Bears hibernate for the winter, why can't I?

This title has multiple meanings.

1) I feel like I'll never truly catch up on sleep, but I'd sure be willing to try.

2) sometimes I think a semi-eternal break would be nice.

3) It is my lame attempt at an apology for not posting for so long.

I wonder, too, with waiting so long if I should really make the effort to catch up or just sum up instead. I suppose that for my sake (really for the sake of journaling), I should make the effort.

When I go through pictures over the last 5 months (that's almost half a year!!!!), I'll play catch up. For now, I will sum up, a little, I think. Or maybe just share my current thoughts.

Emilee turned FIVE this month. Can you believe it? Sometimes I look at my life and think, "How on earth do I have a five year old and three kids?!" I don't feel that OLD. Sometimes I feel like I barely started college (though, really, I started college  almost 12 years ago - no way! I am that old!!) Crazy!

I was pretty sick for the two weeks leading up to Emilee's birthday, so I decided I couldn't handle really doing a party this year. But, lo and behold, we threw something together the weekend before. We invited two families and Britt's parents (who were going to be in town) to join us at a park to shoot off model rockets, have a potluck brunch, and eat cake. One of the least planned parties I've been a part of, but it came together. We are truly blessed with good friends. I was very grateful for them that day.

We'd been planning Emilee's cake for quite a while, so despite me being on death's door (I wasn't quite that sick), I made the cake we chose. A doll cake. With marshmallow fondant. Homemade. Everything. Well, except for the Barbie. My sister-in-law put it best - I've now set a precedence for amazing cakes. Boo. Shame on me for not thinking that through more. This really started when she turned one. Why do I feel the need to make something "so cool?" I'll tell you. It's because I actually enjoy baking, and the challenge to make something unique. Though I do think I'm in over my head. I started too high and can only do so much before I hit the top (for me, at least). Anyway, here is her cake. I think I spent about three hours the night before the party decorating it. I'd baked the cakes the day before. And, I had the fondant made ahead of time as well.

All the time and effort, and we destroyed it in a moment. But it was deeeeelicious!

On Emilee's actually birthday, we just stayed home and ate leftover cake. I asked Em what she wanted for her birthday dinner, and she chose spaghetti. Then, like five minutes before we were going to eat, she asked to go out to a restaurant for her birthday. I said no way. We enjoyed the spaghetti dinner....even Emilee. 

That night we gave her a super cool present. A bike! She was excited. All the picture I took we're blurry. I got a better one the next day.

I love Emilee to pieces (as well as my other two munchkins)! She is a joy. She is very helpful when I need her. She loves being a big sister. She likes playing with older people, and is not too shy to tell them what to play. She makes friends everywhere she goes. She is discovering that she can do more things on her own (without mom's help), especially "now that she's five."  She doesn't like to practice writing anymore, but she's started to write on her own on her drawings. She'll correctly spell out "mom," "dad," and her own name. She put's the first letter of each of our names on family pictures (D, M, E, L, R). And she'll put random letters or squiggles for words to create a message. She loves church. She can play quietly with paper dolls for a couple of hours during nap time while I do housework and snooze, too. She can be so thought, helpful, and kind. She can also get an attitude that rivals any teenager. Or cry and whine for the smallest things. But, I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.

Baby #3

Rachel Mehr was born last Wednesday, August 21, at 12:36pm. She weighed 8lb 12oz and was 21 1/2 inches long. Simply a beautiful little girl. We are so excited to have her as part of our family. Emilee and Logan already love her. :) I will do a longer write up soon.

June escapades

One of the highlights of the month of June was launching rockets with Grandpa M and Grandma M. They came up one afternoon, and we went to an approved park (luckily it was fairly close) to launch some model rockets. The kids LOVED it. They had a lot of fun, and I think they would have kept launching (despite the heat), if we had let them. Emilee was a little bothered by the sound at take off, but she did fine when we backed up a little. Logan wanted to push the launch button every time. The kids wanted to run to retrieve the rockets after each launch. We worried about the heat because their cheeks were red within minutes of starting. We drank lots of water, and we were all okay. I posted the best video from this in my "video" post a little while back.

Another fun thing we did was go to the Children's Museum on the museum's birthday. My parents were in town, so we all decided to head over for a few hours in the morning. Good thing, too, because it got busier as the time went on.

Logan driving through the car wash. Lately when I've gone with the kids, Logan has had to try/use every single size of trike before he is done with the car wash (even though some of the trikes are too big for him to pedal). He likes to be very independent and yells at me if I help "push" him through.

Emilee and I got our faces painted. I didn't expect Logan to sit still for that. But, I chose to get a train so he could enjoy it. And, he did.

Emilee chose to have a butterfly. She did a great job sitting still. She is very decisive and has no problem making up her mind (unlike me).

I'm glad Grandpa C was there with his camera to take pictures.

Grandma C took time with the kids in the art studio; they made Father's Day ties (paper cut out with a poem) for Daddy.

Logan likes playing with the puppets....for a bit at least.

This was my favorite!! We actually did this right after we got there. Emilee saw a photo booth and asked if we could go there. Logan was otherwise occupied, so she and I did it together. I don't know if any one else will think so, but I see a resemblance in these....at least the last one looks like the same expression to me. i had lots of fun having her choose my accessories and posing with her for the 20 seconds or so we were in the booth. Best part of my visit.


When we got home, Emilee and Grandma C worked on a doughnut cake. (It was Grandpa's idea.) We decided that if we make it again, we will need more doughnuts.

YUMMY!!! I think Logan stole a doughnut hole off when we were about to eat it all together. Little sneak!!

Birthday

To finish off the month of May, I turned 29 this year!! Britt made me a very special birthday cake. I requested that he make one we got from a magazine his mom had. It was homemade chocolate with a strawberry ice cream filling and topped with whipped cream and strawberries. It was DELICIOUS!! The kids and I each ate two pieces - it was soooo good. Then we shared it with our neighbors and some friends since we decided it would be best fresh.

Also, here is a "family picture" drawn by Emilee. She likes to draw pictures of us together, and we enjoy seeing what she comes up with. You may notice that she never forgets to give belly buttons to people.

And, we took this picture of me on June 2 just since we haven't really taken preggo pictures this time around. I'm pretty sure I have a picture of me in the same outfit when I was pregnant with Emilee, only when I was this big, I was a lot closer to my due date. Is August 23 ever going to get here????