Abbie

I just took these great pictures of Abbie for her 4 month pictures but I can't decide which one I like best what do you think?

Fishing

We bought Lexie and Jake fishing rods a long time ago (like when Ashton was a baby) because she got the idea that she wanted to go fishing with Jake. But for whatever reason they never went and the fishing poles got lost and forgotten in the basement. That was until we were making the shelves and Ashton found them buried in a corner of the basement. He wanted to know where his fishing rod was and when Dad was going to take them fishing. We are lucky that we have two ponds within 5 minutes of our house now, so we bought him a rod, got Jake a fishing license and Thursday night we took them fishing. I only went to take pictures and supervise since we took Abbie with us too. The kids spent a while in our backyard practising casting which was good because they had so much more fun at the pond because they had some idea of what they were doing. I left early with Abbie because she hated being stuck in her seat and there were too many bugs for us, but the first thing the kids said when they got home is "can we go again tomorrow?" even though they didn't catch anything. I think Jake is going to spend a lot of time fishing now.

Great Dad

Sometimes, as many of you well know, Jake is anything but patient when it comes to the kids. Well the other day Jake was building me (I should say us because it really is for the whole families well being) some much needed shelves in our basement to hold our growing food storage. Ashton was very intrigued watching Jake use the power tools. Jake asked him if he wanted to help, you could see that he really did want to get in there and do it, but sometimes he is so timid that he just can't. (The power tools were very noisy and a little scary even for me.) Well by the time that Jake was almost finished with everything Ashton finally got brave enough to want to help, well at that point there really wasn't anything that Ashton could do very easily so I figured that he was just going to be out of luck. But Jake had the idea to use the scrap pieces to build a little step/table thing so that Ashton could help. Jake showed him how to measure out the pieces, load the nail gun, hold the tools, and where it was safe and not safe to hold the tools and was so patient while Ashton got the hang of using them, it was really one of those moments that you hope your kids will remember forever.




As you can see from the smile on his face it made Ashton's day to get to help.


Thanks Jake for being such a great Dad to all of you kids!!!!

Pictures...

My camera has a full battery again so here are the picture I promised.


I totally forgot that Ashton just had to ride the new carousel and when Jake finally relented and took him he could have had his pick of almost any of the cute animals (notice that it is very empty) that went up and down on the ride, and what did he pick, the non moving carriage thing that you just sit on. Such a funny kid. Oh well Jake let him decide and that was what he wanted, I told Jake that I think I would have made him get on an animal but Jake let him be an individual so I guess that is good.

A Trip to the Zoo

Jake is working a mixed up schedule at work right now, nights and odd days of the week so we have been enjoying having him home on random days of the week. We took advantage of having him home last Thursday afternoon and made a quick trip to the zoo. Ashton had an absolute blast and had a whole list of his favorite animals when we left. Lexie had a good time too, she played the part of teacher to Ashton telling all sorts of facts about the animals that she has learned. Abbie even had a good time since she loves being outside. She stared and stared at some colorful birds too. It seemed to be a good day to go to the zoo, most every animal was active and fun to see, unlike in the heat of the summer when all the animals want to do is sleep. We had a great day. I did take lots of picture as usual but now my camera has a dead battery so I will have to upload pictures later.

Preschool already???

I can't believe that my little boy is old enough to start preschool, but here is the proof, a picture of him on his way to his first day of preschool. Its a neighborhood thing kind of like Joy school where every mom gets a chance to teach. He is really excited about it. I had been debating on whether or not to start him in preschool this year because he still has 3 years before he starts kindergarten because he misses the cut off by 7 days. Three years of preschool seems like a lot and I am afraid he is going to be really bored that last year, but his pediatrician said it would be good for him to get out and socialize with other kids his own age and recommended that we put him in some sort of program. So when my neighbor called and asked if we were interested I decided to go ahead and do it.

Alexis

Here's my beautiful Alexis....



I can't believe I have an eight-year-old. It seems like only yesterday she was as small as Abbie. How thankful I am to have a her as my helper.

Ashton

Here are some recent picture of Ashton...



I can't believe that he just turned three. He weighted in at 39 pounds at his check up. Wow no wonder he breaks my back when he wants to be carried.

Abigail

Here are some recent and not so recent pictures of Abbie...

She is looking more and more like Ashton. They have the same cute round face. At her four month check up she weighed 14 pounds and was 25 inched long. Lots bigger than Lexie was and lots smaller than Ashton.

Again....

I know that Jake is not crazy about the idea of blogging, but I just can't seem to stay away and I feel like I need to blog so here I go, again.... I understand his concerns and I agree with most of them, so I am going to try and limit the amount of personal info that I put on here. I can't promise that I will blog on a regular basis but I will try and keep everyone undated on my family's doings.