Catching Up

Last weekend my sister, Sarah, and her family came for a visit.  Sarah, Patrick and their 3 kids, Lily, Will and Leah, live in Port Angeles, WA, so they don't make it back to visit often.  It has been WAY too long since I've seen them, so I took Ethan out of school for a couple days to hang out with them in Salem.  My brother and his family(who are getting ready to move to California) and Abby and Alex were there too!  It has been about 6 years since all 4 of us have been together.  And the first time all 9 of my parent's grandkids have been together.  Family photos were a given :)!

All 19 of us!

Grandma Terri and Pop with the kids

9 Grandkids
Leah (3), Paige (almost 9), Ethan (almost 6), Josiah (7), Tyler (15), Atley (7 mo), Will (4), Lily (almost 6), Nora (3 1/2)

Jim, Becky, Sarah, Abby

We let our other halves in on the group shot :)

Abby and Jared- waiting patiently for our photo shoot 

 All the kids had so much fun playing together!  And us parents enjoyed catching up.

Cousins helping Atley play ;)

Timm came over for some mule rides!

Ethan, Lily and Jared, playing some baseball

Ethan and Lily (born 5 weeks apart)

Lego fun for Ethan and Will

Don't Wake Daddy with Pop is a fun tradition at Grandma and Pop's house

Always after bath and right before bed :)

Before we came home, we went to Greenville to a local creamery for a tour.  We got to see where they make cheese, check out the cows- including some 1 week old calves, sample some fresh cheese and ice cream!  

Watching a very captivating video on cheese making :)

Checking out the calves

Nora got to give one a bottle!

Atley was excited to be there too!

Working on his cow milking skills

My 3 babes!

Will, Lily, Atley, Leah, Nora, Ethan

Ice cream time!

Ethan the barn and Lily the sun

Nora, Atley, Ethan

It was so great all being together again!  I'm sure it won't be 6 years before this happens again!  Or at least it better not be!!

NLR Roadtrip

Two weeks ago, Abby, my mom, Atley and I headed south to see my grandpa in N. Little Rock.  The trip was very last minute, and quite honestly, a difficult one to take.  My grandpa isn't doing well, so we decided to go visit.  My brother and his family drove in also, which was great.  

3 of the 4 of us in front of their house.

Abby and I!  So many memories made at this house!

My mom stayed to ride home with my dad, so on Saturday it was just Abby, Atley and I.  We decided to make a pit stop at Lambert's on  the way home!  It proved to be a great decision :)!

Love my baby girl!

Atley's 1st Lamberts roll!

We made for a good traveling team!

Soccer Boy

Ethan is nearing the end of his spring soccer season.  He has loved it and it's been fun to watch!  I've been bad about bringing the camera to take good pictures.  I remembered last week and captured a few action shots.  He's number 3 in the orange, in case you need help finding him :)!

I missed this weeks game, so Jared sent me a video.  I'm calling it a goal...even if it didn't completely make it in to the net.  I think the kids are told to not go past the half circle next to the goal.  

Atley and Nora enjoy the soccer games too!  Atley sits on a blanket and plays with some toys.  And Nora plays on the nearby playground with our neighbor, Liz.

Loves to swing!

AMERICA in Kindergarten

Ethan had his very first kindergarten spring concert last week.  The theme was America!  It was so cute and they all did great!  Ethan knew the songs and sometimes joined in on the the actions.

All ready to go!

Waiting with the family before going on stage!

Smiling and waiving :)

When did he get so big?!

Ethan and Zach after the show

I took some videos of his performance.

Atley at 7 Months!

Our sweet #3 is 7 months old today!  I know I say this every month, but where has the time gone?!  She really is the best baby!  I've been told this many times from various people who have watched her for me :).

• She sits very well, unassisted
• She nurses 4 times a day
• Eats yogurt and sometimes banana or toast for breakfast
• Eats some form of veggie for dinner
• Loves mum mums and puffs
• Smiles all the time
• She's so chill- she will sit quietly and play for a long time
• She weighs 17.5 lbs (according to the bathroom scale)
• Still no teeth...I love her toothless smile :)
• Has started scrunching up her nose when she smiles sometimes

We went to the front yard for the photo shoot today.  She was VERY distracted by the grass!  I remember her big sister having the same problem at about this age.  (Here's Nora's first time in the grass at 6 months)

First thought...HAHA!

Such a big girl (with lots of drool on her shirt)

Grass is so interesting!

Looking up for a quick second to watch Nora

Feet in the grass :)

Love this sweet girl!

Finally got a smile!  A scrunchy nose, smile!

 If you're interested...Here's Ethan at 7 months and Nora at 7 months!

Lately

This post is a bunch of random pictures from around here lately.  Most from my phone...it's just much more handy than my big camera!

April 18- we had our first fire of the year.  Which means first s'mores of the year too!

Nora was too busy taking bites to smile :)

Handsome boy!

April 19- Atley got her first taste of avocado!  She liked it!

Leaning in to take a bite!

Trying to pick some of it up.

April 20- Atley got her first big girl bath!

She's a fan of more space!

April 21- Ethan had a book/art fair.  He was really wanting to go, so I went with him.  It was fun, walking around the school halls looking at all the students' art.  And then we found 2 books to bring home at the book fair!

We found Ethan's fish in a bag!

April 22- We discovered that Atley loves toast sticks.  She will mush them up one after another!  Also, Nora loves to make her hands hot (see photo below) and fell asleep on my chest :).

Gnawing on her toast

"I just squeeze them really tight, like this!"

This is very rare :)!

April 23- Atley and Max

Atley loves to watch Max.  She thought it was so funny when he licked her hand!

April 25- Story time with Daddy

Nora wasn't very interested in this story ;)

April 27- Smiley Atley

She has started wrinkling up her nose when she smiles.  It's so cute!

Visitors

Saturday afternoon we had some very special visitors!  One of my best friends from long long ago was in town to speak and share about her family's mission work in the middle east.  Elizabeth and her husband Hap (and their 5 kids!) have been over seas for a little over 3 years and are back for the summer on furlough.  I'm so happy they are back.  It's been 3 years since we've seen each other and between the two of us, there are 3 new babies!  Elizabeth had twins, Abigail and Abram, in December and they were the only ones to make the trip to Decatur.  My kids were happy to have visitors, but missed the 3 older boys!  We had a great time catching up and eating dinner together.  The kids had a blast playing with Hap and I got to snuggle 2 sweet little babies while my sweet baby looked huge!  

Ethan, Atley & I, Nora holding Abigail and Elizabeth with Abram.  The next time we get together, there will be 3 more boys in this picture :)!

Hap giving Ethan his last pony ride!

Nora's pony ride

Hap wanted to try his keffiyeh on Jared before speaking at the church on Sunday.  He looks good, don't you think?!

6 Month Check-Up

We had Atley's 6 mo check up this morning.  She is doing well and growing up!  She had to get 2 vaccines today :(, but she did well with them.

6 Month Stats:

• Weight:  17 lbs 2 oz (55%)
• Length:   26 3/4 in (75%)
• Head:      16 3/4 in (50%)

She went crazy for the paper on the exam table!  She loved it and kept trying to eat it.

Too busy to look up!

Chewing on her taggie made by Grandma Terri

Sisters!