Open House

Every year, near the end of the school year, the girls school has an open house where parents and others can come and see their classrooms and what they have been working on throughout the year.  It was so fun to go and see what the girls have been up to when they are at school and all of the neat little things they have made. 

 They put one of every students art on display, this was Nellie's watercolor

 And this was a clown chalk picture that Lizzy did.

 Lizzy had fun taking us to her class and showing us all of her stuff and telling us about what she did in class. Do you like Lizzy's makeup, her little friend gave her a makeover just before we left to the school. So she has some sweet blue eyeshadow on.

 Here is her big homework project she had to do this year.  Or should I say I had to do?  No Lizzy helped as much as she could, it is just too hard for a seven year old to make something like this on her own.

 Nellie showing us around her classroom.  She loves school for the most part and loved getting attention and showing us all of her work she has done.

Nellie was so excited this year about the baby chicks that hatched in her classroom. She would tell me about them everyday.

Old Sacramento

 About 5 years back I went to the Asparagus Festival in Stockton with my mom and sister.  It was a lot of fun and I thought since Lizzy and Nellie obviously didn't remember it, and since Kevin didn't get to go, we should go.  So we were driving and had gotten just past downtown Sacramento and I thought I better check and see where I need to get off, so I looked it up on my phone and lo and behold it costs 10 dollars a person just to get in, and that doesn't count doing anything or getting anything to eat.  So obviously we weren't interested in spending that kind of money, so we turned around.  But with kids not being able to deal well with disappointment, we decided we better do something else.  So we took the girls to Old Sacramento.  We actually had a lot of fun.  There was a little schoolhouse for the girls to play in, and they thought it was pretty cool.  Then there were a bunch of fun shops to look at too. There was a candy shop that would let you come in and you could sample most of the candy for free, so that was kind of fun.  There is also a train to ride, but alas we couldn't afford that either.  Oh well the kids still had a good time.

 Our little monkey boy.  This kid is so sweet!  We just love him to pieces! He just chilled in his stroller the whole time.  He REALLY likes to go places and is super good when we are out.

 The perspective on this picture is not my favorite, seeing as I look larger than Kevin, nice!

 There is a giant river boat that is actually a hotel and Restaurant, the girls thought it was cool, but I guess Nellie didn't.  I just couldn't get her to give me a smile.

Saturday Adventures

 One thing I really like about where we live is that it is really family friendly.  The community has a lot of stuf geared toward families and that is nice.  back in April there was an Earth Day Festival.  I was really worried that is was going to be just a bunch of tree huggers, but it was actually really fun.  We didn't stay too long because we also wanted to take the girls up to Auburn on a hike, but there were some fun little booths and even an animal show.  We got to see an alligator, and the girls got to make braclets and play some games and win some free stuff.

 I cannot remeber why Nellie was ticked off in this picture.  She struggles at times to be happy and she does not deal well at all if things don't turn out exactly how she wants, but she is doing better and making improvements with her attitiude, slowly but surely.

 Here is our happy guy.  I swear he is never unhappy especailly if we are out and about doing stuff.  He really likes to be out and be busy.

 After the festival we took to girls hiking. It  is nice to live close to the mountains too.  We found a pretty easy trail that was near the river and a lot of it was in the shade, which was nice because it ended up being a very hot day.

 It was under this bridge which is like the third highest bridge in the U.S. which was pretty cool.  You can't even tell from this picture how high it actually was, it was crazy.  The funny thing about the hike was Lizzy was acting very scared.  You can't tell but the river was down on the right, but it was very safe. She was freaking out like we were going to fall.  Such a silly girl.

 Such a cute group!  I just love these people! Notice the girls carrying the giant water bottles, they won them at the festival, so they had to bring them.

 One very funny thing about that day was that we learned that Jane is quite the daredevil. She was pretty much the leader the whole way.    She didn't get scared and she just does her own thing. She is quite the character.  I find it so interesting and fun how different each of my children's personalities are.

 After our sweaty hike we went down to the river and took a little dip.  It is a very fast scary river, but there was this one quiet shallow section that was very safe.  The girls loved it and even Russell get his little feet in too.

I did have a hard time getting the kids to go, but poor Russ was exhausted and we needed to get home.

Good thing Kevy can haul Russ around.  He is getting too big for me to, my shoulders start hurting if I have to carry him in the Bjorn for too long.

I really love doing this with my little family.  Having time together each weekend is so fun.  It really is what life is about.

Big Boy!

Its just too easy to get this baby to smile.  You don't even have to work for it.

I couldn't figure out what pictures I liked of him because he was so cute in all of them, so I just posted a bunch.

Time keeps speeding by faster and faster as the days go along. My little man is seven months old!  I really can hardly believe it!  I don't remember feeling like any of the girls grew this fast. Of course just like i keep saying over and over, it makes me a little bit sad to think about the time gone that I will never get back.  But that being said, I LOVE this little guy.  He is getting so fun!!
 I know last time I posted about him it was that he wasn't the easiest baby, well reverse that.  It all started when he was about 4 1/2 months.  He was getting so fussy!  I couldn't put him down without him crying, he hardly took naps at all, and when he did they were maybe 20 minutes.  He was waking up 2-3 times a night, it was just getting too much!  I knew that my milk supply had dropped just like it has with every baby around the same time.  But I was just holding on to the nursing thing.  I was trying everything: pumping, feeding often, drinking tons, taking supplements, and nothing seemed to work.  I was so sad!  I have desperately wanted to nurse my babies for a year and I haven't even come close.  Well finally I came to the decision that it just wasn't enough for him and he needed formula.  The day that I switched over to formula completely he slept through the night, he took 3 almost three hour naps the next day and he was so happy and content from then on.  Then he started packing on the weight.  He gained three pounds the next three months, which for one of my babies is unheard of.  The poor boy was absolutely starving to death. I really feel like there are times when it is not the right thing to continue to nurse your baby, regardless of what others may say, but that is just my personal opinion.

This little monkey has turned into a foodie.  Once he realized he wasn't starving anymore he got obsessed with food.  He has to be eating if we are and I have never had a baby that LOVES everything they try like him.  He will eat anything and he has quite the appetite. He is our little chunko.  Okay maybe he isn't compared to other babies, but for one of Kevy and my kids, he is huge!  At 6 months he was 27 inches and  16 lbs. 3 oz.  He still loves his bottle too.  When he hears me shaking it, he gets all excited to the point of starting to freak out, like "get me that bottle right now!"
Russ is so much like Lizzy as a baby it is kind of crazy.  They are almost identical.  He is so social and so happy.  He really has a smile for everyone and that is what everyone says when they see him.  "I have never seen such a smiley baby!"  I love it!  He is a talker too, he really loves to talk and make all kinds of noises with his mouth.  His newest is clicking and motorboating. Unlike the girls that said dada first, he said mama!  Yay!
He is so easy to put to bed, all I have to do is lay him in his crib and give him his fuzzy blue blanket (his favorite) and he pops his little thumb in his mouth and he is good to go.  The only problem is he really likes his bed, so that makes it a bit difficult when we are out because he doesn't like to sleep anywhere but his crib.  He is such a  mama's boy, I love it.
 One cute thing about him is that he is already showing signs of liking sports.  One day when I was feeding him (which he was way into) Kevin turned on a baseball game and he was glued.  He no longer wanted to eat, he was just staring at that game.  He also really likes balls, they are his favorite toys to play with, he even said ball today.
He has been sitting up really good for a month now, and is pretty content to just sit there, but he is starting to roll all around too.  He also when he is on his back will push off so he is only on his feet and his head and start moving around.  It is one of the strangest things I have ever seen a baby do.
He is so precious to all of us!  The girls are still just as in love with him as ever.  How fun it has been to add a little boy to our family.  We love our little Russ Man.  Now if we could just get him to stop getting bigger!