Family comes to visit!

We love when our family or friends can come visit us. Now that my kids are getting a good sized collection of cousins, we're having all the more fun visiting with our relatives. I'm the oldest sibling in my family and Jeremy is the second oldest in his, and we were the first to get married and have kids, so we've been waiting for nieces and nephews and now they're coming right along. I like being called Aunt Shauna.

First lost tooth!

Grant's first tooth was wiggled out while Grant was in the shower on May 22. He insists it was himself that loosened it and not getting it bumped hard by Carter's head only a week ago. I guess only the tooth fairy is privy to the real story. Grant was excited to put the treasured tooth under his pillow and wondered aloud if he would get twenty bucks for it. I had to burst that bubble real quick and tell him that the tooth fairy doesn't carry bills that big!

GOT DROOL?

I know my other kids drooled when they were babies, but the stuff is everywhere and I just don't remember it being this prolific in the past. On my shirt, on his carseat, on himself, on the floor. James is the never-ending drool factory. How does such a little being produce that much fluid? I'm confounded. And damp.

Kids taking pictures

I let my kids each have a turn taking pictures with the camera and these are some of the fun shots. Digital cameras are awesome. I never would have let the kids take as many pictures with a film camera.

"Quality" car time

Between taking the kids to school- elementary and preschool- plus various lessons, sports, AND errands- we've been spending some quality time in our car. It is new so it hasn't been too unpleasant. Our '96 Dodge Stratus died on the freeway while Jeremy was on the way to work. It had needed some TLC for a while and we just kept ignoring it. Now it's a goner. To replace it we bought another minivan. Yes we now own two vans and I have named them. Our older red Chevy is named "Bob Venture" after Robert Redford because it's a Warner Brothers edition van. And our new van is named "Bill Odyssey" because we bought it on William Shakespeare's birthday. We will have many great adventures with Bob and Bill in our future. Jeremy will be driving Bob back and forth to work and said he may need to buy a skirt. Isn't it every man's dream to commute to work in a cool minivan?

Musical Madison

Madison performed two pieces for her piano recital today- Beauty and the Beast and Raspberry Rag. This was her first recital after taking a year of private piano lessons with Miss Marie. She had previously taken group piano lessons because I wanted to be sure she was really interested in learning to play piano before investing in private lessons. She played beautifully today. She played even better than I'd ever heard her play at home. One of the biggest perks of her learning to play piano is that our home will have music in it because of Madison. She enjoys learning to play the piano and I hope that continues as long as possible.

Watching the game

James has a great view to watch the boys' baseball games when dad is around, but he does get a little distracted by the greenery. Everything goes in the mouth right now for slobbers. James is a human vacuum. He'll find a piece of fuzz on the floor so small that I'll think- surely he won't pick that up and eat it. Then he does.

Sqeaky clean!

We put all three boys in the tub tonight; it was a tight fit and all the more adorable because of it.

A Mom of Four- Oh Happy Day

I love being a mom of four great kids. Madison, Carter, Grant, and James are the absolute best things I've ever made in my life. I hope my quest to be the ultimate mom for them can be fulfilled. I'm thankful my husband supports me in my efforts to be a good mom and doesn't begrudge me staying home instead of working. Although I do work in my home continually, I love soaking in all the love and attention I can get on Mother's Day.

6 months old and places to go

James has gained some skills over the past couple weeks- crawling skills. It must be a thrilling experience to realize you have the freedom to get from here to there and have become more independent. I can't say I'm remembering what it was like when I started crawling, but I did feel a sense of independence when I finally got my license at the ripe old age of twenty. I think we can't remember all the things we accomplish as babies because the things we've done since then would pale by comparison.

#3 Grant Largey aka "Slip-n-slide"

Grant likes to slide into every base he's running toward. I've been using ALOT of Oxyclean on his baseball pants. Unfortunately I never was fast enough with my camera to get a good picture of him sliding. I do have a picture of him skipping home... he's such a cheerful little sport!

#2 Carter Largey aka "The Bullet"

Carter runs fast and plays hard. His coach said he was afraid to pitch to Carter because he swings so hard at the ball that it goes speeding through the air, hence the nickname of "The Bullet". This boy loves playing basball, and I'm enjoying watching his games much more than I thought I would being as I'm not much of a sports enthusiast.