Pictures of Zora

Andrew and I tried again to get a decent picture with the boys and Zora and the "Don't Mess with Her" sign.  At first I was kind of disappointed we couldn't get one with all the boys looking at the camera with decent expression on their faces, but looking at them now, I don't mind, it just shows their crazy personalities.

The first time I put Zora in this outfit was a fun day.  I loved how she looked, but it also brought back some good memories.  My sister, Marie, had twin girls 9 days after I had keagan.  When she was getting rid of those clothes because they were done having kids, she gave me some of those clothes.  I stored them for a long time hoping that I would one day have a girl.  The day I found out I was having a girl, I got the box out as soon as I could and went through them because I was so excited.  This is one of the outfits she gave me and I remember her girls wearing it 7 years ago.  What was even better is that as soon as I got the camera out, Zora started smiling and this is the first picture I got of Zora smiling. 

Here she is at 2 months old. 

Random Happenings

Here are some of the random pictures from the last month or two.

First off, all of the boys completely adore their sister.  Keagan loves talking to her and getting her to smile.  Deker loves to kiss, hug and hold her and Bauer does whatever the other two are doing.  Here is a fun picture I took of Keagan and Bauer talking to Zora in September. 

 Deker did another round of Kickn Kids Soccer this fall (I will hopefully post about that soon).  I have been very grateful and Andrew got back in time for almost all of the games.  One Saturday, it was a little windy and I was in the van feeding Zora.  This is one of the pictures I found on it when I looked through them later. 

Andrew's birthday was a few weeks ago.  This was his cake.  It is a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting, chocolate ganache type drizzle and chopped reeses peanut butter cups between the layers and on top.  It was delicious! I am excited for an occasion to make it again. 

I made another dress for Zora and when she wore it on Sunday I was taking a picture of her in it and the boys wanted to get in on the action.  So, here are my cute kids. 

Bauer's 1st day of Preschool

Bauer started a Co-Op/Joy School Preschool this past week.  There are 5 kids and the mom's all take turns teaching at our houses.  On his 1st day, I wanted to take his picture. What I thought would happen is that we would go outside, he would smile and I would get a good picture of him smiling. What I got instead was pictures of his personality.  I wasn't too excited about it when it happened, but looking at the pictures later that day I LOVE the pictures I got instead because they really show off his crazy personality.

 This picture is definitely my favorite one.

Blessing Weekend

We blessed Zora on Sunday.  It all started with my brother, Alma and his family coming up on Friday.  We got lucky with Andrew having a light load, so he actually got into town a few hours earlier on Saturday then we were thinking.  We decided that we needed to go to Krispy Kreme for doughnuts followed by playing at the park.  When we first got there, we were all sad to see that they weren't currently making doughnuts, but while we were eating our doughnuts, they stated making doughnut holes.  It was fun to see them doing that and the kids loved watching those little balls be made, cooked, iced etc.  

Bauer being a goofball. 

Zora chilling with her cousin that was born 2 1/2 months before here. 

My parents got into town early Saturday afternoon.  We decided to have dinner at a Chinese Buffet restaurant followed by swimming in the pool at my parents hotel. 

When I found out I was having a girl I was thrilled to finally be able to have ruffles and bows and girly things.  So true to that, I had to have an extra ruffly blessing dress for her.  I found the idea for this dress and the rosette fabric and then my Mom sewed it up.  My neighbor, Jen, took some material from the dress to make the headband.  I am absolutely in love with how it all turned out. 

Our little family. 

I had the idea for this picture of the boys holding Zora laying in their arms that morning and I couldn't wait to try taking it.  The picture turned out exactly how I wanted.  We might have to try to recreate this picture on important dates as they all grow.  

This and That

Here are a much of random pictures and the stories behind them.

My oldest sister, Vera, is an amazing aunt!  She does so much for our family.  One of her traditions is to send a stuffed animal to each of her nieces and nephews when they are born.  We always take a picture of them with their stuffed animal when they get it and the kids love to see how little they were by looking t those pictures.  Here is a picture I decided to take one day of my kids with their stuffed animals. 

I saw a picture similar to this one a while ago and I wanted to recreate it for my family.  So after church a few weeks ago, we did it.  In case you can't tell by Deker and Bauer's faces, they all though it was pretty cool. 

Then when I wanted to take this one, they fight over who gets to hold Zora, so we take turns with each boy in the middle and holder her and I pick my favorite. 

A couple of weeks ago, Andrew ran a different route so we had the rare treat to have him home all day Saturday.  So we took the opportunity and went to the zoo.  Our Zoo has recently added dinosaurs that make noise.  Here is the boys looking at one of them. 

And a picture to prove that Zora was in fact there, even though she slept the entire time.

Another weekend, our good friends Dan and Angela called and they were in town and invited us to go swimming with them in the pool at their hotel.  It has been a really long time since Andrew has been swimming with Andrew and they LOVED it.  This picture below was a common scene.  Andrew also got them all to jump into the pool to him. 

Zora turned 1 month old on August 23.  So here is with her bear at 1 month. 

One day I was holding Zora and Deker came up and started talking to her and she really focused in on him for a while.  I love seeing how much each of the boys love and adore their sister, but Deker shows it the most.  He is constantly kissing her head and he loves holding her. 

Newborn Pictures

Andrew and I purchased a nicer camera for us and we wanted to play around with taking some newborn pictures for fun.  We also had our good friend, Brogan, come over and take more in case ours didn't turn out very well.  We got some good ones, but Brogan got some even better ones.

Here are two of the pictures that Andrew and I took. 

 Here are the pictures Brogan took.

I saw the idea for this picture a few months ago and couldn't wait to try to recreate it.

1st day of School

 Keagan and Deker started school on August 6 (when Zora was exactly 2 weeks old).  I was really nervous about how it would go with getting the boys fed, dressed, hair done all while having a newborn and when she would want to eat.  I was so grateful to have my parents here for the first two day of school in case I needed help.  It all went well, but I am very thankful that Keagan is old enough and loves to help.  There are days when the boys get everything out by themselves and he pours his and his brother's cereal and milk.  I love hearing him do that for them and he loves the responsibility. 

I can't believe that I have a 2nd grader and a Kindergartener.  True to Deker's personality he loves school and says he doesn't miss us while he is gone, but when he gets out of school, he always runs to me and gives me a very big hug.  Then he will usually tell me bits of things he did throughout the rest of the day.  

Keagan loves school and true to his personality, he doesn't offer up very many details about his day.

 Deker and his giant back to school cookie.  I love how excited he was for every aspect of school. 

Keagan with his back to school cookie.