Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Cadence 7 Year Tiger Pictures

We have a tradition that on our kids' birthday we take their picture with their special tiger. Well, this year I may possibly have forgotten everyone's.... So the other day I grabbed Cadence and Snowy - hers is the only one with a name - and snapped a few quick pictures. It is crazy how old my baby is! I just cannot believe it! 




I mean, look at my skinny little bean baby in her first tiger pictures! 


And at about 6 months, she seemed so big! And now... Crazy. 



Thursday, December 8, 2016

Writing Fun - Cadence Wrote a Book!

A month or two ago, Cadence started writing a book. She wrote every night at bedtime, snuggled up in bed waiting for goodnight snuggles. She carried her notebook around with her, fiercely guarding it from harm. It has been so incredibly fun to watch her!


She's been very thoughtful about the process. She showed me her list of characters and how they are related to the main character. She planned how many chapters and books she would need.

Once, I was giving her a hard time, bumping her arm and teasing her. She gave me a death glare and announced 'If you bump my arm one more time, I won't let you read my book!' I stopped bumping her arm.
 
When she was almost done writing, her teacher casually commented that she should get her book published. Oh the fire storm that created! For the next two weeks I fielded publication questions almost nonstop - 'How do publishers get my book? Do they have to publish it? Will I earn money if people buy it? How will I get my money? What if I made a mistake and need to fix it? How does my book get in stores?' We did some research and decided to do print on demand publishing, through Lulu.com. Then her brain went into marketing gear. She made about thirty 'Buy My Book' signs and put them all over the house and gave some to people. Then she said - 'I need better marketing. How do I tell more people about my book?!'


Then one night she looked at me with a gasp - 'Do authors have websites??' Apparently Lulu does 'author spotlight' pages, so she was exited to see that she does, indeed have her own webpage.


She wanted to do the cover art, but not inside art... But she wanted her book to be illustrated, so she asked Tony to draw for her. She wouldn't let anyone read the book until it got here (except me, because I typed it for her), so she had to describe the scenes she wanted in detail to him, which was funny. 'Wait - the little boy is throwing pieces of banana AT people?!' Basically, Tony and I have had so much fun watching her excitement and enthusiasm! My favorite part was having her read it to me while I typed - she read it with so much expression, it was so cute :)

When we finally got it finished and hit publish, she was so excited she spent l.i.t.e.r.a.l.l.y. an hour skipping full speed through the house singing "bookie bookie, bookie bookie! OH! bookie bookie, bookie bookie!"





Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Harmony 6 Month Pictures

It's hard to believe this sweet girl is six months old already! She is so sweet and laid back, just totally chill about life. She spends her entire day playing, bumbling around wherever we happen to be. She crawls, pulls up, and cruises (slowly). She jabbers a lot, and loves to be in the midst of lots of action. She plays until she just can't stay awake anymore, then starts saying 'nigh-nigh!' and fussing. If you sit and rock her then she's asleep in minutes. Crazy girl just doesn't like to stop till she's completely wiped out! Most of the time she would much rather be on the floor than in someone's arms, but thankfully she does still snuggle sometimes - and she gives wide open mouthed, slobbery kisses. 

She also has a very ornery smile, apparently. It's either ornery or full blown laughing, not usually any sweet in between smiles :) 

Coming for the camera... 



These remind of pictures of myself at this age...






When you are six months old, you get white onesie pictures, and rocking chair pictures :) 



The only sitting still picture I managed!  






Waving bye-bye... not sure why :) 




Wednesday, September 14, 2016

A Kid With Glasses!

J just got glasses! He'd been acting the same way as before his eye surgery - distracted, having a hard time focusing, tired and fussy. He hadn't complained about anything being hard to see, but then he hadn't before either, he had just compensated and wore himself out. Sure enough, at his checkup they said he is far sighted, has an astigmatism, and one eye is starting to drift out again, which is why he kept looking at us with his head tilted. Right now he is super excited about them (and Cadence is super jealous!). I think he's adorable! 



Tuesday, September 6, 2016

First Day of School 2016

Building a new sandbox with the principal yesterday ;) 








Monday, September 5, 2016

Harmony Fun - Four Months

This little girl is the sweetest thing in the entire universe. Not even kidding. She loves to smile, and talk, and churtle. She always wants to watch what’s going on around her, and just loves playing with toys or rolling around on the floor. She just started sitting propped up on her hands, rolling over, and wiggling across the floor to get stuff. However she happens to be is generally just fine with her - she delights in whatever happens to be around her. She has a contented little soul :)




Num, num, tiger!



Ha - this face!

Here I go...


Almost...

Got it!

And now for the whole reason I rolled over - to chew on this delicious butterfly!



Sunday, September 4, 2016

Happy Birthday James! {Just a few days belated}

My sweet buddy J is FIVE! He is our 'laid back' kid, who loves life, loves making people laugh, and is very affectionate. He's super excited about starting school this year, and chill about the distinct possibility of getting glasses next week. In spite of being miffed about going, he had a great time at his annual check-up, making all the nurses laugh by checking his muscles in every reflection we passed, and chatting up anyone who paused in his general vicinity. He's holding strong on his growth chart 12% for weight, and 15% for height. My little man - now if they measured hands, that might be a different story, with his bear paws. He also bumped up a Sunday School class, and is loving his Aunt Kari time!