Photo shoot

The kids and I did an informal photo shoot on Friday. I am in the process of putting together a video for Ellie's baptism and realized I didn't have any recent (and by recent, I mean in the last month or so) photos of all three of them together. So, when Friday afternoon rolled around and we had nothing planned, I took the opportunity to get my camera out and start shooting - here are some of my favorites . . .
The pictures would have been better had Lauren agreed to take off her pajamas. But, as usual, she was refused and I wasn't in the mood to argue with her so I just left her be. At least I got some pictures - that was the important part.

On Saturday Trav and I ventured out alone for the first time since Ellie was born. We had a wedding for one of Trav's buddies so Grandma and Grandpa Quast came to watch the kiddies for us. Not only was it the first time we were alone, but it was also the first time we left all three of the kids with someone. As usual, I was a little less excited about the idea of leaving than Trav was, but once we were away and catching up with old friends, it turned out to be a great time. When the night finally came to an end around 12:15am, it was nice to walk into a quiet house knowing the kids were well taken care of and sound asleep and all we had to do was go to bed ourselves - what a treat! Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa!!

A first and last

Last night Ryan had his last tee-ball game of the year. Unfortunately Travis was in South Carolina for work and the weather was terrible - 94 and super humid - ick! The original plan was for the girls and I to go watch the game, but one step outside, and I knew that was not going to happen - it was way too hot for Elllie. So I had to go to option two - take Lauren to the game with me and find someone to watch Ellie. This would be the first time I left Ellie with anyone other than a family member - a huge milestone for me! Anyway, I called a couple of neighbors and finally got a hold of one of them and they agreed to take the babe - thank god for nice neighbors. I wasn't too keen on leaving Ellie alone with a teenager yet (yes, I know I might be a little crazy), so it worked out great that the family that watched her had both a teenage girl and a super mom I would trust with any of my kids - thanks Sara and Ashely (and Mike and Garrett too)! With Ellie safe and cool, the older kids and I packed in the van and headed off to the ball fields. It was awful when we first got out of the van, but eventually you just adjusted to the heat and humidity and it was manageable. Ryan enjoyed his last game, Lauren enjoyed playing at the park (even though she got stuck more than once tyring to go down the slides because her skin was so sticky), and I enjoyed having a chance to just sit and watch Ryan do his thing. The only low point of the night was when all the parents were invited out onto the field to stand by their kid and help them out for an inning. Well, as it turns out, all the parents ended up being dads and by this time, I was off pushing Lauren on the swing so I couldn't just leave her by herself. So there Ryan stood all by himself with no dad, and no mom to stand by him. Luckily he has a great coach (who happens to be his coach for both soccer and tee-ball) and she stepped up and took a place right next to Ryan and "helped" him just like the other dads were helping their kids. I felt bad about this until Ryan came running off the field at the end of the inning and yelled to me, "Coach Kendi helped me mom." And later in the van, he said, "I was the only kid who got a coach all to myself." Obviously he didn't feel bad about it, but I still felt a little bad considering he was the ONLY kid who didn't have anyone with him. I guess I'll use this as a lesson for the future . . . always have both parents present on the last day of tee-ball! With the game over, we headed back home to get Ellie. I was very excited to pick her up (it had only been about an hour and a half), and the kids wanted their "Baby Ellie" back. So we parked the van and walked over to our neighbor's house. Not only was Ellie just fine (she was sleeping), but they also invited us to join them for dinner. I declined because we ate before the game, then they offered to keep Ellie for a while longer so I could take the other kids home and get them bathed and ready for bed - like I said, great neighbors. So off we went (the kids were not happy that Ellie wasn't coming home with us, but I assured them that once they were out of the bath, she would come home) to get cleaned up and ready for bed. About half hour later, everyone was cleaned up, teeth brushed, and ready for bed - I forgot how easy it was with just two kids! Just as we finished up, the doorbell rang and Ellie was home again - hurray! The night turned out great considering nothing worked out as planned. I'll be happy when Trav gets back - just having an extra set of hands around is a huge help that you don't realize until you don't have it.

The girls

Here a couple of pictures of the girls. First up is Lauren "styling" in her cool outfit, complete with two watches and a super cool hat - she is such a girly girl. Obviously she doesn't get that from me. In fact, she pretty much likes everything I don't . . . dresses, skirts, nail polish, make-up, her hair done, you get the idea - still can't believe she came from me.Next is Ellie in a shirt that was given to her (it says, "I heart Mommy and Daddy, but my Aunt and Uncle are the best!). You get one guess who bought it for her . . . thanks Auntie and Mike!The shirt size is marked 12 month - pretty sure it won't fit her when she is a year so we better get some use out of it now.

8 years

Apparently I only write about really important stuff on here like the kids, their activities, and pretty much anything else. So it should be no surprise that when our 8 year wedding anniversary rolled around last week (July 20th to be exact), I made no mention of it - oops! So now that I have mentioned it, it is time to tell everyone all the fun and exciting stuff we did to celebrate. First up, Trav went to work for the day and the kids and I headed out for Ryan's soccer game. After the game, we headed home, ate lunch, and went down for naps. Trav came home early from work that day so we could celebrate some more. This time the celebration included playing with Ryan's action figures and watching Lauren ride her bike. When this was done we got ready for our romantic evening at the ball field. And no, I'm not talking about a Twin's game at Target field, I'm talking about a tee-ball game at the local elementary school! We all packed into the van and headed off to watch Ryan in his second to last game of the year. After the game finished, we swung through the drive thru at Dairy Queen to pick up our special "anniversary" meal. The kids and I shared a chicken strip basket while Trav opted for a chicken wrap. I probably should have broke out some white wine to go with the meal (is that what goes best with chicken, or is it red, I don't know), but with all the kids sweaty and dirty, there was little time to kick back and relax so we opted for milk instead. After the delicious meal, it was time to clean everyone up and head to bed - one more year down, many more to come. I'm guessing wedding anniversaries might resemble this day for at least the next 5 years or so - after that, Ryan should be old enough to watch the girls so we'll probably just be able to sit around and enjoy each other's company all day (I wish)!

My little helper

Lauren has really been into helping out with "Baby Ellie" (I am more convinced everyday that she thinks this is Ellie's real name) lately. Here is her latest attempt at rocking Ellie to sleep.I love how gentle Lauren is with Ellie in the beginning . . . first, she sings, then she becomes concerned when Ellie cries and to top it all off, she gives the, "I know, I know" when she tries to sympathize with the crying baby. But, she does have her limits. When it is time to put that baby to sleep, she gets right to business telling Ellie to "go ni-ni right now, okay, go" while pointing a strong finger right in her face. I'm not so sure this is the most effective way to put a baby to sleep, but you can't fault her for doing things her way! Here are a couple more pictures of the girls from the same morning. You'll see that Lauren is not only very fond of her baby sister, she is also very fond of her baby sister's hat. Unfortunately for her it might be just a tad too small for her head - luckily she doesn't care about stuff like that!

Those darn kids

You know that show, "Kids say the darnedest things?" Well, I have a couple of kids who should be on that. I'll start with Ryan (only because he is the oldest and it seems right). Now that he is 5, he has taken on some more "duties" and really likes to show his independence. So in the morning, I've been having him pick out clothes and get himself dressed. Once he has that accomplished, he needs to use the bathroom and brush his teeth. Well, the other morning, I was back getting Ellie ready in her room when I hear Ryan yell, "Mom, come quick!" I was in the middle of changing a dirty diaper so I say back, "What is it Ryan?" He responds with, "quick, you gotta see this!" So I wrap up what I'm doing and head to the bathroom thinking he is going to show me a rather large poo he has taken in the toilet (he has been doing this lately - each time saying things like, "it's a big one Mom", or "that was a tough one"). So when I get to the bathroom and see him is standing in front of the mirror I'm a bit surprised. I ask what he wants to show me, and with a huge smile across his face, he turns to me and says, "check out my Justin Bieber hair" (all the while pointing to the front part of his hair which he has wet down and pushed forward). I of course laughed and told him how cool he looked even though his hair is no where near as long as Justine Biebers and truth be told, it pretty much looked exactly how it does every other day with the exception of of few hairs he managed to "wet forward" enough to stay in place. To take it a step further, he asked me if I thought Auntie would want to see his hair (Ryan thinks Justin Bieber is Ash's boyfriend because she told him he was a while back and he has never let it go. Every time we hear a Justin Bieber song on the radio, or see him on tv, he says, "Mom, there's Auntie's boyfriend!" Lucky for Ash, Mike doesn't seem to mind sharing his woman with a famous 16 year old boy). I of course thought Auntie would love to see his hair so off we went to get my cell phone and take a picture to send to her. Ryan made sure his hair was looking good then gave me a good "Justin Bieber" pose before I snapped it and sent it away - your welcome Ash! A few other quick not so good things Ryan has said lately . . . on one of our drives down to St. Peter, he says from the backseat, "it is so frickin' hot in here, I need something to drink" - not sure where he picked up that word, but we did have a lengthy discussion about not using it again. And I believe that same day (or the next, I can't remember exactly, but I know he was on a streak of using bad words during one of our weekend visits), he was swimming in the pool with a kick board when something landed on it and his first response was to say, "what the hell is that?" Yeah, our kid has a potty mouth. After another discussion about how it is not good to use the word "hell", he seemed to snap back into his "good Ryan" persona and we didn't have anymore issues.

Now onto Lauren . . . she doesn't talk as much (at least not with words that are understandable to anyone other than Ryan and myself), but she does manage to do somethings that you just have to smile at. Since Ellie has been around, Lauren is very interested in her babies and taking care of them just like I do with Ellie. So it is really no surprise that along with changing her babies diapers, wrapping them in blankets, and gently "shushing" (pretty sure that is not a word) them to sleep while rocking them, she also likes to nurse them (at least she no longer wants to nurse Ellie - that was really interesting). So here she is in the act. I had just finished changing Ellie (apparently the kid poops and pees a lot because it seems like I'm always changing her when things are happening around the house) when I walked out into the living room and saw this . . .There she was just nursing her baby and watching some cartoons - what a cute little momma! And below is her expression when she finally noticed I was taking pictures of her - apparently she was so into her taking care of business that she didn't even see me at first.Other than the nursing, there is one thing Lauren says all that time that is just the best. Everyday at nap time, I take her into her room, read her a book, and then say, "I love you, see you later" and then start to walk out the door. At this point, she usually reaches her arms up and says, "huss me" (which is "hug me" in her language) so I lean down and hug her, then right as I'm getting ready to let her go, she says, "piss too" and puckers his lips - honestly, what could be better than giving your kids "husses and pisses!"

I'm just waiting for the day Ellie starts acting like her brother and sister - it will certainly be a fun house to live in that's for sure!

Pictures

Here are some random pictures Ashley took with her really nice, new camera while she was home this past month - enjoy!

The first three were taken before Ryan's 5th birthday party started. I believe Ash had just purchased the camera a day or two before so she was trying it out on Ellie.
The next two are from the Twins game. The kids and I together, and Ellie all bundled up and sleeping the day away.
At some point, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house to enjoy the pool and were joined by my Grandma so we took the opportunity to snap a 4 generation picture with all the girls. Here are a couple of Lauren having fun in the pool with Grandma and Grandpa.Lauren took a break from swimming to pose with Ellie in her new outfit.
Ash dressed Ellie up in a mini skirt and this big, crazy headband - leave it to Ash to play dress up with a real human baby!Here are the kids goofing around before we headed out to Ryan's soccer game.
And finally, this is what Lauren looked like when she had her allergic reaction to the medicine she was taking - poor baby. Her eyes were so dark and she had big blotches of dark areas all over her skin (notice the big one on her left arm/armpit). She took a five and a half hour nap this day and slept for another 12 hours that night.Thanks for taking so many pictures of the kids Auntie! Maybe I can convince Travis to let me buy a new camera of my own someday!