an early Happy Six Month birthday!

just a little something I threw together tonight! tomorrow is little miss Zoey's six month birthday! you brighten each day little miss!

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our castle ...

so, I've had this idea for a while - to do a sort of "series" ... not really, it's more of a labeling idea, but anyway! Since I'm so eager to share whenever I get something accomplished around here, I thought it would be fun to call those posts "our castle" - or something to that affect (or is it effect?)! so here's what I did this afternoon! being forced to sit down several times a day - either to feed the baby or to "be a cow" - lol - is sooo not good for a person like me! Zoey was awesome for her afternoon feed - she totally chugged it - she must have known that mama was feeling sleepy and needed to be up asap! so, after that she went in her swing for a nap and I headed outside to join the kiddos - sort of. Annicka and Jericho were playing in their pool and I did a "major overhaul" to the backyard! I re-purposed a table that hubby decided he didn't need (now the big kids have somewhere to eat, etc.) and I cleaned and organized everything! It looks so much better!
... now for the tough part - keeping it that way!!!

fun photo catch up ...

is it me ... or do I seem to post a lot of "catch ups"??? LOL! here's a few photos from the last week or two ... just the daily happenings around here! finally opened this cool toy I bought for Zoey ages ago, she liked it! Annicka is really enjoying the baby and loves to hold her and play with her! I'm SO jealous of Annicka's view! Zoey likes tv - ha ha! and tv time with daddy (pay no attention to the messy living room)!

it was a good one ...

we had a great fourth of July (I have more pics AND video ... but I'm still working on figuring that all out - from my new video camera)! We actually went out as a family, which we rarely do - so I was super excited about that! We went to Solvang for a good old fashion parade ... it was fun! The kids liked it pretty well, Liam did real good until the last ten minutes or so! Jericho did, at one point, say it was boring ... but I think he really liked it overall! Annicka liked it, but was disappointed with the lack of candy - lol! We had a few tense moments, it's never easy being out with both an infant and a toddler ... not to mention older kids who whine and/or complain about things that seem so silly to us parents! ... the point is, we pulled it off - and we went out as a family, and that made me happy!

later, I took Annicka, Jericho, and Liam to a local grocery parking lot to watch fireworks! I debated about taking Liam ... but as I told the older kids to get their jackets, he went running for his - I tried to explain, but he kept saying "Liam jacket, go" ... seriously, I couldn't not take him! I am SO GLAD I did, the look on his face as he sat in amazement of the fireworks was priceless! I just adored the experience! I also loved it when he said "it not noisy mama" (one of my ploys to convince him to stay home was telling him how loud it would be, ha ha) ... oh boy, is he smart!

so, here's just a couple pics from the afternoon between the fun - at home, just hanging out! I love the first one, all the kids are being silly and Zoey is just there so sweet and innocent!

looking back - science:

so, it was the first day of VBS, but I thought I had a major problem on my hands with Annicka's cracked tooth so she stayed home and I just took Jericho ... on my way home I noticed two heads through the fence of my backyard - "what on earth are they doing outside in the freezing cold" I thought to myself? This is what they were doing ... Annicka had broken into her science kit - the poor kid has only been waiting since Christmas (ok, well, technically she forgot about it for several months)! She was doing her gem dig and granddaddy was watching:



turns out the cracked pink tooth (yes, her tooth IS pink) was nothing to worry about - it's a molar that's getting ready to fall out ... or so I was told, but it's still not out! later that afternoon my dad got started working on one of the painting projects I had for him: turning my $5 "dresser" into a nice piece for my dining room (so, it needed to be darker to fit in) - I have to say, it turned out great!
meanwhile, Annicka was up to another dig - dino this time! Jericho "joined" her this time too, he mostly just watched - but she did give him a turn and allowed him to help just a bit! I decided it was a fantastic opportunity to get some pics of them, as they were busy and didn't care too much if I was snapping photos ... plus it's cool to have the pics of the fun stuff they do, right?!

preschool "gradulation" ...

this is so overdue, but better late than never, right! so, back at the beginning of June Jericho graduated from preschool ... it was a very cute ceremony and he was pretty excited for what he called his "gradulation"! I caught him softly and sweetly singing "I believe I can fly" one day in mid-May and that's when I first heard about the "gradulation" (when I asked how he knew that song) - I was amazed I didn't cry, but I didn't ... I choked up a bit, but as usual I was more busy smiling/laughing at my silly little boy! Afterward I took some pics of him with his teachers and he had them all laughing too - my little comedian, ha ha! Jericho, you're one funny boy - even when you're not trying you make a lot of people laugh and smile! love you, my kindergartner (that's just insane)!