Standing up!

Livi still scoots to get around, but she's getting better and better at standing up. I am hopeful that she will let me put her down a little more often once she does start walking. I'm lucky she's only 18 pounds because Mom's hip is her favorite place to be. And outside. 

First thing in the morning, she pretty much fusses and points to the door until someone takes her outside. So we are outside a lot (no vitamin D shortage for us this summer). Plus she tans very quickly, which prompted a nurse to refer to her as a "nice, brown baby" at our last doctor's visit.

Car Cleaning Adventures

I think I can safely say a lot of big families have very messy vehicles, and we are no exception. I did finally decide to clean out the suburban the other day, but I didn't make it far. I started by parking in the driveway, which prompted Charlie and Frankie to climb up onto the roof and start horsing around when I went into the house. At some point, Charlie "leaned on" the basketball hoop next to the suburban. I have no idea how aggressively he did this, but it fell over, taking out the antennae and denting the side of the suburban in the process. 

I was really just grateful no one got hurt, and now I have a great story to answer with every time they ask, "But why can't we play on top of the car???"  Honestly if it fell over that easily, it likely could have gone at any time and seriously hurt someone. Anyway, not long after that, Frankie came to me frantically screaming, "I need a drink of water!!!" I was quite alarmed because he looked like this - minus the smile - with completely red teeth as well:

It turns out he had found a Kool-Aid packet in the car from a tie-dye kit the library had given to the kids. He figured the powder would be sweet like Kool-Aid, but I'm pretty sure it is just extremely acidic eaten straight up.

By then, I gave up cleaning the car and just parked it back in the garage. I'm pretty sure Olivia needed me again anyway.

Baking and Biking

Frankie was busy "baking a cake for Liv." He put quite a bit of work into it. The ingredients were: flour, corn meal, cheese, salami, spaghetti sauce. coleslaw and smashed olives. Once it was mixed, he poured milk on top. He tried it, said it was "very good," decided I should eat it, and then seemed a little offended that I didn't jump at the chance to do so. Honestly if I had been desperate for food, it would not have been difficult to eat, but given how much of it dropped on the floor in the process of making it, I really would have needed to be desperate...plus olives are gross.

Frankie is also determined to learn to ride his bike without training wheels. He doesn't have it quite down, but it's fun to watch him work on it. Each kid has been so different in their approach. Elena was self-taught in 15 minutes around age 6 (or maybe it was 8?) and no amount of coaxing could convince her to try sooner. Sam picked it up in an afternoon at my parents' house at age 3. Charlie was similar, but at age 4 - once he was told to watch the road and not his feet, it didn't take long. 

I don't know how long it will take Frankie, but he sure does have the right attitude. As he tried last night, he gave himself a little pep-talk before every attempt. "I can DO this! I know I can do this!" Here's a little sample:

Pandemic Games

Once in a while the kids will come up with a game that we never could have possibly come up with "back in my day." Last week, a group of kids were all lying on the trampoline with their heads down in the gaps where a few springs were missing (super-safe, I know).

I asked what they were doing. "We're playing Zoom Meeting!"

A little confused, I stayed to watch. With their positioning, all they could see were their heads, like a zoom meeting. Then the meeting started, and I heard a chorus of:
"Is everyone here?"
"Hi!"
"Hold on. I'm glitching!!" (followed by the removal of the speaker's head)
"My battery is about to die."
"If your ipad isn't working right, go and get another one!!"

Of course, I had to take a video:

Livi's First Birthday

We finally have a birthday to celebrate that lands on a fairly consistent warm-weather date! As such, we were able to celebrate Olivia's birthday with a backyard cake & ice cream party. All of Livi's grandparents were able to make it along with my sister's family. Plus, Briar was able to come and co-celebrate her 1st birthday (which was 4 days previous).

Livi's first taste of cake:

She seemed to enjoy it!

The birthday girls (they both got a backyard bath after this):

Playing peek-a-boo with Papi:

Playing with one of her new birthday gifts: