Have I mentioned how much our little people love Little People?! I'm still in awe that these toys continue to amuse all of the girls. Even though our littlest person isn't in this picture, she's equally entertained by these toys! I bought an eBay lot of Little People vehicles a few Christmases ago, and they are truly some of the most played with toys in our house.
Sometimes I can compete with the toys, and can get a couple girls in my lap for a quick book. I understand I'm not the most fun distraction in this house, though. And that is perfectly fine! The best thing about having five kids is that they entertain each other so well. I can't remember the last time I was asked to participate in a board game or pretend play. Thank god!
We had a few sunny days! Those are always park and picture-worthy!
I'm not sure how I didn't notice this sooner. In fact, who knows how long this has been true? But, Tessa is suddenly noticeably taller than Annie!
In February, we celebrated Uncle Kyle's birthday, and tried to see how many kids we could pile on top of him. I'm pretty sure he's sworn off ever having children of his own!
Have you ever seen a baby so happy to be schlepped around in the car?
With company like this, I can see why! Although, I need to point out that, since the taking of this picture, she is now aware of how undesirable the middle seat is. She now fully participates in the mad dash to the car to choose (if she's super lucky and very fast!) the pink seat, or the blue seat. The middle seat is officially the seat that elicits the arched backed tantrums and general freaking out. On a positive note, this little battle definitely promotes speed in the morning and some healthy competition!
She is not so speedy about getting out of the car. Mary can often be found lingering in the driver's seat, looking for treats, playing with CDs, and sometimes making piggy faces :)
Things are not always rosy around here, especially after school. As much as Megan enjoys school, she doesn't always appreciate her homework. She's become quite the perfectionist, which makes it hard to help her out. I often hear, "That's not the way that Miss Stelling said we should do it. Mommy, you don't understand!! It's not going to be right!" What could I possibly understand about first grade homework?? I should just stay out of it. We have a long, homework-filled road to hoe with this one!
This big girl is still flying through books, though. She's currently loving the Ramona books and the entire Nancy Drew Clue Crew collection that she inherited from cousin Emma. Books are literally spilling off shelves in both of the girls' bedrooms, so Megan always has a new book to move on to. She's perfected the arts of reading by flashlight in bed with the lights out, reading while walking, and reading during recess at school. (This isn't as anti-social as it seems. She has a crowd of girls that gather around her at recess while she reads aloud. Reading is cool, man.)
Another fun big girl activity of late was our attendance at the school production of "Annie." Yes, we have a very dramatic Annie in our house. But, this Annie was the real deal play put on in the school hall, and Megan and Bridget were eager to watch some of their buddies (actually, buddies' older siblings, since the youngest actors were third-graders). I was excited to have a fun date with these cuties!
The girls were so excited for a big night out! (Notice the empty car seats in the back row? It's always a nice treat to have a car not entirely packed!) Bridget donned (clip-on) earrings, a ring and a necklace, and also made sure that someone applied blush to her cheeks. Her cheeks turned an even brighter pink when her little friend Luke presented her with a rose after the play! She was so speechless and shy when he gave it to her. Something tells me she's going to get used to getting flowers from boys!
And they have a lot of my attention during the day while the girls are at school! It's usually a mad dash to wake them up from naptime to reunite everyone at pickup after school. Usually, we have crankiness, but sometimes we have smiles.
Mary's old enough to be trusted with a little meal out of her high chair every once in a while. She loves enjoying the special treat of eating in the living room with the big girls if we have a movie night, or a movie breakfast :)
Both Megan and Bridget finished up their basketball seasons, and their love of the game inspired us to get a hoop for our driveway! Of course, everyone needed to be there for the set-up on a foggy evening, asking Daddy when it would be done. Some of the girls have a higher tolerance for cold, foggy weather than others, as you can see below.
Megan, Annie and Bridget proved to be the handy ones with this process, supplying Matt with the proper tools.
Before we knew it, he was done and the hoop was up!
Watching TV is always a special treat around here, and it's rare that I can sit and cuddle with the girls when they're watching their favorite shows. I was lucky to catch a mesmerized Bridget while she was snuggling next to me, probably during a Sophia episode. (What? You don't know Sophia?! Obviously, you watch other channels besides Disney Junior, and don't have little girls demanding girly, princessy cartoons!)
Even Mary has now embraced the wonder of watching a "show." She gets just as excited as everyone else when the remote comes out :)
In March, we celebrated all of the January, February and some March Stecher birthdays. I only managed to get a couple pictures of the craziness!
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