Splashin' in the tub

Just a very cute shot of Jack in the tubby - watch his tongue!
">Jack

Jack cracks me up!

This is a video of Jack a few days ago playing with one of the girls' dolls - priceless.
">Jack and Dolly

Sometimes they're too cute for words...

Happy Birthdays

Grandpa Mike and Alyssa celebrated their birthdays together during a pool party at Great Grandma and Grandpa's house last weekend. Alyssa's now 4, and Mike's 54!

Who's Who?

Okay - so sometimes I stare at my kids and I wonder if it's just ME who thinks they look SO much alike. Especially with Jack being a baby, he resembles my girls as babies SO much (probably since there's no hair to differentiate, right?) so I started looking at some albums recently and some of the resemblances are unbelievable to me. No WONDER I keep getting Deja-Vu when I have babies!
Below are some photos that I turned black and white so colors and things wouldn't give you a better clue - but I wonder if any of you could tell who is who in these photos!

Here are all three kids, around two months or so - think you can tell which one is Sid, Alyssa or Jack?


Here are two of my kiddos, just one day old, in the hospital relaxin' - who is who?


And when they yawn - each time Jack yawns I see SO much of my girls in him....


Okay, so I'll help you out -
Picture one - top Sidney, middle Jack, bottom Alyssa (all around two months or so)
Picture two - Sidney on left, Jack on right.
Picture three - Alyssa on top, Jack on bottom.

And THIS is how I spend a boring 20 minutes of my day, when I SHOULD be cleaning or folding or finding or hiding or feeding or bathing or watching SOMETHING around here!

The 4th

As with most holidays around here, we celebrate more than once. We had a fun weekend in the mountains with one half of the family, then it was down to Jessica's grandparents' house for the actual 4th, where we enjoy the pool all day and our own fireworks extravaganza in the street at night! It was Jack's first 4th of July and we were surprised that nothing seemed to bother him - the crackling of fireworks just feet away from him (not dangerously close, I promise I was careful!) and the many kids with their sparklers - he just stared and seemed to enjoy it.

The boys enjoying the pool.

Sophie, Isolde and Jessy

Grandma and Grandpa bought our girls new swimsuits and they love them!

Me, with all my kids.

Above, my sister Sophie, my mom and my Alyssa enjoy the boys' fireworks display. It is such a boy job to put on a good show for us!

I believe this may be a shot of the "grand finale." The inventive boys in the group use the ladder so we girls can enjoy the falling sparks for a longer duration - how thoughtful of them!

Celebrating Independence Day

Here are the kids with their cousins Andrew, Stephen and baby Hannah at the parade! They loved the cousins' wagon they got to ride in, and they enjoyed the many floats and groups that marched by. What we missed most was a marching band, though! Somehow, I forgot how much a marching band adds to a parade. I think there may have been a group of guys with drums, but nothing like a high school band or anything. There were lots of strange floats, too - some involving Star Wars characters, and one crane truck with a cello hanging off the hook in front with five cello players advertising cello lessons on the back! Interesting...

Alyssa LOVES to hold Jack, who is now 5 1/2 months old. She wanted to make sure he enjoyed his first parade experience!

Jack LOVES his toes lately. He's so flexible! Sometimes he'll actually try to move the bottle out of his mouth while we're feeding him, just so he can get his toes in there for a moment!