We went with the Greens over Memorial Day weekend to attempt a family picture with the fun yellow canola fields that bloom here in late Spring. It was pretty chilly and overcast and I didn't have much luck on getting a great family shot.
Hailey was just helping me adjust my camera settings, so I didn't make her take her blanket off, but considering this was the best I got of the session, I probably should have! :)
We even tried again after Leevi ran into work quickly (these fields are outside his post) and set the camera up on the van with the timer and the focus was off and this was the best we got!
Definitely the best one of the day!
One afternoon when it finally warmed up, I bribed the kids with ice cream from the ice cream man (it's real ice cream and so cheap, so throughout the summer I'll let them get it once a week or so) and we walked down to a deeper forest area on post with some walking paths. I got some pretty cute ones...
The girls like the rainbow that came across this picture from the sun!
I can't believe that she's about to turn FIVE in a few months!!!!
Little man...I got the most of him because he couldn't sneak away from me to explore!
Watching a dog go by!
Caught in the act...I recruited Jenny to attempt to get a better one the next day, but Luke still wasn't a fan of being held by Hailey...
He wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry...
D.O.N.E.
I got some good ones, but these are my favorite!!!!!
I had this one mounted on a 11x14 photo block from a Groupon I had with Picaboo
Luke had his 15 month well baby check up last week. He's 22.5lbs and while I didn't get his exact height, he's in the 20% percentile (up a bit from only the 13% at his birthday). His vocabulary is Momma, Dadda, ball, uh-oh, up, tata (thank you) and he barks. :) The sounds are definitely coming and sometimes, as clear as day, it sounds as if he says something new, but he won't repeat it. And, man, is he observant!!!! He constantly surprises us by putting things where they belong and he follows commands pretty well, "go get the_____"
Playing with Big Sis
His shirt says, "2:30am Party in my Crib"...When we thought we were heading home to VA for the summer (there became ZERO chance of us getting out on a Space A flight!!!), I was holding off on his transition from formula to milk because it is so much easier to travel with AND then I held off until after camping AND then I ran out of excuses!!!! I talked with his doctor and she said, it wasn't that big a deal that he still drank it out of a bottle instead of a sippy cup, but just to make sure his nighttime feedings were cut out because of milk on the teeth. We have him on the 9-24 month Target formula just because he's so small I wanted to make sure he was getting enough calories/nutrients (he's a decent food eater, but not amazing!) He's not interested in any type of milk although potentially, if I put it in a bottle he might take it, but I'm definitely not going down that road!!!!! He still wakes up once during the night, but will go back to sleep (usually!) pretty quickly, but Leevi or I still have to go in there. You'd think by the 3rd kid we wouldn't drag this out, or maybe the thinking is that we don't want our baby to grow up!!! :) He LOVES water and will drink that out of a sippy cup, so he's just being a pain particular!
He has the best big sisters ever!!!
He can seriously be the Tazmanian Devil!!! He can't open the fridge, but I will let him play there sometimes because it keeps him off my leg occupied for a minute or two. AND he loves to take his diaper off and throw it in the trash.
Cool dude!
Exploring with Hailey
Kai was so excited when he was old enough to ride in the rocket ship shopping cart!
Storytime
Kai tried to block him off from where she was playing, but he still found a way to get it! We called it his mouse hole!!! :)
Green smoothie mustaches!
Hangin with the big kids!
He always wants to be outside!!!!!
Vacuuming is practically the only chore I know I can get done while he is awake (although it takes a little longer because he wants to help!)
She's so crazy!!!
He's definitely a FAN of the water!!!!! He put that mask on. :)
Kai built him is own tent!
It's so cute when he intentionally gets down on his belly
He insists on eating with a spoon and a fork and is quite productive.
The girls get out on a date with Leevi (usually on the weekends when Luke naps and I can have some alone time!) pretty often, whether it's something out somewhere or just around the neighborhood. Or during the week, they will talk Leevi into some project to do on the weekend. Too fun!!!
Driving range and they did putt-putt this same day!
This video just cracks me up. They have fun though! I pretended to enjoy golf as a kid to be able to tag along with my grandfather, but it wasn't until maybe 6 years ago that I started playing! Soooo looking forward to Leevi and I playing into retirement! We'll see if the kids are into it as they get older!
We have lots of shallow woods around post that the girls like to explore in. We've hiked through probably half of the woods and they love to look for bugs and new hiking sticks. We came across a little fort on one of our adventures and that gave them the idea to build one of their own. It was spring cleaning and everyone drug their hedge clippings up into the woods, so Leevi was able to use that as sides and leaned them onto a support he made at the top of 3 trees. The girls LOVED it and I was equally impressed! :) It is in the woods by the park at the end of our street and a dad playing there one day with his kids asked if my husband was the one who drove the big truck on our street. When I replied, "yes", he said he thought so. I guess owning an awesome truck equates to awesome fort building skills! :)
UNFORTUNATELY, while we were camping over the 4th of July, some kids destroyed the fort! I was shocked! It wasn't in our yard, but I never imagined someone would want to destroy such an awesome fort! We had pictured many future families playing in it long after we left. Two little friends that the girls play with at the park said that they tried to stop the boys, but they didn't listen.
The girls got to pick individual dates with Daddy and Hailey picked bowling. She and Leevi rode scooters/bikes there and bowled and had dessert!
Kai picked dinner and a movie!! They saw Epic in 3D
One weekend they talked Leevi into building them each a birdhouse. We got on Pintrest that morning to get some design ideas and Leevi went to work. They each spray painted theirs and the following day, painted a design. They turned out great!!!
