Jacob's Birthday Dinner

For Jacob's birthday we took all the kids plus Kennedy to Red Robin for dinner. All of the kids were very well behaved and had alot of fun. That made the dinner so much better for Dave and me since we were very out numbered by the kids! Here are some cute pictures I took of the kids and Dave during the dinner.

Jacob's Birthday Ice Cream Cake

Jacob and Dad

Abigail and Kennedy

Is this not the most adorable semi-food covered face ever?

Preston showing Dad how good he is at dancing on tables!

Preston just hanging out and enjoying the family dinner time.

Connor working on identifying the planets.

Preston really wanted to try Mom's burger!

Connor's New Big Boy Toy

Since the weather has been nice while Abby and Jacob are here they have been riding their bikes alot. And since Connor idolizes Abby and Jacob he wants to ride his bike alot too. But the problem with that is Connor is just a hair too short to ride his tricycle without having problems. So Dave and I bought him a big wheel so that he can ride around in the front yard with Abby and Jacob. Connor LOVES the ride. He rides up and down the block for literally hours. He loves it! Our only problem now is getting his off the bike and into the house without a meltdown!

'Helping' Dad put together his new toy.

As you can see he is a big help!

The inaugural ride.


Preston enjoying his walk with Dad.

Easter 2010 Pictures

To celebrate Easter this year we had pictures taken of the kids with the Easter Bunny. We were a little unsure of how Connor would deal with the Easter Bunny since our visit to Santa in December was not a very pleasant one. But Connor LOVED the Easter Bunny! He kept waving at him and saying "Hi!" and was not afraid at all to sit on the Easter Bunny's lap! It was so adorable to watch!

Formal Family Portraits

Today we took all of the kids and had formal family portraits taken. This is the first time we have had formal family portraits taken since Preston was born and this is only the second time we have been able to get all six of us in one picture. The kids were all smiles and seemed to be having fun while taking the pictures which made the experience a pleasant one for everyone. I hope you like the pictures! I personally think they turned out great!

Jacob's Big 0-8 Birthday Party

This year Jacob was with us on his actual birthday so we decided to let him have a very small party to celebrate his big day. We took Jacob, his friend Corbin, Abby, her friend Kennedy, Connor and Preston to a place here called Boondocks. It is huge entertainment complex that has bowling, gokarts, laser tag and an arcade. So as you can imagine we had a huge crowd with us but it was alot of fun and the kids acted so well. We could not have asked for a better experience considering how many kids we had with us. After we left Boondocks we had some birthday cake at the house for Jacob and let him open up his gifts. The kids had a great time and enjoyed helping Jacob play with all of his new toys. We are looking forward to having Corbin and Kennedy over to play again.

The Group. Preston was asleep during this part of the party.

I was trying to get a picture of all of the kids but forgot I had the camera set to video. But I got a very short and very cute video of all the kids saying "Cheese!"

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Jacob

Connor LOVES cake! Can you tell?

Jacob and Corbin being goofy little boys.

Dad having some fun with Connor and a party blower.

The kids trying out all of Jacob's new toys.

Sevens Months Old

Preston is seven months old today and his two biggest accomplishments this month were.....

1.) Solid foods

Preston started eating solid foods this last month and took to it like no kid I have ever seen. Connor did not have any problems with transitioning to solid foods but even he was not as quick to learn it as Preston. Preston now gets really excited when he sees a jar of baby food or a baby bowl with a spoon in it for him. He also is really good at chewing while he is eating, even though his food has nothing chewy in it. I am hoping this means we will not have any problems with him when it comes time to introduce crackers and chewy food.

And

2.) Greatly increased mobility

Preston is able to roll and scoot anywhere he wants to go now. You can set him down in one area of the room and 30seconds later look up and he is all the way across the room! It is hard to keep up with the kid sometimes. Luckily though he is easily entertained by it and by the toys he can now reach. And since this makes him more independant it frees up Mom's hands to do other things around the house. Preston is also trying very hard to crawl now, so we are trying hard to remember to let him have barefeet in the house. This way he can get some traction on the carpet with them.


"Mmmmmmm....Toes!"

**NOTE: The rest of this post is pretty mundane but atleast it will let you know how well the little man is doing. If you dont want to read due to a low boredom threshold, it is ok to stop now.

Other than those two big accomplishments, Preston is only occasionally sleeping through the night. We thought that the increase in solids in his nighttime routine plus switching to specially formulated nighttime formula would help him sleep through the night but we were wrong. Most nights he is hungry around 1 to 2am but luckily he goes back to sleep very quickly. He will be sleeping through the night someday though. Atleast, that is what I keep telling myself!

Traci, the boys' nanny, has been great at getting Preston on a napping schedule. He naps twice a day and his second nap is at the same time (usually) as Connor's nap. So that gives us atleast one break a day to do something non-kid related.

Preston is still a big talker and talks almost non-stop. He loves to say "Ma! Ma!" now even though I know it is not meant for me just yet. He is a big giggler and squealer and loves to answer you when you call his name. He also loves to watch the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins. I know you read and hear everywhere "Dont let you kid watch TV till they are 2!" but that is just plain impossible when you are in the room with both boys at once and one is obsessed with Rocket aka...Little Einsteins. So we have taken the "TV in moderation" approach in our house.

Connor in Another Aunt Melissa Shirt

Here is Connor in another shirt Aunt Melissa gave him. You might be thinking "I have seen that shirt somewhere!" and you are right. I posted some pictures of Preston a few months ago of him wearing his shirt like this. I am really needing to get a picture of the boys wearing their shirts on the same day, so Aunt Melissa can have a great picture of them.

Connor doing the "Chugga Chugga Cha Cha" dance from Little Einsteins

Just being plain cute.

"Blastoff!!!" again from Little Einsteins

"Please?!?!"

Too Cute Not To Share

This is a picture I captured of Preston when he was enjoying some time in his bouncer. It is also one of the rare pictures I have of his top teeth coming in. He is such a cutie-pie that I had to share the picture. I hope you enjoy!

Preston Swinging for the First Time

The weather is finally nice enough that we can spend more time outside enjoying the backyard and Preston is now big enough that he can take his turn in the swing. He LOVES to swing and laughs so much when he is in there. And it is great how much he loves it because it makes having both boys outside with just one adult alot easier. Connor can run around and as long as Preston is swinging he is happy as can be and does not need too much attention. I took some pictures and a video of him enjoying his first time in the swing.

Nature vs. Nurture Debate: The Love of Chocolate Ice Cream

Connor is worse than a begging dog when he knows you are eating something he likes. Tonight he won Dave over and actually got Dave to share his chocolate ice cream with him. Congrats to Connor! He knows Mom and Dad are suckers for a very sincere "please??"

Shirt Pictures for Aunt Melissa

Here are some pictures of the boys wearing some of the shirts their Aunt Melissa has sent them.


This shirt is not a shirt Aunt Melissa sent Connor, but I thought she would appreciate the humor in the shirt the most. And yes, that is a toy Leatherman Connor is chewing on.

Preston's New Top Teeth

I finally was able to get a picture of Preston's new teeth coming in on the top. He has four total coming in up there even though you can only really see the middle two in this picture.

Welcome to Motherhood

2.5 years ago I was driving this......


Now I am driving this......


During the last 2.5 years I have gotten married and had two kids. I love my kids, I love my husband, and I love my life. But I miss my sportscar. It was the first car I ever bought all by myself and I L-O-V-E-D it. But with the addition of Connor, it just plain was not practical so we bought the Grand Prix. Needless to say I was not thrilled with that purchase for the one reason that it meant I no longer had my G6. And now with the addition of Preston, the Grand Prix was no longer practical either. So we now have our Acadia. I do love my new car. It is practical and NOT A MINIVAN. Anyone who knows me knows that was an important criteria for my new car. So as you can see I have now fully crossed over into Motherhood. I own a car that was selected for the sole reason of being practical to carry all of my kids. Maybe in 20 years when all of my kids are out of the house I will get another sports car. Until then I am just going to have the most awesome non-minivan I can afford.

Preston is Sitting Up!

This evening I was able to get a couple of pictures of Preston sitting up on his own. He is getting really good at it. But sadly is also alot like Connor. He is only interested in sitting up for about 30-45 seconds and then something catches his attention and he is off trying to roll or crawl away. But for those few seconds he is sitting up he is adorable and happy to have mastered another skill.




After I took the pictures of Preston sitting up, I took a few more of him just playing on the floor. He really is getting good at smiling and just being plain cute.


This picture reminds me of Rodney Dangerfield saying "I get no respect!"

You can finally see a picture showing his two bottom teeth! Now I just need to get a picture of his top four teeth!