Photo Challenge Week 20 and 21

5-13-2012
Daddy being a kid.....again!
Thought it would be funny to roll Lola around in sidewalk chalk!

5-14-2012
Katelin made Evan mad and he bit her. I wasn't in the room and i'm not condoning his behavior but i'm sure she was doing something to him first.

5-15-2012
Owen's first time to cross home plate during his first game, they won 21-0!

5-16-2012
Saw this guy running across our driveway!

5-17-2012
Try to relax there buddy.

5-18-2012
Pretty Girl!

5-19-2012
Dirty Dirty little boy......

5-20-2012
Most beautiful little boquet ever....Why???
Because my princess picked them for me Mother's Day morning!

5-21-2012
Me and my girls.... a few hours later I would be finding out we were expecting one more beautiful little girl!

5-22-2012
And yes....I had to run out and buy at least a few pink items!

5-23-2012
Even though they may bicker and fight....these two are so close....it makes my heart smile!

5-24-2012
Baseball game was rained out so O caught some rain in his hat.....I got some pics of a beautiful sunset also, I will share those soon.

5-25-2012
You've heard of the game Barrel of Monkeys????
I have the real life version!

5-26-2012
Playing with Owen's old geotrax that he found....he LOVES these!

Memorial Day!

I just want to take a moment to thank all of those past, present and future who serve our country and make us the land of the free. I feel so blessed to live in this incredible country the USA and it wouldn't be the incredible place it is without our military, those who have risked and those who have given their lives for all of us to live with freedom.

Today we proudly fly our flag at half mass in honor of all of those who have fought for us!

A special thank you to my Papa who is no longer with us......during WW II he was a private in the army and he was awarded with the purple heart and bronze star for his bravery, he batteled demons from those days for the remainder of his life and lived with shrapnel in his back as an ongoing reminder.

Also to my father- in- law Chester who served in the Marines, my brother-in-law Stephen who is still serving in the Marines, my brother in law Daniel who served in the Navy and to my step-son Matthew who we are so very very proud of who is serving in the Army.

And even though they have chosen to not have myself or my family in their lives I want to even say thank you to my father, my uncle, and my grandfather who all served in the Marines.

So from my family to all who have or who will serve..........THANK YOU!!!!!!

Evan Wade 1 1/2

Well a big fat fail for mama.....I never did an 18 month post for Evan so we are just summing this up as 1 1/2!

What an amzing little boy I have.....and when I say boy I mean all boy! He loves cars, trucks, balls, tools and his daddy!

He will sit on the floor playing with cars making all the car sounds. If we drive by a construction site, he says "mama look" over and over and over again.

He loves to throw and catch the ball and he will catch about half of what is thrown to him and man does he have a good throw for his age. Of course if you make him mad....he will throw whatever he is holding which has included my camera, luckily it did not break.



If he gets hurt he usually just needs to come get a quick hug from mama and he is all better.

He also has to give everyone kisses before going to bed with his pillow, blanket and puppy.

He loves, loves, loves to be outside and we have to keep the screen door locked or the front door shut or he will escape. When he escapes he looks back at you smiles and runs.....I really think that he thinks he can outrun us.

He adores his older siblings even Katelin who picks on him, you always know she is irritating him when you hear chimpanzee noises coming from the other room.

He is sooo much like his daddy.

He sighs like him.

He has OCD like him. He points to lights if they're left on, points to cabinet doors left open, shuts closet doors, he even had to pick up a couple of cans of pop that were laying sideways in the fridge so they were upright. He should always have a clean room!!!

And he loves "helping" daddy if he is fixing or working on something!

He has a rapidly growing vocabulary.

Mama, dada and grammy were among his first words, now he says so much but what we hear most is....mo (no), okay, KK (for katelin), OO (for Owen), Rah Rah (for Rylie), outsi (outside), fa (fall), bye (which always comes with a wave), ki (kiss), ba ba, blalala (that's what he calls his pillow), go, sit (usually he is patting the spot he wants you to sit), duh (done when he wants out of his highchair), buk (buckle), hot, bro (broke), baby and so much more.....a lot of it I know he knows what he is saying, we just haven't figured it out yet!

If you ask him if he is poopy, he will turn around look at and pat his butt and smile.

He thinks it is funny to fart while I am changing his diaper.

He will get mad run to his room, slam his door and come out a few minutes later with a smile on his face.

He is the cuddliest of my babies, he will just sit on your lap and cuddle or lay his little head on your shoulder.

He found the container of Owen's old geotrax trains and that is his new favorite toy.....Loves them!

He is sneaky, onery, easy going,  a little comedian, outgoing and boy do we love him. He brings so much happiness to our lives! And the pictures are not from a bad professional photographer, they are ones that I took....I have lots to learn but i'm hoping to get to where I can take all the kids pics myself....not too bad for an amateur. And the log chair in the last two is special because his daddy made it!!!

Camera Fun.....

So when I was trying to get some pics of Evan, we just kinda hung out outside and I took pictures galore.....

Rylie started out reading in the expedition......


while the other kids played and I chased Evan around with the camera!

Rylie is always such a good poser.....

Owen even happily posed for me....

Katelin did too, she just wouldn't quit eating her turkey....

and Evan most certainly made me work for his pics, more of him coming soon.

I thought the ones of him playing with the baseball were fun......

 

Summertime.....

We are on day 3 of summer in our house. And we have lots planned this summer.

Here are the kiddos on their first day of 1st and 4th grades.....


and on their last day of 1st and 4th grades (Rylie was chilly and mad at me so I only got a half smile)

I'm so proud of these kids, Owen has struggled a little but he has worked really hard and we are going to continue to work on some stuff over the summer so he is really ready for 2nd grade. He is reading so well and he is awesome with his math....really really proud of my son.

Getting his award for completing 1st grade, he also received a reading award......

Let me tell you.....4th grade is a BIG deal around here....why????
It is the last year of elementary school, CRAZY, I know!
Rylie will be a big middle schooler this fall, they are still in a traditional classroom and have their own wing of the school so they're not just being thrown to the wolves but still......CRAZY!

I am also soooo proud of my girl. What a long way she has come from the shy quiet, wouldn't hardly talk to anyone, 1st grader when we moved here.

Here she is with her AMAZING teacher Mrs. K......she has said how far Rylie has come socially....at the beginning of the year she wouldn't hardly talk to her and by the end of the year she would come up on her own to talk to her.

Getting her awards, which included......talent show, student council, remarkable reading, all 4 quarters of AR goals, KU reading program, singing missiles and type 2 learn.
Way to go Rylie!!!!

Just a shout out to Nike, what an amazing school full of amazing teachers. Rylie has really been so lucky.....she really has had 2 of the best teachers for 3 of her 4 years at Nike (she had one teacher for 2 different grades) and Owen had an absolutely amazing teacher this year also! I have been so impressed with this school especially after coming from a district with the big kids and Ry for kdg. that was very disappointing in many ways!

So now I have a 2nd grader, 5th grader and keeping my fingers crossed that Katelin gets drawn for the preschool at Nike......but now it is SUMMER!!!!!

We kicked it off with an art project.....

the kids had fun......

Evan was really into it.....

maybe a little too much!

and our finished project.....

So what are they????
well we also decorated clothes pins and I will write chores on them and when they complete that chore they will flip over their clothes pin and 4 special clothes pins that represent 3 strikes and an out for discipline.

I have great kids but along with fun stuff, such as....evening at the zoo, weekend in Branson, many afternoons at the pool, legoland, the aquarium and who knows what else, they will be learning a bit more responsibility this summer and more respect for one another.

Were adding one more kid to the chaos and my kiddos have a habit of making messes and leaving it for Mama to clean up and a habit of picking on each other....to the point of being downright mean sometimes. With our big household, I just can't keep up with it all and there is no reason that they shouldn't be pitching in so they will be learning that this year.

So far, the 3 days of summer we've had, they've been doing awesome. Rylie and Owen unloaded the dishwasher all by themselves, they helped get littles in and out while running errands, carried in groceries and have been cleaning up after themselves......lets just hope it continues. Rylie just needs to learn that it's okay to get her hands dirty, one of her jobs is to sweep the kitchen floor because she didn't want to have wiping down counters because it's gross to wipe crumbs into her hand......can we say....DIVA!!!!!

Flowers.....

You may remember this pic from my photo challenge......guess what we did with them????



Each kid got their own color pot, picked out a flower of their choice and we got worms that let you know when they need to be watered......

then they planted their flowers, Evan really liked the dirt.....

and then we had beautiful flowers for my beautiful kiddos.....

They, of course, had to water them......

and with a little TLC we will have beautiful flowers to enjoy all summer long!!!!

 

It's A..................

beautiful.....


healthy, active...........

little..............

 

baby.........
 

GIRL!!!!!!

and I couldn't be happier!

Apparently I am radiating girl because of all the guesses.....4 guessed boy and 11 guessed girl!

Chet was convinced it was a boy, even claiming he'd be able to tell on the sonogram. After the sono he still said boy and I mentioned that I didn't see anything between those legs and Jeane asked if he saw 3 lines and he says, yes....it's a boy and Jeane and I both told him that the 3 lines mean girl. Then he started to worry and said he thought it must be a girl then. We peaked in the envelope when we got back to the truck and yeap.....it's a girl! He is excited to have another daughter just a little worried about the drama they bring. Her name is Kinley......not for sure on a middle name yet but have some ideas and always open for suggestions.

I don't regret finding out....that's just me, I like to be able to plan and prepare so I am so glad to know and since we couldn't agree fully on a boy's name, we no longer have to stress on it. We told the kids when we picked them up from their last day of school.....Rylie screamed in excitement, Owen said he was mad and Katelin has decided the newborn baby girl, as she calls her, can sleep with her and she will put a cardboard box with a blanket next to her bed so she won't get hurt if she falls out of bed. She also had a meltdown today because noone likes the name Seera (which is a name she invented) and that is what she wants to name the newborn baby. I told her we would keep the name in mind.

Our household all thought it was a boy until about 2 days ago I started feeling very strongly that it was a girl.....guess my mama's intuition kicked in.

That will make 4 girls and 4 boys......3 girls and 2 boys still at home......all I can say is I feel very blessed to have such an amazing family and can't wait to meet my baby girl!