A budding photographer

The Captain and J were able to take a father/son trip to Ohio in early August.  They had a good time.  They went up to see family and some of the Captain's old flying buddies.  At some point in the trip, the Captain turned the camera over to J.  Here's what he shot.

Here's a picture of Dad and one of his planes.

J got a pretty good action shot of some aerial maneuvers.

Here's D and Bob.  They have been flying together a long time.  

After the trip, he definitely caught the photography bug.  He has taken countless pictures of his brothers.

He has taken a few hundred pictures of Baby Girl.  He is one a mission to get her smiling for the camera.

Plus, there are lots of pictures of legos and Bionicles.  He discovered that he could tell a story. They would  pose the characters and doing sequential shots to make a "movie."  Pretty ingenious!

He completely maxed out the memory on the camera so I had to wade through the hundreds of pictures.  I think he has found a new hobby.  

From the mouth of S

Little S talks a lot.  He has quite an impressive vocabulary.  He will talk to someone, but he will also talk to himself.  Here's some quotes from the little man.

The other day in church he turns to me and says, "Mama when it's time for the treats, can I pass it?"  It took me awhile to figure out that he meant the communion elements. "Sure sweetie, you can pass the treats."  I am feeling a little neglectful in some religious training.

One of our favorite babysitters had the nerve to go off to college.  We are very sad!  I am planning a care package for her.  I decided to ask the boys for some ideas.  S has a beaming smile on his face and says, "We should get her a Barbie!  She's a girl and girls like Barbies!"  He was so proud of his thought.  I am not sure that 18 year old Hannah would like a Barbie, but we sure had a good chuckle.  

He has been sitting in with the boys when we do Science for school.  Right now, we are studying about different wild animals.  This is a favorite topic of his.  He asked what we were studying that day and I told him that we were talking about elephants.  He emphatically states, "APPARENTLY (emphasis his) I know all about elephants.  I saw it on Go, Diego, Go!"  Apparently,  my 4 year old is in need of some humility.  How does he know the word "apparently"?   

That boy keeps me on my toes.

She's just so cute!

I just love having a girl.  I would have been totally content if we had 4 boys, but man it's fun having a girl!  She has such cute clothes.  I love to go bow shopping. 

Finally, got a good of shot of her beautiful smile.

This is usually the look I get when I try to take her picture, but at least when have on a cute bow.

First day of school

We had our first day of school.  

Here's our big 4th grader!  

 Here's my big 1st grader!

Here's all my handsome boys before the start of school.

I didn't get any pictures of the big boys doing school, but here's a shot of S doing some of his "school."  He just has some computer games and videos that he watches.  He will start pre-K in a few weeks.

The day went really well.  I was a little (or maybe a lot) nervous.  This is our first year schooling 2 boys, plus a 4 year old, and a baby.  God really blessed our first day.  My schedule went fairly smooth.  Baby K took some long naps (which is very rare) that allowed me more uninterrupted time.  The old and new curriculum choices seem to be going well.  It was sweet doing Bible together.  The boys enjoyed having Science with each other.  Looking forward to a great year! 

W turns 7 years old!

My sister joined us and my parents for W's 7th birthday party!  Here's all the cousins before the swim party.

We had it at our new Salvation Army Kroc Center.  It has a great water park on the property.

Here's some of the kids waiting to get dumped on by a water bucket.

Here's the birthday boy going down a water slide.

He wanted a pokemon party.  I found a bakery in town that made these cute and delicious cupcakes.  He was thrilled.  The different characters are Pokemon guys, in case you were wondering.  I learned way more about Pokemon than I ever I thought I needed to know.

We had some school friends, church friends, and family.  W was thrilled to see everyone there.

Someone thought it would be a great idea if my mom, my sister, and I ascended the climbing wall.  My sister definitely won that outing.  

All the women folk then took our turn down the water slide.  It was a great party for kids and adults alike.  Plus, the kids were really tired that night.  That equals success in my book.

The boy is now seven years old!  It goes so fast.  He is in the 95th percentile for height, but 50th for weight.  He is going to be tall and skinny.  He loves Pokemon, the Avengers, and legos.  He has grown up so much this past year.  He is reading so well.  He loves to gives hugs.  He really would like to have a pet cat.  He has decided that he doesn't like soccer anymore.  We are blessed to have little W in our life.

Beach part II

The boys had been watching another family play "chicken" in the pool.  They were so excited when they finally figured out how to get each other on their shoulders.

Here's a shot of all the boys in the pool.  The girls were tired and decided to pass up this swimming adventure.

This year's sand creature was "Toothless" the dragon from the movie "How to train your dragon".  They did a very good job.

Here's J sitting by his creation.

They also built a huge castle.  Here's all the boys inside.  They are just silly!

Another fun ritual is to feed the seagulls.  The last night that we are there, the boys get to feed the seagulls any food that is left.  Did you know seagulls will eat tortillas?  

W was a totally different kid this year.  He used to be TERRIFIED of the ocean.  He didn't like the waves, or the seaweed, or the sand getting his feet dirty, or the water getting in his face.  This year he has decided the ocean is pretty cool.  He grabbed a boogey board and became quite good at the skill.  In fact, we had to bring him back closer to shore several times.  He still can't swim, but that minor detail didn't seem to phase him at all.  

I had to relinquish my title as the "Best Boogey Boarder".  I had the ability to travel the farthest, but this year I was eclipsed by my eldest son.  He went from a total novice to quite good pretty fast.  I will challenge him next year, when I haven't just had a baby.  

We had a great time and the boys are already asking to go back.  I need to remember to pack more food next year.  Those boys get so hungry when we are there.  They aren't even teenagers yet.

Beach Vacation Part I

We were able to take our annual beach vacation this year.  First time on a trip with 4 kids.  It was fun, but pretty tiring.  K is not quite sleeping through the night, so I was a sleep deprived and trying to keep up with the big boys makes for some tired parents.

This is one of my favorite shots of daddy and K.

Baby K was very stylish at the beach.  

 Daddy dug her a baby hole and we lined it with a towel.  She loved hanging out in her little spot under the canopy.

As soon as we found out we were having a baby girl, Nana and Grandave bought her a whole outfit for the beach.  She's got the shades and the suit to match.  Gymboree loves to see my dad coming.

Here's all the girls on the beach.

My parents were able to join us again this year.  It was fun playing with them.  They were also tremendous help with the baby and entertaining boys.

Mom was staying with Baby K so we had a rare moment of the 5 of us playing in the ocean.  It's always a great family outing.

The weather was perfect.  There was a little more seaweed this year, but not too bad.  More pictures to come...