photos

For Father's Day this year I set up a little photo shoot in the family room.  I have a hard time knowing what to get my grandpa for gifts so I thought a picture of the kids would be nice.  I did not give him this picture because Elizabeth did not like her smile. :) So I put it on the internet instead.  I am so nice.  I sent the picture to Walgreens and when I went and got them Blake's head was half missing in the 8x10 size.  I guess that is why you check before you send in your order.

Addison is doing well.  She is a really good baby, yeah not another Blake baby!  She has started smiling at us.  She has a very big smile.  I have also found she loves to go into the shower with me.  She also loves her bouncer and is warming up to her swing (if she is asleep).  If you put her in her swing while she is awake she freaks out! And she is my only baby to not mind tummy time.  Crazy.

Kayla is having her birthday next week and when the kids turn 9 they get their very own pet.  Which means their own hamster.  No guinea pigs, snakes, or scorpions here.  She also gets to get her ears pierced.  So that is what we will be up to next week.

 

 

 

 

 

A few pics of the new baby

Addison was born May 22nd a little after 8am.  She tied Kayla for my heaviest baby weighing in at 9lbs 4oz and was 21 inches long.  I was called in for an induction at midnight and things got started around 2 in the morning.  The nurse asked if I would like my epidural right after they started the pitocin. Um, yeah.  Kind of weird getting an epidural without any pain. Jared and I then talked for a few hours about what to name this new little one and came up with Addison. A few hours later she was ready to be pushed out and was out in 2 pushes.  That is the way to do it.

 

 

Here they all are.  Kayla, Blake, Addison, Elizabeth, and Zander.  Zander has been great about the new baby.  He loves to rub her head and give her kisses.  He can be a little rough but for the most part is very "soft".  He had never said the word baby before but by the next day of Addison being home he says it all the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were able to come home the next day.  Once home we had many visitors and it was a little crazy and loud.  I think maybe we should have stayed just a little longer. :)  She is so far a very good baby and as long as she is being held does not cry much.  Thankfully I have many helping hands.

 

out of africa

For spring break we decided to take the kids to Out of Africa.  When you first get there you go on a Safari ride where you can feed the giraffe.  It was really crazy to have such a huge animal come right up next to you and grab a carrot from your hand! 
 

This is Elizabeth taking a picture of her feeding the giraffe.  Right after this picture someone from across the jeep came to feed the giraffe and it had to bring its neck so far in that it was right in front of Elizabeth's and my heads!  It was a little scary, giraffes are big!

 

Jared took Zander to the front of the jeep to feed it.  He was a little scared but they fed it together.  When I fed the giraffe its tongue touched me.  Look at that tongue it was pretty long.


 

After the giraffe section we were able to see all kinds of animals.  The guide kept saying we needed to keep our hands in the jeep because the animals will bite.  Zander was just too excited to not try to pet all of the animals!  We could have gone on the safari ride over and over if they would have let us.  It was definently the best part of the whole park.

 

We then headed up to see all of the caged animals.  It was amazing that you were able to get so close to the lions and tigers.  This white tiger was being taken to another exhibit while we were standing there.  She was being taken to the tiger splash section where we were able to see her play in the water and go after pool toys.  It was fun to watch.

 

After we were done at Out of Africa we decided to go home the back way and stop in
Jerome, and old mining town.  We wanted to go to the mine but ended up making our way to some historic mansion.  After seeing all it had to offer we realized this was not part of the mine we wanted to see.  By the time we found the mine it was closing time and we couldn't get in.



We thought it would be fun to stop in Prescott for dinner.  Well that was a mistake!  After we found somewhere to eat, it only took us an extra hour to our trip, it was time to head home.  Jared put into his phone our address to look up how to get home and we took off.  Well after we read the directions wrong (unknowingly to us at the time) we ended up going the wrong way and went through Wickenburg only adding another 3 hours to our trip home.  Oh well it is funny now. :)

Riding and elephant at the Renaissance Festival a few weeks ago.

Blake

I thought I would write a little about Blake and tell you guys everything that is going on with him. Blake loves to build/create. He is always asking me if he can cook or build in the garage. Everyday (well unless he is grounded from cooking) he likes to "cook". He does not like to follow recipes but to make them up himself. That kid goes through so much cinnamon! Blake is always in the garage building a boat or a robot or a motorcycle or a house you get the idea. He is very ambitious in his ideas of what he can build.
About a month ago I was outside with him and noticed that he was riding his bike without training wheels. I asked him when he learned to ride a bike and if dad had taken off his training wheels. He told me that he had gotten one of Jared's screwdrivers and taken them off himself. What kind of mom does not even know her kid can ride a bike!
Blake also in the last month has started to call me mother. Everyone that hears him call me mother thinks it is adorable.
Just a few days ago Blake came in from outside and asked me if I would sign him up for Bull riding lessons. I have no idea where he got that.
When we went for our sonogram earlier this year we took all of the kids. When the tech told us we were having a girl the girls were super excited. About 3 minutes later Blake started to cry, "I wanted a baby brother". I think he is over it now as he is always coming up with names for her. Today he came up with the name, Peanut and the other day he wanted to name her Emily. I asked him where he heard Emily and he said he just made it up.
Blake also does not like to bathe. Yesterday I asked him when was the last time you had a shower. He told me it was 14 years ago.

Zander's first words

So Zander just recently said his first word. No it was not mom or dad or anything cute like that but his first word is Dog. He loves our Cleo dog and I can always get him to stop crying or being a pill by asking him, "where is Cleo?". So shock of shocks when in the last few days he started saying his second word. Any guesses? Of all the words out there he can now say Cleo.

update

So anyways here is a little update on what has been going on in the last few months. We just celebrated Halloween last night. Liz was Cleopatra (actually she was the  Cleo denial). Kayla was a  werewolf. Blake was Batman and Zander was Batman's sidekick Robin.

After trick or treating down our street Blake and Kayla decided they were done. So I ended up taking them home and took Liz and her friends out for another hour.

Jared just got back from his deer hunt. He and Liz were drawn this year. Jared got his buck opening morning.

Zander turned 1 last week. Jared just started taking a metal working class and his first class was on Zander's birthday. So Jared hurried home from work and we woke up Zander and had a little party. You can tell from the photos Zander is just waking up.

A few weeks ago we headed to Greer Arizona. We stayed in a really nice cabin and were able to go fishing. We caught 7 fish total. Blake caught the most with 3. We ate them for dinner and Blake made sure he ate the biggest fish.

On our way home we stopped and launched Jared's rocket. It went really well until the last launch when the rocket flew away and was never found. I just thought this picture of Liz was funny. Check out those glasses.

And here is our new puppy Shotzy (German for sweetheart). Jared and I picked her up on the way home from our romantic 13 year anniversary getaway. The kids were really surprised. We need to take more pictures apparently since this is the only one we have.
She is doing well on her potty training and has lots and lots of energy. Hopefully when the baby gets here in May she will be more calm like our Cleo dog.