Special breakfast for a special day

Christopher woke up early this morning since today is the day for his
birthday party. He told me since today was a special day he should
have a special breakfast.

I brought him with me to 8 am mass but not without a quick stop at
McDonalds first.

This photo was snapped in the church parking lot.

(If you look closely his shoes are on the wrong feet.)

Editors note: Annette went to 4:30 pm mass last night.

Nap Time Math

Here's an example of nap time math

1 napping mama
1 five year old boy
1 three year old accomplice
+ 1 can of shaving cream
------------------------------
one heck of a mess

Ambitious

This is a picture of an ambitious woman. And her mother.

Cuts

Christopher getting his quarterly haircut from Mama.

Molly

Here's just a sneak peek at Molly's first portrait session. Hopefully those birth announcements will finish themselves soon!

New Do

Here's what happens to a little girl with red hair when an aunt comes over to play... too cute!

Butterflies for Father's Day

We took the chance to do something unusual for Father's Day by visiting the Krohn Conservatory for the tail end of the annual butterfly exhibit. The kids got up close and personal with all kinds of beautifully colored, winged friends. We were surprised there were so many left at the end of the exhibit, but they did not disappoint. We especially liked the big bright blue ones that liked to chase each other... no pics of those though, they were too fast!

Clara and the ants

After making s'mores at Grandma's on Friday night, Clara decided she'd
had enough to eat. She set hers down on the patio which prompted a
question from her dad. She said she was feeding the ants with her
food. She then picked it up and asked, "Do you want it Papa?"

Addendum to Natural Consequences

And when you throw up on your blankie, you will not have it for the night. 

Natural Consequences

Lessons learned from natural consequences in our home...

When you take a shower for too long, the hot water runs out. 

When you don't use the ladder to get out of the bunk bed, you will eventually hurt yourself. 

When you shout at the top of your lungs because you're way over tired, eventually you'll make yourself throw up. 

Babo visits Molly

Babo came over last week to visit the new baby Howard. In the photo below, the two of them were first getting acquainted. Molly was awake for the visit which is a change from her normal procedure of eat, sleep and "you know what."

On June 2nd, Molly was seven days old. Using an approximation, Babo was 33,351.

Molly Elizabeth

Molly came into the world on Wednesday, May 26th. She was a healthy size and so far is doing everything babies are supposed to do. The other three children are adjusting to her in their own way... Christopher and Clara have been very sweet to her and Sabrina is fascinated by her. Here are a few photos that have also been posted on FaceBook.

Mower troubles

With the election last week and baby #4 coming next week, yard work has gone way down on the priority list. To expedite mowing the yard, we arranged to buy a riding mower from Pops... the same one we sold to him last year. Excited about his new lawn equipment, Adam eagerly went out to mow the front yard... or as Annette puts it, harvest the crop. You see, the grass had gotten so tall, it probably could've been bailed after being whacked down. After one good cut over the front yard, Adam went back a second time with the mower at a lower height setting to chop it up and try to make it look better. One swipe later and the mower sparked, flamed up and began to smoke. It's like all of its will to mow just gave out. After soliciting a neighbor's help who is more qualified in these kinds of things, we finally determined if this mower was going to last several more seasons, it would need to be serviced appropriately. So now it's up at the tractor repair store and we're anxiously awaiting how much damage it's going to be to get it up and running again. In the meanwhile, it's back to the reliable Honda push mower.

PS The neighbor cut our lawn.

Contagious

We've been trying to get Adam's Mom and Grandmother together for a portrait session for quite some time now. We finally used Mother's Day as a great excuse to record these two together. As usual, Babo's jovial laughter is simply contagious!

New Family Member

Before you all get too excited... we are still waiting on baby #4.

We did get to meet another new member of the family this weekend when Tim brought his 5 month-old puppy, Stella, into town. Stella is a Great Pyrenees/American Bulldog mix. At her young age she's already 40 pounds and as big as Christopher. She was a sweet as could be and did very well with the kids who ran around calling her name... even Sabrina.

Dandelion Crop

We try our best... we really do. But with all we have going on right now, lawn maintenance is some times neglected. On the bright side, we have cultivated a beautiful crop of dandelions this spring. Here you see my very proud dandelion farmers. Please note, these images were taken just before the crop was mowed down and fertilized so as to prevent nasty looks from our neighbors.

Papa's Birthday

We enjoyed dinner with both Adam's Mom & Babo tonight for his birthday. The kids had a hand in making it a special evening too. What a great day to celebrate our best Papa!



Who will be the first to blow out the candle?

You've Come A Long Way, Berry.

When our little girl was born with a head of strawberry blonde hair, it was too much for me to resist photographing our redhead with a little 'berry' inspiration. Now, a year later and she's still our beautiful little berry... you've come a long way, Berry!

Birthday Portraits

Here are a couple of studio shots of our little berry as she turns the big number one!





And not to be out done... one good cupcake deserves another for the berry's big sister!

Happy Birthday Sabrina!

Sabrina turned 1 year old earlier this month. It appears in the image below that she's trying to blow out the candle, but I think eventually her big brother had to help her out.

Louisville Science Center

Went to the Louisville Science Center today with Todd and Heather.
Clara would've stayed at this exhibit all day if we would have let her.

Good times.

Flower children

I don't know exactly how this happened, but I believe Clara helped her sister put the head band on. - Adam

Sabrina and Babo

Couldn't pass this one up. This photo was taken earlier in February when we had an impromptu visit over to Babo's for dessert one evening.

Time Lapse of Snowman and Fort

Yesterday Adam and the kids went out to play in the snow. Here is a time-lapsed video of their attempt at building a snowman and a snowfort. Be sure to watch for Sabrina and Annette in the window watching everyone play in the snow. Also, you can see the shadow of the tripod/camera move along the bottom of the window. The shutter speed was one image every 2 seconds. At the end, Adam gets a phone call from his brother that causes him to sit down.

Happy Birthday to Clara!

Clara turned 3 last week at a birthday of games and balloons. Here she is just moments before blowing out her candles.

Human Genome Project

Two young scientists working on an organic model of the human genome project. Marshmallows should never be used as construction equipment for something this serious. One slip of the 'mallow and you have the genome of a fruit fly instead.

NWTF Calling Contest

Today, Christopher and I (Adam) went to the Hunting and Boat Show
downtown for the turkey calling contest. We had a great time - it was
fun to hear him gobble back to some of the first competitors. Here
he is pictured next to his favorite part - the turkey. We also got to
see a hunting dog demo.

Hair Tut

Clara has taken it upon herself to cut her own hair. It was inevitable. Her hair was admittedly long and she did receive a pair of scissors for Christmas so you could easily see where this was going. But - it wasn't until push came to snip and then...

As Annette tells the story, she said Clara came out after an extended period of working on her crafts at the table and said, "Mama - We need to trim my hair..."

That's when the gig was up.

Today she had her hair trimmed so that it wouldn't be too noticeable. If you know what to look for, though, you'll see a shorter layer on her right side. Why her right side you might ask? Because that's the side you cut when you're holding the scissors with your left hand. Duh.

Visit to the North

So Adam and the kids weren't the only ones to get out and do something memorable this weekend. Sabrina and I headed to Minnesota for a visit with Nonna and, as luck would have it, a whole bunch of aunts, uncles, cousins and second cousins too! Nonna was busy in the kitchen (as usual). This time she was frying up her famous 'rice balls'. We had a great time at the graduation party... Congratulations Tina. Nonna was even kind enough to sit for me to capture a portrait or two. I think, "I've never had so many pictures taken in my life!" were her words. I was so excited to be able to capture some images of my dad and his mom -- and have so many of his siblings willing to have their pictures snapped as well. Thanks everyone for a great weekend!

Sledding in Louisville

This is the video I was looking for. Yesterday Christopher, Clara and I went sledding at Cherokee Park in Louisville with Todd, Heather and Dave. Todd and I rode one of the sleds. At the top of the hill, Todd says, "The safety word is banana." Then at the bottom of the hill, you can almost hear Todd screaming "Banana!"

Good times...

Sledding in Louisville

Christopher, Clara and I (Adam) went sledding at Cherokee Park in Louisville. We got down there around 4 o'clock and didn't pull off until close to 6 p.m. I'm looking forward to hearing the kids' stories after they wake up in the morning. Clara was so tired she went straight to sleep without her nuk and blanket. How 'bout dem apples?