Messy (Delicious) Christmas

In case you were wondering what it looks like to make cinnamon rolls with five kids:

OCTOBER

October came and went so quickly-- it always does; I think because it's my favorite month and there's too much we try to squeeze in.  We didn't manage to visit a pumpkin patch, carve jack-o-lanterns, have a bonfire every weekend, or make caramel apples, BUT we all went trick or treating for the first time as a family (not sure how we didn't manage it before now, eight years in) which was very exciting for the Deterding girlies.

Jane Elizabeth turned three!  More on that later.  Here is our birthday morning tradition of Carlson's donuts and gifts from our family:

That night we had friends over for a bonfire:

Jane and her little twinsie-friend, Jordan:

Halloween was an exciting day!  I went apartment-shopping with Aunt April, and then Mom Mom and Poppy came down for a birthday dinner (for Mom Mom) and then trick or treating in our friends' town home neighborhood, where you get a completely full McDonald's bucket after doing only one pass of one street.  We're all about getting the most bang for our buck.

I present to you, a pumpkin, a sheriff, a colonial girl, an explorer, and a bat.  All but the bat are courtesy of the dress-up bin in Avery's closet. Awesome.

This is sweet-- Grace bought Mom Mom a box of new, sharp, glorious, Crayola crayons because Grace remembered her mentioning that it was her favorite thing to get as a girl.

Steve's Six Ladies!

It took many tries, but we managed to get a Mother's Day picture of me with all the mint green girlies!

#4 and #5

Two Year Old Jane

Janie Junie, Jane Jane, Jane Jane Choo Choo Train, Janers….

This girl is something else!  She's affectionate, mischievous, strong-willed, curious, opinionated, cuddly, and gets into all sorts of trouble.  On a daily basis, she'll stealthily move from room to room doing things she knows she shouldn't be doing… getting granola from the pantry then opening it and spilling it all over the computer keyboard and desk, coloring on library books, taking off her diaper, filling her mouth with gulps of milk then spitting it out down the front of her shirt over and over again, scattering credit cards from wallets that she digs out of purses and drawers, eating old food left on the kitchen counter overnight, cutting clothes with scissors…

All in a day's work!  Jane sure does keep us all on our toes.  And we love her!

She is completely attached to her little elephant security blanket. She calls it "my ellie".  She loves her daddy and her Mom Mom and hates any loud noise.  Play time with Avery takes up a large part of her day, and the two of them walk around with baby dolls playing pretend, all the while Avery calls Jane "Honey" and suggests what they should do next.  Jane usually plays right along!

She still speaks lots of gibberish and is extremely expressive.  We almost always know exactly what she wants even when she only grunts and hums.

 But the English words are starting to flow, now, too.  Her most-used phrases are

"I don't know"
"My ellie?"
"No" (haha)

I love the way she says her sister's names:

Grace is "Dee", Leah is "YaYa", Avery is "Wee Wee", Evelyn/Evie is "Me Me".

Jane loves to wake up at 6:15 every morning, call for her Daddy, and request an oatmeal or yogurt (yaya) breakfast.  It's just the two of them down in the kitchen.  She sleeps with her Ellie, Bear Bear, Cupcake the dolly, a knit blanket, and Avery's baby quilt; all of which must come out of the crib with her when you come in to get her out.  And yes, we are avoiding the transition to a bed for the time being (see mischief-making paragraph above).

Most of all, I think we all love her little shy/sly grin.  If I ever catch it on camera I'll be one happy mama!

It's Funny

It's funny-- Evelyn's been around for 11 months (including her time in utero) and we still can't get used to the idea of Jane being a BIG sister!  Maybe now that she's talking more-- and thus seems a little "older"--it'll start to sink in.

Some Jane words we hear these days:

Yeh-Yee (Ellie, her elephant blankie)
Ooh a Yeh-Yee (Where is Ellie?)
one, two
berry
Mo'?  (more?)
Dada, Mama, MomMom, and some form of Grace, Leah, Avery, Jane
yeah
yes
no
outside
mine
poo-poo, pee-pee
yuck
I want eat

the list could go on… but my favorite thing is that she still says whole conversations that sound like "uh uh uh uh-uh-eh eh eh uh uh uh uh UH"  So cute.  And somehow we all know exactly what she's trying to communicate.

"Big" Sister Jane

Hospital Visitors

We were moved to a corner/end of the hallway recovery room that was huge-- and a good thing, too, because on the afternoon of Evie's birthday, she had four really important visitors to host:

And both sets of Grandparents!

Fluffy hair after her bath:

Posing nicely for some pictures while we waited for discharge papers the next afternoon:

Time to head home: