Mason Joseph

Thank goodness he's finally here! I don't think I would've lasted much longer ; ) !!!
He was born on the 21st at 4:23pm - 8lbs 15oz. - my biggest baby yet!

Pumpkin Patch

This year we decided to try a new place, so we hit up Seigels Cottonwood Farm in Crest Hill. The kids had a BLAST! They got to ride the hayride out to pick a pumpkin, go down the inflatable slides, ride a little train and feed the animals in the petting zoo.

this goat was up on the metal roof! the kids thought this was the funniest thing in the world - Brian lifted Kaylin up to feed him a snack

Brian went to the driving range with my sisters and my bro on his birthday, and brought Kaylin along - since then she had been begging to go again, so he cut down an old club to her size and she LOVES it! you gotta watch out though, if you are anywhere near her, you are in danger of loosing your head!

Isabella has finally made the 3 year old cut - she is going to her very own dance lessons! We found a new place right down the street, so hopefully it turns out to be great. So far, she is loving it!

Her she is all ready to go!

waiting in the "train" to go into the studio
dancing in a circle with her new teacher Ms. Amy

First day of Kindergarten/Preschool

here are the girls super excited about their first day of school!

It was looooong awaited - they had been begging me to start for numerous weeks ever since they saw their books arrive. So far it's going pretty good! The hardest part is timing it right. Matt doesn't do so good at playing on his own in the basement yet (unless he is following the girls around, but they are at the table, so he wants to be there too!), so we have been waiting for him to nap before we begin. Kaylin is learning how to write upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet on handwriting paper and Isabella is learning the alphabet and letter sounds, amongst many other things!

They also just began a storytime hour at the library and have been really enjoying that.

as for myself and Brian, we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the latest Engler model. we are finally down to numbers in the teens! WHOOHOO! I am very (veryveryveryvery) ready to be "not pregnant" (what's that?!?)!!!

Soon, very soon : o )

She's on two wheels!

now, she wouldn't be kaylin if she weren't wearing a fancy dress (with gym shoes no less!) while riding on two wheels all the way down the sidewalk for the first time! look at that grin : )

Matt's 1st Haircut!

somehow, I always seems to have these come up in reverse order...

so go down to bottom, and go up!

"does it look good or bad?!?"
"AHHHH! MAKE IT STOP!"

"cool dad! this thing makes a neat sound... wait a minute, are you cutting my HAIR???"

pre-cut yikes! is that a girl or a boy?!?

what on earth have we been doing all spring/summer???

enjoying summer night s'mores
trying to stop and smell the flowers ; )

campfires in the backyard

going to lansing parades with friends!

Hard at work, mopping the floors!
going to many prenatal check-ups and having ice cream treats!

planting seeds in the spring to give as mothers day gifts!

going for walks and collecting "treasures"!

enjoying time with grandma and grandpa (and our cousins! L-R:Cannon,Kevin Jr., Isabella, Matt, Kaylin and Thor)

The first prenatal!

Wasn't I just here, in this very room, a few months ago?!?

The kids were super excited to get to see Ms Gayle (my midwife) again - they LOVE helping her check the baby. Kaylin got to help find the baby's heartbeat and Isabella got to help measure my ever growing belly.

Avianna Marie Black - Amanda's birth went well, but I missed the baby being born by just a few minutes! Glad for Amanda though that she was going fast enough for me to miss it ; )

We made a deal with Isabella that if she worked very hard on telling us when she needed to go to the potty and being obedient to mommy and daddy that she would get to go to the pet store and pick out her very own fishy just like Kaylin got to. She chose this pretty one as the keeper (well... actually she chose a different one at first, but Auntie Heather and I swayed her a little since the first choice was a little nasty looking!).

The two fishies got to get a new home as well! A new bowl that has a divider in the middle, so they can share it. Since betta fish fight, there is a divider in the middle - you can slide out a piece that keeps them from seeing one another and soon as you do, they flare their gills and try to attack each other! It's kind of neat to see! But the whole time they can't see each other, they sit sadly close to the divider like they miss one another terribly. It's a love hate relationship ; )

kids..

I got a cute little kids CD from the library with several christian kids songs. The kids have been playing it constantly! I just noticed today how Kaylin is singing the words "He is the vine and we are the britches, His banner over me is love..." I could hardly control my laughter! She's been singing it all day like that!

While looking through all these old videos we found this little clip of Kaylin in her dance class in Dec. of 2007 and she wanted to post it for all to see! It was a special day where the parents got to sit in the room with the kids. She couldn't skip around the circle once without waving!

Testing 1 2 3

If I actually did this right, this is a video of Kaylin's dance show back in December - next to her with the pigtails is my cousin Marie's daughter Sydney

Matt's 1st foods!

he started out with a bit of whining that he was in the high chair... again! i always stick him in here when i am cleaning up the kitchen, which is pretty much all the time!
WHOA - SCORE! i don't care if i am in the chair now! these bananas are tasty!

chowing down!

wait, i am not sure if i really like this anymore...

Our school for the day - watching the president being sworn in and talking about what a president is!
Kaylin discovered my drawer with things I used to use! Pretty tablecloths and placemats, etc. She was sooooo excited! She decided with Isabella to set up the table all "beautiful" for dinner time.

In the same drawer she had found my napkin rings (why do people think they need to register for these things?!?) which I have never used. Since I didn't really have any cloth napkins she put the napkin rings around all the clean kitchen towels and had them set up all around the kitchen. Look at how proud she was! She did a great job

Misc.

These are some old pictures from last fall - thought I would just stick them in here for fun

Matt going in the bumbo seat for the first time - I love his adoring look at Kaylin! He still looks at her like this!
For a school field trip to go along with Five in a Row's "How to make an apple pie and see the world" we took the kids apple picking. I look terrible (I just had a baby, what can I say?!? at least I am not in PJ's!), but the kids look cute!

our growing little brood

L-R: Kaylin, Cheyenne, Isabella,Gabe,Dillon holding Matt and Moriah