Since We've Been Home...

We didn't waste a minute getting the kids to the snow after we got home! Here's Emerson and Dave on the lift.

Soli was far more interested in the dog than in the snow...

Spring Breakin' in Palm Springs. Soli is 11 months in this pic. Chill out girly!!

My mom got the girls matching swimsuits for Easter. Love it!!

We went camping at the beach in March (brrr!) with Gramma, Grandpa and all the cousins.

Here we are the six of us. The sun finally came out as we were leaving...

We had a couple of warm days in February so we wasted no time in getting the kids to the beach. We have rather foggy summers here so you have to take advantage of beach days when you can (even in February!). This was taken in Monterey near Lover's Point. Emerson - 6 1/2, Evie - 4, Coleman - 10, and Soli - 9 1/2 months

Gotta love Costco!

Soli and I went on our first "Mommy-Soli" adventure in March. We flew to San Antonio, Texas for my sister's baby shower. Here we are in front of the River Walk in downtown San Antonio. My favorite quote of the trip: "She must look like her daddy!" My second favorite quote of the trip: "Where'd y'all get her?" Honestly.

About 5 days after we got home from Guatemala Emerson and Dave had a "Dad and Lad" bake-off for boy scouts. The whole pack participated (about 65 boys and their dads) and my boys won second place for their Guatemala inspired volcano cake!! See the "smoke"? We were so excited! And the best part? I didn't have anything to do with it (moms were strictly prohibited from participating). We do have fun...

Soli loves bathtime and if I put in just the right amount of water she can lay back and her hair flows all around like an afro. Love it!

Stayin' close to Mama on Valentine's Day - just 4 days after we got home.

Soli's Valentine's Day shirt read "Picked With Love". I thought that was so fitting!

Look at my beautiful brown eyed baby girl!

Our second day home - getting the boys ready for their first day back to school. They were so excited. It was slightly surreal for me to walk into my kitchen and see four kids eating breakfast around the island. It was so great to be home!

After returning home from Antigua I had every intention of simplifying our over scheduled California life. Everything was on the chopping block: boy scouts, basketball, ballet, preschool, Costco, MOPS (my mothering club), even blogging was thrown into the "restructuring" pool of uncertainty. I told the kids that we were going to try to be less busy so we would have more "Antigua" time with nothing on the schedule. I told them that if they didn't absolutely love an activity or sport we were going to bag it. So we spent the better part of the first month home considering each of our activities, and much to my surprise, and initial frustration, we were hardly able to cut anything out. Emerson was more than happy to let basketball go by the wayside, although Cole was eager to play. Both boys were excited to get back into boy scouts, and I could hardly justify telling Evie that we weren't going to preschool anymore (she loves preschool!). And as much as I try to avoid Costco...well...I have four kids. We go through a lot of toilet paper. So, as you can see, we were right back to our old ways rather quickly! At first I felt irritated by my busy life and somewhat perplexed by why it was that we couldn't cut anything out. But the more I thought about it the more I realized that our life was exactly as we had designed it. Dave and I want our kids to have opportunities and learn new skills that they don't necessarily get in school. And we want to be involved in their lives. We want to volunteer in their classes and help coach their sports teams. We definitely want to help them do well in school and be there at their games and performances. So after about a month I realized this simple truth: this is my life for right now. This is my reality. Baseball and boy scouts and ballet and Costco are my reality at this point in my life. Sooner than I can even imagine, my kids will be grown and gone, and I will deeply miss my days of baseball, boy scouts, and ballet. So I decided to stop digging my heels in and love every jam packed busy day that I get with my kids. I'm embracing my busy-ness, and I have even found a special place in my heart for Costco. We have become more choosey about which activities we do and which we skip. The rule is that if you don't absolutely love it, it's not going on the schedule. And for the most part everyone is allowed to do one extra curricular activity at a time (although boy scouts is year round so that throws a monkey wrench...). Anyway, we're busy but balanced, and I am thankful for the freshened perspective on my busy-ness. I wouldn't wish away a single minute of it. As for my little miss Soli girl, she is adjusting smashingly. When we first got home she was a total Mama's girl (which you know I love!). She met so many new people in those first few days I think she was slightly overwhelmed. Whenever someone new would come around she would hold on tight to my shirt with both hands and bury her little face in my shoulder. But after just a few days she perked up and was smiling at all her new fans. She even learned to wave!! And her first word that she uttered just a few weeks after arriving home..."hi"! Is that the cutest thing ever?! All she heard was "hi" for 3 straight weeks! So fun! She has pretty much been sleeping through the night since we got home which is awesome. I swear she didn't sleep through the night but once while we were in Guatemala. I was rather sleep deprived, although Dave still thinks I was fibbing! It really did seem like she had been waiting to get home to her own bed. The first night we put her in her crib she put her little head down and rubbed her little hands on her soft flannel sheets. After a little head scratch and couple run throughs of "Nighty-night" she was out and didn't make a peep until 7:30 AM. She had such a rough time in Guatemala. Between rotavirus, stomach flu and the four teeth that came in she was uncomfortable a lot of the time. Not to mention that she was still getting used to us. Poor girl! But she just seems so much more comfortable since we've been home. I went through more infant medicine with her during those two months in Guatemala that I did during the infancies of the other three total. Just the other day I had to break out the infant tylenol for the first time since we've been home (she had a tooth breaking through). But that's over with and she is absolutely great! She is just about crawling. I would say she'll be officially mobile in the next day or two. She is a true joy and we all love her so much. Evie, however, is taking her time adjusting to having Soli her own environment. I think in Guatemala everything was so new that having a new baby in the house hardly made an impact on her. But now that we're home she is feeling the squeeze. She has to share her room and her toys and her grandparents. All of our friends are coming over to ohh and ahh over the new baby and she's like, "Hey, what about me? I used to be the baby princess! Don'tcha know?" So we have some hugs that are way too hard and some rough kisses that send Soli toppling backwards while she's sitting. The other day as I held Soli on my hip (on a boy scout outing no less) Evie came over and leaned up against my leg and bit Soli's dangling foot! I was so mad even though I know it's all totally normal and to be expected. Still very irritating! Errr! I'm just trying to give her as much special time as I can. Mommy-Sissy time we call it. That helps, and just in the last couple of days I've noticed some improvements, so hopefully she's moving through this phase. Anyway, I've posted some pics of what we've been up to these last couple of months. I hope all is well. Thanks for checking in! ~Heather