Here is an update on Jonathan. He is developing some independence despite still being a tiny baby. This is his latest trick - moving. It's amazing how fast he can be when no one is watching him. He tried to make a break for an open door once. Time to baby proof.
Yes, that head shaking is also new. He thinks he's pretty funny.
Here he is in his Johnny Jump Up (that's really what it's called). The girls are responsible for the sunglasses and also the hairdo, and also the stool he's sitting on. They wanted him to hold still while they were trying to fix him all up so they had him sit on a stool so he wouldn't jump. Kind of defeats the purpose of the whole thing, but if it keeps 3 kids entertained, then ok.
This is when we realized that he was too big for the bouncy seat. He is strapped in, but he was able to turn over and since he's heavy enough it nearly touches the ground. It was the first baby item to be stored away. :( (yes, even before the bassinet)
Jonathan started a habit of "yelling" in the middle of the night and sometimes during his nap. At nighttime I didn't want to leave him in there because I didn't want him to wake up Charlie. At nap time though, I decided that he can yell as long as he wants, he needed to learn it's time to sleep. Well, this backfired one day when I finally went in to get him after he had been "yelling" (think ticked-off taxi driver) for an undisclosed amount of time and found him like this:
Yes, I did feel terrible, but I have to say, the yelling has stopped. At least mostly. For nap time. He has now discovered his high-pitched scream. I knew there were paybacks for my developing this skill as a baby, but 4 out of 4 seems a little overkill.
Here is a sweet picture of Jonny and Daddy. :)
This is the picture I've been waiting for! I have a picture of each kid asleep in this exer-saucer. If I ever have the determination I'll find and post them all. Anyway, I knew it would happen at some point. Glad I can cross that off my list. :)
I went to get Jonathan up from his nap and his crib was empty! As I wondered out loud where the heck he was, I heard giggling. The girls challenged me to find him - which in a house this size and seeing that he's basically mobile shouldn't be that hard. When I finally gave up, the girls clued me in. He played along incredibly well and didn't make a noise the entire time.
Ashley broke all the rules and gave Jonathan yogurt!! He acted like a crazed animal and couldn't get enough. He was shaking and grabbing for her hand to pull the spoon in his mouth. It was a little disturbing.
Not sure why the video won't load on here, so I had to put it on YouTube:
He is (I think) legitimately sitting up now. I don't test him too much cuz all it takes is someone to run by too fast to blow him over.
He rarely has pants on anymore because when he moves, he will often crawl out of his pants. I haven't figured out how to prevent this, except for putting overalls on him. :)
I let him lay down with Ashley while I got "a few things done." I really don't think it was that long, but they both fell asleep. :)
His hair is seriously getting redder. It's funny to see, but I did receive this picture of my Grandma Harper. She definitely was a red head.
So, the red may be here to stay. Let the nicknames begin. :)
A couple weekends ago we did family haircuts. Ashley was first. I had never cut her hair before, but she was (mostly) willing to be my first guinea pig. Here are her long locks before:
I forgot to take an after picture of her, but here is one that shows her haircut. It's from when the girls were doing facial masks. That's a totally different story.
Here is Abby's before picture:
Ashley wanted to practice cutting Abby's hair. She has been cutting her doll's hair and it's actually turned out really good. I told her she could practice on the first 2 inches since I was planning on cutting off at least 4 anyway. Here she is starting out:
We had several projects going on that day - cleaning out closets, total garage revamp, etc - and I somehow got delayed in returning to Abby's hair. Ashley came to me and said she had finished taking off 2 inches, could she just go ahead and do Abby's haircut. Somehow I said yes. Abby didn't seem to mind, so I figured another 30 minutes of productivity was worth a worst-case-scenario of a trip to Great Clips. Well, wouldn't you know it, her hair turned out great! I have to be careful how I say it, but Ashley definitely did a better job than I did. :)
The next haircut will be Ashley doing mine. I am totally going to let her try it. I'll be sure to post pictures. :)
Charlie is in Awanas and his program ended last week. He successfully completed his first year of Cubbies and memorized almost 30 verses. He LOVED going to Cubbies each week, mainly because Ashley and Abby had their own Wednesday night event, so this was just his. It was fun to watch him in his own setting. Baby Charlie has grown up. :) Here he is with his book ribbon.
All of the Cubbies sang the theme song for the parents. I love Charlie's face at the end!
We've heard this song quite a few times this year (!) but every time he sings it, he still gets that goofy smile on his face. I love it!
We were able to tack on a couple of extra days to the birthday weekend which was nice. We went to my mom and Bill's and had fun hanging out. I forgot my camera one day and wasn't so good about taking pictures the second, so the visuals are lacking. Here is a picture I got of my mom with Jonathan though.
On Tuesday (Ian's birthday!) I set Jonathan down on the ground not even thinking, and he sat up!! He was not very stable, but it was definitely a reminder of what's coming!
That night they started in with blizzard warnings for the next day. It didn't turn out to be everything they predicted, but it was a decent snow! This was not in the forecast when we were packing for the trip, so we didn't even bring jackets. The kids put on my mom and Bill's coats, sweaters, gloves and boots and headed out to play. It was single digit temps and the kids claimed they weren't even cold. Just 24 hours prior, they were in the hot tub basking in the sun!
Charlie was thoughtful enough to shovel the driveway as well. Hope your snow scraper survived, Bill. :)
We were able to brave the storm and make it to Red Robin to celebrate Dad and Karis' actual birthday. That evening we played Clue with mom and Bill which the kids loved. We have since bought the game and the kids are addicted. Even Charlie. He plays really well for having no clue what he's doing.
This was a big decade-birthday year, including my Dad turning 70 and Marge turning 60! We planned a trip to Denver to surprise them the weekend before my Dad's birthday. It was a lot of fun to plan, but I learned that it was very stressful keeping a secret that big!!! The plan was to all meet Friday afternoon near Dad and Marge's house. My aunts and uncles came in from North Carolina and California, Alli and Ian came (and conveniently organized flying with us from Seattle to Denver!), plus Eliza, Laurel and her kiddos. I think at our max we had 19 people total. Andy couldn't come out until late Friday night, so very early Friday morning, he helped us on the MAX with our 9 bags, 2 car seats, and one baby (these are the things we had to keep counting) and sent us on our way. Fortunately, we all love a good adventure. :)
Notice that it's still dark outside?!?!?
Once we got the extra bag and car seats checked, we were golden. Each person pulled one suitcase and carried a backpack. Plus Jonathan in the front pack. Security was so easy - the kids didn't have to take off their shoes and I didn't even have to take off Jonathan! The only crazy part was when we got to security at 8:20am and I momentarily thought our flight left at 8:30, so we raced through security only to remember that the flight really left at 9:30. I had a lot of spaciness going on. Fortunately Ashley and Abby were there to notice any left behind luggage (or people).
Here we are finally on our first flight from Portland to Seattle. You have no idea how much negotiation goes into where we all would sit! Fortunately, everyone ended up happy!
When we got to Seattle, we were SO HAPPY to see Alli and Ian! They are saints. This was a very early morning for them anyway, but they got to the airport even earlier - in time to meet us at our gate. AWESOME!
Charlie and Ian were buddies on the escalators:
Sherpas:
Check this out - Alli gave up her first class seats to sit in coach and manage three kids. Sister of the YEAR! Ian may have been momentarily disappointed about his loss in the first class seat deal, but after getting to sit next to me for 2 1/2 hours, I'm sure he was counting his blessings. :)
Jonathan and Alli took turns sleeping:
We all met up at Dad and Marge's house and sent Ashley and Abby to the front door to "sell girl scout cookies". While my Dad was with them at the front door, the rest of us snuck in the back. I got the surprise on video. I just had the camera on, not focused on anything in particular, but we got it recorded. Dad and Marge are hard people to surprise, but I think we actually did it. They at least didn't expect anything of this magnitude.
Dad with Jonathan:
That night we had a traditional Skyline Chili dinner which was AWESOME. Plus, Laurel made Grandma Harper's apple pie for my Dad - which is his ultimate favorite. She made them in muffin pans which turned out individual pies! (unless you're my dad and claim that 3 pies make one serving) :) I'm sure she was thankful 70th birthdays are once in a lifetime as she was cutting out the lattice for 24+ pies! They were awesome.
The next day we had a photographer come out to take family pictures. These should be awesome with everyone together plus the amazing backdrop that Dad and Marge have from their yard. Here is a sampling.
The rest of the day we pretty much just hung out outside. There is something about Colorado sunshine that just paralyzes you in your chair. (except for Ian, Alli, Eliza, and Laurel who went for a run, but they are the exception) Marge also rallied and took all the kids in the hot tub. Way to take one for the team, Marge. :) They were in there for a LONG time.
Jean did a great job stealing the baby. In fact, I don't think I have one picture of Alli with Jonathan. I think she was practicing her sharing skills. :)
Laurel and Eliza were great baby stealers too. Jonathan was VERY thrilled with all of the attention.
And then Ryan busted the party and became the baby hog. This is the cheese bowl on Jonny's head. It's just what happens at events like this.
At one point in the day, Andy and I snuck off to see my mom. The boys (Charlie and Jonathan) were supposed to be sleeping and the girls were all playing. We are talking about a small window of time here, but my Aunts are determined ladies, and have lots of ulterior motives. Lydia is probably the more innocent of the two, but you know what they say about the company you hang out with. :) Jean likes to come across as nurturing and innocent.
She also likes to frame family members as guilty and spearheads of projects she invented. (Don't worry, she would likely not deny this). Exhibit A: the mohawk. (keep in mind that Jonathan was safely sleeping when we left)
Very convenient that Lydia is the one in the picture when I'm quite sure Jean was the one applying the gel. Exhibit B: the York peppermint patty. It would appear as though this was applied with much force.
Again with Lydia in the picture, but this is an easy mystery to solve since Jean has a habit of doing this. Here is Charlie suffering the same fate in 2009. She probably let him eat one too.
This blog is too limited to explain how this idea would ever be conceived, let alone repeated. Let's just say there is some logic behind it.
The girls had lots of fun with their cousins. They got to have a sleepover on Sunday night. Between playing outside, walks to the park, and the hot tub, they were beat. (which was a good excuse to watch a movie)
This is a rare photo of Karis and Charlie playing together. They were mostly tormenting each other all weekend, Charlie playing the role of the tormenter, Karis the tormentee, but I think they lightened up as the weekend went on. The day before we left, they were actually sitting in Karis' bed reading a book together!
Sunday we carried on another tradition and went to White Fence Farm for brunch. Don't ask why so many of our family traditions are surrounded by food - it's a good thing. :) Here are the girls feeding the goats - rather waiting for them to show up.
Charlie either feeding something small that you can't see - or missing the goats mouth.
Ashley with the baby goat. It was very cute - as far as goats go.
Charlie moving dirt.
It was Lydia's birthday on Sunday, so we sang to her and had this poster for her with a picture of her with her two brothers (my dad and uncle) expressing their love for her. Such sweet brothers. :)
March and April is a birthday explosion for our family with nine birthdays between March 6th and April 15th. So on Sunday we got a big birthday cake and sang for "everyone". Alli and Ian got the cake. They insist that they told them my name was "Eve" and not "Erc". I am choosing to believe them.
One of my favorite parts of family birthdays is the singing. This is one talented bunch. I also love Charlie's touch at the the end, "and many more, and two or three! (insert fake laugh)" We haven't got to rhyming yet. ;)
Sunday evening the party started breaking up. We were able to stay for a few more days which was nice, but it still went way too fast. This was part one in an event-packed 5 day trip.
