'Tis the season. . .

...for family pictures! How could a girl get so lucky? I just don't even know... My cute little man. Two photo shoots in his first 7 weeks. He's gonna be a pro. And pretty little Lauren:

Sugar

And mild spice.

Oh my Jossy. Her pictures are always hard to pick, because almost every one is usable. She is such a little shutter-bug. She'll smile and strike a pose and 9 out of 10 shots will be adorable.

This one is Tony's favorite:

When did my baby boy get so big?!?

Almost done... you can see the relief on Tony's face.

Thanks to Jen for her awesome skills!! Anybody in WA who needs a good photographer, call her- she is especially good with kids.

6 whole weeks...

Krew turned 6 weeks yesterday. I feel like we just got him, and also like he's always been here... Does that make sense? He is growing so fast! I would guess he weighs about 12 pounds now- even though he looks like he has doubled his birth weight. I'll have to get some pictures up- it's just one more thing on my list. He is still not really sleeping- he was up 4 times last night. He just wants to eat. I think I'll play along for a little while longer before I implement any Nazi scheduling that makes him cry it out.

I read one of the books Stephenie Meyer recommended: The girl who could fly by Victoria Forester. I thought it was kindof dumb. I wanted to know what happened to Piper while I was reading, but at the end I realized I would have rather had my 4 hours of sleep. Maybe I'm the one who is dumb...

Lauren is still struggling with the potty. It has officially been a year of peed pants. Why is she not catching the vision? She will poop in the potty just fine... I need suggestions.

Three weeks sure goes by fast when you can't remember it...

So. . . tired . . . must stay . . . awake.
Krew no like sleepy. Boo.
He's actually screaming right this very moment. Just like for the last 5 hours. Doesn't colic usually happen at night, not in the morning?

Still, I love him and am going to keep him. Heaven knows we're not putting him back!

His siblings adore him. It's like they don't really hear the crying until it escalates to the point where it drowns out their cartoons. He has already acquired quite the list of nicknames: Scooby Krewby, Krewser the Bruiser, Krewton (like crouton- thanks Kara), and Baby Koo (Lauren's).

He eats like a little piglet and is growing like a weed. His little double chin puts Dad's and Grandpa's to shame. Apparently it's a family trait. I had to laugh because when he was born, he had a double chin. Not enough fat to make a decent butt crack- but he had a double chin. Who knew...

Jace Leatham

Some friends of ours, the Leatham family, got some really scary news last week: their little boy Jace has leukemia. If any of you also know this wonderful family and want to help or read more about what's going on with his treatment, Amy has set up a blog for him at www.ironmanjace.blogspot.com

Pray for Jace. And his family.

Getting used to life with four...

Tony grew up in a family with seven kids. Seriously, how did his mom do it?!? The transition from 3 to 4 has been easier that 2 to 3, but still, yikes. I haven't done my hair and makeup on the same day since Krew was born. My house is also a disaster. Tony gets Gage ready for school in the morning (the bus comes at 7:30) and his hair is usually looks super.

But I do what I can, so I embrace my disasterness.

A sidenote: Krew had his 2 week check up this morning. He has gained over a pound and a half. I've been feeding him butter. And nothing else.

Another disclaimer: we are rockin' it old school. Tony sat on my camera and broke the little screen on the back that I used to cheat and see if I had a cute picture or not. I feel like I'm using one of those disposables or something. We can still take pictures, but I don't know how they're going to turn out till later so we have lots of strange pictures. Like this one:

Jossy and Lauren started dance lessons again and I thought this would be a mighty fine picture. Oops.

My birthday. Party by Mom. The first of many 29ths.

Krew was less than a week old = why I look so tired.

For Labor Day, we went up to Island Park. Even though we live really close, we hardly ever go up there. We took the kids on their first official wilderness hike, and I think they were mighty fond of the woods. I was on paranoia level 5 while on the lookout for bears. And now I should probably start worrying about wolves. There's plenty of them around now, too.

Our little hike through Box Canyon. I'm wearing shorts that do not have an elastic waist. To me, that makes the day a success.

The kids were loving it. Even Krew had a good time. I think you can see his feet. My sweet little family picking wildflowers.

Our sweet little boy, Krew

This is one of the sweetest, cuddliest little boys ever! I've never had a snuggler before, and I have to say I can't get enough of him. He is another mini-Tony, with slight variations.

Our sweet little boy

Um, don't take my picture yet, I look like hell. Click. Never mind... Krew looks a little scared.

The proud daddy, admiring his work. Or my work that looks just like him.

Jen took some really cute pictures of him last night, which I will post when we get them edited.

I totally should've done this post already...

This has been one busy summer! This is kindof a highlight reel, but still...

Lauren's 3rd birthday was last Thursday. I had been putting off her party, hoping that the baby would arrive, but when it was the Monday before and he was still quite some time from showing up, I threw together a little party and all her little friends. It was horsie/pony themed, which is her favorite, and I think she had a great time. We played "Pin the tail on the Pony" and had a "Pony Prize Pasture" which was totally a fishing pond but I had to make it go with the theme (of course) and always a pinata!

Lauren is such a fun little girl. She is spunky and energetic and mischievious and independent and we love her so much. She has a special way of doing something totally naughty, and then somehow making it so funny that I'm not really mad and have to laugh at her. She loves horses, cheese, olives, dressups, anything outside related, swimming and boating, yogurt, oatmeal, chocolate and strawberry milk, and her Daddy. I think Tony and Lauren share a special bond, they adore each other. He always calls her Polly, even now, because when she was born she was so teeny tiny we called her Polly Pocket. She'd be totally confused, but he's done it since she was born and I think she's used to it.

We also took the kids down to Lagoon one day, minus all the men/dads. My dad came for half the day, but it was just us girls and 8 little kids! Yikes! It went pretty well, considering, until we did Lagoon-a-Beach, where we had a near drowning and a couple wander-offs. We didn't stay there very long.

All the little kids waiting in line for a ride: Ben, Kinsey, Lauren, Jocelyn, Detton and Gage. It made a good arrangement for all their little rides.

This is what we've been doing most other days when we had a little spare time. There is a little reservoir about 25 minutes away where we go boating. We have this oldish (1974 ha ha) boat that we have fixed up and it has been really fun. The kids love riding on the tube and when we find an open dock, we pull up and let them swim and fish. It's something I would love to do every summer, as long as we can keep at it and the boat doesn't completely die.