May 2015 Part 1

May was apparently a month of chore charts and focusing on behavior issues.

We bought matching dresses for the girls.

Mother's Day breakfast in bed.

April 2015 Part 2

April is the month that this little one would turn one.

Here she is wearing the dress Ellie got her with her own money.

We had fun celebrating her birthday with neighbors.

We also celebrated Bengali New Year at the local University with a friend from Germany and thousands of Bangladeshis. Different groups organize parades and the kids got their faces painted.

Abraham worked on his jumping skills.

Ellie uses her imagination constantly to create little worlds.

I kept working on my sewing skills using my neighbor's old sewing machine. 

April 2015 part 1

Usually April is the start of uncomfortably hot weather here. This year, though, we had storms so frequently that April was quite pleasant.

Franklin has mastered the art of reading to multiple children at once.

Apparently George the teddy bear was wearing a tutu that day.

I took a selfie of Ana asleep in my arms. These special moments, a million a day, don't get documented sometime. And they are wonderful, and they happen. And I don't want to forget.

We celebrated the 100th day of school with 100 shaped pancakes. I remember this was a super chaotic morning and I was amazed I got the pancakes made.

Ana just chillaxing.

One day there was a very loose tooth...

...and the next day it was gone.

I got a Pinterest party in a package! Such a sweet gifts... So I got working on my crafts.

And I finished putting this part of the quilt together. I then bought fabric for the back and old saris for the middle and my house helper will hand sew the pieces together.

Ana got a very sweet gift from Nani Di.

It all started out that she wanted a green smoothie Popsicle like her siblings...

And it got very messy.

And I sewed a bag that had long been on my "someday" list... I found the pattern on Pinterest.

Another good month. :)

March 2015 part 2

In March we ordered some new furniture! We finally got a table that fits our family, and we got a cabinet for our dishes.

Each rest day my quilt got bigger.

We got the tricycle out. We thought Ana would have fun trying it. Instead, Abe was so thrilled to see it again, that Ana hardly got a chance to try it.

After hearing about open heart surgery for grandpa Russ, Ellie thought she'd try it out on play- doh.

Abe used the play doh to learn how to spell his name...

And his sisters' names.

We ordered bunk beds for our big kids.

And the quilt got bigger.

We decided to do an art lesson with play doh.

Primary colors.

Primary colors and secondary colors.

And Ana was really impressed with it all.

A friend came over a few times a week.

And the quilt got even bigger.

Ana's hair made it into pig tails.

His is what our chaotic house looked like while Franklin re did some wiring, I made pasta, and the kids played around us.

Ellie took over the living room for school each day.

And she tried to come up with creative ways to remember how to spell sight words.

Lots of good memories from March.