The Catch-Up Artist

What happens when you have a crazy busy month and then you lose your fire wire (the only way to upload your photos from your camera to your Mac) for almost three weeks?  A monster catch-up post, that's what!  Here's what we've been up to lately:

 *Solving murder mysteries

The winemaker, the priest, the soccer player/waiter, the gangster

The fortune teller, the gold digger, the lady gangster, and the mama/chef

For our quarterly Posse Date Night, the Kelleys hosted a mystery dinner.  It was set in New York at an Italian restaurant.  I've done exactly two of these dinners in my life and Carter has been the murderer both times.  I'm starting to worry . . . but we had so much fun and laughed hard.

*Attending weddings

It is impossible to get a good group shot these days.  Chloe is unhappy in this one, but Sadie copying Piper cracks me up!

Chloe perked up when I let her take some pictures.  This portrait is by her.

Piper needed a turn after that.  This one was hers.  That camera kept them occupied for some time!

Carter's cousin, Molly, got married and we got to go.  We also attended her reception two weeks later, but I was too busy trying to keep the kids away from the cupcake display and the candy table to take any pictures that night!

*Hanging out with my family

My parents came to visit for a week, so we did a lot of swimming (again, not many pictures because it takes a whole lot of concentration to watch four kids in a pool).

And a lot of eating out!  We also became avid Bananagrams fans, a game that I am really terrible at.  I think I won 2 out of 5086 games.  I loved having my parents here for a little bit of their two month stint on the mainland.  They're back on their island now and I'm not sure if they'll ever come back . . . but they said we could visit them! 

*Trying out new hairstyles

 Before

Sadie had been refusing to let me wash or brush her hair without MAJOR drama for several weeks before I made good on my threat to cut her hair.  We're both much happier for it.  Gotta love a bob!

After

Meanwhile, Tessa gave pigtails a try.  She wasn't a fan.  But she sure looked cute!

*Attending picnics in the park

We drove down to Provo for Carter's company picnic on Friday.  The girls were wowed by the giant bounce houses, the ice cream cart with unlimited treats, and the rubber ducky races.  It was lovely, but between the harrowing drive (during rush hour construction with kids SCREAMING in the backseat the whole way) and the creek that ran through the park (shallow, but deep enough to drown in!), I was a nervous wreck.  We went to our church picnic the next night and that one had snow cones, a parade, cotton candy, and relay races.  It was quite the weekend.

*Learning how to walk

As you can see by this sequence, Tessa has mastered the art of standing up unassisted.  She is also a true toddler now, staggering around everywhere she goes.  It's been hard watching her fall down so many times while she masters this new skill, but seeing the utter joy rush across her face when she makes it to the spot where she wants to go is really something to behold.  That never gets old, even the fourth time around! 

*Attempting to potty train daughter #3

No photos.  You can thank me later.  But you'll probably have to visit me in the insane asylum to do it because ARRRGGHH it's not going well!  I'm almost as bad at potty training as I am at Bananagrams!

*Waiting around to ride the kick up three levels of consciousness

Yeah, Carter and I saw Inception.  I loved it, but I'm not entirely sure it made sense.  Nothing to do but go see it again . . .


So that's what we've been up to.  What have YOU been doing?