Sunday, February 15, 2015

Jillian is 8!!

I realize I am way, way, way behind.  Now that Channing is no longer a newborn and has her own opinion, this mothering of 4 has become harder.  That's the understatement of the year.  BUT tonight let me try and catch up on some things. 
 
My big girl turned 8 on Janurary 6th.  She is really morphing into a young lady before our eyes.  She has finally hit her stride with 2nd grade.  She struggled in the beginning with the upgrade in spelling homework and math homework but now is in a groove.  Her teacher sends monthly science challenges and she loves doing those. 
 
She is definitely the first born.  She is the little general and usually bosses everyone around.  She loves taking care of Channing.  She and Hadleigh will sometimes play together but Hadleigh can only take being bossed around so long.  Rocco can last a lot longer.  But in the car, Jillian and Rocco will fight on the way to school and on the way home EVERY.DAY.  Lovely!!
 
For her eighth birthday, she wanted her ears pierced and even though there were some unexpected tears, now she loves it!  She picked out a teal color and they go perfectly with her blue eyes.  She is (percentage-wise) the smallest in the house.  Little Minnie is only is the 20th percentile for weight and only average for height so Rocco weighs more than her and is almost as tall.  Hadleigh is only 10 pounds behind her.  But what she lacks in size, she completely makes up with her big personality.   
 
 
She can be silly sometimes.  She likes to hide behind doors and scare you.  She is definitely Daddy's Girl.  The rest of the crew is mine but Jillian has her Daddy in the palm of her hand.  He will do anything for that girl. 



She is still taking Ballet I.  She complains sometimes that her teacher Ms. Hayley is too strict.  But then she will have a substitute and suddenly, Ms. Hayley is not so bad.  This winter, I signed up Rocco for basketball and once Jillian saw it, she was very jealous and wanted to play too.  There is nothing this girl won't try.  She is pretty fearless.  She also expressed interest in taking tumbling so she can get ready to be a cheerleader.  We'll see! 

 
She has a serious appetite for reading.  She has started checking out some classics like The Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback of Notre Dame.  For Christmas, I ordered some old Babysitter Club Books that I used to read and she has liked those. 

 
I am so proud of this sweet girl.  She is loving, inquisitive, kind, helpful.  Her writing will blow you away.  She loves writing in school and will compose a pretty decent well thought out composition.  I cannot believe how quickly she is growing up.  It is thrilling and scary at the same time.  I love you Jillian Avery!!  I love watching you grow into such a beautiful and intelligent little lady. 

Saturday, January 10, 2015

3 months old

Channing is 3 months old.  She started daycare on monday and the ladies love her.  She goes to Hadleigh s school and hadleigh s teachers let her stop by to check on HER baby. 

She is still very easy going baby.  Very tolerant to her brother and sisters.  She is a serious baby.  You have to work and perform to get her to smile. 

The olders fight to see who can sleep with Channing BUT usually they regret it as she does cry during the night LOUDLY for milk!!

Friday, January 2, 2015

Christmas Day

The kids were up early Christmas morning.  The kids have no mercy on Channing.  Every morning they wake that poor baby up. 
 
 
Mom and Dad were coming at 8:00 so we had to keep them upstairs until then.  It was DIFFICULT!!!  We were surprised that Bill, Summer and the boys showed up too.  Santa had already delivered their presents.  Here they are coming up the stairs....

 
Look who got a new bike!!!  She cannot figure out how to push the pedals but she LOVES that she can bring her baby doll.  Jillian wants a car seat for her doll on her bike.  They always want what they don't have. 

 
Rocco continues his obsession of being a teacher so of course, Santa brought a school set.

 
Jillian got the holiday Barbie from her birth year.

 
Santa knew that Hadleigh really wanted a Peppa Pig and boy did he deliver.  A whole set of Peppa Pig dolls and characters!!  (Santa had to work realllly hard to get this gift and had to special order it from China!!!)

 
Later we went over to Mom and Dad's for lunch.  My grandma had fallen the day before and broke her other hip so it was a small gathering.  But as always, Mom went above and beyond for the kids.  They got all kids of goodies.

 
These two....do everything together.  KK calls Hadleigh his sister.  Open presents together, get in trouble together, always together.

 
She got a new doll

 
Jillian got her first American Girl doll.  She wanted Isabelle with a horse. 

 
She got busy right away organizing the dolls clothes and accessories. 

 
We had such a fun Christmas vacation.  I am discovering with 4 little bodies that it is really hard to take pictures.  I love taking pictures.  I love recording our day to day but I need two free hands which I rarely have.  Poor Rocco.  I feel like I did not take many pics of him and forget Channing.  She was with us on Christmas.  Oh well.  I'll get better.  Two days left of vacation and then we will gear up for the month of birthdays!!! 

Monday, December 29, 2014

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, we did something different and went to the 2:30 service at church.  It was nice to go to that first.  The kids were UH-MA-ZING during the service which lasted way over an hour. 
 
 
We used the timer!!  Turned out pretty good!!

 
 
We always go to Bryan's parents for Christmas Eve.  Hadleigh wanted to be "in charge" of opening Channing's gifts.

 
Being patient.  waiting to open...


 
Not really being patient at all!!  He photo-bombed my tree picture!!

 
The hit of the night - robes!!!

 
The whole gang got jammies and robes!!!


Saturday, December 20, 2014

My Dancing Sweethearts

Hadleigh-boo LOVES her dance class.  Every day she asks if it is dance day! 
 
 
It is a challenge to contain her curls in a bun!  Mommy has to work really hard to get her to stay still to put that hair up!  AND most of it just falls out as you can see!  Ha!  She loves the stretching songs!!

 
She is by far the tallest 3 year old in her class!  And the most vocal - she sings the songs constantly!


 
She performed the "Teddy Bear" Dance!  So proud of this little girl!!!

 
Next up was Jilly-poo.  This year, she is in the Ballet I class for ages 7-10.  The class was surprisingly VERY serious.  The ballet teacher was so serious and there was no nonsense during the class. 
 
 
She did great at the barre work and answered a lot of the teachers questions about ballet positions.




 
At the end of class, the girls performed a dance to the Nutcracker.  Jillian did great!
 
Both girls were measured for their recital costumes
 
 
Hadleigh is going to be a poodle.  It comes with cute puppy ears!  ha!
 
Jillian's costume is more elegant of course!

 
 

Saturday, December 6, 2014

2 months old

My baby is 2 months old today and has found her gorgeous smile!!!  She is so beautiful!  Channing continues to be the easiest of babies and most of the time, she is quite peaceful and well-tempered.  Bryan nicknamed her "Chan-dog!" and it has stuck.  Hadleigh has trouble saying Channing and it comes out "Chonning" and it is hilarious!!  This was my first week back to work and it went OK.  Mom has her for the month of December and they are doing great together!!  I am so lucky to have her!!
 
 
This dress has gotten a lot of mileage!!  The 3rd Pearce girl is as pretty as the 1st and 2nd!

 
Hadleigh was happy to wear it!
 
 
Jillian looked so cute!!

 
 
 I still get asked 27 times a day "Who does Channing look like?"  My Mom and I laughed the other day because 3 people in a row at my school asked the question.

 
Jillian @ 2 months (I feel so bad.  I was such a rookie mom.  She is wearing the ugliest dress with no bow.  I am glad I know kid fashion now.  ha ha!)

 
Rocco @ 2 months  (I love this because McCoy just wore this outfit the other day.  I love passing down and getting your money out of good clothes)

 
Hadleigh @ 2 months  (Ha!  She was obviously less than impressed with picture-taking!)

 
We are busy at our house getting ready for the holidays!  It should be so much fun with all the kids!!