Natural consequences: climb up on the drawer of the stove to stir the waffle batter after being told not to, and you will get a face full of flour and milk, and it will not be fun!
John and Julie on his birthday (hence the goofy hat).
A deep thinker- maybe this is why Anna thinks he looks like an evil genius?
Lots of lovin' going on!
Anna's ball team took first place at their tournament Saturday. She scored a couple runs, had several RBIs, and I only had to yell at her a few times to stop playing with rocks and pay attention to the game! Considering that it's only her second year playing, and most of the kids started at t-ball, I think she's doing great.
Rather than buying individual medals or trophies for the kids, they got one big trophy that will go on display at the school, and then had each kid get a picture holding the trophy. Seemed like an odd way to do it to me, but whatever works, I guess.
The girls both did a wonderful job this year at the recital- remembered their dances, weren't nervous- awesome!
Cora was so not enthused about getting her picture taken! She was just ready for summer break by this point. Plus, she said all those feathers around the bottom of her costume were itchy.
Jacob Michael Lester was born at 7:05 pm, May 4, 2009. He was 8 lb. 14 oz., 23" long, with a 15" head. Judging by his entrance into the world, he's going to be a little speedster! His older brother and sisters are proud as punch- "It's better than great," Matthew says. "It's awesome!"
Anna, Matthew and Cora each chose their own slogan for their signs. Anna made her slogan up herself, while Matthew and Cora chose from a list of suggested sayings for the Tea Party website. I penciled in the letters, which they then outlined and colored in.
There was a large crowd, and the kids all handled it very well. Matthew practiced his reading by reading the signs of people around us.
A family photo- it's hard to tell in this picture, but my shirt said "already owes $36,575" and had an arrow pointing to the baby. Before heading out to the protest, we studied the Boston Tea Party, and discussed the government's responsibilities and limitations as outlined by the Constitution. The kids were excited to see flags that said "Don't Tread on Me," which they remembered studying earlier in the year.
Ok, this picture of Reagan is not from the party, but I threw it in because I didn't have anywhere else to put it. Now, on to the party!
We had face painting by Tenna- the girls each got a Tinkerbell, Matthew and Remington got Saturn planets. Reagan hung on me, and got nothing.
Matthew and Remington trying to make heart baskets- they were too complicated for me to figure out!
The boys did enjoy making the candy airplanes.
These last two pictures were actually from the evening of the Lincoln party, but I missed them on that post, and it was easier to put them on here than go back to it and add them.
To celebrate Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday, we all dressed up in our red, white, and blue, and attended a birthday bash at the Maryville Public Library. All but Anna, that is, who insisted on wearing pink. But as you can see, the rest of the kids donned their red shirts, and a good time was had by all. A very talented Lincoln impersonator put on a show, and then stuck around for pictures, questions, and cake.
Reagan enjoyed herself, as you can see!
Just like Santa, Abraham Lincoln was too scary for pictures with Cora and Reagan. Matthew and Anna posed for us though.
Reading the Gettysburg Address.
Degin in his new Easter bonnet.
Reagan in the same hat. Ok, it's not new, it's an old one from mom's, but it is a girl's Easter hat.
This is what kids look like after they've been building dirt castles on a windy day!
Matthew shooting his new bow and arrows- Cora gets the privilege of being the quiver- carrier.
We were splitting wood- Matthew was really not happy about helping carry and stack firewood, but did force himself to smile for this picture.
Reagan with her "boy baby"- everything is a baby to her. The coloring is odd in the picture because there was so much smoke from a neighbor's fire that the entire town was gray. It made all my pictures that day look strange.
Anna, my little writer/director, made up a play called "A Knight, a Butterfly Princess, and a Terrible Tornado." Reagan had no part in the play, but I liked this picture taken of her during the play. Anyway, Matthew, of course, was the knight. Cora was the Butterfly Princess, and Anna was a terrible tornado, set on destroying the princess and stealing her crown. Matthew's line for each version of the play was "Oh no, a terrible tornado! I must save the Butterfly Princess!" He would then fight the tornado with his sword or shoot it with his bow. We taped the play about 10 times- it just kept getting funnier.
These are just some random pictures of Anna and Cora that I liked, and happened to get downloaded at the same time as the play pictures.
The kids did help pick up wood and load the truck, but all of the pictures are of the kids climbing in fallen trees, or climbing in the truck. Reagan helped a lot, but was sleeping when the camera was out, so she missed out on all the pictures. She's a worker though- she'll keep carrying firewood as long as I do, even when the other kids are playing.
I either forgot the camera, or forgot to take pictures, at every Christmas except Paul and Karen's, and our own at home. Even at those two places, we didn't take many pictures. But, here's a few we did get.
We got up at 3:30 a.m. to open presents before Duane left for work. It didn't take long to open presents and then curl up under blankets to eat candy from stockings and watch new movies Santa left. Reagan was the only one to go back to sleep; everyone else made it through the morning. Reagan and Cora did take naps around 11:00, Matthew made it all the way to suppertime before falling asleep. Anna, the little trooper, stayed awake 'til time to go home again.
Matthew in his new Iron Man jammies.
Reagan and Aunt Julie playing with one of Reagan's gifts.
Matthew talked to Santa, without Daddy's help, but wouldn't sit on his lap, even for a photo op for Mommy.
Anna had no qualms about sitting on Santa's lap and letting him know exactly what she wanted for Christmas.
After the library, we cut our Christmas tree. Here Cora is protecting Reagan from the noise of the chain saw.
After the fire station, we headed across the street to the park, where we played for an hour or so before heading home for lunch. After some brief naps, it was time to head to the second school outing of the day- the Pioneer Festival at the museum in Corydon.
The kids painted pumpkins.
Matthew and Cora won the first two rounds of the cake walk, at which pointed we walked away, so that someone else could have a chance.
All three of the older kids got a chance to try their hand at weaving a rug. Cora could barely reach to push the shuttle through, but she got several rows done before she gave up. The kids also took turns at the spinning wheel.
Civil War re-enactors were on hand to shoot off the cannon every hour. Before each shot, they gave a brief history lesson.
We learned a great deal about how cannons were cleaned between each firing. We also got to ride in a horse-drawn wagon, and viewed many exhibits in between activities.
By the end of the day, more than a few of us were beat.
