Rob and I were downstairs cleaning up and came upstairs to find the four older kiddos cuddled up together on our bed, watching a movie. I love times when they are all getting along!

The night before Brittney and her family left, Brittney came over one last time to babysit. Rob and I went out for dinner, then for a walk in the mall (it was too hot outside to walk somewhere not air-conditioned), then looking for used books at one of our favorite stores. We came home to find Jack conked out and the girls watching a movie with Brittney. We took one last picture of Brittney and the kids (minus Jack, who was asleep, and Beth, who refused to be in the picture) ~


Then Brittney scooped Jack up and carried him to bed one last time ~


Rob took a picture of Brittney, Eva and me, then Brittney and I went for a drive (to Sonic of course). I really miss Brit! We've become really good friends over the last several years :)

My current quarter ends this evening at 5pm, so this week I've been spending a significant amount of time working on my final project, a powerpoint presentation. Working on homework has proven difficult with all five kids at home. On Wednesday Jack decided he needed to spend time with me. I really had to work on my ppt, (and I had just taken him on a Mommy date the night before), so I tried to come up with something to distract him. Nothing worked until I spotted a washable marker on my nightstand and had a brilliant idea :) I told Jack he could color on my foot and leg. Thrilled at the prospect of participating in such a forbidden activity, Jack happily went to work ~

I discovered that being drawn on tickles and is just a tad distracting, so I told Jack he could take his shirt and pants off and color on himself. He shot me an incredulous look, then enthusiastically began. Doing his best to take full advantage of the opportunity, he managed to cover a large percentage of his chest, face, arms, legs and feet. He asked me to decorate his back and so I drew a large smiley face. Kylie discovered what he was up to and got in on it too. And I got two full slides done for my powerpoint! :)

Eva started crawling this past Sunday, slipping in just under the wire before her 7th month mark to keep up with the three older siblings who crawled at six months (Kylie didn't crawl until 10 months - she almost went straight to walking). Eva managed to come with her own unique way of crawling - she moves her arms in the traditional method, then hops her little legs along behind her. It works very well though and we've reinstalled gates at the top and bottom of the stairs.

It's been quite a while since we had a crawling baby in the house! I had forgotten how much they get into. Eva's favorite thing is paper. Any paper, no matter what size, is quickly and efficiently reduced to a wet wad. I'm thinking of renting her out as a form of recycling :) Apparently her Oregonian roots run deep! She found a stack of school papers this morning and was quite thrilled with herself :)