It's birthday time again!

Emily turned 11 today! What a great day she had. First, she got up early and finished all her school work before breakfast! She enjoyed making pancakes with me, and we all enjoyed eating them with cookie and cream ice cream. What a great breakfast!

Because she was done with school she had time to play with the little girls. It was fun for all of them, and really helped me out!

She helped with her birthday dinner as well - crepes with fresh fruit and whipped cream. She helped cut up the strawberries and make the crepe batter and cook the crepes. It worked out well since she was done with school and could help earlier!

Here is her amazing ice cream cake, that we made over several days. First we made the ice cream layers by putting vanilla and strawberry ice cream in foil-lined 9-in round cake pans. The next day we made the fudge sauce and crushed the cookies and put the cake together. Then we put it back in the freezer so it could set up. The next day we made the whipped cream and covered the cake. The next day we made blue whipped cream and decorated the cake, then put it back in the freezer. The next day we ate it and it was really delicious!

Grandma and Grandpa Nichols arrived and brought their gift. 

$11 and a nice card.

A blue camera. 

She was so excited.

New church shoes.

A little big but that means she has room to grow.

She asked for a big tube of toothpaste.

Big Hero 6, Flipper, and Two Brothers DVDs

She asked for a variety of mints.

She also asked for Whoppers.

She thought she would get one or the other.

She asked for this one as well.

She enjoys crocheting so this will teach her some new skills.

Two Nancy Drew books and A Little Princess.

What is this?

A handmade wand from Ben.

What a thoughtful brother.

Harmonie and Domonique made her lots of pictures!

Always fun to wrap in comics - 

it takes a little longer to open the gift.

Scrapping booking supplies!

Now that's a big one!

Croquet to play in the backyard!

The kids enjoy playing it with Steve and Tamara.

So now they can practice at home.

Silly girl, loves the paper.

Tore it to small pieces and handed it to Grandma Nichols.

Enjoy cake!

It was a very nice day. I think she enjoyed it, even though the other girls didn't get around to decorating for her. Marissa also spent the afternoon drawing a picture of Emily - which I didn't get a picture of. I think she enjoyed the day and the little girls enjoyed having her attention. Thank you, Emily, for being part of our family.

Just playing together

I have been a little better this week about catching random moments. So there really isn't much to say about some of these, just that we are doin' well and having fun together.

Harmonie was just chillin' by herself with finger puppets. She was telling some sort of story and Ben started to listen. He then helped her change the story a bit and she thought it was funny.

I missed the moment I really wanted to capture. Just before they got to the driveway, Harmonie was pulling Camdilyn through the grass between our house and the neighbor's. It is a slight hill up to the driveway so she was having some difficulty. Then Emily showed up to help her out. It was so fun to watch them play together, serving, helping, sharing, loving.

Mimicking

I was sitting with Ben on the couch when Harmonie came up with a game. She asked if it was Ben's game and I said that it was. She then asked Ben, "May I play your game?" He said she could so she walked away to play it at the table. The next thing we know, Camdilyn comes up with a game and says something that was similar to "play the game please." It was just so funny that Camdilyn picked up on what Harmonie had done (asked) and what she was allowed to do (play the game) so she figured it would work for her.

Third left hander!

She definitely prefers drawing with her left hand.

What a cutie!

She brought me a "drawing" once and said, "Look what I did." At least, that's what it sounded like she said. She was so proud to show me her drawing. So sweet!

Having fun outside

Kevin has Fridays off - most of the time - so that has been really nice. One of the advantages is that he can be outside with the little girls while the older kids are still inside doing school. They had such a fun time today!

They are all figuring out the pumping thing,

although Harmonie and Camdilyn still need to be pushed.

They all love the new chicks - 

which are getting bigger!

It was some fun time outside with Dad, but I sort of missed being out there.... hence the reason I went out to take pictures. I couldn't miss it completely.

Wish it was always this easy!

On Wednesday, Camdilyn came up to me, plugged her nose, and said, "Eww." I asked if she was stinky. She said, "Ses." I told her to go lay down. She went to the bathroom and laid down. I took care of the little bit she had done in her diaper and asked is she wanted to go on the potty. (I ask her occassionally so she's used to this.) She said, "Ses." So I put her on the potty. To my utter amazement she finished going #2! Hooray! I sang our little song and she smiled! I cleaned her up and gave her some chocolate! What a great moment! I sure wish potty training was that easy!

Since then, Xiomara has really gotten involved. She takes Camdilyn to the potty more often during the day and really enjoyed seeing her sister's success. Maybe we'll have this one potty trained before she turns 2! (Which would also be before baby #9 comes!) Not pushing it but we shall see.

Not quite all done.

I gave Camdilyn some food for lunch, and she was eating it well, so I walked away to attend to the other children. I heard her say, "All done." I went back to see how she was really doing and found that the food was all gone from her tray.

Can you see all the food pieces on the floor? She had dropped it off the side of her tray and figured she was all done since the food was gone. Silly girl.

She didn't really want me.

We shut the doors to the dining room when we don't want Camdilyn to come in. I was helping someone in the school room, or kitchen, and she came yelling at the door. I eventually went out to see what she needed and this is what I found.

She didn't want me. She wanted her big buddy, Xiomara, to come and spent time with her. They were playing with something and just being friends together. It was a fun little moment.