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.

A visit to Hotlanta in July

 

We took a trip to Atlanta to visit Brian's aunt Karma and family.  My kids were excited to find out they had even more cousins.  This is the most cousins I got in one picture.  They had a fabulous time playing and keep asking to go visit again.

While we were there we visited Stone Mountain.

At Stone Mountain we climbed the ropes course.

Climbed the rock walls.

Climbed Stone Mountain.
Are you seeing a recurring theme?  My kids thought it was the best theme park ever.

Silhouettes on top of The Rock, that is Atlanta in the background.

We also climbed down the mountain,

played in the big barn (which was a big barn with foam balls all over, they had a variety of vacuums and machines designed for moving the foam ball around = hours of entertainment),

 

competed in an extreme form of miniature golf (I am pretty sure Grace is swinging like a baseball bat),

 rode the zip lines,

 

fed the butterflies,

ate some candy,

 

and posed for lots,

and lots,

of pictures.

Who needs Mickey Mouse when you could have a giant sucker?

The next day we opted for something a little more creepy.

Did you know this place even existed?

Jacob denies ever being present at this activity and would not pose on the giant cabbage.

While we were there Mother cabbage gave "birth."  Yes that is scrubs she is wearing and a giant bottle drip line.  Weird but fascinating all at the same time.  Are those baby heads creeping any one else out?

Did you know an x-ray of a cabbage patch doll looks like this? 

Adam thought it was awesome and fed the babies.

Eliza thought it was awesome and tried to eat the babies.

Grace thought it was awesome and adopted a baby that she named Merry Beth.  We had to pay 3 dollars to have a new birth certificate mailed to us (Jacob thought this was ridiculous).  Her original name was Shaun, which I keep threatening to call her when Grace does not behave.  I think it is working well as a form of punishment.

Cabbage Patch land had awesome lilies

and more lilies.  I was tempted to dig some up, but the gardeners were busy working.

 

We headed up to Helen, Adam and Grace mined for gems  

while Brian took Jacob and Merry tubing on the Chattahoochee.

We waited way down yonder on the Chattahoochee for Brian and crew to come along.  

We happened to be sitting next to an area of rapids.  Grace and some other little girls were trying to tell all the people to come over to the smooth side.  I on the other hand enjoyed watching all the people getting dumped off of their tubes.

Finally we headed to the Varsity to get some grub.

I guess it is time to go home.  

We also visited the Dekalb farmer's market and took an awesome tour of downtown with Uncle Stephen.  I just forgot my camera during those events.

We had a great time and can't wait to go back.

Eliza at 7 months

Eliza, blue eyes, at seven months.

 Check out her chubby fingers and toes.

I am slowly finishing her baby blanket, pictured below her fingers and toes.

 She thinks she can crawl, she gets her knees all scrunched up and then lunges forward.

She purses her lips and then suck on them.
It is entertaining for hours.

 She likes to eat her toes.

Ewwww, toes are gross.

Party on the west coast (of Florida)

We went to visit sunny Naples for a dental conference.  

Okay so maybe it was more to soak up some sun.

While I was in class the kids and Brian hit the beach,

the pool,

and the pool some more.

There was a small aquarium at the hotel. 

The ranger did shows with the baby alligators and bamboo shark each night.

My favorite, a lion fish.

 Adam was excited to find Nemo and Marlin.

The kids waiting to go to the aquarium.

Jacob was more impressed by the giant video game room, that was his favorite part of the vacation.

 

Oh, look I was there too, they finally let me out of class.

 

They had a family activity with competitions like taking marbles out of a swimming pool filled with ice with your toes. 
This is Grace warming up for the activities.
The kids won some Coldstone gift cards; good job kids I will take you to Coldstone if you will share with me.
I am sure the head stand helped.

 

Cute Eliza, ready for pictures.

And finally what would a family vacation be without some form of torture.
Pictures on the beach.

Tax deduction/family vacation finished - check.