Our graduate

Ethan has finished elementary school. He had a great year. His teacher this year was Ms. Ring. She is a wonderful teacher. Ethan had her in 3rd grade (or maybe it was 4th?) and Kelsey had her last year. Ethan is such a character. So full of personality. He is maturing into a helpful young man. He is actually excited to start middle school! I remember being so nervous to leave my elementary school.

Here's a couple pictures of Ethan graduating. The one of him waving cracks me up. That's the principle not Ms. Ring standing by him.

California Mission

In CA 4th graders learn about California's history. At our school they have a report and a project due at the end of May. They have a list of topics and subjects to pick from. We always choose the San Louis Rey mission. It's always a huge relief when it's all turned in and done. :)

The 4th graders put on a little CA history performance the week their projects are due. After the performance their projects are on display in their classrooms. It's kind if hilarious because it is so funny to go see all the projects made by the parents. Anyway, back to the performance. Austin had a real part! He had lines he memorized and a couple parts in a song that he sang all by himself! He did not even tell us this until the afternoon of the performance. Then he got all nervous and said he only wanted me to come. He was afraid everyone would say stuff and make a big deal about it. Kind of like what I'm doing right now :) We all went anyway. He did great! Paul and I are so pleased with him. He has come so far since his quiet, no more like silent kindergarten days! My pictures of the performance are horrible, but I'll post a couple anyway.

Silly Lilly

Lilly loves playing with Addy. Sometimes a little too much. When Addy is being good or trying to sleep I find myself asking Lilly not to mess with Addy.

This morning Lilly was playing with a purse Granny gave her for Christmas. Granny put a bunch of wallet size pictures of family in it. Lilly found a picture of Grandpa holding Addy at Hunter's baptism / Addy's blessing. She ran in the kitchen yelling "Mom! Mom! Grandpas messing with yers baby!" (for some reason she had a bit of a southern accent on the yours baby part) Ha! I was laughing so hard! She has reached the "silly" age. :)

7 years old!

Today Skylee turned 7 years old. She has been so excited for her birthday. Her main present was an iPod nano. She loves listening to music and singing so a nano is perfect for her. It was hard to pick presents out for this year. She has already reached the age where she no longer spends very much time playing with toys. How sad is that? She did get a few toys anyway. I surprised her with a new dress for church. She was super excited to wear it today. Although she doesn't look very happy in the only picture I got of her wearing it,

Apparently the boys weren't in any of my useable pictures and I had a video to post, but I guess this blogger app won't let me share it. Hmm... I'm still figuring this stuff out. :)

Best Friend

I have always felt like Lilly and Addy are going to be best friends. They are the babies of the family and so lucky to have each other. The other day Kelsey had a random minimum day. So nice to have her home early! Lilly looooves Kelsey! Ok back to the best friends. Lilly decided she wanted to go with me to pick up the rest of the kids later that afternoon. I love having one on one time with the kids so I was pleased to get to take just her. When I was doing her seatbelt she started getting all upset saying "what about Addy? She has to come too! Mom, she is my best friend!" It was so cute! Since then she daily refers to Addy as her best friend. It's adorable and I love it.

Couldn't Resist

I couldn't resist posting this picture of Addy doing her karate moves! It is so hard to get a good picture of her. She is so squirmy! Here's a sweet one if Lilly too!

6 months old!

Adeline is six months old today! She is so awesome. In six months she has changed and accomplished a lot.

*She has doubled her birthweight.
*She is really strong. She holds herself really well. She loves to stand.
*She is learning to eat food. She doesn't seem to have a favorite yet.
*She nurses like a champ. She has been a great nurser from the start.
*She has a beautiful smile that she shares with everyone. (Except for the camera! So hard to get her to smile for a picture.)
*She has the sweetest laugh. Skylee and Lilly are really good at getting her to giggle.
*She has 2 bottom teeth. So cute!
*Last Saturday she got earrings!
*Still not a great sleeper, but doing better. She stays up until about 11:30 and wants to nurse at about 5am. Then she never seems to fall back into a deep sleep. Kind of restless. Yes, I am always tired.
One of my favorite things about Addy right now is that I'm her favorite. I know that's a bit selfish, but it's still fun. She probably only likes me best because I'm her main source of food! :)

Skylee

Skylee is such a fun girl. She is growing up so fast. Her favorite things to do right now are: any sort of art project or craft, cartwheels, swing on her swing hanging on the patio. Oh and sing when she thinks no one is listening :) According to these pictures I found on my phone she enjoys modeling! I found these after we went to the park a few weeks ago. Kelsey and Skylee had fun taking pictures!

First Teeth!

Addy has been teething like crazy. She chews on everything and drools constantly. Yesterday I noticed that two bottom teeth have cut through. They are razor sharp and will be so adorable in a couple weeks.

Happy Birthday

It's official! We have 3 kids in the double digits. Austin turned 10 last week. His dream came true and he got an iPod touch. Pretty much his only present, but he was thrilled. :)

Mobile blog

This is a test post. Not sure how this works. Hmm...

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday! She says that 6 feels a lot like 5 and that she will feel older when she starts 1st grade.

Little sisters

School is almost out! Skylee, Lilly and I are sure going to miss kindergarten. Its so nice to have a few hours with just the little girls. Lilly's favorite times of day are when we go pick up her kids. She loves picking up Skylee. She yells and claps as soon as she spots Skylee. It is so cute. A fun bonus when we pick up Skylee is that we get to see Hunter too. His class goes to lunch around the time Skylee gets out. It's so fun that he still thinks its cool to see his mom at school. He even wants a hug in front of his friends.

Lilly stuff

Lilly loves to dig in her toy baskets. This is what she usually does while I get my morning chores done. She plays nicely by herself, but has not learned how to share.


Lilly loves animals. She is our little dog whisperer. She knows where the dog treats are and loves to give them treats. She also likes to give herself treats. So gross! She seems to think they are yummy.

She loves to go pick up the kids! She gets super excited when I tell her it's time to get Skylee. She runs to the front door and grabs her shoes and my keys. I try to keep my keys out of her reach, but she is so tall and can reach things off the edge of the counter now!

This was super cute! Her Bjorn was out and she wanted to wear it and carry one of her babies around. She was careful and sweet while carrying her doll around.

She doesn't have ice cream often, but she sure enjoyed this! Who wouldn't?

Her day ends with a bath. She loves bathing. She pours water everywhere and practices swimming. She is not a fan of having her hair washed. Lucky for her she doesn't have much so it doesn't take much to wash it.

Lilly is learning super fast. She understands so much. I can ask her to do something and she does it. She doesn't say a lot of words yet, but she is always "talking". She also loves to sing. She hangs out with me in the back of the primary room on Sundays and this past Sunday I noticed that she was singing her baby words during singing time. She sings with the radio in the car and she will sing back when we sing to her. It is adorable.

When did this happen?

It seems like just yesterday that Kelsey was a little girl with chubby cheeks, bright blue eyes and long brown hair.

She was are one and only little princess for years.

She is growing up so fast. It seems like she has changed from a little girl into a young lady over night. I'm loving what a help she is. She is like a second little mommy in our house. She helps out so so much.

Today I was watching her do her homework and just a little shocked. Every time I glance at her I expect to see a little girl not a young women. So very strange. She is wonderful and we sure love her!

Hunting

Last night we were watching Sarah Palin's Alaska hunting episode. They were hunting caribou and our kids thought it was the coolest thing. We have really been enjoying that show. I'm not sure if it is doing her any favors in the political department, but its fun to see Alaska. What a beautiful place!

This afternoon I walked into the living room and found some of the kids "hunting". So funny to observe! When I saw what they were hunting I had to laugh. They "bagged" (I think that's the technical term?) a couple sock monkeys and a few teddy bears.

What a Difference a Year Makes!

Last Thanksgiving we were enjoying our tiny little girl. Now we have a wild one year old! This year has gone by so fast. Lilly is everywhere and into everything. We all sure love our Lilly Jilly! One year later and the kids still "fight" over who gets to hold her or sit by her in the car. She is treated like a little princess and I'm a little afraid we are spoiling her ;). She was very pleased with her birthday crown and enjoyed wearing it. It was cute.