Playing catch-up

I have all sorts of fun pictures from my phone that I keep meaning to stick on here.  So this post will be a huge mish-mosh of some randomness.  I think I'll make a summer vacation post all on its own later- too much fun stuff to post.

Note... blogger is doing strange things with the arrangement of my text and pics.  And I don't feel like trying to figure it out :-D

Ryan learned to ride his bike this summer.  This picture is actually from August 1st.  The balance bike we purchased him was a huge contributor to that learning.  Steve is pretty excited that he has now taught a child at ages 6 (Ellie), 5 (Katie), 4 (Sarah) and 3 (Ryan).  Tommy and Anna have their work cut out for them to keep up the trend!

The girls have loved dressing and snuggling with Anna...

We had a rather impressive double rainbow and Ellie did her best to capture it...

 While our garden wasn't a huge success, our carrots certainly were!  I might do an entire raised bed next year of just carrots.  The kids LOVED going out and picking enormous carrots.

 I had the opportunity to go on a field trip with Katie to Applewood Orchards and pick apples.  It was a great chance to have some one-on-one with her.  Those times are fairly few and far between any more.

Steve purchased a motorcycle and the kids love to go for rides with him.  It got pretty chilly right after he bought it, so there haven't been as many opportunities as they'd like.  I haven't been on it yet.

The daddy horseback rides are getting trickier.  We did eventually get the 5 bigger kids on, but there's just no camera proof.

These pajamas are from Christmas last year.  When we pulled out winter clothes the kids had a blast playing in their matching PJs.  It's getting tough to find matching jammies for such a wide range of sizes! 

Sometimes you just have to have picture proof at how reverent your children are.  Before this was taken we did our usual reminder of, "fold your arms, bow your heads, close your eyes and listen."

We picked apples as a family and then made applesauce together.  

 Tommy is learning the ropes of feeding Anna her bottle.

We went and watched the cadets march onto the parade field for the presentation of the Thayer award.  It was really quite the impressive sight to see!  I loved it.  Kids (and let's be honest... Steve as well) got bored and hungry pretty quick.

Anna had her first ride on a swing and loved it.

The girls played in the stream while I went searching for good picture-taking spots.  This is the park right next to where the Tolmans used to live.

Katie gave us her interpretation of the definition of technology. 

Katie was lucky and I got to go in to her class again for the 1st grade Hoe-Down.  

Sarah and Ryan were sporting Dad's big shoes and giving a sneak-peak at our Halloween costumes.  Those will receive their own post eventually.

I took all 6 kids (by myself!) on a field trip to the Harness Racing Museum as part of an activity given by the housing people here.  The kids loved it and I was fascinated by this sport I had never heard of before. 

Steve turned 36...

Katie was running down the stairs, took the turn too quick and slammed into the ledge.  Ouch.  Thankfully glue took care of it.  She wasn't too keen on the idea of stitches.  And the nice doctor gave her a popsicle, too.  

When I was in the hospital after Anna was born my mom took the girls out shopping and this is the outfit they picked out for Anna.  They were so excited she could finally fit in it! Can you tell who isn't quite ready for school yet?

We started up Joy School here.  I gotta say- I miss my group of gals back in Illinois.  It is myself and one other mom, as we couldn't get anyone else to join us. And we asked many moms!  So far so good. 

Tommy just makes me laugh every day.  He adores his new spider-man rain boots and along with a cape and mask is constantly becoming "disaster-boy".

The kids love to watch Steve play his video games.  Even if they have to crowd around and watch him play on the Ipad.

We are becoming more economical in our sleeping arrangements.  

Since my other girls were spring babies, many of their clothes are off-season.  But I still love them, so Anna gets to wear each outfit at least once so I can enjoy it again.  This was for church today.

It is extremely rare that Anna will just snuggle and fall asleep anymore.  Had to capture it this afternoon.  

On a side note... We switched Anna back to milk- based formula and her bowel issues cleared up.  Her colic has disappeared, but her high-maintenance attitude remains :)  There are some days I wish she would be content just hanging out, but she's getting there.  I can get the best smiles out of her now, which I love.  We spend a lot of time cooing at each other each day.  Anna is probably the best night-time sleeper I've ever had.  She's typically only up once a night, which is heavenly.  She's thinking about rolling, but more than anything she just wants to get moving.  Always wants to be sitting up, not leaning back.  And you can tell she really wants to be part of the action.  

Ryan no longer calls her "the new baby."  She is now known as "Anna Banana."  (with the soft "a" sound).

I still live my life one day at a time.  I get frustrated at times that I cannot seem to get much farther out with my planning, but I suppose if I'm surviving each day, I'm doing pretty well.