Family Photo Shoot

On Monday my whole family got together for a family picture. The last picture we took together was at least seven years ago so it was really time for another one. My dad and I both took our cameras and my aunt took the pictures. It sure it hard to get a good picture with so many people. We had a few people that didn't want to cooperate plus we had three kids with us. Someday I really want to take a photography class so I know how to take really good pictures but I think they turned out pretty good for what we had to work with. We got a few poses where everyone had their eyes open. Brynlee kept trying to sit down so in some of the best ones so you can't see Brynlee at all. I am just glad to finally have a picture with all of my family. 

Pictured: Randy, my sister Heather and Jakobee, Mom, Dad, my brother Josh
Me and Anna, Joel and Bryn, my sister Alesha, my brother Brian and his wife Heather

After the big family picture we stayed around and took some pictures just of our family. Joel and I took some together but they were really blurry. Oh well, I guess we will have to try again later. He wasn't very excited about taking a family picture but he didn't complain once when we were taking the pictures.  

When we were done taking pictures Brynlee had fun playing with a cattail that she found. I snapped a few pictures of her and of the baby. Then I had someone take some pictures of me and my girls. I sure do love my family so I am glad we have a picture of us all. I hope we can take another one again before seven years.

August

August was such a fun busy month for us. We tried to spend at much time as possible hanging out with our family; enjoying the nice summer weather. My brother Brian and his wife Heather were home from college for a few weeks so we had fun spending time with them. 

We spent lots of time this month playing in the water. Brynlee played in the kiddie pool at grandma's house, the sprinkler, and the slip and slide. One day Joel went tubing down the river with my family while Brynlee and I waited for everyone to come back. Brynlee had a lot of fun playing in the water. I tried to leave Annalyn with grandma but she cried and screamed until I came back and got her. She has been a real momma's girl lately. My dad also got his boat running so we had fun spending an evening out in the boat with them. Annalyn didn't ride in the boat but Brynlee loved it. She didn't want to get out.

While Joel was at work one day I took the kids to the Discovery Center with my grandma, Ryder, and Aunt Lora. Brian and Heather came too.  It was lots of fun. I even had fun playing with all the stuff and the kids were good. Afterwards everyone went to the park to play while I fed the baby.

This month we were finally able to use some things from our garden. We gots lots of cantaloupe and watermelon, as well as squash, green beans, and tomatoes. Everything in our garden grew so close together that it is hard to pick anything and it is covered with goat heads. Other than that the garden did all right. It has been nice to have the fresh food to eat and I have been trying to fill the cupboard and our freezer with food. I spent one day helping my grandma and aunt Lora freeze some corn so now we have a freezer full of corn.

Brynlee walking in the corn field. 

The second week in August started out with my little sister Alesha breaking her collar bone during soccer practice. She was in a lot of pain for a long time. I took the kids over to visit Alesha and say hi. While we were there Brynlee was not acting normal at all. She was just sitting on Heather's lap and not moving. It felt like she had a fever so we gave her some medicine. The next thing I know she threw up all over Heather and on grandma's carpet. Sorry you guys. I took the kids home and turned on a movie for Brynlee. She went to bed early but she seemed to feel better the next afternoon. I thought she was over it but then she started to get a rash all over her face, her shoulders, her arms, hands and feet. Turns out she had hand foot and mouth. She didn't act like she was sick but the rash looked kind of painful. We stayed in the house for a few days but she got over it pretty quickly.

You can't see the rash very well in this picture but it's there.

In other news, Joel had two different job interviews this month. The first one was for a job in Canada. I am kind of glad he didn't get that one because I really didn't want to move there. The second job interview is for a job with a construction company in Portland, Oregon. They had Joel drive all the way to Portland for an interview and then told him to talk to me and let them know if we wanted the job. We called to tell them we wanted the job but they are interviewing some other people so we will see what happens. We should find out if Joel will get the job sometime next week. It sounds like a good job but we would miss it here so much. We really don't want to move.

Joel was only gone for one day so it wasn't that bad. We did have one of our chicken escape so I am glad Brynlee likes to catch the things. It did feel kind of funny to be sending my two year old out to catch the chicken; but she loved it. She held it for a long time before she gave it up to put away. While Joel was gone we spent a good part of the day over to my sister Heather's house and I helped her try out some new recipes and my family came over to help test them out. It was lots of fun and the food turned out to be really yummy.

Overall it was a great month. Joel has still been busy working on grandma's shed. It is coming along very well and really looks like a building. School started so my parents are working again. My mom works at the school while my dad drives school bus. They had three little foster girl's at their house for most of the summer so I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I would have like. 

Both of my girls are growing everyday and getting into everything. I had to take Annalyn into the doctor's office for a yeast infection but it is gone now. I feel blessed to have two healthy active children. Who knows what our future will bring but for now we are just trying to enjoy everyday. 

The building Joel is working on

Rice Cereal Take 3 and 4

The first time I gave Annalyn rice cereal, she didn't like it. The second time I gave it to her, she still didn't like it. For the third try, I put Annalyn in her high chair and I waited to feed the baby until Brynlee was asleep. (When Brynlee woke up she had fun climbing in the high chair. She thought I put it there for her.) Annalyn still didn't like it. But I heard it can take 10 times to be introduced to a new food before you like it so I decided to be persistant. 

On Tuesday I fixed the baby some cereal and buckled her in the high chair. Brynlee really wanted to help me so I had her get a bib and she put it on the baby. I left to grab a rag and as soon as I did Brynlee grabbed the cereal and started to feed the baby. Annalyn still wan't so sure about the whole thing at first but she actually ate quite a bit of it. More than I got her to eat. Brynlee was a great little feeder, if not a little messy. She was pretty proud of herself too. She was doing such a great job that I let her feed the baby for quite a while. I am glad that they are starting to interact with each other a little more. I sure do love my girls.

I guess it's not so bad, but I would rather suck on my fingers

Open wide Annalyn

(I love how Brynlee is concentrating so hard that she just had to stick her little tongue out.) 

Annalyn was just a little bit Messy

Brynlee thought she was pretty great

Five Months

Little Annalyn has grown a lot this month. She seems so much older to me. She is still such a happy baby. Here are some fact about Annalyn this month.

• Annalyn grabs at everything these days and tries to put it in her mouth. She can't sit on my lap during dinnertime without getting my food all over the place. 
• She still loves to suck on her finger but she also loves her pacifier. 
• Annalyn is fascinated with watching Brynlee these days. She can just stare at her for hours.
• She also loves to try and grab Brynlee and "give her kisses." Brynlee likes the kisses but doesn't like being grabbed. 
•  Annalyn is getting better at sleeping in her crib during the day for her naps. We are finally starting to get a routine down with her. 
• She usually sleeps through the night (from 10-6:30) but the last few nights she woke up around 4:30 and wouldn't go back to sleep until I fed her. 
• She still isn't a fan of rice cereal.  
• Her eyes are starting to get a gray tint in the middle so I think they might be turning hazel. 
• Her bald spot is also getting bigger in the back but I can feel some hair growing back there so hopefully she is growing more.
• She has learned how to make lots of new sounds and she loves to hear her voice. Check out the video at the bottom to hear her latest sounds. She was quite entertaining at church yesterday. 
• Annalyn is very ticklish on her thighs and her stomach. I love her little laugh. I really want a video of it but she won't do it for me when I get the camera out.
• She loves to sit up and she can even sit up unassisted for several seconds before she falls over. It won't be long before she will be sitting on her own. 
• She also loves to stand on my lap. 
• She does much better with tummy time lately. Especially when I give her toys to play with, but she would still rather be on her back.
• She has rolled from her belly to her back several times but she doesn't do it very often. She does scoot all over the place when she is on her belly. 
• Annalyn still loves to be held.
• She is a great addition to our family and we still feel really blessed to have her around. 

The ABCDs

Brynlee loves to sing. This is one of her new favorite songs.

I sure do love this girl. 

Monthly Update - July

July was a fun month for our family. We celebrated the fourth of July and went to our family reunion. We played several games of Hide and Go Seek. We went to visit Joel at work and brought him some snacks. I think Brynlee ate more than half of his snacks though. Brynlee got lots of horse rides from her dad and she started to get herself dressed in the morning. She has developed her own little sense of style. We spent lots of time playing outside. We even got out the slip 'n slide a few times. Brynlee loves playing in the water. I got a new haircut and overall we enjoyed the month.

Chicken Wrangler

Our little chickens that we got at Brynlee's birthday party have grown a lot in the last month and a half. Brynlee loves all animals and she thinks the chickens are just great. She considers them to be her little pets. When we first got the chickens Brynlee would beg to hold them and we let her get in the cage and try to catch them a few times. She is actually really good at it. 

Here is a video of Brynlee catching some chickens. The white ones used to be her favorite so they were the only ones she would catch. Now her favorites are the black ones. 

Today the chickens are not only a lot bigger, there are a lot more of them. Joel's sister, Joanna, the one that got us the chickens, gave us all of her chickens because her kids weren't feeding them. Now we have 20 instead of 10. We don't let Brynlee get in the chicken coop anymore. I am kind af afraid she is going to hurt herself or one of the chicken. 

For a while, we had one chicken that kept escaping. We have no idea how it got out of there but for a week it kept getting out. We must have fixed the problem because it hasn't gotten out in a while. When it did get out Brynlee would be super excited and have a great time catching that chicken. 

Side Note: Joel has been planning on building a bigger chicken coop. Brynlee calls it a "chicken poop" so she keeps telling me that dad is going to "make a chicken poop."

Here is another little video of Brynlee holding the chicken that kept escaping. She is better at catching them than me. If the chicken would get out when Joel was at work I would just send Brynlee out and she would have it caught in no time. The only problem is that she doesn't like having to put the chicken back in the cage.

 

Joel and I have never had chickens before so this has been a whole new adventure for us. Hopefully we can get them to lay eggs, although I have no idea what we are going to do with lots of eggs. In the meantime, Brynlee is just enjoying her little pets.