Summer O fun

Lily is saying !CHEESE! here as big as she can here. I put her up on the counter here to capture a picture of her in this adorable outfit that Owen choose and got her dressed in (without my even asking). Isn't he so sweet, a very thoughtful boy. He's always trying to do good things and make people happy. He definitely (one of Owen's favorite words) makes me happy.
I took this photo a few days ago because I just can't believe how much my babies are growing up. They are all so different from one another that it's fun to see their interactions. They love playing together and as their mother this makes me so happy.

Okay. You must look hard at this picture to get the full appreciation. The boys wanted to have a 'sleepover' in the guest bedroom. So they brought two friends along, Teddy and that other guy. If you look closely at Teddy he is wearing a hard hat and sharing a pillow with Owen. And the other guy is covered up too. I swear, I'm becoming such a girl...when I see stuff like this my heart just swells with love for them.

White trash baby! Oh yeah.

It's a good thing I've never been ashamed of being a tinsy white trash. Because yesterday at bedtime we took it up a notch with Rub rub. Her pj's just wouldn't fit and I didn't feel like going upstairs and fetching the ones that do. So...daddy to the rescue!

They're out of order, but you still get the picture. Chad carefully cut off the bottoms to her pj's. She was so entranced that she didn't move an inch. He's not trying to choke her, it's just that she was SO interested in them that she wouldn't look up so that I could snap a picture. And, she kept the cut off booties on...all night! Ha!

I just love her round tummy in this picture.

Who is Rub Rub?

She is. Why? I don't even know. Who gave her this title? They did. And I guess we'll never know the origin of Lily's nickname.

Lily is coming out of the closet

Lily loves purses and walks around like this the whole time so as to keep it on her shoulder. Everytime I see her like this in my head I shout out 'Power to the People!'.

Last week Mr. Luke decided that he was tired so he went and had himself a little nappy. I love how he has his arms and legs all crossed. So funny.

If you look closely at this photo you will see Lillian. In the closet. She sleeps in there every day for her nap. I put her in the guest bedroom closet with a fan and she sleeps so GREAT! It's cool, dark and lots of white noise. It's funny, I worked so hard for her to have a perfectly darling little girls room and now I've succumbed to stashing her in a spare closet just to ensure a good nap each day. What a mother won't do for nap time.

Caution...sunburn ahead.

It seems that every couple of years I learn the age old lesson...my skin rejects the sun. I am a whitey white white girl and I burn easily. I was trying to be a nice wifey and mow/edge the lawn for my man as a surprise. And well, he was surprised and grateful but I got much more than bargained for. Here it has finally started to peel but in the prior days it was SOOO painful. SPF 50 here I come!

Sunny days are here to stay.

This is what we did a lot of on our trip. We relaxed, went to the spa on the ship everyday, read, ATE, and at port did all kinds of crazy adventurous things. And who knew that it was so sunshiny in Alaska. Every day it was over 75 degrees, simply beautiful.
A happy man.
We did see a bear too, on our way up White's Pass in Skagway.

This is a view from the helicopter ride, which Chad loved and I hated. The whole time I kept thinking of how ticked off I was going to be if we died. It was so much fun to have some time to ourselves. The kids had a great time with their Auntie Siera and upon her leaving Owen asked me when she was coming back that he liked having her around. We're so grateful to her for doing such an amazing job with them and being so happy and willing to do it!

Back from our vacay.

Thanks to the very lovely Siera, Chad and I went away last week on an Alaskan cruise. We had a lovely time. I had to do a little bit of self soothing talk during the moments I thought we were for sure going to die, thus leaving our children orphans.
This was taken after our four hour horse riding adventure in the Yukon territory. I absolutely loved it! I want a horse! Chad liked it fine, except he had a bossy horse that had a mind of her own (that sounds kinda familiar).
Here he is trying to keep "Caroline" from taking him off on their own adventure.

The only photo of me all day, because I was holding the camera.

Kissy kissy on top of Mendenhall glacier in Juneau, Alaska. I'm just so happy to be alive! I do not like helicopters. I'll post some more pics from our trip once I finish the laundry.