First Day of Summer!

We seriously had the longest school year on record.  It felt like it just was not ever going to end!  We were so ready for some relaxation for the first day of our summer.  So we got up, and just lazed around the house.  I made the girls some blueberry waffles, since there wasn't such a mad rush to get to school. Then we got ready to go swimming.  For sure the girl's favorite summer activity.  My friend Andrea has an aunt with a pool and she invited us to come.  

 Russ loves the water soooo much, seriously I can't describe how much the little man loved it.

 Lizzy is really starting to get good at swimming, and it is nice to have one less kid to watch super carefully.

 Nellie is Nellie.  She liked it but as usual she had her complaints about this or that, the floatie isn't that good or she wants the one Jane has, or someone splahed her, you know the usual.

Jane discovered that she could float around without going under with her little floatie and she just thought is was the greatest.  She was so darn cute about it.  Yay for summer, we love it!!

Nellie's Kindergarten Graduation!

My little Nellie Belle is so big! She graduated from Kindergarten!  She was so silly because she didn't want to dress up because she was worried that no one else would, but I knew all the other kids would be, and of course I was right.  She just loves her green polka dot dress, which of course makes me so happy!  She was so big up there singing all the songs.  They even sang the New York New York song but changed it to First Grade First Grade.  It really is so hard to believe how fast time flies.  Nellie blossomed so much in Kindergarten.  It is amazing how smart she is.  She picked up reading so easily and math too.  I am so grateful for that!  One surprising thing about Nellie is she is very social.  Every time we were leaving school all the kids would be saying "Bye Nellie"  I was worried that she wouldn't be like Lizzy in that regard but she is.  I am so grateful for that.  I really struggled with that as a kid, so I am so glad to see my kids not have an issue of making friends. 

 She is such a pretty girl with her special blond hair.  She just loves that she has the very blond hair and she is always telling me that her friends always tell her how beautiful her hair is.  So silly.

 We wish that Daddy could have come, but Janie, Russell and my mom and I got to see the big girl.

 Nellie really loved her teacher Mrs. Gill.  I loved her too.  We were so lucky this year, both the girls teachers were So amazing.  We are sad to say goodbye to them.

Nellie and her best friend Olivia.  I'm sure they wont be in the same class next year, because that just doesn't seem to happen, but hopefully they can stay close.  I would have to say I am super excited for her to go to first grade!  She was too bored at home with me in the morning, all day school will be so good for her, and me!

Foodie

Little man is seriously obsessed with food.  And I mean OBSESSED!  Maybe he still is feeling scared about not getting enough to eat the first 5 months of his life, I don't know.  All I know is I have never seen a baby more crazy about food than him.  It is really cute, but can be seriously annoying!  He just grunts really louldly the whole time we are eating and stares at us as we eat even if he has food in front of him.  It makes it really hard to even eat my own food.  He can have a mouth completely full of food and he will act nervous like he needs more right that second.  The minute he gets set in his high chair he starts freaking out if there isn't food already in front of him.

 This is Russ trying angel food cake with berries for the first time.  Oh did he like it!  He is such a silly guy.

I still am feeling bad that the poor boy starved while I nursed him, but oh well.  He seems to be getting enough to eat now!

Luau

The girls school always does an end of  the year Luau and each grade does a little song and dance.  We thought the girls looked so darn cute doing theirs.  Unfortunately the videos don't show as clear as they were, but you still get the basic.

Jerry and Ruby

It has been a while since my brother Jarom and his wife Kristen have come out to California, in fact we have only seen them once in the last two years.  So we were thrilled that they were coming out to visit, if only for a few days.  The girls were beyond thrilled that they had some cousins coming to visit.  They don't care if the cousins aren't the same age, all they care about is more friends.  Lizzy and Nellie just love Jerry and love to try and mother him.  They had so much fun playing with him and getting him all wound up.  Sorry Jarom and Kristen!   Jane and Jerry are close in age so they got into it a few times.  Jerry likes to tease and Jane can't handle it so there were a few tears , but it is good for Jane, she does have a little brother after all who I am sure will do his share of teasing.  Little Ruby was just the sweetest tiniest thing ever!  But she seems older than she is because she is quite a little talker.  Every time she saw Russell she would say baby, baby , over and over again.  It was so cute.

 We took the kids to Fairy Tale Town, because it is fun for little kids and inexpensive.  The kids always love the crooked mile and we spent quite a bit of time on that one.

 The girls (or should I say Lizzy) always do little poses.    Love the hand on the hip and the head tilted.  Where does she learn this from?

The kids think these head things are so cool.

 Mr. happy pants.  This baby is always happy!  He is so good to just chill in the stroller, although he does look at the kids and I can tell he wants to be part of the action.  We discovered something funny with Mr. Russ.  If you hold up the camera he knows to smile and he will give his little cheeser. Love it!

 We have been trying something new at bedtime to get the girls to go to bed better, and Janie has been going to sleep in our bed.  Well when Jerry was here he wanted to sleep with Jane.  You would think two three-year-olds in bed would spell trouble but they were amazing and we didn't hear one peep out of them.  They went right to sleep.

 Lizzy just loves Jerry and wanted a picture with him.  Such a cute picture!

Ruby did NOT want to join in the picture taking.  We had so much fun with them and we hope they come and visit again really soon, and that they stay longer next time!!

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!