Nine Months Old

So this is how my little photo session with Russ went.  Every time I would lift up the camera, this cheesy face would come out.  It is hilarious.  If he sees a camera he does this face.  I can't even seem to get a regular picture of him.  It is so funny, even at the Drs. office, the doctor lifted up the light to look at his eyes and in his mouth and he started with the face.  So funny.  I am sure everyone is getting sick of me saying this, (oh wait no one hardly reads my blog anyway) but I really can't believe that my kids can be growing up so fast.  Each baby seems to grow faster too!  I really kind of hate it!  But I love it too, to see what sweet kids they are turning out to be.  

At 9 months we were sure that Russell was going to be way bigger than the girls were at the same age.  Well he is bigger, but not for a boy.  Weight 18lbs. 1 oz. (10th percentile.) Height 28 inches (45th) and head 75th.  It really doesn't seem like his noggin is so big, but apparently it is.  I guess what do I expect right?  I am never going to have big kids, I just need to accept this and move on.  

We just really love Mr. Russ, he adds do much to our family!  The girls are still totally infatuated with him. I keep waiting for that to wear off, but it doesn't seem to be.  He is growing up so much and learning to do so many things!  He is still nuts over his food, although with his size I guess you wouldn't know it.  We still have yet to find something that he won't eat.  He is also doing so many cute things too, he loves to clap his hands, and if he wants you to get excited or say yay, he will start clapping his hands until you do it.  He is a full on crawler now too, no more of this army crawl stuff.  He is everywhere so fast and into everything, cupboards,  garbage cans etc computer cords, of course all the things you don't want him to get into.  He is pulling himself up now and loves to feel so big.  If anyone says bye, or goodnight, he starts waving.  It is so cute.  He is still just the smiliest baby ever, and so so good.  The best sleeper and so good during the day.  He is so social and loves to get attention from other people.  He really is just like the boy version of Lizzy, which I would love if we had another Lizzy type in our family. I adore him so much!  I am so glad that we were blessed with this little guy in our family!

Life

I am having a really good summer with the kids.  I am really trying to make sure we are doing stuff so that they don't feel bored or watch too much TV, although sometimes it is hard to keep the TV off.  I found this cute recipe for sidewalk paint on Pinterest and the girls thought it was the coolest thing ever.  It is fun to do things a little out of the ordinary.  We had fun for a couple hours doing this.

 We have been having a ton of fun going to the library every week and checking out books and then having reading time.  That is one of my fondest memories of the summer is going to the library so I love that my girls like doing it too.

 Nellie is our little chef.  I really can't believe what an interest she has shown in cooking.  She is really good at it too.  My mom has been giving her lessons and she is starting to really know what she is doing.  She even showed me how she can crack an egg and she did it perfect.  It was so cute because she was so proud.

 She even likes making the salad, which is great because then I can just have her do it. That is by far my least favorite thing to make.

 Russell gets so messy with his food so obviously he gets a lot of baths and he LOVES to play in them.  He is such a water baby!  Janie loves them too and always asks every morning if she can get in with Russ.

 So the little monkeys learned how to do laundry one day.  I have been getting on them to stop putting clean clothes in the hamper, and they just kept doing it.  Well since a certain someone that I will not name has a problem with wetting her pants, the hamper is really stinky, and so those clean clothes get stinky and I have to wash them.  I am sure every other mother out there knows how that is one of those things that can just make you livid.  So I decided to teach them a lesson.  They spent the whole day one day doing the laundry.  And they did it all.  I made them sort and load and put the soap in and start it.  Well after loading and moving one load to the dryer they were all excited and said they LOVED doing this, its so fun.  Well I am sure you can guess that they changed their tune after all the folding.  Nellie was really unhappy about how long it takes to fold ALL that laundry.  Well duh!  I just hope that it did what I hope it did, and that I won't be seeing more clean clothes in the hamper again.

Lakeshore Learning Center has crafts on Saturday so I thought I would take the girls there to do it.  They didn't have as much fun as I hoped, so we may not do it again.  Love the Nellie face.  Nellie is really struggling to be happy lately.  I think she really needs the structure of school.  I am glad she is starting full time this fall.  I think she needs it.

More Cousin Time

On the last day that the Prices were visiting we had planned on going to the beach, but it was going to be cold, and after spending a day down at Discovery Kingdom, we didn't really want to take another long day trip.  So we went to the mall, where they were having a grand opening of the outdoor play place and so there were some fun activities going on.

 Jack and Jane were really inseparable on this trip.  Jane hasn't shown a ton of interest before in having friends, but she and jack just clicked.  They never had any issues and had so much fun together.

 Nellie and Max, of course, on the play place.  These two are really something else.  I love watching them together.

 There was this sand castle and it was so neat to see.

 All the cute kids together

 There was a booth where you could get your hair sprayed and Janie wanted hers done purple.

 Nellie had hers done all sparkly.  You just can't tell in this picture.

 Lizzy got hers done purple too.

We went to the library afterwards and played on the playground.  Lizzy was funny because she decided that she was embarrassed to go in the library afterwards because of her hair.  So she wanted me to brush it out so it wasn't so purple.  She is so worried about what other people think of her.  If her hair is messed up by the end of the day she wants me to fix it before we go anywhere, because "My hair is crazy!"
We had so much fun having our cousins here visiting!  We wish more would come and visit us here!

Discovery Kingdom

While Tom and Chanelle were here visiting, we decided to go to Discovery Kingdom.  It is a Six Flags park that is only about an hour away.  The great thing about this park is that there is so much stuff.  They have a ton of animal shows, (Killer whale, dolphin, and sea lion were the ones we went to this time) But they also have a bunch more, plus a zoo and they have a ton of rides.  They have two different kid areas and there was no waiting on really any of those rides, so that was nice.  Kevy and I bought season passes because they were only like 10 dollars more than the discount ticket prices.  And they came with a free parking pass, so we couldn't pass that up.  Now we can go whenever we want.

 The kids were all so excited to go.  This was just as we got into the park.  Lizzy was a little sad when she found out that she wasn't big enough to go on the really big rides, but it ended up being okay.

 It was nice because there was not a line for any of the kids rides.

 The frog ride was a favorite for the girls.

 Lizzy and Ozzie had so much fun together. They stuck together and did a lot together.  I love this picture with Lizzy leaning on him checking out the map.  Too cute.

 Janie and Jack had a lot of fun together too.

 Nellie and Max as usual.  And of course Lizzy and Austin.

 Nellie was so lucky and she and Max got picked to go and pet the sea lion.  It was perfect for Nellie because she felt so special, she said it was so soft.  Lizzy was disappointed that she didn't get picked, but being Lizzy, dealt with it really well.  I wouldn't want to see how Nellie would act if Lizzy got picked and she didn't.  Oh wait I saw that fit later on.  She wasn't tall enough to go on the big swings and Lizzy was just tall enough and Nellie threw the biggest royal fit I have ever seen her throw.  Maybe not ever, but it was crazy.  I think she screamed and cried for well over an hour.  It didn't help that Kevin tried to take her on the bumper cars, and she couldn't go on them.  More screaming.  It was lovely.  Jane on the other hand was so easy to please.  She loved everything and was so very good.  The last ride I took her on was the carousel and she got off and said, "That was awesome!"

Poor little Russell.  He was a really good sport, but as an eight month old, you need a lot of naps, and he really won't sleep outside of his bed, so that isn't a very good combination.  We got him a couple tiny naps, but poor baby was exhausted.   We ended up staying until it closed, so Russell wasn't happy and cried the whole drive home. :(    Hopefully at least one of the times we go we can leave Russ with a babysitter, it will be better for everyone.

It was fun because Kevy and I got to ride a big ride together, it was one of the scary roller coasters.  I haven't been on one in so many years, because it always seemed like I was pregnant whenever we went to an amusement park.  It was so fun to ride it with him.

The Price Boys

My sister Chanelle and her family came out to visit and it was wonderful!  The kids had so very much fun playing together.  I really can't remember even one time that there was an issue with any of them.  Three of her boys and my girls all match up in age so it is so fun for them to play together.  We didn't even have to go and do too many activities because they just had fun being together.

The day they got here we had a random 108 degree day, so the kids definitely had to find a way to cool themselves off.  We got out the Popsicles and put the hose on the tramp and they had a blast.

Janie was so silly and really does not like getting water in her eyes.  So her solution is to wear her goggles.

Russ really really liked his Popsicle, but that really doesn't come as much of a surprise.

Even though Carson is almost four years older than Lizzy she and Austin and Carson all played really well together.  It was so fun for the girls to all have a buddy (or two).

Janie was so tired from the long day that she fell asleep on the floor with everyone else around.  She must have been really tired.

We were so lucky when they were here because Uncle Tom took us all out to dinner at Cheesecake Factory.  My favorite!  It was so much fun. The kids had fun all sitting together on one side of the table.

Nellie with her favorite cousin Max.  The similarities between these two are almost eerie.  I swear that they could be twins.

Little monkey man is so very busy!  We have to keep everything three feet away from him because he is such a little grabber.  He started the meal off by pulling a plate to the ground and breaking it. Lovely.