at her appointment and continues being in the 75th and 95th percentile for height and weight.  

She began using the bumbo seat this month and really loves it!  It has allowed her to watch her crazy family in motion a little bit better!

Piper likes to do 'exercises' sometimes.  Mommy has to monitor the gentleness of each exercise!

Michael's birthday was on the 15th!  He happened to go turkey hunting the weekend before and then to a conference for work.  The kids and I decorated this poster and had it waiting for him the day he arrived home, which was also his birthday!

Speaking of turkey hunting...Here's his catch!

She's looking so big!

April has also brought on the allergies for Briggs.  His poor eyes have been swelling and he looks miserable when it happens.  But the cool dude handles it like a champ!  Benadryl has been our friend!

Piper gave this to me after a particular rough afternoon with her!  She can be so, so sweet!

Piper and Nora at a birthday party of another first grader.  I love these little girls and the friendship they share!

Briggs and his buddy Jadon at the new dinosaur exhibit.  It's pretty cool!

Digging for dino bones!

Emerson loves being in her little wrap when it's sleepy time.  And she loves sucking her thumb!  This was at the doctor's office.

Sleepy head when she first woke up.  This picture makes me laugh!!

Emerson is started to raise up on her elbows a little and she is smiling a lot and laughing a little too!

And the biggest thing to happen for her is she started cereal!  We're on Day 3 and the cereal is ending up down her throat and not on her bib as much!!

Emerson is also sticking out her tongue a lot!  And she's rolling over in the night from belly to back. The problem is she has not figured out how to go to sleep on her back again or how to roll back to her tummy.  So Mommy has been up every night the past few weeks!