November

I can't get enough of this cutie. She is keeping her dark hair and blue eyes!

Sometimes Clara and Savannah want to go in and play with the baby when she gets up from her nap. If I go in, Caroline will want me to get her up but she's happy to play with the girls. I love hearing their giggles. I had to sneak this picture without the baby seeing me.

 We are finally getting snow around here! The girls want to go outside and play, and are usually happy to just stomp around on the back deck. Caroline and I watch from inside, while they throw snowballs at the window. They get a big kick out of it. The first winter we moved here, we didn't see the ground from Nov-March! I don't think it will be as bad this year.

I was down the hall and heard Clara yelling, "Help! Help!" and laughing uncontrollably. I walked around the corner and saw the baby trying to take her out. It wasn't as really as bad as it looks, but it was pretty hilarious. Gotta love attacking baby girls.

Clara had a week of dressing up in different ways at school, and one day was "dress like a nerd." Well, this is what we came up with.

Did this picture surprise you? Jason's holding her feet, and she is lunging for all she's worth towards Savannah's birthday balloon. 

October

Caroline started sitting up and is always stuffing things into her mouth. We are loving her toothless smile! She still has blue eyes, but we're wondering if they'll turn brown like her sisters'.

Savannah turned three and had her party at Chick-Fil-A, which she loved. (And I loved the no-mess clean up!) She has a tiny Pooh doll that she drags around with her everywhere and is getting grungy. So we thought we could replace it, but ended up ordering the wrong size. Oh well. Now she has a clean, yellow, big Pooh Bear (which she initially named Oklahoma, but has now forgotten) and a small, brown-ish one. She was so excited!

 We made it to DC to the temple, and foudn our way to Larriland Farm, where in the summer you can pick your own raspberries, etc. But in the fall we went to enjoy cider, a hay ride, and beautiful fall weather. The drive out to the farm was incredibly beautiful.

Clara is really becoming a country gal, isn't she?

Big girls

At the end of August my parents came into town and we took them to the Buckwheat Festival. The main attraction of the festival is the buckwheat cakes. They look like they're in the same family a pancakes, but made from buckwheat. I had heard they were sour and not-tasty, but they were actually pretty good! It was quite the West Virginia experience. Jason has been learning to play the banjo, and one of the songs he can play is "Oh, Susanna." One of the verses says, "the buckwheat cake was in her mouth, the tear was in her eye"...we feel like true West Virginians. :)

The girls rode some carnival rides, and when it was almost time to go (or so I thought), I took the baby to the car to feed her. My mom came with me and we visited while we waited for my dad and Jason to bring the girls to the car. And we waited. And waited. When they finally arrived, they told me the girls had been riding this:

Over and over and over. That's Clara and Savannah. No, it's not quite the ride I would have let my two year old ride. I guess they were just riding some kind of sack or rug down the slide. Apparently they were having the time of their life! I think Clara even said, "I'm glad mom's not here!" But...they didn't zoom off the side or break anything, so I guess I have no complaints. I'm just glad I didn't leave the baby with them...she probably would've ended up going down, too...

Speaking of Caroline, in September she started holding her head up really well and rolling over. She always wants her hands in her mouth (or anything), and looks like she wants to be a thumb sucker. I'm trying to nip that in the bud, but we'll see how successful I am. She is a happy little thing and is so fun. I love having a baby in the house.

Stay-at-home girls

Now that Clara has started first grade, I get to stay at home with these cuties everyday! Savannah has started a little preschool a couple days a week, which she loves. She dutifully carries her little backpack to and from school. She feels like such a big girl. Caroline has a sweet little personality and is so smiley. She stares at Clara when she gets home at school, and just watches her.

 

Savannah is never without her "stuff:" her Winnie the Pooh doll and her twinkle blanket. I love that she loves Pooh.

Jackson Pollucks in training

Clara has decided that Jackson Polluck is her favorite artist, and has been begging me to try a painting like his, using random things to fling paint onto the canvas. It was harder than we thought it would be! They had a good time, and I think they turned out pretty cool!

Clara's

Savannah's

Myrtle Beach

In August I took the girls to visit my family. Jason had to work, so it felt like a lot of work to me, but we had a good time. The girls all loved the pool. Caroline didn't think much of it, but she enjoyed the water. She was focused on practicing her standing up.

 

Clara and her cousin Sarah had a lot of fun together. Clara even spent her first night away from home, sleeping at Sarah's house.

We went to the local amusement park, where we stayed for hours and hours. The weather wasn't too hot/humid (wow!), and Savannah was just tall enough to ride lots of the rides. She liked the swings, the best. Clara was too tall to ride them, so she watched with me. She kept saying, "Savannah looks so proud of herself!" She did think it was so fun. Her cousin Tate was so sweet to her. He's 5, but he went around with her and held her hand. So gentlemanly.

We spent time at my sister's house on the waterway, too, which we love. The water is freshwater, and so fun. Savannah became a little daredevil and loved being tossed up in the air by her aunt Ashley. 

Clara has ridden jet skis before, but this time my dad was more adventurous with her and actually got them knocked off a few times. Apparently she thought he was doing it on purpose. She was having a fun time, but then finally asked if he'd stop throwing them off. I'm surprised she liked it so much! I love the view from the house. Isn't it beautiful? Notice the rider-less jet ski?

July

I can never get pictures to upload to our blog, so it's been a while. But by some miracle, it's been working today! 

We played outside a lot, at the neighbors' play sets and around town. Caroline was around 2 1/2 months old and just starting to smile. She would watch the girls swing towards her on the swing, and she would just smile and laugh. So fun to watch.

 I love going to Coopers Rock. I think it's the most beautiful place around.

For the ward Fourth of July party the girls made flags to put on their bikes for the parade. Savannah was the very last one in the parade, and was pushing herself along as fast as she could. Needless to say she never caught up, but told everyone very happily that she was at the end of the parade. 

Jason started his transitional year...doesn't he look handsome? Residency, here we come!