Can't forget the big kids......

 

While Matt's parents were here we went to a nearby state park with a lake. The kids loved it. As soon as Hailey saw me starting to pull out the swimming stuff she was very excited and kept signing 'swim'. The water was pretty warm and the kids loved being out. We will have to go more often. It's a lot cheaper than the pool and more shallow so I can keep track of them better.....
Notice Maggie's swimming skirt? She was very excited to have a pink shirt and new skirt for swimming. Hailey loves to copy Maggie so she has a skirt also. Hailey goes back and forth from copying Jackson to copying Maggie. She is an incredible mimic. She copies things exactly as the others do them - down to the little details.
Jackson is enjoying his summer vacation so far. He likes being home. He handled school fine and seemed to enjoy it but if you ask him he says he didn't really like it. I can't believe that he is done with kindergarden and is on to 1st grade!!

Flower Child

 

Maggie wanted some flower decorations when we were playing outside one day so this is what we came up with. She is such a funny girl. Good thing I had a crafty mom and artistic sister or I would be completely out of my element with this one :) She loves to sing and dance. I can definitely see dance team, drama or something similiar in her future! She is a chatterbox and will talk to anyone about anything. I love this kid :)

Quick Caleb fix

 

Caleb has been a very easy baby so far..... he still sleeps a lot though so we won't get our hopes up too soon :) The only time he really gets upset is during diaper changes. That's where the pacifier came in. He would scream and scream when we changed him so about day 5 we tried a pacifier - it worked wonders. The boy loves his pacifier!! We didn't give the others a pacifier until closer to 2 weeks but Caleb is already an addict! He is getting more and more alert all the time. He slept so much at first that the other kids would get extremely excited whenever he actually opened his eyes. If you said he was awake they would come running to say hello and see his eyes. Very cute. All of them are doing really well with him. Even Hailey - she loves to hold him and look at him. The only time she gets upset is when she's getting tired and wants to be on my lap but Caleb is already there. The bigger two love to help burp him after he eats. They are so proud of themselves when it works.
Caleb can hold him head up fairly well at times too. I'm a little afraid of tummy time because of all the activity of the older kids. He's going to get squashed!! All of our baby stuff is in storage - swing, bouncy seat etc...... I tried to watch for it when they were unloading into the storage units but it was MIA. I did see the exersaucer so in a few months...... I just got a new rocker chair for him for now. He sleeps really well in it so we haven't used a different bed at all yet.
Matt's parents just left today after being here for three weeks. Now I have to do my own cooking, cleaning and laundry. Ugh!! How am I going to do that on top of 4 kids??!!

Hello Baby!!

Whew! The baby came on Monday June 7th. I was scheduled to be induced on Tue June 8th but apparently the baby was anxious to come on his own. That was fine with me :) Although having him on the 8th would have been fun.... there are birthdays in the family on the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th. He is actually the third one with a birthday on the 7th.
His name is Caleb Robert Fisher. He weighed 9 lbs 3 oz, and was 20.5" long. He is doing great and it feels excellent to not be pregnant anymore!
I will add pics soon. They are on the other computer.....

Park play

 

 

 

 

There are not very many city - public parks here. Most of them are just the school playgrounds, so we can only play when school is out for the night or summer. I miss all the parks we had in Utah..... All the kiddos are braver than I can handle right now. I'm just not moving quick enough to save them from precarious positions! Hailey wants to do the firemans pole - and will try by herself. Maggie wants to hang from high places. Jackson wants to do creative tricks...... I love that they are active and independent but I would also love for them to all make it to adulthood!!

Hailey - Close Up

 

This little kiddo is such a strong personality packed into such a little body! She has an incredible mind of her own. Her face was dirty from digging with sticks at the park - she is into all things messy and buggy - although Maggie brings out the girl in her too :) A few of the other pictures are her 'cheese' face for the camera. I can't believe she won't be the baby anymore.