Photography

I have been taking some pictures of my family to practice photography.  I love how all of them have turned out, but I think the biggest reason for that is they are all so good looking!  We love EJ.  He is such a fun kid and a great babysitter!

Who couldn't get a good picture of these two? 

Tiff and Paul have such a cute family!

I love this one of Tiff and Rockwell.  I love to make Rockwell smile! I won't tell you what I had to do to make him smile, but I got him to smile!

Tessa is a doll I could eat her with a spoon!

Last week I took Alexys and Dante down town to take their baptism pictures. 

They are such good looking kids.  Every one of my nieces and nephews are so cute, it must run in the family!

I love this one of Alexys.  I learned that Alexys can not take a picture in the sun, she will squint and close her eyes if she is not in the shade.

Dante is like Jonah, he is always pulling out his fake smile.  I had to work really hard to get a few real ones.

I had to snap one of my beauty.  I can't believe how grown up Caitlyn is looking and acting.

Here is one I snapped of Wyatt at the park yesterday.  I ended up doing an impromptu photo shoot because he looked so cute!  I love to take pictures and I am learning new things every time I do a photo shoot.  I haven't put the time into it that I need to really learn what I need to, but for now I'm just enjoying taking pictures of the people I love.

Grandpa's Picnic

Yesterday my dad had his annual work picnic.  The kids had a blast last year so they were excited to go again.  It was SO hot!  Last year I was 9 months pregnant with Hallee, and I felt almost as miserable. 

Jonah has been on one lately.  He doesn't want to do anything I say, so smiling was out of the question.

Grandma is always so much fun.  She was right up on the play ground playing with the kids.

I love this picture. Wyatt was obsessed with water.  He would drink all day if I would let him.

We had a yummy barbecue lunch.  Wyatt must have been hungry because he ate really well.  He had to sit in-between grandma and grandpa.

Jonah and Dante had fun playing together.

Hallee was so hot.  She takes after me.  She is fine in a cold bath or cold water when we swim, but she doesn't like to be hot.  It took forever to get her to sleep in the stroller and when she woke up she was covered in sweat.  Her hair was wet and her cheeks were so red.  Poor girl.

The kids all loved the goody bags.  Amarie and Caitlyn picked ones with the same things in them.  I was so glad Caitlyn felt up to going.  She had a skin virus called molluscum. She had little bumps on her thighs that had to be treated and then they blister up.  Poor girl had a hard time walking for a couple of days.  We stayed home all day Thursday and Friday so we were all ready to get out.

Wyatt loved the piñata. 

Jonah was surprisingly timid when he hit the piñata.  They all got so much candy.  After the piñata we were all dying from the heat, so we headed home. It was a fun, hot day!

I love this picture of my parents.  I told my mom that I hope I looked as good as her when I get older and then realized, actually I wish I looked that good now!

A day in the life of Hallee

This girl has it rough.  Her biggest job is to look cute.  She does a great job at that!

Every day when I comb her hair Hallee grabs the comb and the brush and will throw a major fit if I try to take them away.  She tries to brush her own hair and she usually ends up with the comb and the brush in the car because I can't get them away from her.

Hallee gets dragged from place to place so the older kids can have fun or get to their appointments. We have had to go to the orthodontist every week this summer and I was thrilled when they told me they didn't need to see Caitlyn for four weeks yesterday.  I am so tired of taking all four kids there.  I'm sure they are tired of having us there!

Sometimes Hallee gets rides in the laundry basket so I can get her and the clothes down the stairs!

This is what she looks like before we comb her hair.  She loves to crawl all over the house to see what we have left on the floor.  I try to keep things off the floor, but somehow I am always grabbing something out of her hands.

Here Hallee is trying to snap.  She loves this walker.  She loves to cruise around the house on it.  Today, Wyatt told me that Hallee was in the bathroom playing in the toilet.  She was having a great time splashing water every where.  That is another problem we have, I shut the doors and the kids open them.

She has started talking on her play phone.  It is so cute.  She puts it up to her face and makes some cute noises and then laughs.

She loves to play in her room right now.  The kitchen is probably her favorite place to play.  She loves to dump out all of the food and dishes and see what kind of loud noises she can make.  She also loves to open all of the doors on the kitchen.  She also loves to push buttons on our computer.  She pushes all the buttons on the keyboard and just laughs.  I love watching Hallee play all day without a care in the world, just the way it should be for kids!

Trampoline

We have loved having our trampoline.  I don't know what we would do without our back yard and  our outside toys.  We were all out there on the trampoline the other night while Keith was working on the sprinklers.  Poor Keith, our sprinklers are always give him trouble.  I was snapping to get everyone to look at me and Hallee was trying to snap.

The other day I had the older kids at track and Keith was home mowing the lawn while Hallee napped. When she woke up he put her on the trampoline with some toys and zipped the net and she had a great time playing while he mowed.

Caitlyn is so proud of herself for learning how to do a flip. 

I love when they work hard at something and are so excited when they finally get it.

Of course it doesn't help when your little brother can do all sorts of flips and tricks and loves to point it out.  Jonah loves doing flips and showing us how high he can jump.

Wyatt loves to try some of his own tricks.  They all love to take turns doing tricks while we all watch.

The trampoline has definitely been worth the money!

First Track Meet

We were excited for the kid's first track meet.  We were glad that it was with Mel's kids.

Mel had warned me that the meets were really long and hot, but I don't think I understood how long and hot they were!

Caitlyn and Amarie both ran the 50.  I love these girls, they love each other and always have so much fun together.  Caitlyn doesn't love track.  I doubt she will ever do it again, but she is doing well at giving it her all.  Caitlyn ran the 50, the 100 and did the shot put.

Luckily Mel was there because I really had no idea what was going on and she was able to tell us where to go and what to do.  Keith was at youth conference so he wasn't there.  I was dying by the middle of the track meet.  It was so hot and Hallee was tired of being held.  Wyatt was arguing with me that he was 5-years-old because he wanted to run with the kids.  I kept telling him he wasn't and he would say he was.  That argument went on throughout the night.  He is so stubborn lately and throws the biggest fits.  Jonah kept wanting to go off somewhere and I was stressed about keeping track of them and making sure they got over to their events.

Jonah ran the 50, 100 and 400.  He was so tired!  They both did a great job.  No matter what place Jonah takes in a race he is sure he took first or second. I was so happy when their events were over so we could go home.  A track meet is no place for a 1-year-old or two-year-old.  I did love watching Caitlyn and Jonah and my niece and nephews in their races, but I couldn't really enjoy it while I was trying to keep track of everyone and keep everyone happy.  I am so glad that Keith will be with us for the next meet!

Summer

We are having a fun summer.  These two are either best friends or worst enemies.  I love when they are playing great together.  They come up with the cutest games and have so much fun together.  They have been jumping on the trampoline and playing outside a lot.

We go to the summer movies every week with Mel and the kids. 

The kids love going to the movie.  Hallee has been great and slept in her car seat every week.  I try to catch a nap during the movie if I can!

Last week Caitlyn and Katelyn had a lemonade stand.  They were happy that they each made a few bucks.

All the neighbor kids came and bought some and they all ended up staying and helping them.  I made them give Carlos some money because he went door to door selling it.  I thought he deserved a cut! We have been going to story time and lunch with friends and to the park to play a lot.

It is a double edge sword.  The older kids need to get out and play, but it is so much work to take Hallee and Wyatt everywhere.  Hallee wants her freedom so she can't be restrained for long.

I try to be home for at least one nap for Hallee.  I need the down time as much as she does.  I can't be busy all day every day.  I have to have some down time.

Hallee gets so excited when dad comes home!

Saturday was my birthday.  Keith was supposed to be at youth conference, but he ended up coming home Friday night.  I was so glad.  He left Thursday morning and everything seemed to go wrong on Thursday.  I was so happy to see him.

I went to lunch with my mom and Mel on Saturday.  Saturday night EJ came and watched the kids so Keith and I could go to dinner.  It was so nice to get out.  Keith was great and let me sleep in and gave me the day off.  It was wonderful!