Family Pictures

It was stressful....

 Ryan complained...

 Jack complained....

 Ella was Sassy....

 Brody was cheerful...

 I was crazy and overwhelmed...

But the end results were worth it!  I love how they turned out and I am happy I went through all the effort to get family pictures done!  Can't wait until next time......

Oh My... Look Who Is FIVE!

**** JUST REALIZED I HAD ALREADY BLOGGED ABOUT THIS BIG DAY BUT I GUESS WE GET TO ENJOY IT TWICE!  THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR TRYING TO PLAY CATCH-UP****

 

 I have a 5 year old!?!  It really seems like yesterday when we were bringing him home from the hospital.  Time really flies.  Jack started the day of his party with a soccer game which the whole family attended.  He is quite the little soccer player and we love watching him play!  After the game we headed back home to celebrate.  My friend Del made him an amazing dinosaur cake and we had a dino-rific dinosaur party. 

 It was such a pretty cake and I felt bad actually cutting it to eat it!  He had lots of family over to celebrate and as usual was spoiled by everyone who loves him.  After his party we decided to give him a big surprise.  Mistie and Duane had extra tickets to Lagoon and gave them to us.  We didn't tell Jack or Ella where we were going and just set off on our adventure.  They were so excited and kept guessing all the places we might be going.  They never once guessed Lagoon but were so thrilled when it came into sight and we told them that's where we were going!  We didn't get there until late in the afternoon because of the party but it was actually perfect.  It was great with the baby because there was no sun to worry about, it had cooled down and most of the people with children had gone home so there were no lines.  The kids had free reign to choose what they wanted to do and they loved it!  They rode each ride several times!  We pretty much closed Lagoon down and didn't get back home until almost midnight!  It was such a fun day!

 On his actual birthday day we went to California Pizza Kitchen to celebrate.  When they found out it was his birthday they gave him a big dessert with candles and everything.  He felt pretty special!  I just love this boy.  He gives me a run for my money but when nobody else is looking he is always wanting to snuggle with me and follows me everywhere!  He tells me how much he misses me while at school and is always wanting to know when the weekend is because he misses me!  He is such a fantastic big brother to Brody.  That boy is Jacks world and I love watching how sweet Jack is to him.  The other day he came home from school and his dinosaur display had been ruined.  He was mad!! I told him that Brody had accidently done it... he didn't skip a beat and said... well if you or Ella did it I'm mad but if Bobo did it that's okay!  It made me smile.  Things I love about Jack at 5 are that he is smart as a whip, funny, a jokester, and he is helpful!  He might complain when he is asked to do something but he always does it and I can always count on him to lend me a hand! 

His favorite things right now...
Ninjago
Going to Grandmas
Dinosaurs
Pirates
Space

They loved getting to go to Lagoon and as all the time how much longer until they can go back!


 

I love you Jack and I am so proud of you.  It has been hard to send you to school this year and having you gone all day long as been an adjustment.  I have missed you and your antics but, I am SO PROUD of how you have adjusted to being a kindergartener.  The teachers all say how well behaved you are (I'm always shocked and wonder if they are bending the truth a bit) and how good of a listener you are.  I love (and hate) that you insist I pack you a lunch everyday and that you won't carpool with anyone because you would miss me.  I love watching you learn and grow and I am so thankful to have you in my life!  Love you Jacker-Man!

Inappropriate!

We were just enjoying cheering on the divers at the olympics and I wanted to snap a picture to post on Facebook of my adorable cheerleaders.  It wasn't up for too long before my husband pointed out what appears to be fully naked men on the screen behind the adorable children.  We got a good chuckle and as Jack would say.... "That's inappropriate!"

Growing Boy

 I'm going to be honest here and say I feel a little bad about how well I have documented Brody's first year.  To say when he was born our life was a little chaotic would be an understatement.  Between moving several times and adjusting to life with 3 kids I just didn't have much more to offer.  He wasn't lacking in the love and attention department just in the having a mom who always has her camera ready department.  I hope he will forgive me and always remember that even though I didn't capture a picture of every moment I have thoroughly enjoyed every one of them!  And, I don't even want to mention how long it took me to finally get them on the blog.  But now that we finally got the internet I'm going to attempt to be better!

I had great hopes and ideas and wanted to capture him weekly to see how much he grew that week. I was an epic failure.  I did catch most weeks up to week 7 and then I'm not sure what happened! 

I'm sure he was really cute at week 3 and I swear I even took the picture... I just for the life of me can't find it!

This was his first trip to the cabin at 4 weeks!  What a trooper he is!

And just because.... lets be honest here, I probably will never get fully caught up on the blog so I'm just throwing a couple of extra pictures on here! :) 

Super BoBo

This little invention is what helped us survive the first few months of life.  There were never enough of my hands to go around so he was able to feed himself like a champ!

On one of our many adventures.  He is such a good boy and has gotten good use out of his carseat and stroller!  We call him Bobo on the Gogo!

I just LOVE this little boy!  I worried throughout my pregnancy if I would have enough love and energy to go around but I had no reason to worry.  This little guy made our family so complete and we all can't get enough of him!

And with that I think he was done having his picture taken!

Sleeping Beauty

 Poor sweet Ella.  She is so adorable when she is awake but when she sleeps we always get a good chuckle at her expense.  Now when she falls asleep in the car Jack is always sure to announce that "Sleeping Beauty" is back.  We love our sweet Ella and really love when she takes a nap.  We don't love the beast she turns into upon awakening.  If you have experienced it you will totally understand what I'm talking about.  I am always a little nervous when I see she has fallen asleep somewhere because I know I am in for a good time upon her awakening!  And for being such a grouch when she wakes up from a nap it always surprises me that she is such a morning person.  She is always the first one awake and we have had to try to teach her that she has to stay in her room until 7 because Ryan and I are NOT morning people!  We have a stuffed owl that lights up green at 7AM (best invention ever!) so that she knows when she can come out.  The other morning I had just been up with BoBo so I knew it was around 5:30.  She proudly came in and exclaimed... Owl is Green!! I knew she was telling a fib so I said okay then let me see it.  In the most disgusted voice she said URGGGGHHHH.... and stomped back to her room.  She thought she was going to pull a fast one on her parents!  Nice try sister!

I sure love this sassy little girl!

Oh, and just a few things she has said I want to remember....
The other day in the car she proclaimed.... BoBo is going to turn into a girl soon so he can be my twin.  WHAT???

I was getting ready the other day and let Bobo crawl around on the bathroom floor.  He picked up my bra and started playing with it.  Ella was disgusted and and ripped it away from him and said.  "That is Mom's booboo holder!" She cracks me up!

She sings a song to her dad all the time that starts with "Daddy is so handsome.... doo doo dee dot dot dot..."

And, she is the queen of snacks....  I put her in the bath other day in about an inch of water because she wanted to play.  I told her okay I have to go in the other room for a minute, call me if you need something... she quickly replied... "like a snack?" 

I can't ever resist taking a picture of my sleeping beauty!  One day she's going to hate me for some of these!

Hogle Zoo

My cousin Danielle and I decided to load up the trusty old mini-van and head to the zoo.  We were filled to the brim with kids and strollers and to be honest I was a little nervous.  It was my first "big" trip out with all 3 kids by myself and I wasn't sure how it was all going to work out.  Luckily the kids behaved decently and with Dani's help we all had a great time.  I think we only lost each kid for a couple of minutes!  And can I just say, pushing 3 kids in the stroller up the hills at the zoo is definitely a workout.  Luckily Ella was a trooper on this trip and walked most of the way without too much complaining which is so unlike her!

 Always have to get the picture with the gorilla's to see how much they've grown!

 Baby Ella and Brody were content with the view from the strollers!

And we can call his first trip to the zoo a success! 

Wheeler Farm

 Grandma Rosie had to have surgery on her eyes this summer so we were lucky enough to get to have her at our house during the whole month of August.  She had to have many doctors visits and lucky for us the Dr. was located right across the street from Wheeler Farm.  We would drop her off and head over to check out the animals.  I love taking the kids to these kinds of places because they are pretty free to roam and they can't get into too much trouble.  Jack is such a big helper and was more than happy to pull his baby around in the wagon! 

 Brody is such a good baby and doesn't complain about getting drug around everywhere! 

We were especially thankful for the farm after the first doctors visit we went to.  I thought she wouldn't be long so we just decided to wait in the waiting room.  Of course, the appointment took forever and the kids were losing it.  Brody had finally fallen asleep in my arms when I noticed Ella who was wiggling around in a chair.  Just as the words "sit still" started to come out of my mouth the chair started to tip.  My motherly instinct was to try to catch her which resulted in Brody's head hitting the arm of the chair.  Of course I didn't even catch her or the chair and she tipped right over into a potted tree in the corner.  I'm sure we were a sight to see.  Probably down right comical looking back at it all!  I was trying one handedly to get her out of the tree without much success.  She was screaming, Brody was SCREAMING and here I was trying to calm them down and who knows where Jack even was at this point!  A nice little older lady came and helped me out and proceeded to tell me about how she totally understood and that some day I would miss all of this!  I'm not sure this moment was one I will miss but I'm taking her word for it!

Sweet Bobo

Christina and Ainslee came down a week after Brody was born and took some pictures of our sweet boy.  I absolutely love them!  It always amazes me how quickly they change and how fast they grow up so I am so happy to have these to remember he was once a sweet little one before he turned into monster child! 

Love these cute little tootsies!