Birthday messes...

After an email from my dad, I thought to go through old iPhoto files to actually compare the pictures we have of each kid on their first birthday. Turns out, Mitchell was DEFINITELY the messiest. Elise, who loves to get messy and muddy now, didn't make a mess AT ALL at her first birthday in Japan. Ainsley is ok with messes SOMEDAYS, but seemed to enjoy her first bday with a cute pink cake. And Mitchell CLEARLY had the greatest hair as he celebrated his big first birthday! All were adorable and it's always fun to reminisce a little...


Elise

Ainsley

Mitchell

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MITCHELL!

Almost 2 weeks ago Mitchell turned 1. ONE!? Really!? I feel like he should still be about 6 months old...but he's not, and we love him so much!! He's is sweet, cuddly, and goofy. That makes a great combination. Although he's not really saying any words yet, he 'talks' all the time. Actually, it's SCREAMING. He's a loud stinker. He has the greatest 'old man hair' that gets comments from EVERYONE! We LOVE his webby toes- and that his feet smell like his Uncle Paul's feet after 2-a-days in high school football. I know it won't be cute later, but the smelly feet is adorable right now. He loves playing hide-and-seek, especially with big sister Elise! He will squeal like a teenage girl when he sees a dog. He sleeps GREAT (13 hours over night + 3 hour daytime nap....THANK YOU, Buddy!!!!), eats well, and is soooo tolerant of his sisters and the overall chaos in our house. We're so thankful for him and love that God placed him in our family one year (and a couple weeks...fine, I'm late again on a blog...) ago!

He loves his Thomas trains from Nana...


...and here comes the cake!....


...oops! Did I throw something off my tray onto the floor!?! sorry...
He ate a TON of cake and then we headed up to the bath.


The birthday boy had a fun day, was completely spoiled with tons of hugs,kisses, and phone calls! The girls had a lot of fun wrapping gifts, decorating the cake, and playing with their favorite little one year old. It was a great, great day.

GREATEST NEPHEW EVER!!!!!

Ok, so he's also our only nephew, but WE LOVE HIM!!!!!!! About 2 1/2 weeks ago, my younger brother Paul and his wife Jen welcomed their first child, Evan Thomas, in to this world! I'm pretty embarrassed that it took me 2 1/2 weeks to put up a post about the cutest baby ever...SORRY P,J, and e!!!!!!

For some reason, I haven't saved all the pictures they sent, so here are a couple from the hospital and this last 2 weeks at home. He is beautiful and we CANNOT wait to meet him!!!!!!! I'm hoping to take a trip up to visit them in a month or so, but I'm not telling Elise because she will be DESTROYED that she doesn't get to see him as soon as I do. Even Ainsley, who rarely thinks of anyone but herself, was pretending yesterday with her favorite baby doll " Dis is Baby Evan...i feed him milkie, change his poopy diapey, and sing him songs. I wuv him." Awesome.

The new mom and dad are doing well, adjusting to the fact that some babies cry A LOT, they don't read the same books about "sleeping/eating/being perfect" that we do, and that it really stinks to not get enough sleep. AND... they're doing a great job! Jen may be one of the toughest women I know...and I know a LOT of quality, hard-core mommies out there... She's amazing.

If you know them and want to check out their blog, it's martinschicago.blogspot.com.



i think this is my favorite picture of him so far....I just want to smell him! And touch him and kiss him...ok, I sound a little creepy now.

G.L.O.W...here comes Elise!

Anyone who 'gets' the title should be embarrassed. I wrote it and am even kind of humiliated, but I just couldn't stop myself...

Last weekend (a full week ago, I'm a little behind again blogging!), some friends came over for an impromptu hangout/cookout. Their two little boys are 4 and 1, and PERFECTLY adorable. I secretly encourage Elise to have a little crush on Jackson. He's only about 6 months younger than her, and he's so precious. They had a TON of fun playing in our playroom together!

Side note: Adam and Elise wrestle/play a lot. Elise LOVES playing rough and can handle a good deal of rough-housing... so, Jackson probably wasn't prepared for a girl who could hold her own wrestling with a very rambunctious boy! They both giggled a lot and the only blood drawn was a total accident. =)
I'm pretty sure, while I was taking THIS NEXT shot, Jackson said, "It's ok, she can stay there...". What!?! Alan, you'd better keep an eye on that boy! ....On second thought, look at that gleam in Elise's eye! Adam, we need to keep an eye on OUR kid!




Mitchell and Chase 'played' together a little bit, too. Mitchell SO needs some boys around to teach him how to play with something other than baby dolls, toy kitchens, dress-up jewelry, and strollers... Chase was educating him on balls, throwing stuff, and yelling. It was great. Ainsley just kind of hung out and played with the big kids a little, the little boys sometimes, and spent time on her own hiding/hoarding other kids' stuff.


I mean, REALLY!?! Could you find a sweeter little face!?!

Because we have girls...

On Friday, it was raining around here (again!), so we were looking for something to play inside and not be too rowdy since Mitchell was sleeping. We came up with "Ballet Class", "Gymnastics class", and "Beauty Salon"...We even engaged in "small talk" like you do at a salon...she told me all about her 'job-"I walk around the town and give toys and clean water to the poor people. They need water and good toys to live longer and have fun. I do it every day, all years long...". sweet. It was a lot of fun, the girls enjoyed themselves, and I could create THIS in Elise's hair:
She kept it like this for a couple hours until Adam came home. She wanted to show daddy her "beautiful salon hair"...

Our Weekend...

Sometimes on a Sunday night, I wonder, "What did we DO all weekend?" They go by so fast, we laugh so much, but then I already forget what we did. That's why I keep this blog, I guess. We're working on one of those programs that turns all your blog posts into a photo album...but here's a quick glimpse at our weekend:

Saturday morning, Adam and Ainsley went and picked up a ton of wood from a GREAT Craigslist deal. Elise (and Mitchell) and I went to a friend's house to tie-dye. We had a blast. The moms were working WAY harder than the kiddos and we got way messier, but it was fun. The girls each made their own shirt and one for a younger sibling. They also made a pillowcase each. They turned out so cute. Here are my girls modeling two of the six items.


Then we made stepping stones (with handprints, pieces of glass, stones, jewels, etc...) Those will be fun to put in the garden... the kids played in the water while my friend set up a picnic lunch. Ainsley and Adam got back from their errand and we all had a picnic lunch in PERFECT weather under a great shade tree!
Then it was on to naptimes for 3 kids and unloading obnoxious amounts of wood for the adults.
We got them up a few hours later and headed to a nearby creek to play in the water again. The water was VERY COLD and the sun had disappeared, so they only lasted about an hour before we needed to get them out and put on dry clothes.

The creek is at one of the city parks and there's a great playground right there too. So, once everyone had dry clothes on, we spent about an hour and 1/2 at the swings, playground. We had a GREAT time running around all together. =) These kids could swing all day long.


We headed home, realized it was dinnertime, stopped for ice cream for dinner (the first time I've EVER done that with the kids...it was fun! They had a vanilla cone at 6:30, a bowl of cereal when we got home, quick bathtime, and then straight to bed!

Sunday we had church in the morning (and YAY for the nursery workers and Sarah Rachel volunteering...I got to enjoy an ENTIRE CHURCH SERVICE without being paged for Mitchell!). After church, we head straight home for lunch and naps. During naptime, Adam mowed the lawn and I washed our cars- inside and out...literally could feed a household on the Cheerio and Goldfish crumbs from my car... After naptime, we spent about an hour 1/2 in the pool (Adam was in the water with the girls pretending to be an alligator- lots of fun!), then played inside for a little while, dinner, and kids were all in bed by 7:45.
Phew.
We sat on the front porch with a glass of wine/beer and chatting with neighbors for a couple hours...which is so nice and relaxing.
There you go. A typical weekend in a nutshell for the Moseleys...

Growing...

Mitchell LOVES to eat! He was once kind of a skinny, scrawny little thing. No longer. His one year appointment is in two weeks (we won't even talk about HOW it's POSSIBLE that he's almost 1!!!) and I'm pretty sure he'll no longer be in the 15% grouping...the kid is huge all of a sudden. He LOVES mealtime and can throw down as much as Ainsley at a single meal. So much so that his legs no longer fit under the clip-on high chair and we had to get him his own toddler sized high chair/booster seat thing. =)

His legs should be able to fit UNDER the table at the thigh...but they can't. So, that thing is on Craigslist now and he's in a new chair: