Favorite

Sometimes when I post a bunch of pictures at once, some of the really good ones get lost in the mix.  There are many reasons to love a photo.  Lots of times I will love it b/c technically I actually got something right. As a mom, most of my favorites are ones that capture something I want to remember.  That's why I love this one.  We were having fun out on the deck of our beach house.  Josiah looks a bit like a limp doll, but I love that this captures how much they love being with him.

Noah

My parents' church put on a very impressive reenactment of Noah.  There was so much going on: live animals, enormous ark, food, etc.  My dad asked Aaron what his favorite part was.  His response, "Seeing you all dressed up."

Child Labor

Shot from inside my kitchen window:

Next time I looked out it had turned into this:

7 months

I thought I would try sitting him up.  He's not too keen on sitting, he just wants to crawl and move.  He sat there for the longest time.  Couldn't stop taking pictures of him!

This is a very typical Josiah face

Love the fuzz head

He has to look every time a car goes by

Tried for a shot of him and I laying in the grass but it was way too bright!!

Gymnastics

These pictures are about a month old.  Oops!  Morgan finished up another year of gymnastics and had a great time.  It was fun to see her grow and improve on her skills.  Gymnastics class suits her very well!

Warming up with a smile

Her class was small this year which was nice.  All the girls were right around the same level

Blurry back handspring

again

Landing her ariel (no handed cartwheel).  This was a fun thing this year.  I had been telling her that I think she can learn it easily.  They started learning it about halfway into the year and she was getting closer and closer.  I don't always sit and watch but was so glad I was there the day she nailed it.  Not usually a very expressive child, she was pretty pumped up when she got this one.  

Super hero

This past weekend Aaron was invited a super hero birthday party.  He was so excited, he'd been talking about it for weeks.  The invite said to wear a costume but if they didn't have one, capes would be there for them to wear. I immediately put him in the "wear a cape when you get there" category.  Claudia had a different idea.  She made his costume all on her own.  I love that she used his trash can lid for his shield.

He has had a rough week physically.  It started out as a fever and went to his stomach, some "d" for days that just knocked him out.  Sat. morning he seemed to be doing ok and was insistent that he was ok for the party.  Poor guy.  He lasted about an hour and then as everyone was eating lunch he was just laying on the bench.  We left early, I felt so bad he had to miss his little party.  The following picture is of him the next day.

Since we returned from the beach I thought he was 100% back to normal.  Then today he had about a 2 hour period of bad cramps.  He finally fell asleep and woke completely fine.  It's been so weird, not sure what's racking his little body.

Out of the mouths...

Greta can at times be a little thief.  She sees something of her sisters that she wants and she takes it.  We're trying to teach her that is stealing.  Today Morgan was hollering at her that she stole her silly band and she was to give it back.  I told Greta that she was to give it back but she wouldn't.  Morgan was still making a stink, "Greta, that is stealing..."  On and on she went.

Greta, with her hands on her hips says, "If you would quit your fussing I will give it back to you."

Girls Beach Trip '12

Returned last evening from another trip down to the beach with my 2 older girls.  If I wouldn't have had to bring Josiah I would have let Greta come this year, so she's going to have to wait just one more year to tag along.  She was not a happy camper to see us leaving without her!!
I was a bit hesitant about going down this year with having the baby.  I was not looking forward to being in a hotel room with the 4 of us, tip-toeing around him and all.  Thankfully, everything worked out perfectly. I got a super great deal very last minute on a beach house.  We got to go 2 nights instead of just 1. It was the perfect set up for us this year.  The girls loved the house and it was nice to have a kitchen to save a few dollars.
Here are just a few shots from our time together.

Something that is so fun about having a baby with older girls is that they are like little mommies.  There are days where I think they may just love him almost as much as I do!!  They girls did so great being flexible and not being able to do as much with him along.

Can you tell that had fun with the bumper cars??

No explanation needed here

I was fight.fight.fighting to keep this little Mr. on the blanket and out of the sand.  He was so curious to check it out.  I would hold him, lay him down and give him some toys, but in a matter of seconds and he was off to the edge again.  When it was time for me to eat my lunch I just gave up and let him have at it.  He loved it as you can see.

The wave got them as I was about to take the picture!

Father's Day

This dad is loved dearly by many.

Poor Aaron was still sick on this pic and was not happy about being made to be in it.

Crossway Mile

Our church holds an annual event called the "Crossway Mile".  It's an organized mile race on our church property.  It's so much fun, one of my favorite things our church does together.  My kids have varying degrees of love for the event.  Greta was the most excited, this was her first year.  Aaron did not want to run this year.  If he was older we would have made him, but we decided to let him sit it out.  Well, 10 minutes before the race was to start he changed his mind.  Steve ran together with the 2 of them.

There has always been a bit of competition between Claudia and Morgan in this race.  Much to Claudia's dismay, Morgan has beat her the last 2 years.  Morgan was not wanting to run this year, Steve was having to do some serious "motivating" even at the starting line.  She did not have a good start and b/c of that Claudia was ahead of her the whole race.  Towards the end, Morgan spotted Claudia and decided she would not let her win.  It was a sprint to the finish.  Thanks, Geoff Sensenig for capturing this moment so perfectly!!  Unfortunately for Claudia, she was again beaten by her little sis!!  So close!!