Here they are, in no particular order... the winners from a week's worth of pictures...

The newest family picture.

 Mary, Joseph, and Lil'Nathan each holding Charlie.  Lil'Nathan had to be "tricked" into holding the baby and hasn't done so since... or before, for that matter.

And all the kids together...

Joseph and Mary playing. 


Aunt Sara came to visit on Thursday.  She brought bubbles for the "big kids" and dinner for everyone.  (Sorry, no picture of that.  It didn't last long enough!)  Last time we saw her (August, peach picking) Joseph wouldn't even talk to her.  This time he adored her... she bumped GG out of the limelight for an afternoon.

Joseph giving Mommy a BIG hug.

Charlie found his thumb on Monday, on the way home from a midwife appt.

And, finally, this is what Charlie thought of GG.

 

My mom left today after a week's visit.  Mary loved sharing her room with GG, but said she's still glad Charlie is a boy b/c she doesn't want to share with another kid.  It was a quiet week... well, at least it was for me.  :)  Mom played a lot (and I do mean a LOT) of games with the kids--Racko, RummiK, Blokus, Scrabble, and Bananagrams, to name a few.  They read stories, played games, did a little school work, and generally hid out up in Mary's room (where it was warm, my mother was freezing all week!)  GG even had the joy of taking them to the library by herself one day and was baffled by the number of books they tried to take out.  We left her with the older kids last night and went to the adult session of Stake Conference.  She had an easier time putting them to bed than we usually do! She left this morning while they were all at church (Charlie and I are still on maternity leave).  Mary came home and cried for nearly an hour.

This week Nathan has off.  Well, first he has to finish his paper for his residency (which is officially over this Tuesday), then he has off.  We are going to Lebanon one day to visit my old midwife (and other friends) and to go to LISTEN b/c we are all out of clothes.  'Course, we'll also likely go to King Arthur Flour (I have a little birthday money!), the Co-op (we need yeast), and a few other stops.  I hope he finishes the paper tomorrow!

School starts again for the kids tomorrow, too.  They've essentially had off for the last three weeks, doing an occasional assignment or two.  (It's not bad b/c they were almost finished with most of their subjects and I wasn't ready to start summer vacation in April!)  It probably won't be easy to get them back into our routine (which is sure to be Charlie-modified) b/c they've been playing so long, but we need to do it.

They are driving me nuts!