Vacation

Let me start by saying this is the cutest picture ever!

OK. Now that I've done that I can tell you all about our vacation. This is the first time we've ever gone more than a couple hours away since the kids came a long and we've never stayed overnight anywhere with them. Mike and Wanda invited us to go down to Hilton Head Island with them. Scott had to stay home and work though. :(

The kids had a really good time seeing the beach for the first time. They love playing in the sand and jumping in the waves and looking for seashells - 3 buckets of seashells!

Abby did get a little freaked out by the seagulls though. If they thought you had food they would go crazy and get super close. She didn't like that very much.

This was a cute little lighthouse we went to see on the rich side of town.

Then we let the kids have some fun at the park. There is a really cool tree there with lots of really low branches and it has a huge treehouse built in it. The kids loved it!

And I was happy to get a pretty good picture of them all on one of the branches. If only Ian would look at the camera!

One day we went on a dolphin tour which was pretty fun. We got to see a few baby dolphins even. So freaking cute! They are super hard to get a picture of though.

Here's a dolphin splash.

And a fin.

Sandcastles!

Sleepy beach baby.

Owen messed with the sand for a minute, but ended up just getting mad at it.

Since it's a 12 hour drive to get there and another 12 hours to get back I got a few pictures in the car. I definitely wish I had thought about putting some movies on my iPad...

We had a pretty good time. Not too many meltdowns. And I was the only one to end up with a really bad sunburn. The kids got to meet their great great grandmother which is something most people can't say.

For me, it was super exhausting, but I'm really glad the kids had such a good time. I had a good time too. Just a really sleepy, good time. So if anyone has pointers for going on vacation with small children just let me know and I'll remember for future reference. Thanks!

A Family Picture

I set the timer on the camera, ran to the back, and finally have a family photo!

It's not that great, but this is the only one I took so I would have to say it was a success. We don't have any other pictures all together so this will have to do for now.

Poor Little Owen. I leave the room for a minute and Emma sticks a Batman ski mask on his head! He didn't seem to mind it though. He's 6 months old now, weighs 22 pounds and is sitting on his own. Hooray! I can't wait until he's mobile. I definitely prefers the later stages when they can move around on their own! It will be a little different this time around though since the "big" kids are starting to play with some toys that have smaller pieces. I'll have to keep an eye out for that. Oh, and we have stairs now! That's ok, I'll still like it better.

We've been in our house over a month now and I still don't have everything put away. I'm definitely lacking motivation. I seriously need to get it done though. And there are soooooo many things I want to do around here it's crazy! Re-do the bathroom, put another bathroom in the basement, turn the sunroom into an actual room.... Don't ask where I'll be getting the money for all of this stuff though... Who knows?! I'm optimistic - we'll just have to do a little at a time. It will be awesome though!

The kids and I will be heading to the beach soon and I am having a heck of a time finding a swimsuit! Especially one that is in my budget! I'm highly against a one-piece, but after having 4 kids, I do need to cover my midsection. And I also prefer boy-short bottoms. It's been hard to find things that don't look too grandma or are under $20 per piece. Per Piece! I seriously can not imagine spending 40 bucks on something I will only be using this one week. No way. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to send them my way!

Dinosaur World

Yesterday we drove to Cave City, KY to Dinosaur World. And the kids loved it! They had over 100 dinosaurs, a museum, a playground and a couple of digging activities. The kids really like the digging. They got to uncover a full size dino skeleton and then sift for smaller fossils that they got to keep. They also got to stick there head in a T-Rex mouth which the loved! It's hard to really see, but in the picture below all 6 of us are siting at the feet of the big orange one.

It's Quite A Likeness....

Some Owen Progress

Owen has started sitting!! A little bit anyway. I definitely can't leave him unattended yet, but he's been doing a really good job. I'm super excited!! He'll be 5 months on Monday. I like it when they start getting older and eating real food and moving around on their own. He also had his first baby food today - bananas - and... the custard filling from a doughnut.

We'll be closing on our house in the morning which I'm also super excited. This is a great anniversary present! That's right, it will be 6 years on Saturday!!

My mom's birthday is on Sunday and kids 1-3 each made her a birthday card. Emma even wrote out "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" all by herself. She's getting so big! I didn't let my mom know they were coming so they were a nice surprise and the kids had a lot of fun making them.

Here's another pretty decent picture of all the kids together.

Evil Virus

This has been a normal scene at our house for the past couple of weeks.

Taking turns. All 6 of us.

Emma spent a week with Gramma and brought back this lovely virus to share with the rest of us. Feel the love? Now she is the only one that is completely over it and it doesn't seem like I will ever get better since I can't sleep because I have to take care of everyone else. Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. I mean, I feel a little better, but come on! Mama needs rest too!

I got a pretty good shot of the boys together not looking sick, but one is looking rather chubby.

This little porkchop weighed 18 lbs when he went in for his 4 month check a couple weeks ago. He is definitely the biggest baby we've had. Emma started out bigger, but she was only 17 lbs when she was 4 months. Owen is so round and cute I just want to squish him all the time!

In other news, we're buying a house!!

This is it. Isn't it cute?! It does actually have more space that it looks like. Four bedrooms, finished basement, an actual dining room, and a nice playset in the back yard! I'm very excited! We will be closing in just a couple of weeks. That means I have lots of packing to do (and toys to get rid of!).

News and Pictures

Here's a good one of smiley, little Owen.

Emma loves her new brother!

Owen is going to be 3 months old in a couple days! He's big enough to sit in his BebePod seat now and is so cute and smiley. I really can't wait until the weather gets warm again! The kids get a little crazy being stuck inside only playing with each other all the time. We did finally get to go to playgroup for the first time since the baby was born and it is completely amazing how well everyone plays together when you just add a couple kids that they don't see everyday! Why can't they act like that all the time?

We are seriously going to be trying to get a house this spring and I am so excited!! And nervous! Mostly excited though! We found THE house so now we just need to get a little bit of a down payment together so we can get the ball rolling. The house is 5 bedrooms and more than double the square footage we're living in now. We could really use the space, let me tell ya! I'm hoping nobody comes in and swipes it before we get a chance to get everything taken care of. Donations to our Down Payment Fund will be gladly excepted (just kidding...mostly).

And here's another goofy shot of the kids :)