8 Months Old

Jane is 8 months old today! It's unbelievable how much she has changed in the past month. She definitely is showing more of a personality now and has decided that her favorite place to be is on the floor. She started full on hands and knees crawling about two minutes after this photo shoot ended! We skipped the army crawling stage and now Jane is spending a good amount of time honing her crawling skills.

With her new found wiggle worm status, this shoot was by far my most difficult to date. I would snap a picture with her sitting and the next frame she would be rolling around, or scooting. Then I'd put her on her back and she'd flip over, or sit up or just shimmy off the calendar.... I'm going to need a helper for her 9 month pics!

These pics are in order, so you can get an idea of how much she was moving :)

Besides crawling, rolling, sitting up and just being in constant motion, Jane is also an even more accomplished drooler now than she was last month. Oh, and that girl LOVES to eat.... I can't imagine where that gene came from :) Her current favorites include carrots, apples, blueberries and bread.

Our sweet girl loves to play with her brother and sister and she thinks they are simply hilarious.... which they think is hilarious :)

Did I mention that Jane was in constant motion this shoot? I had to include this picture with my foot on her belly... the only way I could get any of her laying on the calendar was to hold her down with my foot while I got the camera ready, then pull it off, snap a quick pic right before she rolled over, then reach down, flip her back on her back and start the process all over again :)

See?....

Jane loves to be sung to. She will stop everything that she's doing and just gaze at you adoringly the entire time you serenade her... it is truly precious.

Happy 8 months old, sweet sweet girl!

My last South Carolina post... I promise!!

At the end of the trip, Amy took some family pictures for us.... the kids were less than cooperative, but we still got some good ones :) (Amy- do you have any of Lizzie's awesome stink eye? I didn't get any)

On the Water

We spent a day out on the lake and the kids loved it!

After the kids got all the fun out of the boat that they could stand, the adults took turns tubing~

We had a great time... I've really missed spending time on a lake!

On the Hunt

Because my mom and I like this sort of thing, we decided to have a late Easter egg hunt while we were in South Carolina. We had 144 eggs (ordered off Amazon and shipped ahead to my aunt) stuffed with candy and money and the kids had a wonderful time! My mom also did a separate hunt for the parents but I am not aware of any pictures of that :) As for the kids' hunt, all my pictures were of blurry kids except for Lizzie who has yet to develop a competitive egg hunting streak. Soooooo, enjoy my pics of Lizzie :)

Good job, Jane!

Hiking SC

My aunt invited us to join her hiking club for a morning and we decided who we could spare (with 6 kids at home) and my dad and Nate went~

My mom found some kid friendly hikes in the area and later int he week, we headed out with the littles several times...

This part of the country is so pretty!

South Carolina

The wedding in Georgia put us not too far from my aunt and uncle who just retired in South Carolina. As a weird bit of coincidence, they retired to the same development that some good friends of ours from Dallas have had a lake house in for years. So we called up our friends and asked if we could use their house for the week... they very generously agreed and so we added South Carolina to our itinerary! Our friends have a large family and lots of grandkids, so the house was way bigger than even the 12 of us needed and already had all of the kid supplies you could possibly need... even teeny life jackets :)

Here is the back patio with a view through the trees to the lake~

The lower section of the patio~

You can't tell from the pictures, but the lake is pristine. We sat on the dock with our feet in the water and we could see the bottom of the lake with perfect clarity.... lovely :) Jane was impressed~

The kiddos loved the rocking chairs around the fire pit and spent a lot of time out there~

Janie flirting with Aunt Amy (who isn't paying attention... tsk tsk)

Asher!

More fun times in the rocking chairs~

Elena and Micah~

Because my aunt and uncle were nearby, my grandma was able to fly up and spend some time with us as well, and she didn't have to stay 24/7 with 6 kids aged 6 and under ;-)

I think this is the first time my Aunt Cathy and Uncle Bob met our kids... so thankful to the Zellers for the use of their gorgeous house and the ability to see family!

You take what you get with the kids :)