New look!

We finally went to pick up their new glasses.

So here they are with their old ones on.

And here they are in their new glasses. 

They picked them out on their own (mostly).
Marissa's are a red/black color.
Ben's are black.

Domonique wanted me to take her picture as well.

She was standing there when I took the other kids pictures so it only made sense to her.

(Note: Ben's hair is a little crazy because it needs to be cut, but he wants to grow it out so we are in that weird in between phase. Ugh.)

Cross-over into Boy Scouts

Tonight we had our last Cub Scout Pack Meeting, which was also the Blue and Gold Banquet. Ben earned lots of awards: Citizen Belt Loop, 6 Webelos Activity Pins, Webelos patch, Arrow of Light, and the Compass patch. At the end they had him cross over to Boy Scouts. 

Here he is leaving the Cub Scouts.

Here he is saying good-bye to his den leader.

Here he is being welcomed into the Boy Scouts!

It was a fun evening and I'm thankful to Kevin who had the camera and took the cross over pictures. (I had to step out to change a stinky diaper.)

The quick change!

Domonique fell off her chair.
She was so sad.
I started to take pictures of her.
She quickly recovered and even gave me a smile.
Sweet little girl!

Fun with the walker.

Harmonie has figured out some new things to do with her walker, that she doesn't need for walking.
She was actually pushing Domonique around the living room, and Domonique was having a great time.

She climbs into all on her own - as long as the top is open. She can't get out but she loves to get in and wait for a ride.

Pom Pom

Marissa saw this in a craft book and decided to make it all by herself. I'm not sure what she'll do with it but she was excited. Now she has moved on to her favorite activity - reading. Maybe drawing is her favorite but she enjoyed both of them. Just thought I'd post something about my older girls since they don't get much time on this blog of mine.

District Pinewood Derby

I wasn't going to go but figured it was Ben's last time to see one so I signed him up. He was a little upset when I told him he couldn't make a new car but he got over it. We went as a family - Kevin had the day off - and I think it was worth it. Some of the cars looked so different - skinny sticks of wood with wheels - and some were chunkier. I think our big mistake was that we didn't put any graphite on the axles when we turned it in so his car didn't race very well. Anyway, it was interesting to see.

Here are all the Webelo's cars.

Some of us sat on one side of the track.

A couple sat on the other side.

Ben's car is the second from the right.

Nearing the finished line in 4th place.

It was held at a mall in Midland (45 minutes away) so we enjoyed lunch in the food court after the racing. I think we all enjoyed that as well! On the way home we stopped by the Scout Shop and picked up all the stuff he'll need for moving up to Boy Scouts. I think he's excited. We also picked up a movie on the way home so we enjoyed watching that after dinner. What a fun fill family day!

Ben's own creation

Ben worked on this one for a little while, and was very excited to show it to me. He told me all the things it could do - which was a lot because it's an exploration vehicle. When I took pictures, it had 5 arms that all did something different - drill, grabber, laser, camera, double drill, camera, and something else. He told me all about it and it was fun to watch him.

I took video of it as well, with him talking all about it and showing how it works. We realized recently that I take lots of video of the little kids but not much of the bigger kids, so I thought it was important to video something that he is interested in doing. I'm sure we'll enjoy watching that video in 5 years and see how different he is. He might build a real working one of these by then!

Not really important

I looked at my voicemail email today and didn't recognize the phone number, so I was intrigued to listen to the message to see who had called me. To my surprise it was me. I had run an errand and called Kevin about dinner but totally forgot and didn't recognize my own cell phone number. Is that strange? I don't use it very much and no one calls me on it so I don't know the number.

On to a potty training update: Today was the first no accident day! Hooray! She's doing so great!

A little odd

Xiomara and Kemiah are pretending to baptize each other. I told them I wasn't sure they should do that because they don't have the authority. Their response was, "We're just pretending." It is just a little strange to hear my 7 year old quote the baptismal prayer by heart as they pretend. They are going through it all, pretending to get into white clothes, pretending to change when they are done, and so forth. They have even let Domonique join in, and I'm sure they have baptized Domonique a couple times. Fortunately, they are good enough at pretending that they haven't asked me to fill the tub with water.

Coming Right Along

Domonique told me TWICE today that she needed to go potty and she kept her underwear dry!
I guess I should also mention the time when I asked her if she needed to go and she said yes... then as she got closer to the bathroom she said, "Don't say 'oh my goodness' to my poop." She had already gone in her underwear. Bummer. But she is doing much better so I am doing much better! Funny how that works!

Happy First Birthday Little Harmonie!

I can't believe it has been a year already! Wow! She grew up so fast! That means we have all made it another year. She is feeling much better, after having caught another bug last week, so we are all happy that she was better able to enjoy her birthday. We started off with pancakes and ice cream, of course. Marissa was helping to feed Harmonie and she really enjoyed it!

 

Her card from my parents was here so she opened that, with a little help, and we enjoyed reading it to her... and she enjoyed trying to eat it.

For the most part the day was pretty normal... school for the other kids, naps for her. We tried to sing to her throughout the day and so I'm sure she is totally aware of what's going on and that we are celebrating her!

Grandma and Grandpa Nichols brought the cupcakes and they were so cute!

We sang as Kevin brought out the cupcake. She watched but wasn't sure what to do about the fire on the candle. Domonique had said earlier that she was going to help Harmonie blow out the candle, but she couldn't reach it.

We enjoyed watching her open presents and she enjoyed all the attention. I have gotten into a rut with these gifts because I don't feel like buying her anything because we have so many toys for little ones, so we just picked out a few that we thought she would enjoy and gave them to her. She enjoyed pulling the stuff out of the bags so it was fun to watch her. Good thing Grandpa and Grandma Nichols are nice to our kids so they can have one new toy on their first birthday. She only used one hand for a really long time. It was funny, but eventually she started to use both hands.

 

Her favorite part was eating the cupcake. She was nervous at first, because she wasn't sure about touching her food. Once she knew she wasn't going to get into trouble she went for it and really did a great job!

 

I gave her a bath after the cupcake because it was a little messy. She really likes the bath so she didn't mind at all. It's so fun to watch this little one, especially now that she's feeling better and back to her happy self.

It was a nice day and we truly enjoy Harmonie so much. All the kids love her and she loves most everyone.