(For reference – Jonathan is my oldest and Abby is the sister just older than Aaron.)  :)

Aaron wanted in on the fun.  :)

April

(Those are cloth diaper inserts on the floor.)

March

(These two show him waking up from a nap… when I would have had him sleep longer.)

Photo courtesy of Aaron, who loves to change the color balance to green before taking pictures.

Getting harder to tell which is the “big” brother…

Kathryn loves snuggling with Joshua.Abigail after a school fundraiser fun run – she *loved* the fact that I came to watch her run!

February

Another picture by Aaron – but one of the few that isn’t greened.  (By the way, Aaron’s favorite color is green.)

Not so keen on the new food…

So – it’s hard to organize a family.  Especially a family with many little children.  I’m trying to figure out something that will actually work for us, but for now it definitely feels more like herding cats than the ideal picture of ducklings following their mother, all in a line.  Yeah, no line here.  Just scattering.  And crawling all over me.  That happens too.  :)

But amid the natural chaos, there is plenty to enjoy.  For one, I love the creativity of my children.  I almost never hear them say they are bored – because they always have something in mind to do!  Maybe not what I had in mind, but definitely always something.  :D

For instance, Kathryn deciding to teach Abigail how to play this homemade card game, using coupons that  Kathryn meticulously cut out.  These two actually have a fairly rocky relationship, often getting on each others’ nerves, so this was such a beautiful moment, seeing them happily (and quietly!) playing together.  :)

Here’s Abigail, playing dress up.  Well, more like pretend, I guess.

She is pretending to be a mommy.  A pregnant mommy (no, this is not a sly announcement).  She stuffed her baby doll into her sleeper.  :)  It doesn’t look too unusual from the front, but from the side –

It was very cute.  :)

Aaron started giving cheesy smiles.  Funny how hard it was to actually get a picture of one though!  Something about not wanting to stay still…  :)

This is the closest I could get catching his cheesy smile – blurry, but you can still get the feel for it. :)

He was in a silly mood and gave me a crazy “I’m going to eat you” smile along with the cheesy one.  :)

Kathryn has been showing a lot of creativity lately.  Her favorite thing is to disappear into another room with paper, pens, scissors, and tape.  She doesn’t ask for input, just makes something.  A crown, a fan… this time it was a costume.  I was working in my room and she came up to me to show off her outfit (including the black clothing, chosen for the part).   I’ll be honest, the thought of that much tape on my face make me cringe.  But it was quite a good idea for her!

Aaron is strong.  He keeps picking up things that look way too heavy for him – my scriptures, Bryan’s workout drink cooler – it’s impressive, really, especially given his size.

Last month, he discovered he was strong enough to move the filing cabinet.  It has about an inch separation from the computer desk (due to the decoration on the bottom of the desk).  He put his hands in and pushed – and completely turned it to the side.  Yes, it’s on a wooden floor so it does move more easily than if it were on carpet.  But it’s also fairly well filled with papers.  Not to mention the computer on top.

This is both amusing and frightening.  Suddenly that computer does not seem as “safe” as it once did…

The funniest part was when Abby came up and decided to fix it.  She pushed and pushed and couldn’t even get it to budge!  And yet (after I fixed it) Aaron had no problems moving it back again.  :D

Kathryn gave Aaron her old baby doll.  She was given a new one in the hospital and decided she no longer needed her old one.  Perfect timing, as he’d just developed an interest in dolls.  He loves hugging them – he even pats them on the back, like I do to him.  It’s so adorable!  :)

And Bryan and I finished a long-waiting project!  The 2nd story window in our foyer has plagued us ever since we moved in.  It is the only window in our home without blinds – which makes sense because, really, how would we open or close them?  But it also happens to be right in front of the upstairs bathroom and the hallway connecting all the bedrooms.  This makes my children’s modestly memory lapses even more problematic.  Especially since the window also lines up pretty well  with our neighbor across the street’s window, the same type of situation.

This wasn’t quite as bad when we first moved in, as the neighbors had a large tree in their front yard that shielded the view for most of the year.  That still left winter, but at least the branches were in the way… until the tree was cut down last year, leaving both of us with an uncannily clear view into each others’ homes.

Long story short(er), we found a pretty window film that lets in light but blurs images enough to allow a good amount of privacy.   With the help of some rented scaffolding, we finally put it up last month.  We didn’t think to get a picture of the scaffolding all up but did get one while we were dismantling it.  I am not a fan of heights so I feel quite proud of myself for climbing up to do this!

And here is the finished product (at night) – you can see how you can still see some very general colors, but everything is very hazy.  It works the same way the other direction (I checked!).  It’s sooo nice to have that up!

And finally – Jonathan had another birthday.  Crazy.  This tiny boy is not so tiny anymore!  He has already hit 5’1″ and is quickly narrowing the gap between his height and mine.

Rather than inviting friends over, he planned out activities for us to do as a family – he and Bryan went to IHOP in the morning, then picked up his sisters to go see Inside Out in the theater.  Then it was Chick-fil-A for lunch and a Harry Potter movie for those who didn’t nap.  Then pizza for dinner, and cake and ice cream.  Add in finishing up a number of Webelos activity badges just in time – yeah, it was a full day!

He looks like he’s in a trance…

We did two candles – one for a decade, the other for the year – his choice.  His sisters took care of the cake decorating.  :)

This captures his personality quite well. :)

A sweet story to go with the birthday – Emma wanted to get Jonathan a gift but ended up not earning enough money.  Jonathan knew  and didn’t want her to feel bad so he came up with a plan – he hid a favorite stuffed animal and created “missing/reward” signs for it, posting them through the house.  Then he told Kathryn where it was, with the plan that she would secretly help Emma “find” it and plant the idea that Emma could use that as a gift.

Jonathan shared that with me the next day, but then admitted that he felt a little bad about it for some reason and he wasn’t sure what to do.  I was impressed that Jonathan had the emotional insight to realize Emma may feel sad for not having a present to give and then the compassion to create a plan to help her.    I think the only issue was that the plan involved deceiving her, which is why I think he was feeling bad about it.

I didn’t tell Emma about the plan but did check in with her about her previous idea to get him something.  She quietly told me it was OK – she knew she wouldn’t be able to buy something so she’d made something!  She opened an empty drawer in our guest room and showed me the card, paper doll (Jonathan with a Harry Potter mark on his forehead), some animal pictures, and 10 “free massage” coupons she made.  Wow! 

And then he opened his own present – and brought out an envelope with his name in the upper left corner and addressed to “everyone.”  Inside was a card he’d made that thanked everyone by name, and with individual details for each, for our part in making his birthday a good one. 

Jonathan (10)

1. What is something mom always says to you?  Mmm… I love you?
2. What makes mom happy? Um, when everybody else is happy. If Dad’s happy, that would mean the house is clean.
3. What makes mom sad? The opposite of the above.
4. How does your mom make you laugh? Hmm… that’s a hard one. Uh… uhh… when you joke by saying, “OK Jonathan. You have more work to do!!!” (going from nice voice to growling)
5. What was your mom like as a child? Um, I’m guessing from what I’ve found out from stories and from videos, she was a smart young lady but she was not very popular, that wanted to grow up to be a bank accountant, I think?
6. How old is your mom?  Can I type this myself? 4839
   Ok, I’m going to give my serious answer. 32.
7. How tall is your mom?  3’7”
8. What is her favorite thing to do? Have Family Home Evening when everybody’s happy.
9. What does your mom do when you’re not around? Kiss my dad. Although sometimes she doesn’t get away with it and I see her. At those times, I faint. Or vomit. Or stare at them in confusion.
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?  How am I supposed to know? She’s good at many things.
11. What is your mom really good at?  Changing Aaron’s diaper. Um, being funny? I clearly inherited it from her, and Dad.
12. What is your mom not very good at?  Am I allowed to say anything here? Knowing how people feel about…
    Writing everything I say! On this document.
    Um, not being obnoxious when typing everything – literally everything – I say.
13. What does your mom do for a job?  She does the most important job in the world, although she is unemployed. She loves her job! It is called, “being a mom.”
14. What is your mom’s favorite food?  Raw fish! (laugh) Um, anything but raw stuff?
15. What makes you proud of your mom?  Usually I think it would be the other way around. Wait. What? Don’t write that. That she can be kind and understanding.
16. If your mom were a character, who would she be?  Ah, so this is kind of like Disney mom movie thingy. Who is Tarzan’s mom? The gorilla mom.
17. What do you and your mom do together? School.
18. How are you and your mom the same?  We both like raw cabbage. I’m kidding.
    Um… many ways. Not very popular. In school, at least. Which is kind of normal actually. Reasonably smart. And everything else that I inherited from you.
19. How are you and your mom different?    She’s 31 and I am… would it be safe to say I’m 11? I’m 10 and in a month I’m going to be 11.
20. How do you know your mom loves you?    Same answer as #15.
21. What does your mom like most about your dad?  He’s himself.
22. Where is your mom’s favorite place to go?  Home. Or her home. Or Dad’s home.
23. How old was your Mom when you were born?  That’s a bit of math! 22. 21?

Emma (8)

1. What is something mom always says to you? Clean up!
2. What makes mom happy? The house clean
3. What makes mom sad?   When we don’t work
4. How does your mom make you laugh? When you put non-funny things into a funny way.
5. What was your mom like as a child? I don’t know
6. How old is your mom? 32
7. How tall is your mom? I have no idea. Probably 6 feet or so.
8. What is her favorite thing to do? Play Uno.
9. What does your mom do when you’re not around? Go shopping, drop something off, or just do something on her computer.
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Best mother.
11. What is your mom really good at?   Baking.
12. What is your mom not very good at?   Not working for an entire day.
13. What does your mom do for a job? She’s a mom.
14. What is your mom’s favorite food? I do not know. Pizza?
15. What makes you proud of your mom? For being a good mother.
16. If your mom were a character, who would she be?   I can’t think of anybody that really actually fits it, but the closest I can think of right now is Hermione.
17. What do you and your mom do together? Play games, talk, do this.
18. How are you and your mom the same? We look alike, we’re both very kind, we do not want to hurt even an ant.
19. How are you and your mom different? She’s older than me and she knows more. Much more.
20. How do you know your mom loves you? She says it out loud, she shows it, a lot. She says she doesn’t like being mean to us and would like to give us more free time.
21. What does your mom like most about your dad? A lot of things. I cannot even start. He’s a very good person and he loves her.
22. Where is your mom’s favorite place to go? To her parents’ house.
23. How old was your Mom when you were born? Were you 21?

Kathryn (6)

1. What is something mom always says to you? Let’s check your blood sugar.
2. What makes mom happy? When we clean our rooms and listen to what our Mom and Dad says.
3. What makes mom sad? That we don’t clean our rooms.
4. How does your mom make you laugh? Making funny faces.
5. What was your mom like as a child? I don’t know. (no guess)
   (later) Played a lot.
6. How old is your mom? 31
7. How tall is your mom? I don’t know, some of these questions are really hard. You go in three feet. (swimming pool)
8. What is her favorite thing to do? To nap.
9. What does your mom do when you’re not around? I really don’t know about some of these questions! :(
   She helps Jonathan with his school work.
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? You’re famous as being a mom. My mom would be famous making hair.
11. What is your mom really good at? Helping me take shots.
12. What is your mom not very good at? You have problems making pancakes.
13. What does your mom do for a job? Be a mom.
14. What is your mom’s favorite food? Maybe it’s Pirate’s Booty.
15. What makes you proud of your mom?   I don’t know if you get any awards or something. (Awards would make her proud of me.)
16. If your mom were a character, who would she be? The only thing that I can think about is a Mom.
17. What do you and your mom do together? Doing finger pokes and shots.
18. How are you and your mom the same? I like Pirate Booty and you like Pirate Booty.
19. How are you and your mom different? We’re not in the same [bed]rooms.
20. How do you know your mom loves you?  By taking care of me when my blood sugar is low or high.
21. What does your mom like most about your dad?    The only thing in my head is you like your dad.
22. Where is your mom’s favorite place to go?  I don’t know, you didn’t tell me.
23. How old was your Mom when you were born?  I don’t know, I was little!

Abigail (3)

1. What is something mom always says to you? I say to my Mom, “Mom, what do I wear for Sunday?”
   “Is it time to go to the swimming pool?” “No.” (That last was “my” answer back to her.)
2. What makes mom happy? Cleaning the house.
3. What makes mom sad? Not cleaning the house.
4. How does your mom make you laugh? She makes me funny that she does want Emma to paint my nails. And I choose purple nail polish with sparkles. And… why is Kathryn crying, Mom? And someone make Kathryn mad because she’s mad at everybody. (Kathryn was mad that Abigail wasn’t answering the question properly.)
5. What was your mom like as a child? Uh, a baby! A baby named Aaron.
6. How old is your mom?   Uh, I don’t know. I don’t know what numbers when you were older.
7. How tall is your mom? Tall. I just said tall.
8. What is her favorite thing to do? Clean the house when the kids ignoring her.
9. What does your mom do when you’re not around? Clean the house.
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Uh, paint the nails.
11. What is your mom really good at? Um, at her computer that’s black.
12. What is your mom not very good at? She bes mad that her kids not clean the house.
13. What does your mom do for a job? Uh, clean her room.
14. What is your mom’s favorite food? Eggs.
15. What makes you proud of your mom? Uh… eating eggs. That makes my mom proud of.
16. If your mom were a character, who would she be?  Uh… Merida?
17. What do you and your mom do together?  Uh… put on my costume. Tomorrow. Is that what your mom’s good at helping? My mom.
18. How are you and your mom the same?    Uh… eating eggs.
19. How are you and your mom different?  Uh… wearing clothing. Like swimming clothes with goggles.
20. How do you know your mom loves you?  Uh, hugging.
21. What does your mom like most about your dad?  Uh… playing Minecraft when Dad give me Minecraft.
    You don’t play Minecraft. That would be silly!
    Getting married.
22. Where is your mom’s favorite place to go?    Uh, Publix.
23. How old was your Mom when you were born?  Uh, a baby?
    

Much to my children’s disappointment, I did not give Aaron the interview.  His answers would have mostly consisted of “mama” since that is about all he says right now.  :D

It’s amazing how fast it feels.  And yet how long ago it seems at the same time.  In only one year, Aaron went from this:

To this:

Yes, it is blurry.  And yes, that is a good representation of him.  :)  He was standing but as soon as he saw me across the room, he was down and coming to greet me.  :)  You can kind of see his smile.

Aaron loves exploring his toys.  He also enjoys throwing them.

He loves playing peek-a-boo and will cover his own eyes.  Though sometimes he misses and covers his cheeks or ears instead.  :)

He stands quite confidently now.  He’s been pulling to stand for a few months but kept it there for a while.  His first “standing on his own” happened about a week and a half ago.  I was laying on the couch, sick, and he came up and stood by me.  Then he started playing peek-a-boo.  He didn’t realize that when he covered his eyes he was standing without any assistance.  :)  But then it only took him another 5 days before he realized he could stand on his own even without using anything to pull up.  And now he does it quite often.  And last week he started cruising confidently as well (previously he wouldn’t really move around once he stood up – he would get down, move, and then stand up again).

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he ends up running by Christmas.  Don’t get me wrong – I have no problem if he doesn’t.  :)  But at the pace he’s going thus far I could definitely see it.

He’s having a great time playing with the cabinet door.

He has four teeth – the two front ones on both top and bottom.

He is definitely a momma’s boy.  Even though he’s quite active in general, he’s still happy to be strapped onto me in the carrier, as long as I stay standing (preferably walking).  But he does not like sitting on my lap for very long.  He doesn’t like being kept in one position.  But as long as he can roam a little he’s happy.  This makes diaper changes very interesting.

He isn’t fond of strangers.  He’s generally happy if kept with an older sibling (the three girls all ask to play with him – that’s only partly to get out of other chores).  We have a good friend who holds him while I play the piano at church.  He gives her a hard time (thankfully she understands!), though I think he may be warming up to her.  But I’ve left him with the YMCA childcare a few times and he always makes me feel like the worst mom ever for that.

He doesn’t have any words yet, but he has quite a loud happy shriek when he wants to.  And he definitely has his own little chatter

He loves sticking his finger in my mouth, especially when nursing.  Usually the pointer finger.  That or grabbing at my face.  He seems quite interested in faces.  Thankfully he isn’t into pulling hair.

He loves playing the piano – both the real one and the little toy one we have.  He also loves the bathroom and finds the toilets fascinating.  He does not love getting his hands washed.  I hope the connection between the two sinks in soon!

He enjoys emptying the dishwasher.  Onto the floor.  And emptying the cupboards.  And the bookshelves.  Much thanks to some good friends for giving us extra cabinet knobs they had so we could better keep him out of the bookshelves!

Thankfully, he’s still pretty cautious around stairs.  Though he did climb one or two steps about a week ago.

He still sticks a lot in his mouth (so the legos are still out of commission for now).  But now he’ll usually spit it out if I tell him to.  I guess he’s figured out that doing that is a lot easier than having me fish through his mouth.   :)

He loves eating with the family and eats basically whatever we do.  But he doesn’t want to be fed.  Spoons don’t go over very well either.  He prefers eating with his fingers.  Even oatmeal (which he very much enjoys!).  Needless to say, we haven’t given him soup yet.  :)

He loves fruit.  Especially grapes and fruit cocktail, though he’s enjoyed baked apple as well.  He also does well with peas and corn.  He inhales black beans.  Those are a big favorite of his!  He also enjoys fried egg, cheese, graham crackers (or crackers of any kind), chicken, and penne pasta with marinara sauce on it.  He will eat oatmeal squares, cheerios, and kix if he is really hungry.  But he’s much more likely to throw those.  He’s had peanut butter sandwiches but tends to prefer opening them and painting with the peanut butter (or just throwing the sandwich) to actually eating them.   He sometimes enjoys cheese pizza if I cut off the crust.

And he does throw a lot of his food, even things he enjoys eating.  I don’t like that part.

I tried to think of some of his favorite foods for his birthday dinner. He wasn’t very impressed.  He’s probably thinking, “She forgot the black beans!”  :)

This shows off his semi stand that he’s been doing for a few weeks now. Last week he finally started using this position to go to fully standing.

He’s entered an interesting stage where he realizes he’s being held back from things and gets frustrated.  For instance, the kid room (where he is in this picture).  We have a gate there and try to keep it closed.  This makes it even more appealing to him!  And we also try to keep pencils up and away from him.  He found some left down and was overjoyed.  :)

I chose to let him keep playing with them for a bit so I could actually get a few pictures of him standing, as I’d been trying to do for a while.  He was quite pleased!

Hmm.  Maybe I should let him play with colored pencils more often (under close supervision, of course).

Of course, then Abby had to join in the fun.  She posed, but then started digging through her bag before I could get the picture.

This is what she was going for.  :)

We kept the cake simple.  I let him “choose” – held out two cake box possibilities and he touched the one on his left, a white sprinkle cake.  Then I did the same with the pudding topping and he again touched the one on the left, vanilla.  It’s quite possible he was just going to grab whatever was on the left.  But I’ll still count that as choosing.  :)

We had to back the cake away a good bit.  I put it in front of him, just out of reach (I thought).  But he leaned forward, grabbed the edge (getting pudding on his hand), and then was about to pull it toward him and off the table.  Yikes!

He was trying to grab the cake again.

Thankfully he stopped trying to grab the cake once he realized it actually was out of reach now.

He found the singing interesting but was mesmerized by the candle.

Bryan and I both blew the candle out together.  That wasn’t planned, but it was fun.

And then on to his cake and ice cream enjoyment.  :)

He loved the ice cream.  I’d cut it into bite-sized pieces and it was still pretty firm at this point.

He preferred painting in the pudding part of the cake rather than actually eating any of it.

I broke the cake into smaller pieces to encourage eating that.  But he still preferred the ice cream.  He finally got to the cake only once he’d finished off the ice cream.

And here he shows off one of his favorite activities – clearing out the cupboards.  This is his second favorite cupboard – his favorite one is full of small containers for the kids’ lunches.  He loves scattering those everywhere.  But for now he was happy with the bowls.

And finally, his presents.  His favorite by far is the activity table from Grandma and Grandpa.  :)  He enjoys the other presents (a peek-a-boo book and wonderfully soft hand-made blanket) but he keeps going back to the activity table.  I think he loves using his new standing skills while playing.  :)

Such a sweet boy!  We are so glad to have him in our family.  :)

Emma turned 8.  Wow.  She is growing and maturing so quickly!

As always, Abby also wanted in the picture. Emma was more than willing to accommodate, taking her under her arm. :)

She was so excited to turn 8!  These were taken the Sunday prior – she’d chosen this outfit because it reminded her of baptism.  :)

The 8th birthday is a “big party” birthday in our family.  We don’t do big parties every year – we’ll allow a couple of friends, but not a lot, but the 8th (and 12th and 16th) can be bigger parties.

Only Emma didn’t want a big party.  She did request a playdate with one friend who lives farther away, but that would have to wait until later in the month.  So for her actual birthday, she wanted a quiet family party.

She chose one of her favorite outfits and wanted pictures with me.

I obviously am not very good at selfies.  She looks cute though.  :)

Bryan stepped in to help out.

Much better.  :)   

Then she helped me make her cake.  A simple vanilla cake, what she wanted.  :)  And she arranged the candles.

A heart. :)

And for the cake “ceremony”:

Singing

Note Abby’s face as Emma takes a breath.  I didn’t at the time…

Yep, Abby’s ready to help.

This was about the point where I realized what Abby was doing.

We had to remind Abby that it was *Emma’s* birthday, not hers.  :)

Yep, Abby loved that.

Emma even handled the candle interference with a gentle patience.

I don’t know that I’ve seen a child have such a sweet, peaceful birthday.  She really carried about a light with her that day.  Such a beautiful girl, inside and out!

Zoo day

And the most anticipated part of her birthday – the play date with her friend a week later.  :)  We got the two families together at the zoo.  It was nice to get some time with *my* friend as the children got some time with theirs.  :)

I didn’t get many pictures.  We were too busy talking and making sure all 9 children stuck together.  :)  But I got a few at the end.First, the quintessential crazy pictures:

And then the two nicer ones:

Emma and Kathryn trying to feed the well-fed birds. :)  The sticks had some seeds on the end of them.

All lined up, admiring the African animals. Well, except for Emma.  I think she was attending to Aaron here.  :)

It was a bit of a long day for a few of the children, but so fun to catch up with our friends again!  :)

Aaron continued building on his skills from June and by July could freely scoot himself across the floor to play with his toys.

I love this one! You can’t see Emma’s face well, but I can “feel” her sweet smile as she plays with her baby brother.

He continued to enjoy eating …

… his seat.And sometimes actual food as well.  Maybe. 

A sweet moment

We had just finished the little ones’ bath.  Aaron had just been dried off and dressed and wasn’t very happy about that.  Abby came over to cheer him up.  She just crouched down, smiled at him, and said a few things to comfort him, and he calmed down.  It was a sweet moment of connection.

Then she reacted to my taking that picture by getting out of the moment and touching her nose to his.  He wasn’t quite sure what to make of that.  :)

Emma’s food

Emma requested this picture.  She was proud of how pretty she made her food.  :)

Dress like a cow day

Dressing up for Chick-fil-A’s dress like a cow day has become an annual tradition.  I’m not sure if it’s because of the tasty free food, or just that it’s a fun excuse to be silly.  :)

This was Aaron’s first year to join the fun.

Aaron looks a little concerned. Not sure why the girls decided his head was a good place for their hands. Or why Kathryn looks a little freaky. :D

Jonathan refused to cooperate with the pictures. It gave us a bit of mad cow… (This really is the best picture of Jonathan.)

At least Aaron was working with us!

All the women. :)

We’re smiling because the children were finally all eating quietly. Or actually, now that I think about it, all but Aaron had moved on to the play area. Yep. That was nice. :)

Abby got an ice cream afterward and wanted to sit at the extra tall table beside ours.  Watching her sit there so confidently, I couldn’t help but marvel on how much she has grown.   She is definitely well into little girl stage, very much no longer a baby.  It’s amazing to watch her blossom!

Tag-a-long

The YMCA offers a monthly “parent’s night out” program that Bryan and I enjoy taking advantage of.  It’s for children ages 2-12.  So we drop off the four older and enjoy a bit of time to ourselves.  With our little tag-a-long.

Graham crackers were a new addition to his food repertoire. He loves them!

He does make things a little trickier.  At least he was happy eating his cracker while we ate our meal.  :)

Our children’s minds

First off, Abby.

She set this up herself.  Umm…

For a while, this was the only game she wanted to play with.  It got a little annoying to find pieces of the game scattered around, so I’m glad she’s moved on!  (Now she’s into coloring.)

And then I found this, set up in the kitchen by Jonathan.

Think The Lego Movie.

The big hole / portal between worlds with the krazy glue lid inside.

The tower was the business tower, with the “kragle” (krazy glue with some letters hidden).

Aaron at 6 months old

Aaron is a generally happy little one.  Sometimes somber, but always willing to give Mommy a smile.  :)

Aaron went through a tongue phase – he would stick his tongue out the side of his mouth, like this.  But just the side, and it wouldn’t stay – it would quickly go out, then back in.  It was so funny to watch! He had mastered the art of holding his head up.

And just started sitting (with a bit of arm support).

He enjoyed joining us at the table, but was still getting the concept of table vs food.  He definitely enjoyed putting anything and everything in his mouth!

Yep, everything!

I’m suddenly reminded of one of Jonathan’s first phrases as a 1 yr old – “Eat feet.”  I guess Aaron is just trying to take after his brother.  :)

For your viewing enjoyment – 4 minutes of Aaron smiling, cooing, laughing, playing with his tongue, and examining his hands.

And another 2 1/2 minutes from later in the evening, with a few happy shrieks and lip buzzing in addition to smiles and cooing and the rest.

Abby and Kathryn

And, of course, when I’m taking pictures of Aaron, I usually get at least one cameo from his big sister:

I also get random requests from the children to take a picture of something.  Usually it’s something they’ve designed but that won’t last – like a face they made out of their snack.  This was one of those times, but I can’t remember what I was supposed to be recording.  My best guess is that this was when Kathryn finally decided to try our pot roast stew and decided she liked it after all.  She can be quite stubborn!  But no matter the reason, I love her smile here.  :)

And if I take a picture of Kathryn, I must take a picture of Abby too!

No, this was not me taking the picture at the wrong time.  This was her chosen smile face, and she held it until I got that picture.  :)

Aaron becomes mobile (June 10th)

OK, so he had been mobile for a while I guess.  He’d been rolling and moving in a circle.  But now he moved on to scooting.  And scooting with a purpose.

He happily enjoyed his prize.  :)  And then Abby decided to join him and bring her own toy.  He enjoyed that too.  :)

Father’s Day

Bryan tends to prefer Father’s Day be a low key day.  But I still got a few fun shots to share.  :)

Hmm, I wonder whom the candy is meant for?  :)The children showing Bryan the things they made for him.

Jonathan’s Birthday

Jonathan planned a small birthday party for himself and some friends.  He designed his own invitations and gave them to a couple of his best friends in May, before school let out.  One told him that he couldn’t come because he’d be on vacation, but the other two thought they’d be able to come.

Front

Back – obviously edited from original :)

He put a lot of work into planning this party.  He used a cardboard box and some general craft supplies to make a game to play during the party.  He was so excited!  He even made a power point presentation as part of his planning:

I started to worry when we were about a week out and I still hadn’t heard from either of the two friends.  And I had no way to follow up – no idea on phone numbers or parent emails (or even parent names!).  He was still certain at least one would come.  I talked with him and let him know I hoped so too, but that if not we would still make sure that it was a good party, even if just us.

So his birthday came and was a little quiet as we held most of the festivities for the next day.  But we still had a special breakfast.  :)

In case it’s hard to tell, that’s a blueberry syrup smiley face. :)

And on Friday, we had a special party, following his plans as close as possible, with his sisters as his guests of honor.

He requested chocolate chip cheesecake bars in place of a regular cake.

Apparently 10 candles is enough to make a bonfire.

Before they saw me taking the picture.

I was proud of him for accepting the change graciously and not allowing it to sour his enjoyment of the day.

More cute stuff

And to finish out the month, a few more cute vignettes:

Aaron sleeping after a long day at church.  (Well, long for him.)

Aaron playing peek-a-boo through the crib slats

Emma’s note to me.  It made my heart melt.  :)

To be fair, Jonathan did one of his and Emma did two of hers during the summer.  So while it felt like it was all done last minute, there actually was some prior thought and work this time.  We’re making progress!  :)

I wish I could share the titles and artist statements but I forgot to get a copy of those before turning them in.  I’ll add in the ones I have now and try to update later with the information from the ones I don’t yet have back.

The theme was, “The would be a better place if….”

Jonathan submitted two pieces of art:

…if food rained from the sky.  This is the one he did over the summer. Notice the little hammock inside the doughnut hole? :)

Something about the importance of creative thought and inventions to better the world, showing a progression of people and mode of transportation. :D

Emma submitted three pieces of art:

… if we could drive on rainbows.

Recycling is good

“Recycling is good because it helps our ennironment so you can reuse things. it makes the world a better place becuse you can reuse.”

No Owies

“I wrote this because I think it would be good if nobody had owies like bloody noses.”

Bold, huh?  Bright color in contrast to the stark background.  This is the one she added the day before the Reflections deadline.  She’d had a random bloody nose during the after-school Kilometer Kids running club and it completely freaked her out.  She ended up spending nearly the entire club in the bathroom because of it.  My children all have a phobia of blood, which is frankly pretty funny given how laid back I tend to be about it (now, serious injuries are another story – but a normal bloody nose or scrape isn’t a big issue for me).

And Kathryn submitted a piece of art and a story:

Something about magic and rainbows.  I *think* it is titled “The Pretty Fairy,” just like her story, but I’m not completely sure.

The Pretty Fairy

I go to the store and I found a wand. I used the magic to build a home. I build a home because I had a family. The family was funny. The mom told me to clean up. Me go to the store. I buy something. I buyed some food.

Me and my mom got on a plane and we went to Utah. On the next day, it was Christmas. I got presents. One of the presents was a cat. The other was a dog. I gived food to them.

I thinked to use my wand. I used my wand. It was pretty mysterious. The wand did something dangerous to my family. And it killed them. I told my wand to be respect. And I used my wand again. My wand made my family again.

It was starting to be my birthday. Me and my friends went outside. We saw a rainbow. The rainbow was for all the goodness and the happy we did.

The end.

She dictated to me and I typed it for her (which is allowed until 2nd grade).  I did my best to type exactly what she said, but I struggled with hearing some of her past tenses.  Looking at it again, I think her “go”s were supposed to be “goed”s.

It was a bit hard not to react to some of that while typing.  :D

Each school held its own awards ceremony for the children.  Kathryn’s was on October 30th and both of her entries placed and will be moving on to the next competition level!

Her friend, Lida (sp?), was the other Kindergartener to place in visual arts. They didn’t announce which place, just that both placed and will be moving on to the next level. :)

Jonathan and Emma’s ceremony was on November 6th.  Jonathan received both first and second place in 5th grade visual arts and Emma received second place and two honorable mentions in 3rd grade visual arts.  :)

They did some group pictures for the yearbook.  Most of the ones I took at that time are blurry, but I think you can still get a feel for it:

Smiling

Told to do a crazy picture – check out Jonathan’s reaction!

And the crazy (but exceptionally blurry) picture. I think two other girls made faces, but most of them didn’t do much. Except my kids. Yep, we do crazy pretty well around here!

I don’t think we’ve had all three of them move on to the regional level before.  It’ll be interesting to see what comes of that.  :)

Aaron at 5 months.  Not only could he lift his head well, he could now push his chest up!

I think I’m better at taking “month day” pictures for him than I have been for any other child.  It helps that it’s practically the beginning of the month.  :)  (Though these were still taken the day after – that’s close enough for me!)

Sunday, May 4th

Next, this showed up on my phone:

Apparently Emma decided Kathryn and Aaron were cute enough to video.  Sunday morning fun.  :)

That evening, I happened to walk by the music room and saw this:

I love catching moments like that!  Of course, then my other children caught on and wanted their own pictures taken.  :)

Not sure where Kathryn was that evening.

Tuesday, May 6th

I got a little behind on laundry (i.e. all 6 baskets were probably overflowing) but Aaron was not OK with me leaving him to move the clothes.  So he got to ride along.  :)

Also, a picture courtesy of the kids:

Jonathan was the main designer, though I know Emma also helped.  They used little magnetic shapes to create animals in a habitat.  Birds in the sky and baby birds (and one egg) on the tree branch.  The egg shells for the newly hatched chicks are on the ground.  A fox at the base of the tree, bats in a cave below that.  Two crocodiles coming down the waterfall with a lion family under one side and a giraffe and duck on the other side.

I loved that they took the generic shapes to create their own pictures.  :)  I love watching my children’s creativity!

Sunday, May 11th – Mother’s Day

I decided I wanted a picture of my all my children together for Mother’s Day.  :)  So I caught them on the way into church (since I knew there were no guarantees this would last).  They just looked so sweet!

And then Bryan got one of me and Aaron.  :)

After church, I was presented with the gifts:

From Jonathan.  He had seen a few emails offering something free to moms on Mother’s Day but knew I wouldn’t be taking advantage of them since it was Sunday.  So he decided to do something to make up for it.  :)  And the 5 hearts were meant to represent each of the children in our family.  (His teacher had also prepared a plate of delicious food – brownies and strawberries – for him to give.  That was very tasty!)

From Abby, thanks to her wonderful (and creative!) nursery teachers.  These particular teachers were given another calling soon after this, and though Abby loves her new teachers she still talks about how much she loves “Miss Cynde.”  :)

And then a gift from Emma from school – a compilation of things she made for me and of various things about her from the school year.  Very sweet!  She chose the specific words for the front to describe me.  I’m glad she chose “loving” to be the biggest one in the middle.  Some of those others are pretty interesting…  :)  Especially the top one.  Apparently I spend a lot of time feeding my baby.  :)

Monday, May 19th

Jonathan’s school has an “Excellent Eagles” behavior program.  Kids get marks when they don’t follow expectations (showing respect to others, controlling talking, behaving properly throughout the school, asking appropriate questions, staying where they are supposed to be, finishing homework, staying organized, etc).  There is a ceremony at the end of every 9 weeks to recognize those who got no marks, and those who got 4 or fewer marks.

As soon as Jonathan heard about this he wanted to be in the ceremony.  But his hopes were quickly dashed when he’d accrued more 5 or 6 marks within the first two weeks.  It wasn’t that he was being bad, but he had organization struggles and would get a mark if he forgot to get his homework out of his backpack at the right time, forgot to put his name on his paper, or had to return to another classroom (he had two teachers) to get something he’d left behind.  It was rough because he wasn’t *trying* to do anything wrong.  Every 9 weeks he tried again, and again didn’t make it.  Until the last.  He just barely made it that last quarter, and received the “Blue Eagle” award for having 4 or fewer marks for that 9 weeks.  I was so proud of him!

After school, Kathryn wanted me to take a picture of her holding Aaron.  She loves her little brother!

Wednesday, May 21st

The last day of school.  The children had “thank you” chocolates for their teachers.  Emma’s teacher loves hedgehogs so Emma drew her a picture as well.  :)

Friday, May 30th

We had just finished dinner when, out of the blue, Abby said, “Where you picture, Dad? I tant find it.”  We turned to find her looking through the Conference Ensign!  Um, no – Daddy’s not in there.  :)  Such a sweetheart!  What a memory.  :)