Whatever, We Didn't Like Them Anyways

So another set of friends and neighbors have left us this year. We lost the Woods and Helgesens in May, losers. And just a week ago we lost the Phillips. What-ev. I know we have to leave next May as well and that it's a cycle and blah, blah, blah.... but it still sucks. There is a big hole in our daily lives that gets filled up, but never filled. You know? I'm trying to write this flippantly to keep my already hormonal emotions in check. Is it working? You're not crying, right? Ok. so far so good. Here are a few pictures of our last few days with the Phillips.

Lexie gifted little Winston with the most adorable little crocodile romper that her sweet Wesley has as well. We dressed them up together to compare and contrast. How cute are they?!

Wesley is still the smiliest cutey ever. If he wouldn't smile at you within the first minute or so, you knew something was wrong in the world.

We could only keep the wolves at bay for so long...

Actually this is just Wesley's cute brother Miles.

And sweet Benny. He freaking LOVES babies. It's the cutest thing, he makes a beeline for Wesley or Winston the second they are in sight. And don't worry, a grownup has him safely in hand here, despite what it looks like.

And if they didn't, I'd say Benny's been due his revenge for 15 months now.Yes, that's a barely one year old Eleanor holding a newborn Benny. Just thought I'd reminisce.Back to present, here is the whole Greencrest gang with a few honorary neighbors added in.

And here are the women folk. Cute Ashley, Ruth, Lexie (sniff), Angela and me.

We also went out to lunch earlier that week. Funny story, a new mom was sitting behind our table with her newborn son. When she and her mother got up to leave she inquired about Winston, how old etc... Then she asked me if I was breast-feeding. Um, yes? (Kind of a weird topic to ask a total stranger in public, but whatever.) She then proceeds to start gushing about how awesome breastfeeding is because it makes you lose "SO MUCH WEIGHT!" and on and on. I just kind of nodded in agreement as I polished off my bacon-mushroom burger and fries. As she was rambling she had to prove her point so she pops up, holds out her arms and says "I mean, just look at me!" Just like a Jenny Craig ad. Yep. Good job you. Bravo on losing your baby weight in under two weeks. Lexie sweetly asks at this point, "Aw, is he your first?" We were all trying to stifle our laughing. We assume she thought she was being helpful to a bunch of possible new moms, not realizing that we had 14+ kids between us. It was extra funny to me because that is Eleanor's favorite phrase, "LOOK AT ME!" And because nursing doesn't do jack for my weight loss. Well, it might if I didn't eat frosting after every meal.

Look at us!Back to goodbyes, here is darling Sophie. She is such a tender doll of a girl.

Zach isn't going anywhere, but I had to include his sweet pose under the cursed moving truck.

Miles!

Their whole family.

The whole neighborhood.

After they left we all did a lot of this.

Winston especially cried and cried and cried.

Good luck on your new beginnings, Phillips! We will miss you all more than you know!

Winston Before and After

I saw this idea on a blog and decided to try it out.
Thanks to my wonderful friend Lexie for her help!

Winston's First Few Weeks

Things are starting to settle down around here. We are getting used to patches of sleep instead of full nights, although today has been pretty pathetic. I cleaned the whole upstairs to prepare for my visiting teachers coming, only to realize that they said they were coming tomorrow. I also thought I was taking dinner to someone tonight, nope. Tomorrow as well. As I tried to put the cheese away in the dishwasher, I realized that maybe I'm not doing as well on less sleep as I thought I was. But hey, clean house, right? Hmm. Lack of sleep is usually not the time to try and blog, boring or loopy. Wonder how this post will turn out?

Anyhow. Here are some pictures of the first few weeks having Winston with us. It has truly flown by. He had his 1 month check up today and he weighs 11 pounds 5 ounces and is 23 inches tall. That's a three pound plus weight gain. Yay! I would say he's grown four inches, but we all know that the initial measuring isn't terribly accurate. Too wiggly, I guess.

Here's the "welcome home" message my mom and Eleanor made for little Win.

Sweet snugly boy.

And our sweet girl. She is "blowing bubbles" here. Which means she is basically spitting. I'm glad this trick only lasted a few days. She is wearing the dress that my mom got her in Hawaii. Mahalo!

Ohhh. Staying dressed is so hard!

Modeling some of his sweet outfits. Note the adorable skater socks? Love them! Thanks Delicia!

Eleanor and neighbor Nora outside enjoying ice cream.

Cuddling with Angela. Eleanor used to pose like this all the time.

Playing on the floor in their room. Well, Eleanor was playing and it's still only her room.

She was trying to make him play with the phone. He couldn't dial for crap. I guess rotary phones just aren't his generation.

So Eleanor just let him talk. She is so cute with him. We keep a good eye on her as sometimes she loves him just a bit too much.

It's a bit hard to see in this picture, but Eleanor put a second dress on underneath her first one, telling me it was "her pwetty skut." (Her pretty skirt.) I thought it was adorable, until we went to the grocery store and she wouldn't let me take it off her. So she looked like a tiny polygamist wife. I guess that's kind of cute too.

Big yawn.

Swimming outside!

Wearing sweet dress and matching head scarf.

Looking super blond in this picture. This is when he reminds me of Val's boys. General concern again.All dressed up for his first week at church! That was July 10th. Can you believe they even make such tiny clothes? Button-up shirts and pinstriped wool pants. He he! He did really well. I was useless in Primary that week, but oh well. However, listening to Sacrament meeting in the nursing lounge is awesome. You get so much more out of the talks! Last week we tried to go again but Winston chose to hose us both down a few minutes before leaving. So we stayed home and napped instead. Fingers crossed for next week.

Winston's First Bath

His first bath was a little less ceremonious than Eleanor's was. No crowds, just me Win and E. Clayton was at work and I would've waited for him, but we had already put it off a few days and little guy was due a good cleaning. Wet wipes will only get you so far, you know? Winston fussed a bit at first, but seemed to like it after a few minutes.

Eleanor wanted to play at the same time.A little concerned, but he often looks that way.

All wrapped up in his towel.

My super awesome over-flashed pictures. He's such a sweetie!

4th of July 2011

Quick refresher, we live in a duplex on a Greencrest street, a street full of duplexes. The one right next to us is owned by the same landlord and all four units are being rented by people from our ward. And all four, well, at least the other three families are freaking awesome. We love them to bits. They are hugely responsible for why our experience has been so amazing here in Michigan. (When we first moved to Michigan we randomly moved into the duplex right next door to these two, so there were 5 families for a year. We moved into the spot where the Overson's were after they moved. They were also responsible for our feeling so welcome.) Anyhow, our four families have two gigantic fenced in yards between us, which are perfect for shin-digs. Last year we had a wonderful 4th potluck and so we did it again this year. The Greencrest neighbors host and provide the main dish while everyone else brings sides and desserts. It pretty much rules. This year we went super easy with pulled pork sandwiches and sloppy joes. Sadly there were too many desserts for me to try them all, though I did make a valiant effort.

A welcome sign for the kids to draw on.

Just a few of the desserts.

Some of the sides, the ugly, but super tasty cake I made is in there, sitting on the world's cutest cake stand.

Here's a slightly better picture. It's a coconut cake with coconut, cream cheese frosting and fresh raspberry and strawberry and cream filling. Do you know how good raspberries and coconut taste together? Very good! I got carried away with the filling (more is not always better) and had a heckuvatime trying to frost it. Durr. I even dyed the top layer blue so it would be red white and blue. It ended up being served more like a trifle. Oh well.
P.S. You all remember that I looked for this very cake stand for over 4 years, right? Do you see how pretty the ribbon is? Sorry, it was a long four years. Darling children were everywhere. I won't name them in case parents don't approve, and since I never ask for permission. However, the little boy in blue is our very own Win. He he, it looks like he's picking his nose. Gross.

It was the first time a lot of our friends got to meet him, like sweet Laurie.

These two cuties were killing me with their adorable hair, and the fact that they were sharing the tiniest chair. (That aunt Jennifer gave to Eleanor- thanks Jen, we use it all the time!)

Eleanor had to get in a sweet snuggle with her brother. P.S. He is only 2 weeks and 1 day in all these pictures, which is why he is mainly (and blessedly) asleep the whole time.

Cute neighbors! I love her headband.

Family portrait!

Teaching her the patriotic essentials.



Little fireworks for little people.

If you click on the picture you can better see Eleanor saying "Ohhh!" or, "Oh no!"

We moved the fireworks to the back of the lawn and we had a really nice show! Thanks to the Allees and Hansens and others for bringing so many! I didn't even buy a single sparkler this year. (But I had the world's best excuse.)

Could these two be any cuter?

P.S. ( I know I write P.S. a lot, so sue me.) Our wall neighbors, the Johnsons, inherited this sweet play set from the lovely Bailey family, who sadly moved to Ohio. It is sooo great. The kids love it, our backyard has just gotten, like, a thousand times cooler. Wait til you see what else the Johnsons recently got. It will have to wait for another post.

Eleanor and Clayton enjoying the show.

A small sampling of her commentary. She would also say "Happy Birthday" to a lot of the fireworks. Why yes, we are celebrating our country's birth, Eleanor! Thank you for helping us remember the true meaning.

A shot of some of the group.

And a few more.

I had to include this one so you could properly see her darling red, white and blue skirt (from cousin Allie). With her sparkly silver sandals and white polo, I was seriously wanting her whole outfit in my size.

Look who's awake!

So Winston, what did you think of your first holiday?
"Oh, I don't know, a little loud."

No one said awesome-partying would be easy. We had a great evening! We have the best neighbors and friends in the world. Did I mention the desserts were awesome? (Why can't I have fruit pizza every day?) And I think I can safely say, over two weeks later, that everyone is finally out of fireworks. Thank heavens. I have been feeling like a super crotchety old lady each night when I hear someone letting off their stash of bottle rockets or whatever at 2 AM. It's one night people, move on!