She likes it, she likes it!

I just decided to give up on the rice cereal and oatmeal and we went straight for the sweet potatoes!!

Must keep up....

I always thought I've done a pretty good job of taking MANY pictures of ALL the kids (I know they always say by third - there is no pictures of them) - well that is beginning to happen - I just realized the other day - I NEED TO get my camera out and keep taking pictures of Ema...and Eli and Ana too so here is a couple shots of Eli and Ema....


Ema is starting to get the strength to sit up on her own - not quite there yet though....


This is usually what happens - completely bent forward at the waist.


One of Ema's constant sources of entertainment.....


Trouble!!
(and actually in need of a little bit of a hair trim!)

Gymnastics Awards Day

Ana had her awards day today at Gymnastics - This was her first one and she was SO PROUD to have both Eric and I there watching her!

Warm-up time....

Eli - where else but on Eric's lap.....


Ana waiting for her award....


Getting her first ever ribbon....

(please ignore the women talking in the background of the videos)

The TOY room....

We got another room put together tonight - the second most important room next to getting Ana's room done - THE TOY ROOM!

Eric's comment tonight was - I am slowly getting my garage back....

This was quite a feat - and as we were going through these toys and putting them away (which we did after the kids were in bed) - we just kept commenting on how many of these toys we DIDN'T Buy and yet how many we still HAVE!


This is a view from the living room looking back toward the area just at the bottom of the stairs - we actually hadn't planned to use this area as a toy area....but alas we had no other option....so for now it will hold some of the "bigger" toys.


Looking back towards the slider door -


One half of the toy room - some day this actually will just be a storage room but for now it works perfectly for this and even has a door to hide the mess!


Looking the other direction....


Putting our IKEA shelves that we've always used in the kitchen to good use in the toy room now!!
We are actually looking forward to the kids' reaction to this room in the morning - it will be like Christmas all over for them - much of these toys have been packed away for months now.....which I know - begs the question if our kids have survived this long without them do they really probably need them....some day this household will have one good yard sale - watch out!

Ana's new room....

Sorry we've been slow to get pictures of the basement up - it's still in the process of getting put together - We actually got Ana's new room completely done today and everything moved down there - I was skeptical of how it would go - but so far so good tonight! (I am sure it helps that she was just really really tired tonight from lack of a nap today).


Her room just seems huge now (especially since it only contains a 1 bed and 1 dresser now)



The view from the corner by her bed looking back toward the door - she was a big help carrying all her things downstairs today and was really excited about it - in fact - Ana and I were out running a errand today and came home to find her bed already downstairs - and the first thing she asked was if she could take a nap in her new room as soon as she was done eating lunch.


More pictures to come soon - hopefully!

Just giggly over beach balls.....

Ana & Eli had Ema giggling up a storm tonight...it was pretty funny to watch and listen too.....and it was all over the beach balls they were playing with - all they had to do was toss them up in the air and she would laugh.....enjoy!

Hold tight.....

TOMORROW THERE WILL BE CARPET DOWNSTAIRS AND LOT'S OF NEW PICTURES WILL FOLLOW - I suppose lot's of work will follow too - getting everything moved back down there and out of our garage so just maybe we can finally park 2 cars in our 3 car garage!!

Yes, I see but....

Ana has become quite the "conversationalists" - I really should be recording more of the funny things she says to us....

One of the conversations tonight went something like this:

Ana: "daddy would you like a hamburger" (as she is handing Eric a plate full of play food)

Eric: "no I just ate dinner" (referring to the fact that we had just finished eating our real dinner)

Ana: "yes I see, but this is pretend food!" - I mean how can you say no to that!!

I am not sure where Ana picked up the "yes, I see but" phrase but I think it happens in just about every conversation we have with her - it's just so funny.

The other night (Friday) I was taking the babysitter home - and Eric sat down with Ana and Eli quick while I was gone and the three of them made me a Valentines Card - of course under the strictest conditions that they not say anything - it was a secret and they were going to give it to me on Valentines Day. I get back, walk in the door - Ana comes running out of her room and proclaims. "Mommy we made you a Valentines Card, it's a secret and it's in the drawer". Well, so much for that secret....

I think it's official.....

EMA DOESN'T LIKE RICE CEREAL.......
(second time we've tried - same face!)

A little glimpse.....

One of the many many sounds we wake up to each morning....this morning we were blessed with this at 6:14 am! (some morning I'll actually get out of bed and actually record the scene...but this afternoon Ema decided to repeat the morning show)

5 month comparison....

Ema - on top - Ana on bottom - both at 5 months to the day....Ema wasn't real willing to smile....



Eli finally finding his toes at 6 months old....Ema and her toes at 5 months old....

5 months thick....

And Growing like a Weed......

Bath Time Bubbles....

If anyone knows my kids - you know they are scared of EVERYTHING - I mean EVERYTHING! (the vacuum, stuffed animals, car wash, dogs, cats - ok pretty much any living animal/rodent/insect - anything loud, or that moves on it's own)
Even bubbles in the bath-tub - until tonight!! We tried bubbles a while back with Ana - scared to death and then of course Eli doesn't want to have anything to do with anything that Ana is scared of....and on and on it goes....
But tonight for some reason bubbles were A-OK!!
I am not sure if it was there ploy to get 2 baths in one day or what - but whatever - it was good entertainment for the last 45 minutes before bed - They did both go to bed smelling like Strawberries though - thanks to the "strawberry shortcake bubbles"! Poor Eli -



Ana - showing us her "bubble beard"


I am pretty sure if we let him - Eli would stay in the bath tub for hours....


Blowing Bubbles....

Roll over - I'm squished.....

So they all rolled over - and the Momma fell out!

This is becoming the common scene in our bed on the weekend....if only it was later than 6:30am!! Please dear children - can you just learn to even sleep in a - LITTLE!

Portraits of the kids....

I think January rolls around and there just seems to be a blogging lull - and now it's February and still not a lot of pictures to post about.....just not a lot going on - other than wishing for warm wind-less days so we can be outside playing - ALL THE TIME!
I've given up going to our local (cheap) photography studio - I am always so frustrated when we leave there because they are shooting with a digital camera and still only take about 10 pictures (if that) of the kids - so I've taken up trying to shoot the pictures myself - CHALLENGING to say the least - I sure wish I knew more about editing pictures and photo shop - but maybe that will come with time and all of my free time to explore it more! In the mean time - here are a few pictures of the kids I took and tried to make look nice - Eli was my most challenging client....YIKES getting a almost 2 year old to sit nicely was almost a nightmare - he wasn't even bribe-able - ENJOY!

And then there was COLOR....

The basement is painted....and the color is Dromedary Camel


I really don't think the pictures really do the color justice...in fact I kind of don't like it in the pictures...(looks a little pinkish to me) - but I love the color when you are in the room....The brown paper all over is put up so they can put the trim up and then they just come along and spray it with white paint - Trim & Doors are going up this weekend and then carpet is still scheduled for 2 weeks from tomorrow. And speaking of tomorrow - they are laying the laminate part of the floor and the vinyl in the bathroom - so there will be new pictures hopefully tomorrow of that.

And the electrician (i.e. - Eric) has been hard at work getting lights up and working....


We painted what will be Ana's room - yellow - it's a tad bit really YELLOW - but I think once the carpet gets in there and some furniture it will tame down a bit....


What's that nice hole in the wall you ask - just a nice piece we need to patch - that's all. Just a little electrical whoops but nothing we can't fix thankfully - Eric realized he forgot to run one wire - He was beside himself that we had to cut into the wall and I felt really bad because he worked so hard on getting everything done and of course this was his worst electrical nightmare come true. Oh well - we actually have 2 other nice holes in the ceiling in the main room now too....2 more nightmares....I guess all we can do is laugh....


Here you can see a couple of the sconces we have up - when it was all said and done last night we had the lights on but the sconces didn't work - yet another NIGHTMARE - but thankfully we realized we just forgot to put light bulbs in them - HA!



And the best part is.....we are paying the painter to come paint most of the main room walls upstairs on Thursday this week - just no time to get it done ourselves and I think Eric is quite thankful - that is a lot of cutting in that he would have had to do (he has the steady hand in the marriage) and I keep changing my mind on colors so much I am not sure he would be willing to paint the same wall for the third time!!