MIA (Missing In Action)

That has been me lately.  Where have I been?  What have I been doing?  A whole bunch of this:

Teaching this one to open her mouth for food and not spit it everywhere:

Teaching this one to be patient while it is her sister's turn for a bite:

Teaching this one to keep clothes on while we have visitors:

Teaching this one her letters:

Trying to keep an eye on the big kids "playing" with the babies:

Spending a lot of time swimming and enjoying our friends:

Loving this face:

Enjoying our kid's sweet friends:

And of course, spending a lot of time doing this:

Poor Livie.

She doesn't care most of the time.

Oh yeah, and Brenna is crawling.  Mostly Army crawling, but she can and sometimes crawls for real.  More and more, she is going missing.  It would be much easier if she were bigger.

Oh, and we got a new stroller!  Lifesaver.  :)

We have been on the go with Tae Kwon Do and Gymnastics and having lots of fun outside.  I even got my bike back in working condition and have been riding a little here and there.  I'm sure I'm leaving plenty out, but we are enjoying our summer so far and loving our fun family.  :)

kid quotes

I'm a big boooooy, I ruuuuuun and I'm stwooooong (strong) I lift up stuuuuuuf, I swim by myseeeeelf, and I can't drown!  I do all sort of things.  I'm a big boy like that.  -  Aubrey

Random Things

We have been enjoying summer so far!!  Very busy, but fun.

The kids have been having a blast in the pool.  Honestly, so have I.  :)

The girls got some little chairs, we opted for the smaller ones since there are two of them.  (Two highchairs?? Blah.)  Even this way it is crammed, but a little better.

Plus, they look so sweet.  :)

This is the way our table looks now.  (this is why we opted for the bench!)  Hopefully soon we will be able to all sit and eat a meal without someone falling off of the bench, or being elbowed off.  It makes for lively meals, anyway.

Brenna needs constant entertainment.  She joined the right family.

Our little entertainer.

We went to my cousin Tyler's wedding and took the girls.  It was SO hot, but they didn't mind.  They were pretty good, they are so easy to take places.

Why do people keep telling me how good I look for just having twins??

Livie has been in a GREAT mood lately!

Baylee is turning into such a big girl!

She loves to get into the baby bows.

So sweet.

 

Jaden's Birthday Wisdom

I took this of Jaden at breakfast on his birthday. He had already been talking for about 20 minutes before I thought to grab the camera. It is a regular occurrence in our house that Jaden blesses us with every thought that enters his head.

I thought it would be fun to share with you. :)

Jaden's Birthday

Is it just me, or is it completely out of the blue that Jaden is now 6 and going into 1st grade this year???  I don't know, it kind of caught me off guard, but it is true.  He is so happy to be 6 now "like Luke."  He can only enjoy it for 6 months until Luke turns 7, and then that is all I will hear about until this time next year.  So the cycle goes.  :)  Anyway, speaking of Luke, Mrs. Karrer outdid herself this year and made Jaden the most amazing knight's castle cake I have ever seen, and not to be unfair, she made a beautiful princess one for Baylee as well.  I'm not sure if she truly realized how much work it was going to be, or if she just loves my kids that much, but we think she is pretty special.  :)

She did most of the work at her house, but brought it all over here on Saturday morning to assemble it.  The kids must have asked if we were finished yet 1000 times.  They were SO excited!

She even let them put the tops of the towers on when she was done.

Balyee was thrilled with hers.

And of course, my mighty knight loved his and has said several times that it was the best birthday that he ever had.

Thanks Anne, you made it so special for them!

Aubrey had some fun too.  Since Jaden got a new bike, he got to upgrade to Jaden's old bike.  Tony put the training wheels back on it and he hopped right on.  He loves it!  I was shocked at how well he did.  It is pretty big for him.

He was SO proud.  :)

So was Daddy.

Jaden and Baylee waited all day for this moment!

Her cake looked so cute with the candles on it.  What in the world??

So everyone enjoyed some cake and I think Anne was very relieve when it was all disassembled!

The kids were even crazy enough to want to get in the pool.  I remember those days... but they are long since passed for me.  Thankfully Tony and Nate were willing to brave the cold and swim with the little ones.

Nana and Cathy hung out with the girls.

Chase man enjoyed Jaden's new beanbag.  He was so cute, he liked the balloons too.  Just wasn't quite sure about all the people, but he is getting much better.

Jaden LOVES JC and was so glad he came.  :)  I saw them sitting together eating cake and had to grab a picture.  It was the sweetest thing.

 

Going back in time...

My mom thought it would be a good idea, for old time's sake, to take one last picture of the kids by the fireplace before we move.  They typically take a picture there on the first day of school, so here they are, in order from the beginning.  Picture #1 - Jaden on his first day of pre-school at Stockdale Christian. (3)

Here they are on their first day of our home school preschool co-op. (4, 2 &1)

First day of Kindergarten (5, 3 &2)

 

Last day at our first home (still 5, 3 &2, but close to 6, 4 &2)

Aubrey had just woken from his nap and was not too happy about the photo shoot, but I'm happy to have this picture.

And here we are at our new house a couple of weeks later.  Yes, Baylee is wearing the same outfit.  :P  The babies  were awake for this, and I'm sure will be standing up for the next one in the fall.  Time flies.  At least our new fireplace is taller.  One more picture on the other one and Jaden would be taller than that last brick.  :(  Stay tuned for the fall, I'm sure much more growing will be going on before then!