Milestone!!

 

Jackson was very excited to blow a bubble with his gum the other day. Yet another milestone reached!! :) He was quite proud of himself and showed me every bubble he blew for the next 10 min. Kids are so funny!!

Caleb

 

We fished the exersaucer out of storage for Caleb but couldn't find the baggie with all the toys that attach to it. He loves to be able to stand up but I think he would like to have something to do while he's in it. He is just starting to reach for toys and grab onto things. He can spin the one little rattle that is still attached. I'm ready to MOVE! so we can start to find things again.

Me

 

Wow - two recent posts with me in the picture! I try to post a picture of me every once in awhile so when we look back someday, I will be able to remember what I looked like at this stage of my life :) Not the best picture of Caleb. He looks a little funny for some reason.

Earrings

 

Before you get too amazed that Maggie has pierced ears..... these are clip-ons :) She loves all things girly but doesn't want to get her ears pierced. She thinks it will hurt to have 'holes' in her ears. Since I feel the same way I am not the one to convince her otherwise..... Matt on the other hand has a little experience on the subject......
Anyway, we decided to try some clip-ons. She loved it but they made her ears hurt so she doesn't wear them often (we have found that if we get them in the right spot they don't hurt).

Curly hair

 

As Hailey's hair has grown longer it has also become very curly. I've tried a few times to get some good pics of it for those of you who live farther away..... :) and Matt took some the other day that showed the curl pretty well. My hair has quite a bit of wave and curl in it too - you would just never know because I wear it up ALL. THE. TIME. However, I learned recently that that is going to have to change because..... apparently hair that it worn up all the time in humidity, never dries very well, and things that don't dry very well start to smell like mildew. IN MY HAIR!! Ugh. Gross. So now either I wear it down or actually blow dry my hair. This is totally out of character for me. I had no idea the boundaries it would stretch moving East. Poor Matt.

Hailey

 

Whew. Ok, here are the last of the studio pics :) Hailey turned two Aug. 1 so these were taken fairly recently. Hailey was not quite as cooperative as the others. In her defense, I had them done right after the group pics and I think she was pretty much done with the whole thing by then. But I stayed right with her to keep her in place and the photographer was very good at making her laugh in between crying. In the close up of her face - her eyes look wet because she had been crying literally one second before. Good thing that photography was quick on the trigger!! Her's turned out really well too. I love the one of her laying on the floor. She is such a character. Being a third child is not going to hold her back!!
I have a lot of regular pics to post too but maybe I will work on those later......

Caleb

 

 

Caleb's turn. He was only 5 weeks at the time these were taken so I didn't have them do very much at all and he still wasn't very impressed with the whole idea. At least a couple of them turned out. I really should take him again now that he is smiling more. Maybe I will have some individual ones of him done when we go for family pictures sometime soon. Jackson loved having pictures taken with his brother.

Jackson

 

These were also taken a few months ago. You know a little closer to when Jackson turned 6 - in March :) I think they were taken in July. I was a little late. Pregnancy and a baby do that to me :) At least we went in and got them done. I think they turned out well for a quick maybe, 10 min session. He does really well for pictures. I wanted to have the pics taken with his sandals off - they kind of ruin the preppy look that Matt always makes fun of me for - but I forgot. The photographer wanted to take a picture of him with a football and I said "don't you have a basketball?" Hmm. I try not to influence them too much one or another when it comes to interest but then I realize I probably do it all the time without meaning too. But really? Is there even a question of which would be the better sport for him to play when it comes to basketball vs. football? I LOVED playing basketball when I was younger. It's one of the biggest things I miss. I love the smell when I walk into a gym and every once in awhile I get a ball in my hands again. Ahhhh.

Group pics

 

I love that the kids have all been such cooperative picture takers so far. I take a lot of my own pictures at home but there is always so much other stuff/junk/mess in the pictures that it takes away from the kids so I like to take them in for studio pictures at least once a year. I don't even really care how great the pics are as long as the focus is on the kids. Tears, frowns, eyes looking aways - oh well, at least they are the only thing in the pic. Maybe someday I will take it upon myself to set up my own little studio setting or buy a really nice camera. That would be great too :)
I really liked how these pics turned out. Eventhough Caleb is in a green shirt...... I looked and looked for a black shirt for him and could not find one. We even went to two stores the morning we were getting pics taken to try to find one. Oh well, I kind of like that he stands out as the youngest. I like that the kids are cooperative enough to make it a fast visit. We are usually in and out with just a few takes - I think that's one of the reasons they let me keep taking them :)

Daddy Daughter Date

 

Chic Fil A does a theme activity fairly often for the whole family. Recently they did a special theme day called Daddy Daughter Date. So Matt and Maggie went on a date. We decided that we are going to try to spend a little more individual time with the older two. The little ones get plenty of attention - they are quite good at demanding it but the older two are expected to handle their frustrations...... but they are still little so it's hard for them. So we thought if we spent a little more time with them it might make it all more manageable. I have found that they can be quite different kiddos when you have them out alone than when they are playin/fighting in a group. It's been fun. I hope we keep it up. They really do grow up so fast and I'd like to make more individual memories for them and for me.

Maggie

 

We got these taken a long time ago - since Maggie turned 4 in April. I just never got around to posting them...... She absolutely loves to have her picture taken and is usually annoyed when it's over with. She wants it to last longer and have more pictures taken. I'm sure she would have loved it even more if I had several outfits with me for her to change into and model. Silly girl :) She is always asking me when it's her turn to go have more pictures taken by herself. Hailey was fairly cooperative. It was a practice run for her since her birthday would be coming up in August and I wanted to see how she was going to do for pictures.

We were all playing with baking soda and vinegar one day. This is a video of Maggie having fun with it. It's funny to me that she is so cautious about it. Sometimes she is incredibly brave and others times she is so very cautious. I wish I knew what she was thinking at those times. It was fun to do this with the kiddos. We also made baking soda bombs. This one was a little more involved but still fun to do. You put some baking soda in the middle of a paper towel piece, fold it so the baking soda doesn't fall out, put 1/2 c water and 1/2 c vinegar into a sandwich baggie. Hold the packet with baking soda inside at the top so you zip the baggie closed without the baking soda getting wet. Then take it to the bathtub and let the packet drop into the water/vinegar. You can shake it a little bit too. It will make the bag get big and then 'pop' not really explode. I love science experiments! If I homeschooled that would probably be my favorite part. I've read about people doing all kinds of science experiments with their halloween candy instead of eating it - maybe we will try that :)

Experiments

This is a video of trying out the mentos and diet coke explosion - if you haven't heard of it, google it. Such a fun way to do an experiment with the kiddos. Just make sure you use coke or diet coke and mint mentos. We tried it with a couple of different things but didn't get nearly the same reaction. :) Yes, I know the video is a little long and very poor quality but definitely check out the explosion part if all the kids in background playing DS isn't entertaining enough :)

Sports

 

 

Maggie and Jackson started soccer a few weeks ago. It's still kind of hot out so neither one of them is very impressed with playing. They have fun off and on. Hopefully it gets better as the weather cools off. I signed them up to get them/us put of the apartment a little more.

Sisters

 

These two are starting to play together a lot more now that Hailey is getting a little older. She is still a menace though and it's hard for Maggie to be patient with her but at least there is progress :)
Maggie loves to dress up to sing and dance. Whenever she does Hailey wants to do it with her. It was so funny watching them dancing around the other day - looking at the pictures and videos really shows me how little space we have. Our 5x8 rug is pretty much the only open space.... We are surviving and I'm sure we will remember this experience forever but maybe the fondness and lessons learned will come later :)

So big

 

I can't believe how fast this little guy is growing. I know it's the 4th time I've seen it happen but I don't think I would ever get used to it. Babies are simply amazing. He loves to smile and talk to us. I try to give him tummy time but it really doesn't happen very often - maybe that will keep him from crawling as early as some of the others...... :) He loves to sit on our laps and watch his siblings play. They love to say hi to him and give him hugs and kisses. He will be three months old in just a few days. WOW.