SMILE!

This little girl gives us such sweet smiles!  Today she is seven weeks old and is a very good little baby.  She recognizes Mommy, Daddy, her siblings and Grandma Karen and rewards us all with the biggest smiles!  We LOVE it.  Juliana also does her best to talk to us--saying it's precious would be an understatement.  It makes all of the hard work in the past seven weeks worth it! 

Currently, Juliana goes to bed between 9:30-10:30 and will sleep until 4:30-5:30 (my BEST night-time sleeper yet!).  During the day, I can usually get one good nap out of her (sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, and, sometimes not at all!).  But, she sleeps so long at night, I don't mind the rough days...most of the time!  And, with smiles like these, my heart just melts and I say, "Okay, the housework can wait and I can hold you just a little bit longer!"

Play Ball!

Christian started baseball just a couple of weekends ago!  It's kindergarten coach-pitch and he ended up with a very nice coach, who Christian always calls, "Coach."  It's very sweet.  And, so far, he just loves it.

There are a lot of little guys who love to field balls.  Christian especially.  He will run from his position on third base all the way to right field to chase down a ball.  It's great to watch his enthusiasm for the game.  And, it's also hilarious. 

Christian is also a great hitter!  Both of the games (and practices) that he played in, he gets a good hit or two off of the first two pitches.  He is very coordinated and has a great swing!

 Christian also takes his base running very seriously--always watching the next hitter, waiting to sprint to the next base.

Here is 1/2 of Christian's cheering section.  (Emily is off climbing a nearby tree and Daddy and Juliana just aren't in the shot.)  Kari loves to cheer her big brother on...provided we have brought enough snacks.

And, one final shot of our little slugger.  Big smiles all around!

Loves being a big sister

Emily loves being a big sister.  LOVES it.  And, since Juliana will both nurse and take a bottle, Emily was able to use her big-sister skills and feed her a bottle I had pumped before heading out one Saturday morning.  Soooo sweet and I love it how Juliana is just looking up at Emily.  And, if you look behind Em's hair, you can see how big of a smile Emily had to be able to be bonding with her baby sister.

Angry Birds, Anyone?

 So here we are at Christian's 5th Birthday party!  And, if you've been around Christian at all these past few months (ever since Daddy got an iPhone through work), then you know that Christian is OBSESSED with Angry Birds.  And that's exactly what kind of a party he wanted to have!  We had our bested neighbor friends over for some fun Angry Birds activities, cake and ice cream.  We had perfect weather and a fantastic little party!



Blowing out the candles!

Here are some of the many pictures that were taken of Christian's fun day!



The girls--Brooklynn, Emily, and Ella



Christian, Andy and Henry



Crushing the pig pinata



Daddy, holding the pinata (the kids broke the string off of it!)

Poor little piggy!



"Playing" Angry Birds--launching tennis balls at the pigs.



What they were trying to hit

I LOVE this picture--it shows how truly happy Christian was on his big day!

Opening his eyes to see his big gift...

 

A new bike!  (The training wheels came off outside)