Lily's Costume Birthday

Remember back when Charlie had his surgery for tubes?   Yeah, me neither... not much of it anyway.   It feel into the Jackson surgery, moving into a new house, pregnant, washing machine flooding time at the beginning of the year.   However, one of Charlie's little friends, Lily, was his "tube" partner - they were back to back in line for surgery that morning 

Somehow I feel like that gives them a special connection. : )

Lily turned three, and the Ngos invited us over for a costume party.  

 We stopped for a family picture before we ever made it inside.  

Charlie wore a lightning mcqueen mechanic shirt, had a sombrero, but took it off... and carried a maraca.  

so, maybe a mechanic in a mariachi band?

Cooper was "super cooper"

Jackson was a soccer player, and carried a ball around all night.  

Maggie wore a little apron that Christina (also our photographer for the above photo) had made for her while I was still pregnant.   She still has some room to grow into it!

She carried around a spoon for a prop.

Needless to say not a single "prop" made it home.

Esther had to drop a bag of them off by the house later that week : )

 Maggie and Mia, who is nearly one year old now!  And walking!

 It was cute to watch them interact.   Maggie was a little grabby, though.

Beautiful birthday Girl, Lily.

So, Esther hired a face painter for the party.   How fun...

 Mady (Big sister to Lily) and Gaby (Big sister to Mia)

 

 Crazy, right?

I couldn't stop staring at him.

 Here is Danica as a "girl" version of the tiger : )

 

 Charlie followed in Jackson's footsteps.

 

 Wish I had a better picture of Cooper.

He was one heck of a spiderman.

 

 Here's what happens when you throw a fit and rub your eyes.   

They all looked like this by the end of the party.

We had a great time!

Maggie 8 Months

Maggie turned 8 months at the end of November.   

Maybe next month I'll be better at remembering what new things she is doing, etc.

She was starting to talk alot.  babbling, spitting, squealing ...

 pro crawler.

pulling up.

standing with just one hand for support.

sleeping well.

 almost always happy. 

still only has the bottom two teeth.

such a joy.

lights up when she sees her brothers.

and they light up, too.

gaining weight like there is no tomorrow.

her rolls and her cheeks are out of control.

growing up too fast!!!

I am also going to try and get back to writing more in this blog.

I was looking back on some old posts and reading it (and all of the typos) I was laughing at how much I would have otherwise forgotten. 

So, here's to a new year of writing down more of what's happening. 

In addition to too many pictures...

Next time.

For now, 

Here are a billion pictures because i couldn't pick.

 

 

 

 

 She drools alot.

photo shoot.

About a month ago, or maybe longer ... we were planning on having pictures taken.   Vanessa has photographed the kiddos since Jackson was about 1 year old.  We just love her!

Anyway, I have bought coordinating outfits ... and we were dressed and ready to go. 

Problem was that it was raining at her house, and getting pretty chilly.

We postponed our shoot (which later turned out great!)

But, since we were all dressed we decided to have our own little shoot in our neighborhood.

We got some sweet pictures of them.

  

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving Travels Pt.II

In Alexandria ...

We spent alot of time in the backyard since it was unusually warm.   

The kids really enjoyed being there. 

He's getting SO big.

Maggie loved her tour of the yard.

: ) It was just a little bumpy.

Aunt Ali showed them a big tree frog she found hopping around.

Thank you for that, Ali.

Speaking of Aunt Ali ... Aunt Coco ... how did you manage to hide from even one photograph?? I'm taking note and next time we see you, get ready!

Made a trip to the zoo.

Maggie and I hung back and watched the monkeys while the boys went on a train ride.

Charlie - such a ham.

 

 

 Jumping like kangaroos.

  

 : )

Came home and relaxed.

 And ate some salad.  HA.

We had a great time.  

We could have had a bit more sleep, but that's okay!

Everyone was sick except Jackson, and Maggie is (2 weeks later) just about to finish up antibiotics and be the last one to be "well"!

On Saturday, Colin, Maggie, and I left for a little visit to Lake Charles.  

So wonderful to see Uncle George

 

Crazy to see our old house.

Crazy!

Maggie in front of our pond.  

Fall colors were so pretty.

First ride on a horse ; )

Poor baby, she was so sick.  But still a good sport.

 

Hanging out in the hotel before Chelsi's wedding.

 Ready for the wedding!

 Lighting was a little tricky.

Yay!

Stopped by Canton on the long ride home.

Visited a place called Yesterland.   

We will be going back every year - but with more than 45 minutes to play!

It was about to get dark, and we wanted them to have a little fun.

Next year - wagon ride, kettle corn, huge play area...

Even though we ran the whole time, we had a blast...

 From this point on, my camera went wack-a-doodle and all the pictures are blue.

 Charlie tried one of the rides, and this is him for about 20 minutes after it ...

Older boys on the roller coaster ...excited!

 And then not-so-excited anymore.  They stopped the ride for them.  

Spent 15 of our minutes hiking it to the bathrooms at the other end of the property.

 Went down a huge slide.  At least 75 times.

 Charlie cheered up a bit, but was still a mess.

Everyone was tired, running fever... and stir crazy.

We picked out a tree in the dark.

Maggie ate a TON of pine needles.

All loaded up and an hour to go.

Whew. It was a really long day.

Got home really late on Sunday, and I somehow got Jack to school on time the next morning.  I kept Cooper home as he was still running fever.

Maggie continued to be sick all through that week and into the next.   So glad she is feeling better now.

And we are all sleeping!!!

Whew.  On to December.