3D Glasses

On Saturday we went to see, "The Chronicles of Narnia" 3D The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. This time the kids wanted to keep their 3D glasses, punch the lenses out and .... be super cool!

Jacob 7 months

Jacob 2 months old

This picture was taken June 8th. So Jacob is even bigger now. I had high hopes for keeping the blog updated. It is not from the lack of photos because I have 642 photos in iphoto (I just checked). Jacob is such a sweet baby. The kids love and adore him as do Chad and I. It has been so much fun to have a baby in our home.

I have been spending my time cuddling Jacob, making sure Luke Mark and Abigail get quality time and feel loved (Lucky too). Keeping up on the laundry, I was up to 2 loads per day until they each got a laundry basket marked with their name. Keeping the house clean. Driving Luke and Mark back and forth from school and to extracurricular activities. My sweet Jacob is a really good sleeper. He sleeps 11pm to 5am. He started this pattern when he was 1 week. I woke up more than he did just checking on him.

Newborn pictures

This was my first try at getting those cute black and white photos of a newborn. I was not super successful but I am still trying!

My sweet Abigail

Today we went to a cute children's clothing boutique. Abigail has very strong opinions of what she likes and dislikes so I knew if I brought her she would pick something out and love it! Sure enough she picked out what she calls a "princess dress". It twirls and everything! Plus, she accessorized with a green headband. Right after we got home she quickly changed, put the dress on and went out to smell the roses. As soon as I saw what she was doing I quickly ran and got my camera.

Sweet little Jacob

So Jacob is now 7 days old! He is so sweet! When they come this sweet your love for them grows like a wildflower! I keep thinking to myself "What an amazing miracle to have 4 children".

The nights have been fairly easy so far. Jacob wakes up at 11 pm and 4 am. I keep thinking it will change but so far so good!

He gently wakes up and doesn't even really cry, he just makes noises and then I know he is ready for his bottle.

He eats really well for being so small. He burps and then settles himself into a nice relaxing state where he flutters his eyes and gives smiles and drifts off to a peaceful sleep.

I have been having so much fun taking pictures of him. Yesterday I wanted to take some naked newborn pictures so I told Abigail and she replied, "I want to get naked too"! After I said, "no" she was so sad so I quickly relented and said ok , you just have to keep your underwear on. She was thrilled! I got some cute pictures!

4 Days old

It's a boy!!!!

Here is the newest addition to our family!

Jacob Austin

6lbs 7 oz

The kids absolutely adore him!!!

Dumont Sand Dunes

In January we went out to Dumont Dunes with our great friends. I didn't get many pictures of everyone riding. I did however get pictures of the kids enjoying little fires that they had made themselves. I had caught the kids starting to make their own fire behind the trailer and told them they didn't need to hide. They just need to ask. I told them they could set up their own fire pits and they were so excited! Mark and Abby built a fire, Luke built one and so did Tace. They even roasted marshmallows over their very own fires.

I got a kick out of this picture!

Luke

Abigail

Tace

The girl LOVES marshmallows!

She had so many I am surprised she didn't get a tummy ache!

Abigail's 1st haircut!

My friend just opened a beautiful new Salon. I wanted to take Abigail to her for her first haircut. It was hard to have it chopped all off but I love it! She loves it and it is so easy to do!

Her hair is normally straight but I had just taken it out of a bun.

Abigail was soo totally relaxed while her hair was being shampooed. She loved every second of the salon experience. The first thing she said when she sat in the haircutting chair was,

"I want pink hair"! At this point she wants everything PINK!

Piggy's purple lips!

Abigail got a small plastic purse filled with purple lipstick and purple lip gloss from Chuckie Cheese. She has loved it! Last week she came and told me with a sad face that her lipstick broke. I thought, "That's weird". Then she told me her piggy had purple lips.....

Just a drive...

2 weekends ago we didn't have much planned so we decided to go on a drive. Chad really wanted to show me where he goes to ride his dirt bike. The weather was reminiscent of our sweet 4 years in Portland. In Portland when the sun would come out we would rejoice! Now when it rains or drizzles in Las Vegas we rejoice! First we rode around the rocky terrain behind our house. We found a cave at the top of a hill and the boys were to scared to go in it so they carried the dog in with them.

Our second stop was the dry lake beds which were very wet and muddy. Chad went 4 wheeling with our expedition. The boys LOVED it! Mud was splattered everywhere! We are still trying to get the mud out of the window sills. It was actually really fun. It was raining mud! The boys actually wanted to get out and play in the mud (NO WAY)!

The next stop was Chads dirt bike trail. We wound through the wet desert and it was so pretty! The cactus was bloomed and we even saw a eagle perched at the top of a rock.

We ended up parking close by one entrance for Lake Mead and let the kids climb on the rocks.

The car was so muddy, when I took this picture the rain had already washed off a lot of the mud

Once the eagle saw us it took flight.

This picture probably looks steeper than it actually was. Mark wasn't in any danger.

Snowboarding

Yesterday Chad, Luke, Mark and I went up to Lee Canyon at Mt. Charleston. Chad taught Mark how to snowboard. He caught on really fast and lasted ALL DAY!!! Luke is doing really good at this point and even went on the biggest lift by himself! He had his best friend Tace with him which made his day even better!

Here is a short clip of Mark. He had such a fun time!

Mark was bushed! On the way home he fell asleep listening to music on his ipod.

San Diego Zoo & Wild Animal Park

For Mark's birthday we took the family to the zoo! Since Mark LOVES animals we thought it was the perfect place to take him.

One of the coolest displays at the zoo was the insect house. It was awesome! Here is a picture of a leaf bug

The kids loved the peacocks that roamed freely around the park.

We were lucky enough to have my parents join us!

I couldn't believe how cute the koalas were!

We have these same owls around our house. We see them from time to time in our front yard. They are desert burrowing owls.

I didn't like how that cheetah was looking at my boys!!!