The Reign of Terror

 

Juliette is 15 months old and has begun her reign of terror. She is the destroyer, the mess-maker, and she loves to ruin everybody's nice stuff. She is going non-stop and has earned quite the reputation. Anyone that has seen her in action knows that she is "crazy".

 

We all love watching what she'll do next. She's just cool.

 

 

We have learned to do puzzles on the counter and push all the stools away so that she can't reach the pieces.

 

I have learned that I need to come running when I don't see or hear from her for a little while. One day I was on the phone with B when suddenly I realized I hadn't seen Juliette for a while. Finally I found her dumping a box of noodles all over herself and the floor. I took a picture and sent it to my husband and said, "Your daughter."

 

Then two days ago I was on the phone with my sister-in-law when I realized the baby was missing. I came running and found her playing in the TOILET. I screamed when I saw her, I thought this brown stuff was poop, but I discovered it was Nutella. She must have smuggled the remnants of Charlie's Nutella snack off the kitchen table and then walked into the bathroom to play in the toilet.

 

She goes through about 4 outfits a day, she dumps at least one cup of water on herself a day. After she is done eating she throws her plate or bowl and whatever food is left in it on the floor. Then she climbs out of her chair and stands up. It doesn't matter how tight I strap her in, she is so skinny and determined that she can wiggle herself out of anything. 

 

 

She is brave and loves to do anything dangerous.

 

The minute anyone opens the front door, she runs as fast as she can out to the street because she knows it means that somebody is going to come chasing after her and she loves to be chased.

 

She's also smart and sweet. I love kissing her chubby cheeks and holding her close. She is my sweet Juliette.

During this mess-making stage that Juliette is going through, my house is never, ever tidy. Scarlett has started taking pictures with the ipad, the bummer is that the house always looks like a tornado came through, which is kind of what really happened.

We're all learning new things

 

This preschool science experiment is one that my Dad introduced us to when we were in Utah. He came home from the store with some dry ice and told all the grandkids to gather around and then he put the dry ice in a big bowl with a little water and then took a soapy wet towel and dragged it across the top of the bowl and it made a big bubble, the dry ice causes the bubble to grow bigger and bigger. The kids were amazed. There's a tutorial on youtube if you want to see it in action.

 

Jumping on the trampoline is so much more fun when there is a big open field next to you. The kids love looking around as they jump. They spend way more time jumping than they ever did before. We see geese, ducks, all different kinds of small birds, and even great egret's.

 

 

 

Saturday morning breakfast with a ballerina, Iron Man and Spidey.

 

Daddy stopped on one of our walks do a little fishing. He catches tons of fish in these little ponds.

 

Scarlett perched this baby doll on me and then stood back with my phone and took my picture.

 

Scarlett is big into painting these days. It's her favorite thing to do. As I sat with her, I decided to try my hand at some flowers. I just tried to copy an image of watercolor flowers that I saw on Pinterest. It was fun to be creative and try something I'd never done before.

 

Sisters. Juliette is always on the table or the counter. Always. There is no reasoning with her. It doesn't even frighten me anymore. Whenever we are out in public and she climbs onto something all the people around me come running to save the baby, and then I pretend to be worried and thankful that they saved her. But I'm so used to it...it's a constant part of my life.

 

During second breakfast, we had a dialogue that involved Ana, Elsa, Olaf, Superman, Wolverine, and Spidey.

 

We are all friends.

 

Another water color done by me. I took a picture because it is the only thing that I got done that day, and I wanted proof.

In Utah

 

We spent a week in Utah. My sister Valerie was going to bless her baby and we wanted to be there so we headed over there for spring break.

 

My sister Janiel has a dog who had puppies, so she brought the puppies over so that the cousins could maul them.

 

I didn't see Scarlett for four hours while she hovered over these puppies. She was in heaven. She really loves animals.

 

It's so fun when my family can get together. We are such a big group, and in this picture we had my brother-in-law's family here too.

 

This is Juliette and her cousin Ethan. They are about two weeks apart. Clearly, they are related. I caught them hugging each other later that evening.

 

There was a rare moment where Juliette had the trampoline all to herself. She jumped as hard as she could. She has no fear.

 

These two golden haired girls are a few months apart. They play really cute together.

 

Poor little puppies. I'm glad Scarlett didn't kill any of you.

How We Do It

 

Charlie's preschool this year has been lots of fun. When I told him it was my turn to teach he gave me a huge hug and said "Yay!!! I love it when you're my teacher." My kids have all loved it when I teach, I hope they have lots of good memories of preschool and me and my friends teaching them. 

 

Sometimes the boys just lay on the couch and be silly.

 

Northern California is stunning in the spring time. Amazing, catch-your-breath beautiful. I think we have enjoyed it this year more than ever, mainly because our rental backs up to open space and I can look at fields and fields of green grass and listen to hundreds of birds chirp all day long.

 

The kids are constantly exploring. I love to watch them.

 

When I see B with all of our kids, I kind of can't believe that they are all ours. There's just so many of them! We love each one so much.

 

The clouds wanted me to take their picture.

 

Juliette was trying to get stung by one of the dozens of bees that were circling these purple flowers.

 

Scarlett snuck into my purse and put on my lip gloss. This happens daily.

 

Happiest kid in the world, right here.

 

B took the boys out fishing in the pond behind our house. You can see them in the field if you look closely. B said he caught and released about ten fish. The boys kept yelling to me, "Hi Mom!!! I love you!!"