90!

Great Grandma is 90!

What a blessing to celebrate a 90th Birthday. We love you Grandma Lu!

Sunday morning photoshoot

Just another Sunday of my kids looking adorable and me failing miserably at getting a cute picture of them.



And kicking myself that I had the ISO wrong for the perfect one! Oh well, we'll call it artsy!

Mascara

I was in the shower and my daughter was silent so after enjoying the silence for a moment, I peaked out to see what she was getting into...

...and then I smiled because at least she knows where mascara goes.

A perfect day

A perfect day...

...for laughing...

...and biking...

...playing with chalk...



...and splashing.

We love the rain!

Mama!!

"Mama!" The sweetest words to my ear. Today, as I laid on the couch, Ender pulled himself up next to me and said, "Mama!" It was clear as can be! I can not claim that he was definitely saying my name, but it was still a sweet sweet sound. Since then, when we ask him to say "Mama" he says it on demand. He also says "Mama" and appears to look for me. I love this boy!



Pictures taken at our friend Aiden's birthday party on the 17th.

Tire swing

We spent the morning at my parent's house with some family friends. They have 5 kids. Needless to say, my kids had a blast!

Timeline of movement

I thought, for a couple months, that this sweet, soft-hearted, easy going little boy would be our later walker. Emmett walked day before his 1st birthday. Eisley was taking steps at 9 months and walking exclusively by 10 months.
When Ender was 6 months old (almost 7 months) he was doing a slow army crawl. During his 7th month he started officially crawling. He just turned 8 months and he crawls primarily to find a place to pull up on. He's not really cruising yet, but while holding on, he will take a step or two.
He still kneels while he plays with toys.

Bends way down to pick up toys.

And then just today he stood by himself! I can't believe it!
Who wants to guess when he'll start walking!?

5 kids looking at the camera

The kids love eating outside, even when we need to wear our fleece coats.
This picture cracks me up.


MY FAVORITE PICTURE EVER!
These kids are my life! They're all looking at the camera! Wow, seriously, make my day! I love these kiddos!

Family picture

Tonight Grandma babysat. The kids love it when she babysits! Here is the story I heard 3rd hand (Grandma told to Eric who told me).

The kids were coloring and Eisley was working on a coloring sheet and the instructions said, "You are Hello Kitt's friend too. Draw a picture of yourself." Eisley scribbled an orange blob. Grandma asked Eisley to tell her about the picture. Eisley asked Grandma to write down who was in the picture, "Eisley, Mommy, Daddy, Ender." Emmett came over, took a look and said, "Emmett too?" Eisley, with out hesitation, responded, "no!" Emmett begged, "please?" Eisley was confident, "no."

Later when Grandma was picking up after the kids went to bed and found this... Emmett had drawn himself into the picture and had added his name to the list. Ha! These kids are awesome.
(Eric and Grandma, feel free to correct/add details where I've missed them!)

Dinner at the park

The nights when Eric works, one of my favorite things to do is to pick up dinner at McDonald's and go play at the park. Sometimes I can even find a friend to meet us!

Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day.
Today I am especially grateful for these 2...

...and this one...

...and this one.

With out whom I wouldn't be celebrating!
Aren't they just the cutest? :)

Mother's Day 2011

We celebrated Mother's Day today since tomorrow Eric works the majority of the day. So here it is:

After snuggling for a bit with the two oldest kids, Eric got out of bed with them and let me sleep in. At 7:30am I was awoken by my 4 favorite people carrying one of my favorite foods; chocolate chip cookies and milk (the cookies which I had made the night before). They also handed me a daisy shaped gift bag. Emmett had informed me last night, "we don't have a surprise for you!" So I was speechless when I opened the bag and discovered exactly what I wanted, a creamsicle chewbead necklace!! I LOVE it! It's even cuter in real life!

After devouring my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with a touch of cinnamon (my favorite cookie recipe ever) I got ready to head to my friends' house to photograph her family. I love meeting friends' families. I am finally able the picture the people they speak about and understand more who they are. I photographed my friend Aubrey, her parents, her 3 siblings and their families. I really had a great time.

I've been so in the mood for the Greek pizza at CPK so we went there for lunch, followed by some shopping. We even saw Thor at Toys R Us! Whatever makes the kids happy makes me happy!

The evening finished up with McDonalds (I asked that we not cook tonight :)) and now I'm editing photos, blogging and watching a movie.

I felt very loved today! I love being a mom!

The Mustard Seed

Happy 8 Month Birthday Ender!!!
I just love taking the kids to The Mustard Seed.
Taking one look at this picture and you can see they just love going!

We spent the morning feeding animals,


and playing at the playground.




I bought some purple basil and chocolate mint plants. Don't those sound fun?

Softball!

It's softball season! Normally I wouldn't have an exclamation point after the word "softball", as I don't particularly care for softball, playing it myself that is. But this year, Eric is playing on a guys only team with most of my friends' husbands. It's great!
The babies take over the playground.

Daddy hits the ball.

The kids cheer!

Great Grandparents

This is my Grandpa. This is my son. How blessed am I to have my grandfather hold my son. Great Grandparent relationship. Priceless.

Kids, Grandparents, Great Grandparents.