firsts.

Elle rolled over from her belly to her back a few days ago.  Today she was rolling all over the place having a great time rolling from belly to back and then back over onto her belly.  As Matt disappointingly said tonight, "She is getting big too fast."

She also had her first food yesterday.  Yesterday morning I gave her some applesauce at breakfast time because she has been eyeing our food lately, especially Matt's cake.  She made a sour face but did a great job eating.  Bentley and I got her some baby food at the store and she had peas for dinner.  She didn't totally dig them, but she ate them.  This morning she had cinnamon oatmeal with pears and she started getting excited.  She grabs my hands and pushes the spoon towards her mouth and even jumps up and down a little bit.  She even got mad when I paused for a second and wanted me to keep shoveling it in! 

For Matt's 32nd birthday his sister babysat the boys and Matt, Elle and I went to dinner at Fisherman's in San Clemente.  Elle is such an angel she didn't make a peep the entire time, just hung out quietly and then fell asleep.  She is amazing.  It is such a blessing to have such a beauty in our family.

Gaige went to his first day of Preschool yesterday.  He is so excited to be in Ms. Cheryl's class finally.  It is apparent now that all last year he was reluctant to go to class because he just wanted to be in her class.  He had so much fun he asked if he gets to go everyday and stay longer than he did last year.  He almost cried when I picked him up from school because he wanted to stay. 

Today Bentley had his first day of Kindergarten.  It was only an hour and I went with him for orientation so I would say his first real day is tomorrow.  He and his classmates look so big!  He was really excited that his class had a globe. I am excited for him that he gets to go everyday.  He has been waiting forever to go to his new school everyday! Hopefully he will be ok with just going to soccer and church over the weekend.

gaige is silly.

G: "Mom my tummy hurts."
Me: "Are you just saying that so you can drink some 7up?"
G:  "Yes.  He-he-he-he."

bentley asks a million questions a day.

B: "Are aliens real?"
Me: "Not in our universe."
B: "Yes they are!"
Me: "Bentley you are 5 years old, you don't know."
B: "Yes I do, there are the ones with 1 eyeball!"

four months. 14.9 pounds.

Our Luvaloo is now 4 months old!  She is scrumptious!  Chubs everywhere and still the tiniest feet.  She smiles all day and lets out some giggles too.  She is ticklish on her thighs so we love to squeeze them.  At dinner last night she sat in her high chair and stared at Matt and delivered the biggest smile everytime he looked in her direction followed by a coo.  She definitely knows how to brighten up everyone's day. 

She has started grabbing for her toys in her bouncy seat and loves to make them spin.  When she lays on her tummy she can stay up for a little while, and she loves to see herself in the mirror.

I told Matt that she is my most favorite person. His reply was "Yeah, I've noticed." I love, love, love her! Crossing my fingers that she stays luvable. Here are the 4 month pictures I took of her.

three redheadeds.

Elle is 4 months old now.  Around one month old we were pretty confident she had red hair like her brothers.  And at 4 months the small amount of hair she has is definitely red, she doesn't have eyebrows (blonde like the boys), but the little tiny hairs on her knuckles are orange in the sunlight!  I am glad she has red hair, I might have been a bit disappointed if she didn't.  And Matt made the great point that when we are out and our kids are being naughty we can just sit back and say, "Whose kids are those?" 

She is the happiest girl ever.  She smiles all day and even giggles at us too.  She loves to put as many fingers as she can in her mouth and got her first tooth when she turned 3 months old.  She is a chubby lady and seems to grow overnight.  When I go get her in the morning I swear she has grown in her sleep.  She sleeps 9 to 10 hours a night.  She still adores her brothers and anyone who will talk to her gets a big open mouthed smile.  It is addicting to get her to smile, I could spend all day talking to her.  People still tell me she looks like a doll.

Today I was making dinner in the kitchen so I put her in her high chair and everytime I would look at her she would smile and talk to me.  She makes me feel like one special and loved lady. And I cannot even begin to explain how much I love her.
     A picture of her at 3 months old.

Yesterday we went to Doho (Doheny Beach) for a birthday party.  The boys got on their boogie boards and were having such a great time they just kept kicking and swimming out to sea.  Eventually I had to hand off Elle to somebody and swim out to them.  I started pushing them in, but it seemed like I wasn't going anywhere.  Thankfully the life guard came out and towed them in.  I swam so hard that my ears hurt and I couldn't catch my breath for a long time afterwards.  These boys are super brave and fearless.  The other night we were at the Manning's for mutual and the teenage boys were jumping off a 10 foot rock overhang on the pool into the water so Bentley and Gaige joined right in.  It is a good thing I am not super paranoid, otherwise they would have put me in my grave this week!  We have had some very long "safety" talks after the beach incident, but I am sure it has all been forgotten already.

Bentley asked me if a brown spot on his leg was a bruise.  I told him it was a birth mark and he asked if it was a kiss from Jesus.  I said, "Sure." I was totally surprised by his question, it was so cute!

Gaige is into telling stories.  They are all the same and go something like this:

"There was  a _________ walking down the street.  And a  ________ car coming up the street crashed into it and flattened it like a pancake."

My favorite was, "There was a chicken holding hands with a pine cone tree and they were walking down the street.  And a car coming up the street crashed into them and flattened them like a pancake."

It has been a fun summer and there are still 4 weeks left, but we are all excited for school to start in the beginning of September.