lots of pictures!

 this was July 4th. btw, we had a great time seeing Brett and jes when they were out for the weekend, and i've been waiting to talk about it till i steal some pictures from Des' FB page. we hadn't seem them in a while, and it was so good to spend some time with them. they make such an effort to interact with the kids on their level, and have so much patience for them, its amazing! we had alot of fun!

 another one from the day of her birth, when patrick introduced her to the kids.

 charlie is such a big boy now, he does so many things. one of which is pulling up the stool in the bathroom and washing his hands himself. of course he loves to do this, as often as possible. (translation: dont even bother washing the floor. it'll only look clean for a few hrs). one of his favourite words is "self". as in, i want to do it myself. its a difficult stage, because he cant' actually do alot of it himself. so he's wanting to be more independent, but also quite clingy these days. i think because of the baby. there is just alot of crying still, but less of it is from me :-). he and caroline both do their part! this morning i asked charlie a question, and he said, 'i dont know either.' kind of caught me by surprise. he was just repeating what i often say to him, but it was still in context. he asks what everything is, and where everybody is, so he's stringing some words together. The most common word is still "no". in response to everything. gets kind of old! so he's a whiny butt much of the time these days, but still very sweet.

 as you can see, this is just a random assortment of old pictures.

 i got him his own backpack, because he loved hannah's so much, and so he'd be ready to go to nana and pop pop's when the baby came. such a big boy!

 sisterly bonding.

 the first bath. i think she's only had one more, so far. and they aren't the leisurely, play in the water, try to get her to smile kind. just the hold her up by one arm and splash some soap on her kind. it is different this time :-)

 charlie asks to hold her all the time. he generally lasts about 10 sec before pushing her off. but he has started saying 'done' then waiting for me to take her, instead.

 we have a nearly identical picture, but 4 yrs ago. i have no opinion on which child or parent i think caroline looks like.

 now i know technology has its downfalls, and i would be the first to list them, but i do have to say, there are good things too. this picture was when we were skyping with brett and jes. as you can see, caroline was very excited to see her aunt and uncle for the first time :-). charlie had a blast, too. it was good because we had just seen them, so he rembered.

 finally, i put her in some girl clothes!

 i love the stretch. everytime i take her out of the carrier, there's the stretch. she is doing well, eating and all that. but i think she likes to be held even more than hannah did. charlie would fall asleep in the carrier, then i could put him down and he'd stay sleeping. this child, not so much. so i'm wearing her basically all the time. i dont' mind, but it is hard to do alot of other things, like carry charlie. or change him. or have anybody sit on my lap. i only have 3, and i feel like its still hard to meet everybodys needs. (hence the aforementioned crying). so she eats every 2-3 hrs, very ocassionally takes a nap on the bed, and hangs out in the carrier the rest of the time.

 my mom and sisters sent me this fun balloon bouquet on my birthday. complete with a little pail of hershey kisses tied on. the kids really enjoyed the balloons and the chocolate, i am proud to say, is in the freezer! (most of it)

 charlie still eats mostly cheese, bread, fruit, and plain yogurt. and anything sweet he can get his hands on, like this big bowl of strawberry shortcake.

 doctor is a favorite game. he's old enough for them to play together, but hannah gets frustrated alot when he doesn't do what she tells him to. such a a firstborn! :-)

 but good buds nonetheless.

 hannah participated in vbs this year for the first time. i think she had fun, but still asked to stay home on the last day. it was a cooking theme, hence the hat.

making (and tasting) the birthday cake.

patrick got to fly again this week, back to south dakota.
i want to welcome 2 new babies to the world, alec glenn masson, born to my friends kari and jonathan in senegal, and Mirren Bridget Rosenburgh, my cousin's new daughter in Ottawa. (that would be canada :-). i so wish i could see and hold both of these babies, but so far away!

patrick has 2 great aunts diagnosed with cancer recently, one fixed through surgery, hopefully, and one undergoing treatments for the next little while. (the family is so glad to have david and des closer, they've been a huge support, practically and emotionally, in times like this.) so we've are praying for them. mia and hadley come back on monday, so we'll see what our new routine looks like next week. (to be honest, it'll probably be next month before we have a new routine. for awhile it will just be more like chaos!)