After Halloween, Grammy stuck around for a few days and Eleanor took full advantage of all the extra cuddles!
Grammy and girls indulging in their ice cream bar creations at South Swell in San Clemente, right after pizza at Pizza Port.
Meredith started meeting up with a playgroup of other 2016 babies every week. Most of the moms also have a 2018 baby like Eleanor, so in a few years, she’ll have a bunch of friends she’s grown up with!
Amelia and Samantha’s school pictures– first time they’ve looked at the camera for school photos and smiled (sort of).
Fall artwork from kindergarten.
We met up with Lucero, Kennedy and Sebastian at the Spectrum one night to check out the new-fangled play structure and play games at Dave and Busters.
“Bowling!”
Sebastian reached for Amelia’s hand and I almost died. Cuteness!
Meredith requested to ride the ferris wheel with Lucero and Kennedy– I guess they are more fun!
We were so sad to say farewell to our favorite babysitters, twins Charlotte and Claire. We’ve know their family for years and Charlotte and Claire have been the girls’ favorite babysitters of all time. They were a lifesaver during the fall when they came back from school before leaving on their missions, babysitting after school a few days a week for me. Every day, Meredith would wake up from from her nap and ask, “Are Charlotte and Claire coming today! I want to chase Charlotte and Claire!” It was perfect having both of them because one of them would do whatever the twins wanted to do and the other would run around with Meredith. Sometimes they would go out to the park or play games all together. Nice to have options! The girls still ask when when they are coming over to babysit again! Hopefully, they will be able to babysit in a year when they get back, so in the mean time I’ve been placating Meredith by telling her Charlotte and Claire are going to come when they get back from a very long trip!
Charlotte went to Warsaw, Poland and Claire went to Berlin, Germany. It’s the first time these identical twins have been separated by that far of a distance (5 hours!) We still laugh how they are serving in bordering missions. We miss them!
Amelia being silly while waiting for her tennis lesson. She is pretty accurate with her swings!
The twins attended two birthday parties at Pump it Up– a popular choice for kids at school, apparently.
Crazy-eyed Meredith.
Eleanor loves story time before Meredith goes down for her nap.
Maple is always so generous sharing her seaweed snack with Meredith at the park.
A typical crazy Family Home Evening.
Jake worked on refinishing an outdoor table, with Meredith as his crew member. She’s a pretty good sander.
The twins love to show off their Magnatile creations.
Curling hair before a Christmas pajama photo shoot.
Behind the scenes!
 
The weather was so nice that we spent our mornings going on bike rides or picking flowers at the pocket park.
Meredith’s saying of the month was, “I know my colors!” Even if she had identified the wrong color.
I had to get a few more pictures of Eleanor in her poodle skirt costume before storing the Halloween stuff away.
  
 
Eleanor was so chubby and always so hungry that Dr. Young gave us the go-ahead to start solids at 4 months! We waited closer to the 5-month mark to start oatmeal and then vegetables, but she was definitely ready. She was SO happy to finally have something to eat other than liquid!
The twins were at school during Maple’s 3rd birthday party, but Meredith was so excited to go and celebrate with her dear friend. The party was at Maple’s brother, Parker’s, tae kwon do studio and was so fun! The TKD instructors were very engaging with the kids and Maple did some impressive moves! She even cut her cake with a giant sword, which was pretty much the coolest thing Meredith had ever seen.
Group hug.
Meredith re-connected with her friend, Owen, who lives in our old neighborhood. They were obsessed with hugging each other!
Meredith is normally not shy about hitting at home, but seemed confused that it was actually encouraged at the party!
The hugging game was very entertaining!
Give him some space, Meredith.
All the kids took turns doing their best chop to break a board!
Lots of love,
