Army Crawl

Darby is moving around with her army crawl. (This seems to be the earliest of the kids). I tried to get a few pictures and videos but Ollie wanted in on the action too. So here is what I have for now. 

Go Blue!

The Welke's invited us over for the Michigan vs. Ohio State game. It started at 9 in the morning so we joined them for breakfast and lunch. Unfortunately, the Wolverines lost but at least we were in good company. AND we got lots of cute pictures of the kids in their Michigan gear. 

 A little blurry but here is Darby in her Michigan cheerleader outfit. 

Daddy & Darby

Eating Breakfast

The kiddos 

Aksel, Annika, Brody, Darby, Colt, Ryker & Ollie

(my goodness what an adorable bunch of kids!)

Ollie always has his silly face ready.

Aksel & Darby 

Singing the fight song. 

Go Mechanic!

I love that Brody is learning so much in school. But it sure was nice to have a long Thanksgiving weekend where the boys could just play together. Brody set up a little workshop and then made his Go Mechanic sign. Colt was feeling left out and wanted his own car shop.  I told him he could have an autobody paint shop (just like Ramone's from the movie Cars).  I wish I had a video of the look on his face when it clicked.  He was so excited.  

Brody helped Colt make a sign.   Since Brody is spelling words as he hears them it reads Go Pet. (instead of Go Paint).  I didn't have the heart to tell him it was wrong since they such a long time making it. 

Brody writing down the problems with the car.

Colt's Go Paint sign

The other sign is the TV for people waiting in the Lobby while their cars are being painted.  He came up with this idea by himself. 

At the paint shop

This is the problem with the car. 

"When the motor is on it doesn't start"

I told them they each needed to do a commercial for their shops.  They were kind of excited about it but not as excited as I was.  We will have to keep working on it.

It's fun to see them be creative.   Their workshops didn't last all day but I think if they had more realistic cars with more realistic problems then it might be easier for them to play this all day long. 

Rolling Toilet Paper

Ollie: Mom, don't dum in da bafwoom

Me: Why not?

 Ollie: Dus, beduz (just because)

I knew that this meant I probably should go into the bathroom, BUT I was looking forward to a few moments where I didn't have to keep my eye on Ollie.  

Unfortunately my few minutes of "peace" were outweighed by the twenty or so minutes of rolling up toilet paper. 

Me: Ollie, why did you unroll the toilet paper? (and it was ALL the toilet paper)

Ollie: Beduz, I wanted to mate bee-nock-you-errs.  (binoculars)

Brad made sure we documented the effort we made with this now huge roll of toilet paper.

Daddy Daughter Dance

I was asked to grab the camera so I could take a video and picture of Darby's first dance with her dad. I'm sure there will be many more.  I just love these two people!  

Kicking

Brad got Darby excited about her kicking.  Fortunately the camera was nearby to get her in action. 

Issaquah Turkey Trot

On Thanksgiving morning I like to at least go out for a little run to hopefully off set the yummy food I consume for the day. This year I decided to sign our family up for the Issaquah Turkey Trot, a casual 5K run only minutes from our house. (I actually didn't sign Brad & Darby up) I was watching the weather report and was very happy when we did actually wake up to a partly cloudy morning (and not dumping rain).

 Our plan was to take two strollers, one double jogger and one single jogger. Brad would push Darby in the single stroller and maybe hang out at the finish line. I would take the double so that Ollie and maybe one of the other boys could ride in it when they needed to. 

Pre race pictures 

The race started and we got in line behind the joggers and before the walkers.  Somehow Brad went ahead with Brody & Colt who started off at a pretty good pace.   

The boys had Gobble Wobble cards and earned punches throughout the course (8 total).  

Runners in action.  (Brody is in front and Colt is right behind him)  

Brad is in the back with the stroller.

Ollie wasn't interested in running so he stayed in my stroller.  However, the other boys were running rock stars.  It wasn't until a little over a mile into it that they actually stopped for a break.  It was also at this point that Colt told Brad "I think I'm running out of juice." 

The rest of the race they had a few more walking breaks, but not really that many.  Brad ended up going with Brody and I stayed with Colt.   Colt was so cute because anytime he saw someone watching or cheering for him he would start running as fast as he could.  

At the finish line cheering on other runners.

Ollie didn't want to run the whole race but wanted to run with Annika for the home stretch.

Post Race Picture

Silly Face picture

Ryker & Annika

A family picture

A little video of them running.  You can see how Colt gets a burst of speed every once in a while.

Ollie was so concerned that Annika wasn't there and we had to tell him that she just went ahead of him and already finished.

Post Race Interview

Brad can be a little skeptical of some of these things I sign up for.  And he didn't have very high expectations for this one.  He was more than surprised and quite proud of his boys for how well they did.  I was too!  It was fun to participate in this family event.  Here's hoping for good weather for next years Turkey Trot.  

8 months!

Our little peanut is 8 months! 

She is starting to wave and clap.  (I'll get that on video soon).  She also has started to work on  her army crawl when she is determined to get something. 

She still LOVES her brothers and watches just about everything they do. 

It really is flying by and hard to believe in 4 short months she will be 1 year.   Yikes!