Family Pictures 2010

We should start off by mentioning Hannah scored her first soccer goal this weekend. Grandma and Papa were there to see it and she is very proud of herself. Somehow she went from hating soccer to wanting to play indoor this winter. I am secretly hoping she changes her mind soon before we commit/fork over the money. It is actually soccer's fault that we scheduled our family pictures on Sunday instead of Saturday this year and if you were in St. Louis this weekend, you know how mad I am at soccer right now.

Our hair trial day was Saturday and it went great. I am neither motivated or inclined to style my children's hair on a regular basis, that is why I practiced. I think they looked adorable.

We played outside for most of this gorgeous day (Saturday). Hannah scored her goal, Layla and Adam played so well....the day was awesome.

Adam is very busy these days mowing the sidewalks. I'm sure our neighbors appreciate all of his hard work.

Sunday morning dawned dark, raining and cold. Figures. It's been 90 degrees every day and sunny, so why would we not think it would be 50 and raining for our 1 hour per year of family photos? We dolled up and headed off for our family photo shoot anyway (no cancellation - photographers can't actually control the weather.)

I knew it was going to be awesome when I couldn't get a decent shot of these three.

The Botanical Gardens themselves are beautiful even in the dreary cold. I am hopeful my son sat still (and maybe smiled) for a picture or two. I can't be positive, because I was trying hard not to be mid speak in every picture.

Hannah was great and willing to pose and smile whenever asked. The girls are sporting their sweatshirts since it was so cold, but they are still cute.

Adam didn't sit still for one minute. Stuff to climb, things to jump off of, he's very busy you know.

Rare shot of me. I washed, combed and straightened my hair. I was dressed in something other than sweats and put on makeup. This is bound not to happen again until next year.

Layla was done with the family photo shoot about 35 seconds after arriving. She was tired of walking and cold. Thank goodness Grandma was there to carry her.

Adam frowing a decent fit. He is no longer digging the garden.

Dad to the rescue.

Oh look - the photo shoot is over and Layla decides to give us a pretty smile.

I hope they turn out ok, but if not - they will be a reminder of the stage our family was in right now. Someday we are going to get everyone to smile and look at the camera at the same time. Until then, we line our walls with whatever we can get. Next year, maybe we do pictures earlier in the season? I'll think about it again next July.

Disney on Ice!

We had a full weekend with lots of soccer and Disney on Ice!

The girls looked so cute. We couldn't find a princess costume that fit Layla this year so we went with cute tutu's instead. Grandma joined us for the all girl event and we had a great day. The girls were so good and sat through the whole 2 hr performance (plus 15 extra minutes for intermission). Not to mention we were an hour early to get pictures with the princess statue and get our new wands.


My idea of taking our current wand collection to the show was not effective. I just ended up holding the old wands so the girls could concentrate on the new wands. I'm sure we will go back next year and then hopefully move on to something else. The show is super cute, but I imagine you can only see it twice.

Today was supposed to be more soccer, but with all the rain it was Target and Lowes instead.

Next weekend is our family portrait session with Jonathan. We are hoping for some great professional pictures. Let's all call the clouds and ask them not to rain that day.

New Diaper for my Adam

Our Diaper Song.

Another beautiful weekend

We started off with a full out dance party on Friday night. Mostly because the kids love to dance and Hannah looks so cute in all her preppy school clothes.

Saturday we spent the day doing soccer and cleaning and waiting for the carpet and TV to be installed in the basement. We threw in a quick run to the doctor's office to find out Adam is teething (again). It was a full day of waiting and banging, but it all got done. Pictures of the basement are forthcoming as soon as we get the furniture in this week. The kids LOVE the space to run right now. It is like a whole new house - just under our current house.

Sunday morning we headed down to the zoo. We got there early (Shockley style) and they let us right in. We secretly believe the zoo is always open and the "operating hours" are just a guidline, because we have never waited outside or been kicked out of the zoo.

This zoo trip was special because this early on a cool morning, all the animals are out! We almost never ever see bears at the zoo. This weekend we saw EVERY bear. They were out - playing or eating. This baby was our favorite. He/She was eating their toes - just like a baby.

Adam climbing - it doesn't matter what it is, he will climb it.

More bears.

Once 9:00 hit, we were on the carousel. We ride twice for good measure and to get our fill before moving on. The carousel is free for the first hour, so we have never ever paid for a carousel ride. They do make you get off, walk around and get back on though just to make sure the kids in line get their pick of animals. My kids like the really obscure animals that other kids don't, so it never really applies to us. Here is Hannah on her catterpillar.

Adam (he is riding the stick - it's not even an animal)

Layla did ride a tiger. She always rides the penguin first.

The apes were out playing also.

We never see apes.

We even caught one playing ball and rolling around.

Layla has somehow become incapable of smiling at the camera. She either makes a funny face or looks away. This is the best picture I got of her.

Do you see this lion in the tree? We saw her jump up there and it was quite a sight! I didn't even know lions climbed trees, much less sat up there. Lazy male lion was sleeping on the ground, but this gal was awesome.

Layla - taking a break under a sign.

Playing on the stairs. Nothing like a concrete staircase and a toddler to really make you crazy.

Train time.

Adam loves the train.

Hippos!

Obligatory picture with the snake.

Elephants - the finale of the zoo trip (at least for us).

At this point Adam is tired and trying to sleep in the stroller and Layla is being held. Hannah is the only one willing to pose for mom. We have basically perfected our zoo trip to 2 hours. Eventually we will be able to stay longer and see some stuff we always skip, but for now this is good.

After a quick lunch and nap we went swimming for the last time this season. Everyone got their fill of the water and we were home in time for dinner.

Official record: Adam weighs 28.5 lbs, Layla weighs around 33 and Hannah weighs in at 45. Everyone is in bed by 8 and gets up around 6:30 (sleeping in these days!). We think school has worn Hannah out and she is sleeping a little later. Layla gets up whenever Hannah does or else we still think she would sleep longer. Adam is teething and waking up cranky, so maybe after this tooth... This is his 20th baby tooth if I counted right so we should be done until he is 6.

Hannah still doesn't like soccer and thinks it is just a lot of running. We will try and finish out this year and call it a day with soccer. Adam is batting left handed and is quite the slugger. He is all BOY. He goes to the Little Gym with Kristine on Thursdays and loves it. Layla is loving her gymnastics class on the Gymbus and is doing really well at it.

Next weekend is Disney on Ice!

Labor Day Weekend with kids

I'm getting very bad at getting this blog updated. Our weekends fly by and look - it's already Thursday night and I'm just now getting my weekend updated. Anyway, we spent the long weekend with Uncle Mark, Aunt Beth, Abbey and Owen. The kids did really well and the adults had fun too.

We had family concert night on Friday.




Layla and Abbey went to the baseball game with the daddies on Saturday. It was a perfect day for three year olds to go to a day game!

















They sat playing for two innings before they had to walk around. They talked their way into cotton candy, ice cream, soda, and nachos. They got lots of attention and loved it.



















While the girls were out, the boys got a chance to play. Adam didn't care for me holding Owen much so it's a good thing he is the baby.














Popsicle time.














Rest time.














Bottle time.




















Sunday we took all the kids to the park and played around the house. The weather was so nice, but this year we still have naps to tend to so we stuck close to home.















We did tons of Jeep riding. Hannah was such a sport driving all the kids around. She is the only one that can steer. Everyone else crashed.














We had a BBQ and did lots of swinging and playing.















We are definately going to look back and miss this time with all of our little kids.

Next time we go up and crash the Parson house again.

Soccer Cuteness

Hannah is not loving soccer right now. She goes and she plays hard sometimes, but gets tired and hot quickly. We are hoping as the weather gets cooler, she will like it more. If not - we are going to let her stop playing. It's not worth it to force her to go, force ourselves to go, drag the little kids to a crowded complex, walk a mile or more to a buggy soccer field, if she is not going to have fun. It doesn't help that practice is on Friday nights. After a full week of school, she wants to just relax and watch TV. I don't blame her. Instead we force food down our throats at 4:45, pack up the crew and fight traffic to the valley, haul the bags and water bottles to the field, bug spray ourselves, and try to keep Adam safe and off the soccer field(s).

She does look cute though, doesn't she?