Some more pictures that were products of having the camera out for a photo assignment. As the kids get older, it becomes more apparent that they want to please us and want to make us happy. Jill loves to make the family laugh. Here she is wearing Lucy's coat.

The start of our little garden

I was trying to take some pictures on this cool bench outside the Anthropologie. Yes, I made a fool of myself as my baby was screaming and Peter was shouting that he didn't want to participate. The image below is my favorite of the bunch. Just stay put, Lucy, while I put my shoe back on. She's so patient.

Peter insisted the truck be in the photos.

I was supposed to be avoiding mergers but it looks like she has antlers in this picture.

Amelia visits

The kids refer to this as "when Amelia visited." They couldn't get enough of her. She has such a bubbly, spunky personality so it's no surprise. I wish I had more pictures but I guess you could say we were busy having fun, which of course included caring for five crazy kids under 5! It's so fun living close to great friends!

An afternoon at Duke Gardens

We loved living so close to the MO Botanical Gardens and so we were delighted to find out about the Duke Gardens. A little bit further away from us, as they are not right across the street but actually across Durham, which we are discovering is HUGE. They have a Japanese garden too with a fun bridge to walk over. There is a huge terraced garden and what we've explored so far seems less structured and more like a huge sprawling yard with grass and trees and flowers. This time we went the kids had fun running around with their cousins.

Lucy and Crew at about 5 1/2 and 7 1/2 months

The coolest tree! I told the kids to go run around there to make a couple that was romancing on the bench leave so we could be there. Jillian then told the people I had said that. Oops! This reminds me of our family tree in Valley Forge!

"Go Heels!" Or should we say "Go Blue" and cover our bases? It's so fun to watch BYU do so well this year!!! I realized a while back that every school I've ever gone to has been some variation of blue and white. Pennbrook Middle School, North Penn HS, BYU, SLU and now UNC. Crazy! And probably if our elementary school had colors it would have been blue because our mascot was the whale.

Sometimes he's my strong, silent type and sometimes he's such a goofball! You never know what you're gonna get. More and more though, he's a jokester. Today we had fun exploring the courtyard and architecture around Jillian's school for my photography assignment. I love these one-on-one moments. Lucy was there, too, but she doesn't usually demand too much attention, especially when she's outside. She's content to just sit and observe, or just sit and holler at anyone who will listen. Either way, she's pretty good at sharing. Like all kids, Peter can find a treasure in anything and it's endearing, to his parents anyway. At one point we were heading from one area to another and he ran back to collect his pile of twigs, rocks, and who knows what else. He's so ready to be the big boy going to preschool. He wears his owl pack-pack when we drop Jillian off and talks about next year all the time. "Slow down, you're moving too fast. We've got to make the morning last...just kickin' down the cobblestone. Looking for fun and feeling groovy." Couldn't be a more appropriate theme song for our morning.

p.s. Peter officially has 18 teeth instead of 20. Hmm...could this be a sign of the missing family teeth?

I call this "It's-rough-being-the-third/we'll-miss-the-Blanchards!"

Really, Mom? This bow is huge...and she's still holding me?

February

Another wagon ride

Lucy's first solids on February 1st. She had been licking her lips and looking really interested in eating for a while so we brought out the cereal. We weren't too gradual about the whole process this time around but she seems to love most of everything we give her. Green beans and the meat send a shiver down her spine though, and she gives us one very entertaining face but we try not to torture her with them too often. She really does love her baby food. She will eat two, sometimes three, containers in one sitting. With Jillian I used to feed her half of one per meal.

Grandma's birthday! Emily flew in for a surprise visit!

I love this phase where they get up early to eat and then immediately fall back asleep and cuddle with you. Peter never did this but both my girls have. Lucy has grown out of this phase now. I loved this view while it lasted!

Jillian had fun in a dance class with Camielle, who was very creative and made each session so fun!

I wish this weren't fussy!

We had a mini Valentine's party with Jillian's friends from dance class and our neighbor too. The girls were very cute and fun to have. This was the only picture I took of the last man standing, who happened to be licking and licking his icing knife!