Journaling

A sneak peak of what Owen will be dressing up as for Halloween this year. Shh. Don't tell.  

This was his "journal" for today.  Some days he journals whatever his little self feels like drawing. Other days we do a "how to draw a _______". Just depends on mom's mood, Owen's mood, how the babies are cooperating. But this happens to be what we did today.  We have been working on "kid writing" and building his confidence to write down the sounds he hears.

"I will be Mario. I like to play Mario."
(This was not done independently...he had some help from me.)

An encouraging word from Lilly--Try your hardest

Lilly was working a puzzle the other evening and was making up a song as she sang about what to do if you need help.  I asked her to sing it again so I could record it.  She was a tad shy, but muscled through it.

"Try your hardest, if you can't do it....then an adult has to help you"

Good advice, Lilly Grace.

Fall Leaves and my boys

The one and only picture I have duplicated for each of the boys.  (Lilly, sorry, mama owes ya one.  But I didn't think that you would appreciate me putting you in brown lion overalls.) 

Here's Everett enjoying the leaves.  He really did love them.

And for comparison, here are Gibson and Owen at similar ages:

Gibson at 5 1/2 months

Owen at 6 months

Hey Lilly, we are in luck. I was just looking back at old pictures as stumbled across one of you in some leaves--at 11 months. Yay!

Visiting Sweet Friends

 We went for a weekend to visit our dear friends who lived in Logansport just 2 1/2 short years and now have move to southern IN. We miss them dearly.  So time with them was sweet.  It was relaxing. It was just good to be in good company.  The kids had a blast together.  I was horrible about pictures though.  So here are the few I captured.

 The kiddos

 

We didn't venture far. Just spent time hanging out.  They had a zip line set up in the backyard, which was a hit, for the boys anyways.  Lilly had a minor mishap on her first run that turned her off to any more tries.  Owen and Gibson couldn't get enough of the thrill ride. 

Jimmy would get Gibby started, then run to the other end to help him dismount.

Everett--7 months old

Everett Kent is 7 months old.  He went for his 6 month check up last week.  Here are the stats:

Weight = 19 in

Height = 27 3/4 lbs

Poor guy had to get 5 shots--they don't get easier for mama, that's for sure.  He did great though.  He cried until it was over and I picked him up.  Then he turned around and looked at the nurse as if to say, "I thought you were nice, why you gotta be so rude?"

This little guy is army crawl scooting himself where he wants to go.  Cooing a ton, and super friendly and aware of his surroundings.  He likes to carry on conversations with his cooing which is so super cute.  He has 3 teeth, almost 4.  Cutting all 4 at the same time is hard work and has required, understandably, some extra tlc.

No need for words

These two sure do enjoy each other. 

The afternoon lull

The last hour before Daddy gets home can be anywhere on the spectrum from super quiet and cuddly while the kiddos wake up from naps to super crazy while I try to get dinner prepped and the kids all need something simultaneously.  This afternoon was one where I felt like I could breathe easy for a bit.  All kids were happily occupied.

Owen--playing his new love--the Wii.  The 30 minutes I think he looks forward to most in the day. 

Everett--practicing his army crawling and playing with random toys on the floor.

Lilly and Gibson-- fingerpainting...these two almost always enjoy an art project.  Or maybe just Lilly enjoys the art factor and Gibby enjoys doing most anything his sister does. 

A Beautiful Fall Evening

We enjoyed the evening outside last week doing fall things--like playing cornhole...and cleaning out the truck. Gibby decided his truck was quite dirty and drug the shop vac out of the garage asking me to plug it in.  He set to work vacuuming all the leaves out of his beloved truck. 

Our Core Four

Lilly was being sweet holding Everett but the boys overheard me say, "let me grab the camera, Lilly," and wanted to join the snapshot. 

School Days

Hard at work. 

Painting the Clubhouse

The kids have been busy "chalking" the playground.  They are super proud of the work, as they should be. It is beautiful.  And after we get rain, they always inspect to see how much of it still remained and so far they have been pleasantly surprised.  :)

Owen didn't want to get a picture at the moment.

Sweet Morning

This was a sweet morning. The kids got out a game and were super sweet to one another and Owen was teaching Lilly and Gibson how to play.  I even got to sip my coffee for bit. *Sigh*

And Everett, sweet boy.

Carving Pumpkins

You know how you can get an idealistic pretty picture of what a family activity will look like...and then it doesn't go quite like that pretty picture in your head. Well, that is a bit of what happened for this little.   But really, once I adjusted my expectations, it really went just fine. And the kids thought it was great fun, so mission accomplished. 

The lids were cut off and Lilly was appalled at having to get that ooey gucky stuff out of the pumpkin.  We grabbed some spoons and I loosened it all up and she worked at scooping out those seeds.

Owen thought it was gross at first glance, but then the boyishness kicked in and he thought it was super cool.

Gibby was completely uninterested and roamed the yard for most of the time. But I indulged and carved a tractor on the front of his.  He was pleased.

Everett was chill like always and cheered us on in our endeavors.

The result:

 I love this one of Lilly. Perfect picture--talking with her hands, purse on her shoulder, and acting like she's 13, not 3.

Soccer Man

Owen played Upward Soccer this fall

and

HE. LOVED. IT. 

ABSOLUTELY. LOVED. IT.

He couldn't wait for Wednesday night practice and Saturday morning games.  They were the highlights of his week.  He kept track of goals, even though his league didn't keep score.  He was all over the field and pretty darn agressive and competitive.  He would play games against himself in the yard and even roped grandparents into playing some backyard soccer whenever they were around.

 Go #8!!

 Here he is with his buddy and team mate, Hudson, after a hot Saturday morning game.

Gibby the Goofball

That he is.  Oh my goodness, this boy can make us laugh.  He is quite the "brute."  Daddy once called him that because of the way he was walking around acting so tough and getting into trouble....and it stuck.  Now anytime he does something goofy we all say, "Gibby, you're being a brute."  He laughs and sometimes says, "Me, brute." 

But, even though he can be a brute. He does have a soft side.  He is always looking out for what "Evey" might want/need. (.....and sometimes wrestles him too.) He occasionally carries a baby around and takes care to feed it and put it to sleep.

 Here is one morning he was carrying around Lilly's umbrella just in case we were hit with a rain storm.

Adding some extra excitement to school

Gibby even got involved in this one.  Owen had to write words in shaving cream on his tray. Lilly had beginning sounds.  And Gibby just enjoyed the experience.

He requested Mommy draw him, of all things, ....a tractor.  Seriously, this boy lives for tractors right now. Throw a tractor into any activity and he's there.  

And Owen made gloves with his extra and requested it be recorded on the camera, too.

Look who is starting to be on the move--up on his knees!  He is starting to army crawl a bit too.  My life is about to change...