Look Back

This picture tells me 2 things...
1. Jack Jack was the happiest baby I had ever known at that time. He was silly & sweet & adorable. And, man oh man would you look at those eyelashes! Jack is very blessed with l-o-n-g eyelashes!

2. I want another little boy. They are such stinkers but how can you resist? Besides, there's a whole lotta estrogen going on in this house & it would help balance things out.

I have a whole bunch of posts I want to do to catch up from October to now-can't believe it's been that long, but they will wait.

Jack's Birthday

For Jack's birthday, we had a combo birthday/baptism party since Ava's celebration fell on the same day. Several months ago, Jack was really big into Spiderman & Hobby Lobby had cake pans on sale so I bought one. Well, time passes & little boys change FAST & so by the time his birthday rolled around, he was over Spiderman & into Transformers. BUT, I had the pan, so I convinced him to have a Spiderman cake & bought the rest of the party stuff in Transformers...it all worked. He got lots of Transformers and super hero toys which made his day...and he thought his cake was AWESOME!




The kids got to pick a pumpkin & decorate it for a party gift...the girls at the party had a lot more fun with this than the boys.

Sibling Friendships

I love seeing the friendships growing between my kids!

I remember wondering when Jack was born if he & Macy would have anything in common because they were brother & sister, or if they would play together or just fight all the time. I remember wondering when Lily was born if she & Macy would have anything in common because of their age difference, thinking once she wasn't a "baby" Macy would have better things to do. But none of that has been true-Macy & Jack do PLENTY of fighting, but really they get along better than most brother and sisters & they play together all the time, finding so much in common.

And, now that Lily isn't a "baby" anymore, she & Macy are connecting too...they have fun playing together, with Lily learning how to share & be a big kid & Macy learning how to be caring and kind to little kids.


Even though I would probably be more sane (ha!), I am convinced that the BEST thing you can give your kids is siblings!!

Picking Out Pumpkins

The kids & I went to one of the pumpkin patches in town when Macy had a day off of school. There weren't many people there, so we had the place to ourselves & the owner was very helpful. Lily loved riding in the wagon-she sat in it the whole time & didn't want to get out, we just piled pumpkins all around her! We bought quite a few, since they were to be Jack's birthday party gifts. It makes it fun when you get to pick lots-you can get skinny ones, tall ones, ones with big stems-a good variety!

The more kids we have, the more of a challenge some things are, but I'm determined to keep making memories with them, trying to not think of how hard it's going to be for me but how much fun is it going to be for them...and now that Jack isn't a "flight risk", I really have good kids (MOST of the time!) so it helps!

Ava & Mommy

Ava Patrice in October

Ava is working on rolling over, she can from tummy to back & can wiggle around on her back. IF I ever put her on her tummy for tummy time, she'd probably be better at something but keeping in mind that when I do put her on the floor she's fair game, I figure her safety is more important! Just today, I put her on the floor & Lily came right over & sat on her-I think she wanted a horsey ride. She is a very happy, easy going baby & laughs a lot. She's such a blessing!

Swing Shots

Sometimes you get a great shot-one that captures the pure joy of swinging!




Nana & Bop with the kids

Shhh!

Lily, in very dramatic form, puts her chubby little finger to her mouth & says "shhhh!" when she knows Ava is asleep. The sound is usually loud enough to get the poor girl to stir, but at least she means well. Lily has become quite the little momma lately & it has been adorable-she loves to carry her baby around, or put it in the carrier & hook it on her arm (like momma does). While I was on the couch feeding Ava, she climbed up beside me & put her baby on one shoulder & hooked the phone on the other & talked to Nana.

A lot of times Lily reminds me of an Australian Shepherd & not JUST because she has cute little dog ears most days...she's just so busy, always has a job, always moving something from one place to another.

Here she's waiting for her big sister to get home from school.

Rewind

Back when they loved each other...


These pictures are from Jack's first Labor Day trip to the mountains-he was 11 months old. We camped this time, in a trailer. This is the famed "Daddy, there's a bear behind you!" trip (there really was-it was about 30 feet away from the campfire & scared everyone. Macy thought it was a hilarious joke)


"Amy! Don't do it!" Hubby & I hiked to the tree line of West Spanish Peak. There's something about being above the clouds...

The wildflowers have never been as beautiful & plentiful since this year...

The End of Summer

The end of summer for us is marked officially with a trip to the mountains over Labor Day weekend. For several years, we took our camper & stayed in the great outdoors, at one with nature, including bears-yikes! In fact, every year except this one has included an encounter with a bear, some closer than others.

Last year, we had a tiny newborn & for once I wasn't up to the adventure that is living in a cramped space where everyone trips over each other & you can hear the slightest noise so we rented a cabin...well, this year is de ja vue-we had a tiny newborn & I wasn't up to the adventure...you get the picture. We also decided somewhere in there that hubby has a MUCH better time when he doesn't have the stress of hauling/setting up/maintaining a camper so we sold it to some friends that happened to be in the market.

We love our little cabin-it has great views, a very spacious deck, and plenty of room for the kids to run around & play. It has all the amenities you need on a Labor Day trip-microwave, dishwasher, nice bathroom, & most importantly a TV that gets some college football!

We took walks and naps, played in the rain and in the tall trees, and ate S'Mores...but we also said farewell to Summer, got out our sweatshirts and started looking forward to Fall.


Jack helped make French toast the first morning. Now, I have to stop & tell that we got into our cabin late at night, around 11:00pm...but the kids were so excited to be there that they were up the next morning at 5:30am!! Remember me saying something about the cabin being little? The bedrooms are side-by-side with the bathroom, so EVERYONE was up then-no sleeping in on this vacation!



These are pirates, by the way...pirates that have eaten WAY too much bubble gum! (see big bulging cheeks!)



Our view from the deck.


Ava was all smiles...guess when you are kid #4, you just naturally go with the flow.



The night we planned to have S'mores it was raining, so we made them in the microwave. If you have never put a marshmallow in the microwave, you need to! That is quite a little science experiment! The kids were very impressed. We decided that S'mores are even more messy when cooked this way instead of toasted on the fire!

Highlights from the Hike

These are pictures from our hike up West Spanish Peak. We were the most ill-prepared ever for a hike, to name a few things-we left at noon (when you should be coming DOWN the mountain), we took no food, and the clouds looked like they were going to dump at any time. Because of all of this, we took the overlook path instead of heading up the mountain-the kids loved it, they thought it was a true hike & were ready to go by the time we got to our destination.

I was disappointed with myself because we started off the hike in the trees so my camera was set for a shady exposure, when we got to the top I forgot to change it, so most of my pictures are over-exposed & I'm not smart enough (yet?) to figure out on Paint Shop how to fix them better. I've played around with some, but they just aren't the best...also, you can tell that Fall is on it's way because the grass was all dead!

Notice Jack's backpack...Macy insisted on carrying the smaller pack, so he was stuck with it all the way up-I swear it weighed half as much as he did! He was a trooper though. Lily loved the hike-of course who wouldn't when you get to ride like the Queen of Sheba! Ava never knew any different...just snoozed the whole way. The air was cool & crisp & it never did rain on us.

A Hiking We Will Go, part 2

In these pictures you can see that Macy has a fear of heights!


This was the view we came to see.

A vintage look to the picture...

Lily was full of funny faces!

LOVED the hike!