The gang's all here- September 12 to 21.

With school back in session, we have to make plans to see your favorite neighborhood kids.

One great thing is that one mom will usually step up and provide some kind of supper for the kids, giving the rest of us a break. This week it was our turn.

Bea took center stage.  Luckily everyone loves her.  And loves posing her with ketchup bottles.

And in case the pictures didn't transmit how chaotic feeding these kids can be, maybe this clip of a "quiet" moment will.

Fynn's mom is pregnant and we owe her some major babysitting from all the times she helped out when I was pregnant, so we spent a lot of time with him with month.  Here they are on everyone's favorite feature of the day school.

Henry spent the day at the lake with his friend James.  Now that's my kind of backyard.

Henry's still swimming. This year he moved up to Torpedoes from Pre-Torpedoes. And he's really getting good.  The coaches are great.  Here is his dive.

Bea still isn't rolling over, but she is tolerating tummy time.

So close!

If you can handle it, here's Bea talking to the camera.

And having a deep conversation with her lamby.

June and I took a morning off to go see Junie B. Jones- the Musical at the Brooks Center.  I'm not a big fan of the books, but this little show was adorable.  Especially with my little Junie B. beside me.

Georgie got a special treat of pizza after school.

My four favorite people.  (You better believe that Little Caesar is top of everyone's list in this house.)

We did our best to keep up with Solid Orange Fridays.  Good thing we received some Clemson hand-me-downs.

Fynn came to spend the weekend with us while his parents escaped to Atlanta for the weekend.  I can't remember what they were doing, but I know it warranted a bath in the afternoon.  They didn't seem to mind.

And they kept close watch over Beatrice.

Worried that the house was too full of little kids, Henry and June escaped to Maddie and Katie's to sleep in the tent.

Don't worry, everyone had a device.  That's roughing it.

We're still enjoying our quiet mornings during the week.  Brandon gets up with Henry and June and has everyone out the door for school before the second half of the family rolls out of bed at 8.  We've become quite accustomed to this perk.  

Piano lessons- September 7 to 11.

Papa and his girls.  Not crazy at all.

Georgie is so cute.  I want to eat her all the time.

I picked up Georgie and her friend Fynn for a playdate at the park.

Henry was home from school because he was dealing with his asthma (nonstop coughing).  So he came along to the park with us and got put on baby duty while he read Harry Potter.  This is his second time through the series.  

We don't usually come to the park, but I've decided Georgie is big enough for it now.  The slide is seriously high.  I brought June here once when she was 3 and almost had a heart attack trying to keep track of her with a 1 year old Georgie.  This time, Georgie and Fynn did just fine.

Bea isn't eating solid food, but she did get to suck on some naan at an Indian restaurant in Greenville.

Sweet Bea was almost asleep when I took this picture.  Then I realized my lips were the same color as my pale face.  Maybe I need to start wearing lipstick.  Or at least trying to eat more iron.

Since Bea will never let me put her down, we've had to resort to the hiking backpack.  Our friends gave us their old one and it is nice.  Especially since my back doesn't tolerate toting a baby on my hip all day.

I don't know why we have a picture of Bea sucking on a bag of breastmilk,  But I do know that it almost certainly all got poured down the drain eventually.  Because this girl will not take a bottle.  At all. 

Finally, June has started piano lessons.  Here's the product of the first 3 weeks of practicing.  

September 4 to 5.

Everyone is glad to be back in school.  Except poor Bea.  She misses her people.  She's happiest when it's loud and crazy in the house.  

So even though she'd really prefer to be held all the time, if other kids are around, she will lay on the floor and watch them.  Luckily, she's still not rolling and grabbing too much, otherwise this scene would be quite dangerous.  We're living on borrowed time, I think.

Georgie got these awesome Pikachu jammies from Aunt Jenni and Uncle Jim for her birthday. (Pikachu is from Pokemon, for those of you who aren't familiar.) I wanted to take a picture that wasn't blurry, but, much like Pikachu, Georgie is really fast. 

At least Mo Cheeks sits still.  

I love this picture.  

So when I imported all of the photos and videos from my phone, somehow all of the dates on the videos got changed to October and I was briefly convinced we had no videos of Bea from the entire summer. That's why there are so many right now.  Like this one of Bea on the counter almost spitting up.  

Henry has discovered the joy of loom bands- tiny little rubber bands- and the you tube videos you can look up to teach you how to make some pretty fun bracelets.  But once he mastered one type of bracelet, he's been happy to make just that one over and over.

Mom does her best Bea impression.

Bea shows her Clemson spirit.  

Sweet Bea- August 30- September 3.

Clearly, once the big kids headed back to school I was able to sit back and realize how quickly Bea was growing.  So I spent the next week cuddling her and trying to take a few more pictures. 

Like these of her cuddling her yellow blankie.

Clearly, she's still not rolling since we let her sleep this close to the edge of the bed. This kid never moves in her sleep.

Hi Mom!

She's starting to stretch the limit of her 3-6 month jammies.

She is reaching the end of falling asleep on our chests all the time.  I'm sure going to miss this.  We've had to start establishing a bedtime routine and actually put her in bed to get her to go to sleep at night.  Sniff.  I like having a little baby to cuddle in the evening.  Bea was not a fan of being put down for bed either.  But after a week of constant up and down the stairs to get her settled and realizing an earlier bedtime was needed, she's accepted her fate.

I love this series of pictures.  She's getting so chunky you can't see her diaper in between her belly and thighs.

More proof that this girl isn't moving much- we don't even bother to unfold the blanket she lies on.  Though I have stepped up my effort to motivate her to try to roll over.  No dice.

And when mom is done fawning over her, we usually enjoy a cup of coffee together.

Tiny giggles- August 25-29.

Bea is coming into her own at 4 months.

She's holding on to things.

And making the nicest little sounds.

And at 4 1/2 months, I had to give in and put away her China jammies. 

 What a difference 4 months makes!

We've got a big girl on our hands.  One who loves to sit up with her sisters and see what is going on.

And who is filling out quite nicely, if we must say so ourselves.

Oh my.

   

 Bea has even started laughing. In a grunt-y sort of way.  She's always at her giggliest right before bed.

Elsewhere in the house, Henry has discovered the joy of Star Wars origami.

Toads are in season and keep finding their way in our house.

Georgie's beret goes with everything.

But not with her bike helmet.  June has no desire to learn to ride a bike, but Georgie wants to try!  We're not holding out hope for two wheels yet.  Our main goal is to get her to use the brakes instead of constantly putting her feet down to step herself.

We avoided it for a long time, but eventually received an ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.  Henry really wanted to do it, until it was actually time to do it.

Sporty clothes-August 20-22.

Now that June is in first grade, she's decided gym class is a big deal and finally dresses appropriately.  I sure love those gangly little legs.  (And you can still see her left-our right- leg is still a bit smaller from her year with arthritis.)

When June gets home from school, there is work to be done- like setting up a scene of Lego Friends building a treehouse.

I spent some of my new free time to finish a bracelet I'd been working on.  It's about 5 feet long.

It's still so hot.  I'm so glad we spent the summer in mild Ohio.

Sweat-head Georgie doesn't seem to mind it too much.

And the heat puts Bea right to sleep.

Our poor, neglected garden did survive enough to put out a few tomatoes a day.  And the perk of not weeding is that the ground cherries pop up between the other plants.

I missed a few videos from Ohio.  Including this sweet one with Tris and mini Tris.

And this one with cousin Sam, who is almost 5 months older than Bea