Easter and 5 months!

It's Easter! One of my favorite holidays, but maybe because I know if Easter is close so is my birthday. This year I turned... well older. Nick took me out to celebrate at Disneyland's Blue Bayou restaurant, and it was amazing. He also bought me a video camera and a necklace! Of course we don't have any pictures, but I did take a picture of the sweet card that Ali made me for my birthday.

On the back it said "I love you" in large letters.
We also managed to get a few Easter pics.

Here is one of all of them. I love how much they adore Jack.

Jack also turned 5 months today. I couldn't decide which picture I liked best, so I reserve the right to post both.
ps He is a big fan of chewing his fingers and (shown by the torn/eaten paper) anything else that comes within his grasp.

New phase

I am headed toward a new phase. 5 kids! As it will only be for just over a year, (and just during the day) I am going to try to enjoy it as much as I can.

Look at all these adorable kids! (note how they are all in the frame)

I think the toughest, and the most rewarding, will be these sweet boys. I don't know how people survive twins.

They like looking at each other. I can almost hear their conversation:
Jack: Look! I can put my fingers in my mouth!
Dominic: Oh yeah!?! I can put my whole hand in mine!

Casualty #1 of many. A toy got thrown at his head. :(

Birthday party and more

My little girl (who now isn't so little) Just turned 6! I can hardly believe it. On her actual birthday we made and decorated cupcakes.

I didn't have any birthday candles, because I failed to plan properly, so a tea light worked.

After Nick got home she opened some presents from us and from her good friend Jim. She was very pleased with everything.

The next day we had a party at Chuck-E-Cheese's.

She had a blast being the center of attention, and the big inflatable crown was a plus. For some reason I got very few pictures of the actual party, and no pictures of her doing any games, but I think everyone had lots of fun.

In other news...

Jack turned 4 months old! (Rachael, that is your blanket he is laying on. He is obviously a fan)

I just love this picture because the bottom lip is so cute. Is there a place in heaven before babies are born where they are taught, "Okay, just push out your bottom lip and your parents will be willing to give you anything."

Jack is a great sleeper. Sometimes I think he might sleep too much. I put him down on his mat for some quality tummy time to strengthen his muscles (he cannot roll over yet) and when I came to check on him a few minutes later this is how I found him. To be fair to him, he has a binky in his mouth which is very soothing. To be fair to me, Kat gave it to him while I was not looking with the excuse, "but he wanted it!" Maybe he will never roll over. :)

6 years old and already a dancing queen!

I know that I teased everyone with the idea of posting the video of her school dance, but that was just too long to post, but I took this sweet video of the girls dancing one morning and I HAD to post it. Enjoy.

A cha-cha and more

Ali's Kindergarten class learned ballroom dancing, and then they put on a performance for all the parents. Not surprising, but Ali was amazing.

This is her partner, Parker.

They ended the number with a big "dip." Ali and her partner did such a great job. Not sure if you can tell very well from the picture, but the couple in back have a strangle hold going on. I have a video of the whole thing, and maybe when I have an hour to download it, then I will put it on the blog, but for now just try to imagine them dancing flawlessly around the room.

Here are a few picture that show a bit of what else has been going on at our house.

Kat is normally very, very loving with Jack, but I think he was getting too loud for her this time.

On the Jack advancement front, he played with toys for the first time today. Yesterday he discovered he had hands, so now he is eager to use them. Unfortunately he only has sisters, so his first toy is a doll. Sorry Nick.

He found his hands, he can play with toys, but he is not ready for the bumbo yet... maybe a few more weeks.

giggles

I took out my camera to record him smiling, and I caught his first giggle!

Sorry about the bad camera angle and the lack of editing, we need a new video camera and I just used our regular camera. If you want to skip right to the giggle skip to about second 30.

Party! at 3 months

This weekend we went up to Bakersfield to celebrate my nephews' birthdays (Trevor 7 is on the left and Gavin 2 is on the right).

Jack didn't get to go on any of the bouncy houses, but he got lots of snuggles.

The girls had loads of fun!

Cake and ice cream was a big hit. At the end of the day I asked Ali what she liked best, and she couldn't decide which she liked better, the cake or the bounce houses. I think she just wanted to sit on the birthday throne!

Jack turned 3 months old today! He is such a sweetie boy.

I told him to smile, and already he is sticking his tongue at me!