September Evening

Our backyard in September.

 Adam found a giant leaf from a house plant that was dumped outside and is now growing up the side of an oak tree.  He converted it into a make-shift umbrella.  Got to love this guy's creativity.

 This started as a fairy house at the base of an oak tree, but then Grace found a dead butterfly to occupy in the little house.

 She is pretty sure that the butterfly will turn into a fairy.

 Jacob and Merry climbing their favorite tree.  

 Somehow Merry with pruning shears does not seem like a good idea.

Finally, a fall-y sunset.

9 months old

 Happy 9 months Eliza

and happy beginning of fall.

Her eyes are still very blue, I keep waiting for them to change.

Super Eliza, saves the lego man.

Then promptly chews on his leg.

She is a tongue roller, she must be looking for her new teeth.

Come on Eliza show me your teeth.

This is the best I could get.  She has 6 teeth now.

She is vertical now, nothing is safe.

Note to self: add oiling chair legs to kid chore list.

He is jet pack free!

Adam's Jet pack and Grace hates Kindergarten

Adam tumbled off his bed last night and broke his collar bone.

We went to the urgent care to have him checked.   The nurse came in a gave him a brace, when she walked out Adam turned to me and said "I've got a jet pack."  Then as we were walking out he said to the nurse "Thanks for the jet pack."  Hopefully he does not try to fly off of anything.  The broken collar bone has not slowed him down at all.  The only time he pulls the broken collar bone card is when he does not want to eat his dinner or pick up his toys.

Merry and Grace came in my room at 2:00 AM on Saturday night.  Merry was screaming "Grace will not stop crying and she keeps waking me up. "  I asked Grace what was wrong and she said, " I hate kindergarten and I am never going back."  I was a little confused because Grace has been so excited about school and has loved it so far.  After prying a little, Merry finally said that Grace told her that she accidentally threw away her lunch tag on Friday.  She must have not remembered until Saturday night that she needed the tag.  Any way Merry had to reassure her that Mrs. McCarthy would not care and that she could get another tag.  I had to go find her lunch number in the binder in her book bag and show it to her before she would go back to bed.  Crisis averted, Grace loves kindergarten again.

Random Eliza

 I finally finished Eliza's baby quilt and we put her crib up and painted her room.

 Playing in her new room is pretty great.

 Especially in Grace's doll bed.

 All this playing wears a girl out.

Getting her to sleep here is a different matter.

Not nap time according to Eliza.

 

 "Please Mom, don't leave me here."

Labor day weekend

Over Labor Day weekend, we took a trip to the MOSI.

Wow, good shot Brian, Merry must have told me a really good joke.

We are waiting in line to ride the roller coaster simulator.  I would not recommend, I seriously wanted to puke half way through.

 The  girls and me playing with legos.

Eliza all worn out at the museum. 

We also hung out at home.

Eliza is  becoming a proficient crawler.

Here is a shot of her interesting teething pattern.  All my kids grow their lateral incisors before the centrals.

Grace with her favorite past time.

I think that the phrase "do not throw balls in the house" is what I might say to Jacob the most.

Tired Eliza being entertained by Jacob and Grace.

Mom with the little girls.

This is the only picture I could find of Brian from the whole weekend.

Good job Brian make it look like you were working the whole time.

8 months

 Miss Eliza Jane is 8 months old.

 

She celebrated by growing her 3rd tooth.

She is mobile now. Baby proofing is slightly harder with 4 older siblings.  She was so excited to see the grass, tasting it was a must.  Unfortunately she does not like baby food as much as she likes grass.  Any normal human food is fine with her though.

More pictures because she is so cute.

Even more pictures.

Back to school, back to school

I can't believe I have 3 kids in school this year.  Jacob is going into 4th, Merry into 2nd and Grace into kindergarten.  I cut  10 inches off of Grace's hair so we could streamline the morning production, she was sad at first now she loves it because it will finally curl with the help of pink rollers.  Jacob opted for no haircut this year, I wonder how long he is going to make it with shaggy hair in the Florida heat.   I always think I am going to take a ton of pictures, then we end up underestimating prep time.  Oh well maybe next year.

Look how happy Eliza is for school to start.

Now she might get morning naps.

The first day of school was also the 1st day of dance.  Merry is taking ballet and acrobatics.  Grace is taking pre ballet.

Life at the lake is still humming.  It has rained and rained and rained this week so the lake came up about 8 feet.  I looked out with the binoculars at the canoe and it was half way under water.  Merry and Ashley headed down in their rubber boots to save the canoe.  Merry stepped in all the deepest puddles to ensure her boots would get nice and sloshy.  They found a clutter of banana spiders had taken refuge in the canoe during the storm.   Meanwhile our two surviving chickens huddled under the wooden swing to survey the damage of the storm.