One more

I forgot this one of Jacob.

Phone Pictures

I finally uploaded some pictures from my phone, I take a lot on it since I always have it with me. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the last few months. The first are the oldest, the last are the newest.

Showing off her rolling over trick.
Showing off his sitting up trick.
Showing off his teeth.
Her hair is invisible, but she has some. This picture shows a little of it.

We went on a bike ride/rolleblade ride on the waterfront this last weekend because it was such a nice day. Once we convinced Claire that her legs weren't actually that tired we all had a great time.

Her hair really is red.
Such happy happy babies.

8 years

Last week was our eighth anniversary. I can hardly believe it has been that long and feel like it has been longer all at the same time. So much has happened in eight years. Marrying Jared is the best decision I ever made.

In eight years we have had 4 kids (two at a time) and have had a career start and a big career move, two homes, one big move across the country, a few cars, and several other things I don't care to count. We look older and maybe not as skinny, but we are more in love than ever.
I love you Jared, thanks for 8 great years, so excited to see what all the years ahead will bring.

Auntie Amber

Aunt Amber had a long weekend, so she came to visit. We did as much as we could while she was here, it was a fun weekend of shopping, eating, visiting and baby snuggling with some Monopoly Jr. thrown in there too. She is a popular lady around this house.

In the picture below, look at Claire's cheek bones... look at Amber's cheek bones. Nan has them too!
Amber teaches all her nieces that "girls gotta stick together."

Six Months Old

Love seeing my kids take care of my kids.
My sweet babies are six months old, I can hardly believe it. The time has gone by so quickly. We have had our first ear infections in both babies, but they recovered quickly and got back to being the happy babies. Kate rolls from her belly to her back almost every time we put her on her belly, Liam has done it a few times, but not all the time. Liam has two teeth now and just barely started to sit up on his own, it makes him so happy. They both love baths, food and attention. It is so easy to get a smile from them both, all you really have to do is look at them. They also adore Jacob and Claire and love when they play with them. They have been pretty good sleepers, but since Liam started cutting teeth we haven't been quite as consistent with the through the night routine... hopefully it will return soon, but really not much to complain about.

Here are the stats:

Liam: 17 lbs 10 oz, 25.75" long, 45 cm head

Kate: 14 lbs 15 oz, 24.8" long, 42.5 cm head

They have rolls and chub and we just love it and love them!

New Glasses!!!

Just after Christmas, we got Jacob a pair of new glasses! He chose dark blue (no surprise there) with light blue on the other side. We think he looks very handsome... especially in his new Sunday corduroy blazer. We originally got the new glasses thinking that he would wear the old ones more often (since they're indestructible), but Jacob definitely prefers the new glasses. We'll have him wear the old glasses for PE day, soccer, t-ball, and if he's going to be roughhousing.

He also got a cute sweater vest, too. I think he looks a little more grown up with his new glasses, which makes Dani a little sad that he doesn't wear his first pair of glasses as much now!

Claire got a new outfit that is very cute, too, and wanted to show it off. She's also looking a little more grown up in her new outfit!

Christmas and New Year's Festivities

We really enjoyed being home with our little (maybe young is a better word) family this Christmas. Since this is our journal there are a lot of pictures and maybe some details that aren't all that interesting, but here it goes.

One morning before Christmas I made kiddos this special breakfast... I was impressed, they barely gave a reaction and then asked why it didn't have ears, HA!

We went to see Santa, he was a good sport and held on for dear life and smiled while he did.
We spent Christmas Eve at our house with our friends the Schaffers. We had a yummy dinner with beef tenderloin, salad with goat cheese, rosemary potatoes and veggies, and delicious rolls. It all turned out so well and we topped it all of with the traditional brownie peppermint torte. We played some Christmas songs on the new hand bells that Nana sent and struggled our way through the Christmas story with 4 VERY excited kids and three not as excited babies. The kids also watched the animated version of the Christmas story while the adults visited. After all the festivities all the kids got to open their new pajamas.

This was the baby lineup during dinner.
The four oldest kids showing their excitement... they were really happy and really hyper.
The three babies.
This is the cookies and note that kiddos left... it says "save one for Mrs. Clause, Merry Christmas"
Christmas morning! So excited to open presents.
Claire was so excited about her big dollhouse, Jacob loved all his legos, and the babies finally got highchairs.

Santa brought these drinking glasses straws. They love them, I am tired of cleaning them.
On Christmas Day we went to church, caught part of the phone call with Jared's missionary brother and played at home. That night we enjoyed a laid back yummy dinner at the Schaffer's house of ham, potatoes, pomegranate salad, and tortellini. We topped it all off with birthday cake. I also opened my birthday presents there. I was trying to look happy, I had a bad cough and wasn't feeling well, but I really was enjoying myself.
29, eek!
On New Year's Eve we went to a late lunch early dinner at a restaurant and then went to celebrate with friends at the Hornibrook's where we played a fun game called the door game and ate way too much food and talked a lot.
My mom got the kids each a penguin shirt.
Liam was so happy after all the late night New Year festivities.

Merry Christmas

Ugly Sweater Party 2011

We had our annual Ugly Sweater party at the beginning of December. It was a great party (if I do say so myself). We had yummy food and great company. We all had a fun ugly ornament exchange and played Christmas Bunco in our festive wear. As always there were prizes for the ugliest sweater and various prizes for Bunco.

There are a lot of us that have had babies recently, several that also were not there.
This year's winner, complete with music that plays when you push the poorly placed button. Can't wait for next year... we already have some good ideas.