Busy!

It's been a while since I posted.  We are still here - life has just been really busy lately.  No current pictures.  We've been too busy to take any! What we've been up to:
Mom - working, doing a couple of consulting jobs on the side, taking kids to the Dr, taking care of the pool, being a mom (holding Celeste, feeding Celeste, making meals, cleaning the house, doing the laundry) dealing with the IRS (they think we turned our taxes in late, but we didn't, it will just take some time for them to figure that out), making a couple of blog books (huge pain in the neck!) trying to get caught up with the business' books, helping Mike start yet another business.
Dad - Taking care of our rentals, his two business', starting another business, church meetings, taking care of the kids one day a week while Mom goes into work.
Anna Elise - swimming, reading, decorating the wall in her room with flowers, helping with Celeste
Calvin - swimming, playing cars, making tents, chasing the wild rabbit in our yard, whining
Madeline - swimming, playing dress up, being cute
Lilah - standing in the pool without getting her face wet, playing puppy, biting and scratching, sitting in time out
Celeste - eating, sleeping, smiling and cooing, getting more independent

I've been spending countless hours going through pictures and reliving memories as I've created blog books from 2008 and 2009.  I just had to post some oldies but goodies (from 2005)!

Anna Elise

Calvin

Ready, Set, READ!

We read a lot of books at our house.  When Anna Elise started 1st grade she got to stay up a half hour later.  We decided to use that half hour to read!  She got the Little House on the Prairie series for her birthday and she and I read those books every night.  At first I read to her, then more recently she has read a little and now she can read whole chapters.  We have just 1 more book until we finish the series.  When the kids got out of school we went to the library and signed up for the summer reading program.  Anna Elise checked out a 'Ramona Quimby' book by Beverly Clearly.  Today she finished reading her first chapter book completely on her own.  She loves reading and I love seeing her read 
Calvin is starting 1st grade in the fall and he is so excited about staying up late to read with mom.  We are trying to find a good series of books to read together.  I am thinking of Beverly Cleary's 'Mouse and the Motorcycle' books to start with.  Any other suggestions?

Smiles!

Celeste is almost 8 weeks old now.  She is smiling and cooing.  She seems to be much more aware of the kids and loves to watch them play.  They like to get right in her face when they talk to her and she cringes when they get too close, but she lets them hold her and loves to watch them.
She sleeps really well at night.  She eats at 9:30 and then sleeps until 6 and goes right back down until about 9:30.  Then she is up for the day!  She does not nap well and she likes to be held which means I don't get a lot done during the day!  She seems to be very social and likes to be talked to - I'm hoping as she gets bigger the kids will entertain her and she will be ok in her seat or on the floor occasionally .  We all love her and really enjoy having her in our home!
Everyone asks me who she likes like and I'm not sure.  When I look at her now I see Allen in the top half of her face and then the Russell on the bottom.  She just looks like one of us!    

Here she is smiling and cooing.  

We are working on getting a new camera with video built in - so stay tuned for some videos, hopefully soon!

PARTY!

We had a Summer Party for the kids.  We weren't able to have it on the 21st, the first day of summer, but we still had a lot of fun doing it on the 22nd!  We made pudding pops, made a huge beach picture, and then enjoyed our party favors - they wrote in their new notepads, used their new silly straws, blew bubbles, and ate some treats!  We are really enjoying our summer!

 Making pudding pops with chocolate pudding and Oreos!

 Our beach picture

Showing off their favorite party favor

Yesterday I found Madeline using her notepad to draw faces of everyone in our immediate family and Grandma and Aunt Jenny as well (I guess you'll have to come visit if you want your face included)

A close up - each one looked a little bit different and she knew which one was which!

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home!

Happy Father's Day!  The primary children sang several Father's Day songs in sacrament meeting today.  They sang I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home, My Daddy is My Favorite Pal, and Families Can Be Together Forever.  We were practicing in the car on the way to church.  We couldn't remember the words to the second song and I'd even drawn a blank on the tune.  I told the kids to think really hard and help mommy remember.  Madeline said ' Jesus is my pal and he is going to help me remember the words, so I'm just waiting with my eyes closed!'.  We did finally remember the words and practiced (much to Anna Elise's dismay, she didn't think Daddy should hear the songs before they were performed).  Lilah even went up with the kids and sang too.  They all did a great job!  They all know they have a great dad!

Summer Break!

The kids last day of school was on Friday.  They came home before lunch so excited to start their summer break.  Anna Elise told me it's actually Spring break, summer doesn't start until June 21st.  We started summer break off with a trip to the Science Museum.  The kids LOVED it!  I was a bit nervous about taking all 5 to a large public place by myself - but we did fine.  We got an annual membership (half off through Groupon - love it!).  The kids didn't want to leave and can't wait to go back!  I've been a little bit worried about having the kids start summer break the same week I have to go back to work, only 7 weeks after having Celeste, but I think we'll be ok.  I've come up with a routine that we are going to try, a list of fun 

activities and ideas, and some new chores for the kids - we are ready for summer!

 The kids favorite thing at the Science Museum were these over-sized foam 'tinker toys'

Calvin built a car

 I'm not sure what Madeline was building

 Anna Elise built stairs

Lilah built this track and walked up and down it over and over

Chincoteague Island

On Friday Mike called me up and said that he was going to be done early and we should go on a trip to Chincoteague Island!  Since the next several Saturdays were busy and we wanted to do this trip before July when it gets crowded we decided to do it!  I drove home (yes, I was at Target, my new addiction,  I have thought of one good reason to go back to work, other then to pay my mortgage and buy food, I won't be able to go to Target every day!)  Anyway, I drove home, fed the little girls, packed up  the car and we were ready.  We met the kids at the bus stop and took off for the Eastern Shore.  To get to the Eastern Shore (a string of islands on the north east coast of VA) you have to go across a 13 mile bridge (with two tunnels).  It's just a series of islands with small towns and is somewhat isolated.  It's beautiful and very easy paced.  We got to Chincotgeague Island later then we intended - but still had to swim in the hotel pool - that's the kids favorite part of any vacation!  We went to bed (but not to sleep, does anyone have kids who sleep in hotels?) Celeste surprised us by sleeping until 6:30 (that is 8 and half hours!).  In the morning we took a walk on the pier, checking out crabs, oysters, and birds.  Then we had breakfast and took off for our boat ride.  We rode on a pontoon boat around Chincoteague and Assateague Islands.  We saw the wild ponies (some had just had babies earlier that week), where the saltwater cowboys heard the ponies, where they swim from one island to the other for Pony Penning day, clam farms, lots of wildlife, the light house and other landmarks.  The kids all got a turn driving the boat with Captain J!  Then we were off to a cool playground to get some wiggles out, had lunch and hit the beach.  The beach was beautiful!  It's on Assateague Island which is a nature preserve, so no buildings, just beautiful natural beaches.  They had outhouses, changing places, showers, lifeguards, etc so we had what we needed, but could enjoy the beach without all the merchandising and build up that we see at Virginia Beach.  After the beach we got some homemade ice cream and headed home.  It was a quick trip but so much fun!   We want to go again and see what else they have to offer.  If you have never heard of the famous Chincoteague wild ponies go here to learn more about them.

 The wild Chincoteague ponies - you can see a foal and a Stallion running off his competition.

 Lilah taking her turn driving (wearing Calvin's hat) 

 

On the boat using the binoculars

 All the kids buried in the sand - Calvin was buried on his stomach!