Play Dates and Dinner

We've been having lots of fun this summer. We have been having some fun play dates and I even got out for Erinn's birthday!

Here is Sarah Kathryn with Trinity.  SK is only 4 weeks older and she is twice her size!

We've been setting up weekly play dates with our Sunday School group and they've been so nice.  We went to Tiny Town in Bossier and it was super clean.  I love clean.

Sadie and Henry

Look at all these kids!

Sigma Kappa legacies!

Sweet babies in the FUMC nursery: Andrew and Sarah Kathryn

I took all my sweets to Gymboree for SK's class.  I asked Henry if he wanted to go to school and he said "no, I wanna stay wis you."  There was no way I could take him after that!

Happy 32nd, Erinn!

Happy 4th!

 We had such a nice 4th!  We moved a few days before so it was nice to get out of the chaotic house of boxes for family, food, and fun!  We are so glad the Schick's hosted the Dumas (my dad's side) again this year.

my girl looked so cute and patriotic thanks to Sadie for letting us borrow the outfit.

my Henry ate 4 pieces of watermelon!

Di always has a huge spread!

the cute kids minus SK

Group pic...my kids love Carolyn!

a sweet family pic!

We moved!

So....we moved!  This is been in the works for a while now.  We decided that we wanted to downsize so that I can be home more with the children, work part-time, and put family first.  We are super excited about our new place.  We feel like we "made out like bandits" (as Neil says) with our new home. 

We sold our house in less than a month to some people that we know from Bennett's old school.  It was a long, back-and-forth process, but we finally closed.

Living in the house after the movers came means eating dinner on the window sill and sitting on the floor.

Welcome to our new home!  We are calling it Lewis Hideaway because it a little house tucked back on 2 acres in the middle of a neighborhood.  I love pulling down the tree-lined, private driveway.  We like when people say things like "I saw it but didn't think I could go down the driveway." Anyway, we are just thrilled that the kids will grow up with room to roam.  Yes, we have a smaller house, but we are learning to live more efficiently.  I realized I don't need five 9x13 casserole dishes.

We will be painting this house soon.  Can't wait!

Here's our backyard.  This tree is our favorite.

view from the front door

All of our boxes in the garage waiting to be unpacked.  It is dwindling by the day. :(

We had the fireplace painted day 1.

We painted our room "sterling."

Leslie helped me pick out a paint color for Sarah Kathryn's room...grape mist.  Neil said he wanted to do her room in purple and not pink.  Look at him with that opinion!

More to come on the house as we get settled.  We've been here a week and are loving it!

Our Henry

Oh Henry!  You are such a joy!  You are full of personality and spunk.  You are a defiant little thing and will just stare at us through squinted eyes if we ask you to do something.  You are STUBBORN too!  I love your happy attitude and your sweet hugs and kisses.  You are so sweet to your sister and VERY proud of her.  You like to say she is your sister and not Bennett's.

You and Bennett have gotten into teasing each other.  You say "I got to turn off the light and youuuuuuu didn't" in that sing-songy way we like to tease people.  It is hilarious because you are trying to be just like Bennett. 

You are very accident prone.  It seems like you always have bruises or scratches on your arms and legs.  You like to eat and do fun, crafty things that make huge messes.  You love being dirty, muddy, and wet, but you do NOT like being sticky!  

You fell at school and bumped your mouth on a bench and we had to take you to the dentist to make sure nothing was damaged.  You had 2 huge pockets of blood on your gums.  Ouch!  You were so good at the dentist when they checked you out.

This is the pic I sent to Neil before we went to the dentist.

Bennett got to go to Ruston for a few days so we just had Henry and Sarah Kathryn.  We are really trying to make it a point to do things one-on-one with Henry.  We had a fun little ice cream date with just us two.

 You would say  "only me and Mommy are going, not Bennett, not Sarah Krafren, not Daddy, not Nana, not Granddad, and not Miso!"  You got Spiderman icecream with Pop Rocks in it.  When you would eat a pop rock you would get quiet and say "something's in my mouth!"

On our way to the car-wash!  You LOVE the car wash!

We were having a huge issue with you pooping in the potty.  You would just go right in your pants!  We decided to load up and go to Toys R Us to pick out a poop prize.  When you got your 5 stickers you won Marshall, the "Paw Control" (It's really Paw Patrol) dog.  It sat on the mantle for about a week before you go it!

Way to go BIG boy!!

I cannot believe you are almost 3 years old!  You keep saying "I got that toy at my birthday party" when you are playing with something random.  You say you want a "minja turtle" party!  

Once we put you in your bed, you come out and say "I need my two kisses and my two hugs."   And what mommy and daddy can resist that??  Not us!  

You say things like "I love you in that moon!"  We love you in that moon, too!!

Sarah Kathryn is TWO months old!

 Doctor appointment:  We went today! (4/23)
Weight: 11 lbs 15 ounces   75th percentile

Height: 24 inches   95th percentile

Head: 15 inches    50th percentile

Clothes: You wear size 1 diapers...in fact you came home from the hospital in size 1 because you are such a big girl.  We really need to move up to a 2 but we have so many 1 diapers open we will use them until they are gone.  You wear mostly 3 month, 3-6 month, and recently a 6-9 month outfit! The newborn stuff fits, but is small on you.

Eating:  You eat a 4 ounce bottle every three hours.  We've tried to give you more but you end up spitting it all up.  You will let us know if you are hungry!  

Henry loved getting in on your photo shoot.  He loves you so much.

Sleeping:  You like to nap during the day just randomly.  You are certainly not on any type of a schedule yet.  You will nap on the play mat, in the car seat, or in the bouncy seat.  Usually when I put you in your bed, you wake right up!  At night, your last bottle is between 8-9 pm and you usually sleep until about 3-4 am.  You take your bottle and most of the time go back to sleep until 6-7 am.  I hope we can drop that 3-4 am feeding soon!

Likes:  being held, the bouncy seat, car seat, riding in the car, riding in the stroller, eating, the paci (sometimes), baths, your brothers

Dislikes: getting dressed, having the paci shoved in your mouth by a brother, when the car stops, being strapped in the carseat, and shots (you had 3 today).

News this month:  You are smiling more and more.  You started Gymboree and it wears you out!  Dr. Crittell commented on how much a mover you are.  I can put you on your playmat and you can rotate 90 degrees just by kicking around.  You even went to the zoo!  I call you my "beauty queen" but Daddy thinks it sounds like I want to put you in pageants or something...no way!  You are just so pretty!  You are smiling so much more.  Bennett found a like ticklish spot on your foot and he loves to show people!

Summer Week 3

We've been trucking along this summer.  I didn't realize how much Bennett and Henry really need constructive things to do.  Bennett went to camp and LOVED it.  The camp "traveled" to a different country each day and he would ask "where am I going tomorrow?"   Henry has been getting bored at home and has been loving going to school.  I send him 2-3 days a week.  I feel guilty the whole time he is there, but Neil tells me he runs right in to play.

Bennett and I play this Skylander Swapforce Trouble-like game ALL. THE. TIME.  Henry comes over and knocks all the pieces out and we start over.  Bennett is really good and knows all the rules.

Gammy got Sarah Kathryn this new play mat and she loves kicking around while looking at the lights and things hanging down. 

We joined a pool!  yippee for somewhere to cool down!  Sister got in her bathing suit and loved the water!

Oh, I love these people.  They loved the pool.  When we got in the car to go home Bennett said "I am so proud of you Sarah Kathryn, you did a good job swimming!"  Henry just swam around and played with a water gun.  At one point he walked over to the little fountain area and a girl shot him in the face with the gun!  He grabbed it and ran off!

I am loving my girl in purple!  Her eyes look brown in this picture, but in person they are blue.  

Some Sunday school friends met at the pre-school playground at church for a play-date.  It was so fun to play with like-minded moms.  I took Henry and SK because Bennett was at camp.

This sweet boy thinks he is the baby...he is my baby boy!

I said farewell to Emily at her farewell brunch.  They are getting their dream of moving back to North Carolina after being in Shreveport for 5 years.  So excited for them to be near family!

Father's Day 2014

We had a really nice Father's Day.  We let Daddy sleep in while the rest of the house was wide awake at 6:30.  The boys gave Neil his Saints football, coffee tumbler, and new tennis shoes.  Bennett walked around Dick's searching for the perfect gift for Neil.  He said "I just know Daddy is going to love this football."  

He gave it to Neil and he was so proud!  Henry helped by opening the gifts.

Neil said he just wanted to stay home and grill so that's just what we did.  We had a slider bar with pulled pork, burgers, and chicken.  I bought a bunch of toppings and it was pretty delish!

Everyone loved the ice cream cake we had at my brother's birthday so I decided to get another for Father's Day.

Since we hope to be moving on June 30th, we took everyone to our (hopefully) new house.  We just love the property!

Dad with me and the kids

Richard with his kids and grandkids

all of the Lewis crew

Nana and Granddad with their grandbabies

Gammy with her grandbabies

And this is the best one with Pops and the kids!  They were DONE with pictures by this time!

Happy Father's Day to the world!  Neil, you should be the advertisement for how a daddy should be.  I am so glad you are ours!