Obama for President

We have CNN on at our house at background noise for most of the day, so I assume this is where Ben picked up his political insight, but who knows with that kid...

Ben:  Mommy, I'm voting for Barack Obama.

Mommy:  Oh, really?

Ben: Yes, because he will give the future to children.

(10 minutes later)

Ben:  Mommy?

Mommy:  Yes?

Ben:  What's future?

Right now...

Luci is having her first sleepover.  Addison is with us for the day while her parents and brother are at a wedding.

Luci pushed Addison's crib right up next to her bed.  The two girls put on their silky pj's and chatted until they fell asleep.  So sweet!

They know how to....

download and share Nintendo DS games, navigate webkinz.com, build intricate lego structures, read almost fluently, swim laps in the pool, score goal after goal in soccer, write letters to friends, construct puzzles with hundreds of pieces...

But they cannot pour milk into a bowl without spilling or eat rice without half falling to the floor.

Blackberry Farm

Just a few from our trip to Blackberry farm with Henry and Addison.  We had a blast.  I do think Ben and Charlie are getting a tad big for pony rides :(

Coop's first real hair cut

I've given him a few trims here and there, but it was finally time for a real haircut.  He did great!  Much better than B &C's first cuts (they both screamed the entire time).

He sat very still in his little car.  She put Elmo on for him to watch, but he was more interested in watching in the mirror to see what ws going on with his head.

The LAST picture above is the before shot.

The lifecycle of pajamas

Ben has taken to wearing only underwear to bed.  This is fine by us except for when he gets his "pajamas" on at 6pm and then comes down to watch a movie with us on the couch.  Here is the conversation from the other night:

Mommy: Ben, what's with the underwear?

Ben: This what I'm wearing to bed.

Daddy: well, how about some shorts?

Ben:  I tried that and it was OK, but this is how it goes:  ONE - top and bottoms for pajamas.  TWO - Only shorts for pajamas.  THREE - Only only underwear and your skin is soft on the sheets. THAT is the life-cycle of pajamas!

Mommy:  Who can argue with that? 

Visit from papa

My dad came in from MI to hang out with us during his vacation.  GM has a mandatory shut down every year at this time so that he can come and celebrate my birthday with me.  He is a master "putzer" and is always looking for projects.  This year we told him his project was just to hang with the kids.  

He read LOTS of books. Even Cooper learned to bring a book to papa.  He took the older three to the movies, B & C to piano lessons, and took them all to pick out a birthday cake for me.  He told lots of stories (snuggle-up-a-saur-us it still a fav) and still managed to trip our hedges.  Thanks Dad!

Here are a few pics of our ice cream trip and of the kids and him before he left:

***ps - please don't mind the poor quality of the pics.   I accidentally uploaded the low-res files and I'm too tired to re-do.

Another new blog

I had to start a new blog so that I can separate my photography (client stuff) from my personal life. As if that's possible in real life!

I'm not fully functioning on there yet (I guess that's the same as my real life!), but take a peek when you get a chance.

LuluBird Photography Blog

MIA

We're here! Just crazy busy. I have lots to update you all on (well, actually, the blog is also for my future self). Here's one recent picture:

Laundry day

Another one from a few months ago:

Coop loves to sit up here and talk to me while I do laundry. Those of you that know me well know that I spend WAY too much time doing laundry and I'm not too happy about it. 

Lemonade!

This is from back in May, but I was going through old pics and realized I never shared it.  The kids had a blast doing their lemonade stand with their buddies.  Don't mind the spelling on the sign I don't know what I was thinking.  Maybe that I could use some help?

SAVE THE LEMONS!

Happy 4th!

The kids had a great time with Papa last week! Aunt Pamela Addison and Henry visited one day, Papa took the older 3 to see Wall-E, saw their last Baseball game of the season, and celebrated my birthday with us.  Papa also gave our bushes a big trim!  Thanks Dad!

We went to WI for the 4th and the kids had a blast with their cousins and Grandmama and Grampy.   Ben and Charlie hung with Nate, J.D., Dan, Pat and Jordan and Luci had her girl fix with Miranda, Raegan, Kerry, and Monica.  Cooper and Jacob played a bit too :)  I think the glop-off was their favorite event.

My regular computer is getting fixed, so I don't think I'll upload pictures until it gets back.