1 Year Old!

Yep, sweet baby Jane is 1 year old today! Janie is a total stereotype of a girl... she talks constantly, but rarely makes too much sense; she knows exactly what she wants, and protests loudly if she doesn't get it; and she is a big believer in beauty sleep. Baby girl is a handful! My dad very appropriately pointed out that watching Janie is a full time job. She is way more work than the other two put together. Mostly just because she is always on the go. She is so good natured about it though that it's difficult to be annoyed or frustrated by it. Jane has been taking small steps off and on for over a month, but yesterday she decided she was ready to really tackle this whole walking thing. She kept standing up, taking 2-5 steps and sitting back down only to repeat it almost immediately. You could tell that she had finally decided she wanted to do it :)

Jane's photo session was.... ummmmm, interesting this month. Between my bum knee and her total lack of interest in taking pictures, we had some challenges to face. Our first approach was to administer happy (apple) juice...

She stopped yelling at us, but all the pics now had the bottle in them. Hmmmm. Then the happy juice kicked in...

As long as Daddy kept holding her hand...

What you can't see in this pic is that she is unhappily attacking the calendar... she's an angry elf...

"Hey Daddy, wanna help me take out this calendar?"....

Approach number two... PUFFS!

Puffs = happy babies.... taking hundreds of pics = ending up with at least one of Jane facing the camera....

Approach number three, toys!

...and more puffs....

We absolutely adore our sweet little one year old! Jane, you have brought us so much joy, laughter and love and we feel blessed to be your parents. I cant wait to see what God has for your energetic life :)

Sooo Behind

At this point I think it's necessary to begin this post by saying, "if anyone still reads this".... Yeah, I've fallen behind. This month has been nuts with trying to get everything ready for Christmas and Jane's birthday not to mention helping to plan church events and going out of town several times. Ok, ok enough excuses. So here is something we did TWO weeks ago..... We went to Dewberry Farm to cut down our own Christmas tree and let the kids have some fun on the farm.

Yup, in South Texas this is what you wear to cut down your Christmas tree. And can I tell you something? We were hot... in this... at 10 am. I guess we should have worn shorts ;-)

Give Janie a piece of hay and she's happy, indefinitely. We took a hay ride out to the fields where they grow the trees and I learned an important lesson. When a random guy using your camera tells you to smile and say "Christmas tree!!!", ignore him. Otherwise, you may end up with the expression I have on my face here -->

That's what I get for trying to be festive. After turning down many trees for defects that apparently I alone was skilled enough to detect (I can be kind of a Christmas tree perfectionist... I'm pretty sure Nate dreads the picking out process every year.) we found out tree and Nate set about cutting it down. Micah, of course, was managing the process loudly... it's not his fault that he always knows the best way to do things, and that he always wants to impart that knowledge ;-)

After conquering our tree with the abnormally sharp saw provided by Dewberry, we dragged it back to the pickup area and proceeded back to the farm while the tree got all gussied up for us. Nate took on slide mountain with the older kids....

And Micah gave Lizzie some lessons in how the bouncy pillows work...

I wish that girl would let me do her hair in something other than just a headband. The headband is utterly defenseless against a good bouncy pillow...

QUICK!! They're getting along!! Take a picture... NOW!!

And another, and another...

As a parent you have to time your picture taking to make sure you maintain the perception that your kids are perfect and absolutely always get along.... which, of course, my kids are and do.... sometimes... when they feel like it... usually sugar is involved (in this case, fresh fudge :). I'm (sort of) kidding. It's just that when my oldest get along, they really get along. They love each other sooooooo much. When they don't get along, they really don't get along. Anyhoo, Micah took some trike rides...

And Lizzie and Jane had a swinging good time (see what I did there? ;-)

We had so much fun! Even if we were sweating a little.... ok, a lot.

P.S.- Jane just took her first real steps!! Incentive? iPad

11 Months!

Hmmmm, what to say about Jane at 11 months old.... this chick is CRAZY!! She gets into everything, doesn't take no for an answer, and laughs all of the time. She is really fun to be around and really exhausting to be around all at the same time. It's so interesting to have three kids who all have completely different personalities... it makes life more interesting :)

Janie is a major mover and shaker. For example, what you don't see in the two pictures above is my foot on her belly holding her down. Trust me, it's 100% necessary because the second I removed it, this happened...

And this....

And this....

Can't you just see the mischief in her eyes? She has a twinkle. I love it.... it wears me out, but I love it :) Happy 11 months old big girl! I can't believe you'll be 1 yr old in 30 short days!

Thanksgiving Part 2

After the kiddie park, we headed to the playground across the street and had a Taco Cabana picnic. The weather was perfect and the kids had a great time...

Micah made the funniest expressions on the swings that day....

"They say you don't grow up, you just grow old. It's safe to say I haven't done both".... The lyrics that popped in my head looking at this picture of my bro...

Cool Evan shot....

Lizzie wasn't in much of a posing mood at this point :)

Asher is a seriously funny kid who took this slide with fun abandon while screaming "WHEEEE!!"

This little booger has developed quite the independent streak...

The next day we headed to another playground (free entertainment anyone? With six kids, the price tag adds up quickly at places that charge admission :P) and Elena showed off her frisbee skills which are actually pretty good... her Pa would be proud :)

These two have a great time together (except when they are fighting over McQueen ;-)

Ben sent Elena flying on this thing...

Fearless!

Thanksgiving Part 1

Due to my parents ditching us for Thanksgiving.... again...... we packed up and headed over to San Antonio this year to hang out with my brother and his family. Including CJ the cat.....

My kids are big fans of CJ. I'm a big fan of CJ too, he's a really cool cat and my kids can get their pet fix with him and we don't have to get a pet ourselves ;-) We had a great time hanging out, eating, watching football and taking the kids to the Kiddie Park...

Look carefully at their facial expressions.. they're priceless. From the school buss, we moved on to the airplanes and then the boat ride...

The kids had an absolute blast and managed not to dump themselves into the water.. Bonus!

Pretty Elena :)  And on to the next ride...

It's tough to wait sometimes....

Waiting is over!

Poor Janie wanted to ride too....

Our sweet girl...