st. patrick's day photo shoot

so this is a bit late.

sometimes that happens when you have four kids.

sometimes it happens a lot. ha!

on st. patrick's day the kids wore green, of course. it was also our school's jog-a-thon, so we wore green to celebrate our eagle pride, as well. it was a fun day!

enjoy these goofy pictures of my four super goofy kids. i think this is one of their best photo shoots yet.



















do you remember our first photos as a family of 6? the grumpy faces, the crying, the extra super spazzy silliness?

do you have a hard or easy time taking family pictures?

can't get enough... spoons?

natalie wants to eat. she stares food down. she reaches for it practically begging with her eyes... feed me.

on saturday i fed her solid food (if you can call it that). this is only the third time. she has some food allergy issues going on, so we are taking it slow.

i mixed up a bowl of delicious whole grain rice cereal. yum! nat's eyes were smiling at the sight of it.

she reached and stretched to reach some more. she looks so tiny in her high chair.

finally she connected with that spoon filled of "solid" goodness.


oh. the. horror.

obviously not what she had been dreaming of.


the spoons were a hit though!

what do you think should be natalie's second solid food?

first day of spring

the weather has been dreadful. nothing spring-like about gray skies, nasty gusts of bitter cold wind,  and non-stop rain for days on end. i am craving sunshine and it's nowhere to be found. i have a new pair of flip flops calling my name. my fingers and toes are cold unless i cover them up. yes, i'm having a good ol' pity party. rain, rain go away!!!

here is what we are up to on this not-so-springy first day of spring...

taylor is working on his report. not by choice. hehe!

zach is snuggled under a blanket watching old school wiggles episodes. i wonder how old jeff is these days.


ben is building with blocks.

nattie is sleeping behind this door. i know better than to open the door and take a picture this time!

joe is computing.

this is where i am working. i did some school work and now i am blogging. nat's blanket is there, because she was playing next to me before nap time.

what are you up to on this first day of spring?

another milestone met

yesterday natalie sat up!

she was laying down and then she was sitting up.

just like that.

she was so focused on trying to pick something up, she didn't even realize what she'd done. but i did. i cheered and called for the whole family to come and celebrate this milestone with us. she was back on her tummy before they got there.

just another way natalie's growing up too fast.

bad word

last week we were getting out of the car and i hear "you dirty a**." i thought for sure i was hearing things.

then i heard "no, you're a dirty a**."

WHAT?!!!!

did i mention we were at school? and a parent was walking by?! oh. my. goodness.

i wanted to know where they heard that, who they heard it from, and why they were saying it. i demanded information.

turns out one of my kids made it up. seriously. i've always wondered how "bad words" come to be. i guess they just do. maybe nine year olds all over the world are coming up with made up phrases thinking they are funny and grown ups all over the world are gasping in horror calling these unknown words "bad."

i have no idea.

after the fact i thought it was a little funny. when it was happening, not so much.

what would you have done in my situation?

why do they grow so fast?

lately i've been missing being pregnant.

i'm a pretty miserable pregnant lady, so i'm not sure why.

maybe because there were two birth announcements at school this week. i got a little teary-eyed looking at those newborn photos.

i miss natalie being a newborn.

tonight she curled up next to me in bed and fell asleep. i laid there staring at her round baby face and smelling her sweet little head. i rubbed her big buddah belly and pushed the stray hairs off of her forehead. i want to remember these moments and savor them. i know they will pass all too quickly. i still can't believe she is 7 months old.

why do they have to grow so fast??



what's your favorite thing about babies?

mom's barber shop

last week i cut taylor's hair. i don't actually cut his hair--i shave it with clippers. nothing fancy at mom's barber shop.

he wanted to keep it somewhat long. i used a #8 all over and then put a #7 on to make the sides a bit shorter than the top. however, i accidentally put the #4 on thinking it was the #7. oops.

at first i thought "man, there's a big difference between #7 and #8." by the time i realized my mistake, there was no saving the mop on top.



i thought taylor would be really upset, but he was very understanding.

we even joked that he could make a costume beard... or two... from the cut hair.



come on, you know you'd want one!
good thing haircuts are free at mom's barber shop. :)