If you give a baby a sword

If you give a baby a sword,

She'll probably bop you on the nose.

Respectable in the 80s

For Father's day we did a parody of "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and titled it "The Power of Dad." The kids and I had a great time practicing and getting all punk rocker for the occasion. I'm trying to do an air guitar, though the picture makes it look more like air ukelele.

Don't these girls look cute? After trying to recreate poofy bangs with such fine hair, I'll say it's a good thing that style is out.

And here is the Dad of Honor after the concert.  Happy Father's Day!!!

Letter of the Law

We have a rule that the kids can not bring in any toys they find outside.  I think Jenna's working the system.

Annette and Piper

 Many moons ago Ryan was talking to his mom about the great news that his sister Megan was expecting.  His mom mentioned how great it would be if "someone" would have another baby soon so Piper would have a cousin to grow up with.  At that moment Ryan knew we were in fact having a baby but we hadn't shared the news yet.  Two weeks later we got to give Shula that happy call that we took her advice and whipped up a baby.  :)  We were even happier once we knew both cousins were girls.  I'm so glad they'll get to grow up together.  

Piper is only two weeks older than Annette, but it definitely seems she's got the firm upper hand in the relationship. 

Double Stroller

If Annette was a twin I don't know how I would bring in the groceries.  Come to think of it, if Annette was a twin I don't know I would do anything.  I'm pretty glad she's a single baby in a double stroller.

How do we love thee, let me count the ways...

One morning while making breakfast I saw all the kids plus Ryan gathered around Nettie singing to her.  I can't decide if it reflects more about how much they love her, or how much she hates getting exiled to her exersaucer. 

Picturesque

We took a few pictures on Easter as many a family are prone to do, and while our traditional family photo turned out as usual (not a single one where each kid is looking and/or smiling) we captured a few choice snap shots that I loved. We took these right before our Easter Family Devotional at Bacarra beach on Sunday morning. It's only been a few months, but I already feel so nostalgic when I look at these.  Maybe I'm feeling our Santa Barbara mortality, or that I simply adore these kids of mine.  Either way, I hope you like them too.

Lunch with Cousins

My mom and I had a great idea to get the kids together for lunch.  It seemed simple enough: buy kids lunch, let kids play.  It wasn't that simple.  Grandma and I were exhausted after lunch.  Before we even ordered, Abbey skinned her knee.  She was "too sad to eat" she said and would only be consoled by cheese crackers.  Grandma obliged and left me with the kids while she walked to Thrifty to buy the crackers.  The food came and Abbey held her ground, no offers of fries or chicken nuggets were accepted.  Grandma arrived with the crackers and it seemed all was well in the world.  But Grandma started passing out Cheezits to all the kids which sent Abbey back to tears because she didn't want to share. I left at this point to go order lunch for Grandma and I from Panera down on the other side of the mall.  Just as I got back,  Jenna needed to go to the bathroom.  My stomach grumbled from the wait, but I took Jenna, Marielle and Abbey back to Panera to use the restroom.  We came back to the table to find Mikey sobbing because he had fallen and gotten hurt.  Just as he settled down, he knocked over his cup spilling orange soda all over his pants.  He cried and earnestly wanted to know, "why does everything bad happen to me??" We cleaned up the mess and then I finally started to get out lunch for Mom and I.  By this point Marielle was done with her lunch and wanted second lunch.  I shared the bread and broccoli soup with her and Jenna. Funny enough, after all this I still finished my lunch before Rex and Mikey.  Probably because they were eating about one french fry per two laps on the kids play yard.  Despite my attempt at making this story more dramatic than it probably was, I love having cousins and Grandma just an hour away.  Here are a few poses I took while we waited for our lunch.

Jenna hasn't quite mastered how to smile on cue.

Can you see the orange soda? It looks so innocent all nice and contained in it's cup.

Abbey in the background looking a little sad.

Jenna has mastered the sticking out tongue on cue.

Lunch with Grandma is the best!

Baby + Sunglasses = Adorable

I can't say much to elaborate on this post since Annette's extreme cuteness speaks for itself, but I will add two notes:
1. Annette seems to wear this green shirt a lot (or at least I take pictures of her in it a lot). 
2. What is it about a baby in sunglasses that ramps up adorableness to off-the-chart levels?