officially out of the squishy newborn stage.

Don't photo shoots always end this way?

The boys swear she crawled yesterday. (Meaning she was on her tummy like this and scooted forward maybe a centimeter.) I can't say I'm too happy about her no longer being a cuddly newborn, but obviously I think she's cute enough to post a million pictures of her.

Also, these pictures of Isla reminded me of Everett, a little older, here.

The Aunties came.

Oh how I love it when these two come!! Their visit was perfectly timed (well, for me at least) because Rick hasn't been around much, and I get a little lonely in the evenings.

They made play dough, which the kids loved. 

Faye Jeanel with Aunt Jeanel.

Suzette is back there working on the most delicious caramel apples I have ever tasted.

The obligatory photo in front of the Alamo.

I think this is why the boys love to go to the Alamo: to play with the cannons. Faye obviously has no idea.

Poor Faye does get attacked a lot.

Jeanel brought along Ryker, the boys' cousin closest to their age. They were so excited for him to come and had a great time with him.

Jeanel wanted to take the kids to the Rainforest Cafe at the Riverwalk. (Note: never go to the Rainforest Cafe at the Riverwalk. The service was awful.) They thought it was so cool, and Carson actually did not plug his ears the whole time. Faye hated the gorilla sitting right above her, though.

Since it was close to Carson's birthday, we had them sing to him. They asked him to get up and dance like an animal, and he was a good sport to do it.

Cousin fun at the park.

Faye is a climber, and Suzette got to be the one to chase her around for once!

Isla has never had so much love and attention as she did the week the sisters were here. Jeanel bathed her almost daily, put lotion and baby powder on her, snuggled her, etc. Now that I'm her primary caretaker again, the poor baby is lucky if she gets a fresh onesie every day!

She is cute!

Funny boys getting ready for an early birthday celebration for Carson.

Carson is really 5 now!

Ice cream sandwiches.

Carson had a really hard time missing Ryker after he left. Like, crying hard in his bed for a long time. Cousins are too much fun.

Suzette and Jeanel did so much for us, besides loving our kids. They helped me get a little bit better organized, bought me new dish rags since all of mine are stinky, encouraged me to go all the way to IKEA (by myself!), fed Isla her first bottle, did tons of laundry every day, and cooked some yummy dinners, among other things. We hope they come back soon!

Isla smiles.

Isla showed us a real smile for the first time the day she turned 6 weeks old. 

Now she is quite the smiley girl! She does not, however, sleep through the night. I was looking in Faye's journal, and at this age Faye regularly slept 10 hours straight at night. What?? Isla is definitely less fussy than Faye was, but I guess she just likes to eat more often!

It's not easy to make a baby smile and take a picture of it simultaneously.
Either you get no smile...

or you get a smile and the picture is crazy!

Sisters!
(I did not let this go on for more than a second. Faye is not one you can trust behind wheels!)

Twinners.

Lots to blog about and catch up on, but this is my current favorite photo. The aunties, Rick's sisters Suzette and Jeanel just left after a week-long visit. We miss them!

random pictures.

It's one of those Saturdays when I know I can't get even half of the to-do list done. (I used to get up an hour or two earlier than the kids to get things done. Nighttime nursing sure makes that impossible!) Getting these random pictures posted will at least help me feel like I got something accomplished today.

This must be from a while ago, because I am finally making Faye only use her pacifier to sleep. She was so mad the first couple of days I told her it had to stay in the crib. (Her favorite way to show she's mad is to throw herself down and bang her head on the floor.) But now she keeps the rule, thank goodness. 

My lovely second freezer. I am so protective of my freezer meals and rarely use them. Silly, right??

Carson loves playing hockey with his dad. Family baseball games in our backyard are also a current favorite.

Rick gave Isla her first bath at home. (A job usually reserved for Grandmama; we wish she could have come to do it!)

We went bowling for Everett's half birthday, which the kids loved!

Both an aunt and Grandma in Utah sent packages with some really fun Halloween things. These kids love getting packages!! And the activities were real winners: these scratch-off pictures, plus glow-in-the-dark slime were good for some quiet entertainment.

This picture is totally deceiving. Her attention span for this sort of thing is about  30 seconds.

Sometimes Faye demands to hold baby sister. Today she was rocking and singing to her. Just watch out: she could throw her down at any second.

Isla takes her naps in random places. Sometimes I forget where she is.

Carson is good at multi-tasking!

Both boys love when Isla lays with them before bed. One night, Carson and Isla were actually both asleep for a bit!

Baby girl all swaddled up.

There. I finished something today!