Right Hand Woman (And the Weekend)

Brian's mom came to visit us this past weekend. She met Caroline for the first time. She brought Caroline gifts: sweet little outfits and a pretty new towel. The big kids liked opening all the gifts. Grandma also did dishes, swept the floor, put Caroline to sleep a few times, played games with the other kids, and made applesauce with one of the boxes of apples the kids had picked from our tree (I am so glad they are half used up!). Sunday afternoon Grandma and Julia went off shopping in Santa Maria while everyone else took naps and came home with even more cute little outfits! Julia chose one that she insisted Caroline should have, with a strawberry on the front.

Saturday night we went out to dinner at Red Robin. The waitress was bringing us more fries and water, and suddenly we heard a loud crash, Brian's mom and I felt splashes, and Lauren was crying and crying. The waitress had somehow lost her balance holding the tray, and the water glass fell, hitting the table, with ice and water splattering everywhere, mostly all over Lauren! Fries were all over the place too. Lauren said the glass bumped her, but we are not sure about that, as we didn't really see it happen, but boy, she sure was crying, poor little girl. Thankfully she didn't seem to be hurt, and we keep a spare outfit for each kid in the car, and Lauren came prancing back in the restaurant happy to be wearing a Lion King sweatsuit with Nala on the front. :) Also we are glad it wasn't hot soup or coffee or something like that that splashed her! And that the glass or plate didn't fall on her head!




Caroline in one of the outfits from Grandma Alvina



Julia is a huge help to me! I ask her sometimes, "What am I going to do when you go back to school?!" She never seems to have an answer to that, though. :D She is able to do so much, and just so many little things that would take me extra time, or be an interruption to me when I'm in the middle of doing other things, these days. Julia helps Lauren get dressed, answers the phone when I'm busy with the baby, reads stories for naptime, gets Austin and Lauren snacks, opens their packages (ie string cheese, granola bars, cracker packs, etc.), makes them chocolate milk in the morning, puts the clean silverware from the dishwasher into the drawer, cleans the cat boxes, holds the baby when needed, takes Lauren potty in restaurants and stores, and just keeps an eye on the other two and tries to keep order (they don't always appreciate this ;) ), when I am busy. Of course she doesn't do all of these things all of the time, but she does do them quite often, as well as many more little things that just come up during the day. And most of the time she willingly helps without any complaining. She is the best oldest child and big sister we could have. Here are the youngest and oldest: the baby blowing bubbles (as she does...), and my right-hand woman! ;)


Snapshot before church on Sunday


The oldest and youngest again. I actually cropped the second picture out of a group shot. Nobody told Julia to kiss the baby. In fact, they were *supposed* to all be looking at the camera (for a nice, posed shot of all four, you know... ;) ). But Julia couldn't resist her baby sister and snuck in a kiss or two. She loves Caroline so much!