Sunday afternoon photo shoot

This is an example of how hard it is to get 4 kids to take a decent photo. I just wanted one picture of them looking at the camera at the same time. Is that too much to ask?

Suddenly the 8 year old has a teenager attitude. "Seriously?!?! MOM!!!!"
Which the 6 year old pretends to be super mad:
And the 3 year old finds it all highly entertaining:





It's pretty much mass chaos around here but we love it
Aren't they adorable?
Then add the parents for a little more chaos and this is why I take 5 pictures when I do self timer:

2 months old already

Abigail at 2 months:

10 lbs. 11 oz.
22 3/4 inches (but how can you take the "measured on a piece of paper" measurements seriously)
sleeping really well at night, usually does at least a 6 hour stretch
not a great napper on the go
likes to have lots of short naps and one long afternoon nap
loves the swing thank goodness
doesn't like the car. at all.
cooing and smiling a lot
laughing a little bit, mostly in her sleep
tastiest cheeks this side of the Mississippi
loveable
wonderful
precious
smothered with love by older siblings

we love our Abby, Abs, Aba, Aba Tadaba, Abby Tadabby, Baby Teluga, Baby Beluga

And this my friends is what 6 years old looks like:

Brooks at 6 is turning into a kid. He's no longer a "little" boy and that is so fun to see-- but makes me sort of sad too. He is so full of personality and so full of love to share.

He is still a lover and loves to snuggle all the time. He clothing of choice is nothing at all. If he had his way he would be in underwear only all day every day.
He loves to get a blanket and cover his entire body. Then he scoots around on the floor like a little turtle or something, with his whole body and head covered up. You might also find him on a bed or couch in a balled up position covered by a blanket. He can stay like this for a super long time without moving. He's not hiding or looking for attention, just hanging out.

He has a great sense of humor and laughs at everything. He reminds me a lot of my mom in that way (well, in lots of ways because he seems to hurt when others hurt and is always thinking of others before himself just like my mom). When he gets going he just can't stop giggling and it is contagious. Brooks is super sweet and loves to comfort the baby. He can't stand it when she is crying, he rushes to her side and sings Baby Beluga until he can sing no more.
He also loves legos, lego video games, superheroes, Indiana Jones, and "scary" stuff. We love this "big" kid so much and all that he brings to our family.

Give 'em what they want

You want 4th of July? And baby pictures? I can do that. Although we didn't do anything on the 4th of July because it was raining so hard. We were planning on going to a baseball game (how American is that?!!?!) but they weren't going to start the game until 8:30 which would put the fireworks at 11:30 and we're much too old for those kind of LATE NIGHT shenanigans. So, we headed downtown to watch the fireworks aka Vulcan Thunder. It was still totally sticky outside! I have to add that I am getting used to the heat. If my house is colder than 76 degrees it is just too freezing cold and we have to turn the temperature up. It's scary. The thought of living somewhere "up north" or "out west" is great for many reasons, but could I really deal with a whole winter full of snow and big heavy coats?
Here we are at the fireworks:
The 4th always makes me homesick for Park City. Early morning 5k, pancake breakfast, grilling and wiffleball with the fam. Sigh, I think it's the best place on earth on the 4th of July, at least that's how I want to remember it so don't burst my bubble.In other news--
Brooks loves the baby and is really good with her, but it upsets him when she cries.


I can't believe all these kids really belong to me. It's crazy. And awesome.
Just had to include this sweet picture of baby Teluga and Lewis having a little nap:
Oh, and I almost forgot about the red, white, and blueberry pancakes I made on the 4th. Pretty snazzy!

And one more because Cate is so awesome in her Jesse shirt buttoned wrong and her completely out of control hair. She has started changing her clothes at least 5 times a day and usually prefers her pjs or dress up clothes. Classic. This is the sign A made for us when we came home from the hospital and she told me the other day that she scribbled on it to make it look like Cate had helped.

Cate's party

We also celebrated Cate's birthday while the cousins were here. Quick sidenote-- Do you know that children's book The Relatives Came? It was one of my mom's favorites and I always think of it when we go visit or have company here. It's a great little book.

Back to the raging party--
The pictures are in crazy order but I have a screaming baby on my lap so it will have to do for now!

We played a rousing game of Duck, Duck Goose. A favorite of Cate.

Colored pictures of Minnie and Mickey
Blew out candles
Pinned the bow on Minnie. (Quality artwork by me)

Ate cake and cotton candy ice cream. Lewis totally won with that choice.


And opened presents. Cate got so much and loved it all.
I really can't believe my sweet baby Cate the great is really 3. She truly is "the great" and we love her to pieces. Now if you'll excuse me I've got to get this screaming baby under control.

Hoping that Fleetwood Mac will make me feel like blogging.

A few more pictures from our visit with our cousins so my kids can't say we didn't do ANYTHING this summer. Admittedly, it's been a slower summer than most. It's just that summertime isn't a good time at all for Lewis (super busy 6 or 7 day work weeks and always will be since that's when people want their wisdom teeth out). Plus, I just had a baby and don't feel like going on any big trips with all 4 kids by myself. Cate has a tendency to wander that makes me nervous.

Here we go-- we had a mini Tron birthday party for Brooks because he really wanted to celebrate with Fischer. We made Tron discs with frisbees and glow sticks. Why does this picture make me think of the Brady Bunch? Weird.



We spent a day at the zoo and even went in the splash part with our clothes on because we live in Alabama and that's how we roll.



We tried to go to the park but every time we did it started to pour in true Southern summer storm fashion so we went to pump it up one afternoon and the kids ran so hard.

Here they are at the park in the pouring rain:

We took an hour to get to a splash park 20 minutes away because of my awesome navigation skills.
But we had to get there because it is just so so so very hot. And humid. You really have to come here to appreciate what I'm talking about.

We went to A's activity days talent show where she talked about and showed some of her art. She did a great job.

We saw Safari Greg at the library and also saw another show that I can't remember now. Our library has the best summer program.Baby Beluga or Teluga did a great job being shuffled around everywhere. We even saw 3 movies in the theater while they were here and she did great. Except the second time the power went out in Cars 2 and stayed out for a while (big storm moving through of course).
She has been working hard on those extra chins.
When they left we were hammered. We are so glad they came!!