My maternity pictures.....

I got these pictures taken when I was 32 weeks pregnant. I am so glad that I chose to do this because Bella and Sophie always want to see pictures of "when they were in my belly," and I have nothing to show them. Anyway, I came across these while I was attempting to organize the many thousands of photos that I have on my computer and thought I would share.

Greg's Aunt Micki sent the girls these Disney t-shirts and they put them on immediately after opening them.

Picking walnuts

We have a HUGE walnut tree at the corner of our house and yesterday we noticed that a tree branch had started to crack and was hanging down to the sidewalk. My dad pulled it down yesterday so it wouldn't fall on anyone and it has been a source of much excitement for the kids. They hide in it and climb on it and best of all, they get to pick all of the walnuts off of it. Sophie has even been naming hers. They have a bucket of all the walnuts that they have collected and are keeping safe. So, of course, I took the time to practice taking more photos.

I love how you can barely see Sophie's little face in the background!

Trying to make mean faces, still cute, though!

Mason starts Kindergarten

Here is this handsome boy ready for Kindergarten. He walked into my house and seemed so proud of himself with his big backpack and all, I couldn't resist getting some pics.

Surf n' Swim!

It seems like we practically lived here this summer. I got crazy one day during the week and thought I could handle my kids, plus the kids I care for, all by myself at the pool and I am proud to say that we had a fantastic time and nobody drowned. It was a lot of fun and we went 2 more times after that and had just as much fun.

6 months old!

I can't believe that she is already 6 months old. Where has the time gone? Frankie is by far the happiest baby, ever! We had a rocky first couple of months of life, but man, is she ever making up for it! She went to her well check the other day, got 5 shots (poor baby), and was given a clean bill of health. She weighs 16 lbs. is 23 inches long and has a HUGE head, or at least that is what the doctor says. He even tries to joke with me that it runs in the family....I see no humor in that at all :) This was the first time that she has touched grass and at first and it totally blew her mind. She just stared at it, and touched it, and looked at me like "What is this stuff?" After a few minutes she was ok, and actually seemed to be enjoying herself. Here are a few things she has been up to lately:

-She scoots on her back. Yeah, she doesn't want to try to crawl, she just goes directly to her back and pushes her body back with her feet. Not a bad way to get around either, she goes everywhere like that.
-Sits up all by herself now, and proud of it. She loves to sit with toys all around her. She will stay entertained for a while.
-LOVES books. Her face just lights up when you read to her or show her pictures.
-We went to the pool a lot this summer and I finally got her into the water. She loves it. She just splashes and splashes and laughs when the water hits her face.
-Sleeps pretty well through the night.
-Teething like crazy but not bothering her too bad.
-Constantly makes this really low, grunting noise like she is pooping or something
-Cannot eat any applesauce or apricots at all....boy did we ever have some constipation issues!

First day of school!

I seriously cannot believe the summer has come to an end. Bella is so excited to be a big 2nd grader now I am not sure she can even stand it. She loves school so much and loves her teacher this year too. She has one of her best buddies in her class this year, hopefully that won't turn out to be a bad thing. This is an outfit that she picked out at Macy's when we went school shopping a month before school and I think she asked to wear it everyday before school actually started. She has a favorite hair style now too. She likes her hair to be "messy curl" as she calls it, like mine in the title picture on our blog. She is just way too grown up. I thought it would be fun to post pictures of her past first days of school so you can see how much she has changed.

Could her hair be any more awesome?!



First day of Kindergarten-August 2006


First day of 1st grade-August 2007

So cool.......

What more can I say?

CHEESE!!!

So I have really been practicing a lot with my camera and I think my family, especially my kids, are getting really sick of it! This is the smile I automatically get when I get ready to shoot pictures. Thanks for humoring me, Sophie!

Happy Birthday Makenzie!

Geez there were a lot of birthdays this month! This is my niece, Makenzie. Happy birthday cutie!!!

Mason's 1st Birthday!

Happy Birthday Mason! My friend Alexis threw this amazing carnival party for her daughter's first birthday. She even made the beautiful dress that Mason is wearing. She had stations set up with different activities for the kids to participate in. There was a ring toss, marshmallow guns, tattoos, cotton candy, and she even had a caricature artist. My girls both had their picture done and I couldn't resist getting mine and Frankie's too. They turned out great! Great party Lex!

Xcenyia's 1st Birthday!

My best friend's little girl is 1 now! Niki had a party for her at a nearby park and it was perfect! Such a great family!