New Lens!

I got a new lens for the camera in the mail today! It is a 50mm f/1.8D (Thanks Melinda!) I am so happy to be able to take pictures again without have to hold the lens just right or risking it fall to the ground. I just snapped a few pictures of Emma to try it out and I really like it! I still need to look at the directions and figure some things out (like it says the auto focus is possible, but how to I change it from manual to AF? Anyone?), but so far so good.

Maybe now I will enjoy doing laundry...

Because we got these delivered today! We have been using the set we bought at a garage sale about 6 years ago and it was definitely time to get a new pair and we (well me, Seth really doesn't care what I wash his clothes in) are very excited to have a brand new set! Yeay!

A plus for the kids of getting a new washer and dryer were the boxes! Seth made them a couple little houses and they have been busy playing in them all day.

Notice how Seth re-used the old dryer tube thing. Who needs cell-phones when you can have a talking tube!

Official

Charlie has been wearing underwear for a couple weeks (with the exception of nap and nighttime), so I think it is now safe to call him officially potty-trained! I have to admit I was dreading it and wasn't going to be disappointed if he was well after 3 before he was potty trained, but he was surprisingly easy and very motivated by m & m's. He has the occasional accidents, but for a 2 year old boy is doing very well. Way to go Charlie! (Of course, now that I am blogging this, he will have some HUGE accident at church or something.)

Here are some pictures of the goof ball to commemorate:

Camp Off 2009

On Labor Day Seth wanted to do a camp out (or camp-off as Macy calls it). He thought about doing it in the backyard, but we remembered that our church has about 4 acres of land about 2 miles from the house, so we decided to move it out there. We had a fun evening of playing, riding on the lawn mower, gathering firewood, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, letting the kids run around and just sitting around the fire. Seth was positive the kids wouldn't sleep in the tent, but we all did (except Emma, I put her to sleep in the office area in the pack and play.). Here is a few pictures from our fun evening together. Poor Emma isn't in any of the pictures because she was strapped to me in the Snugli, but I promise she was there:

Today was a great day for Macy

She started dance class! She has seriously been talking about taking dance for a year and half, so she was very excited to finally get to go today! Seth even came to watch her. She got to dance like a butterfly, learn to make her tap shoes go from heal to toe and even got to do the movements to "Lord's Army" (it is a Christian Dance Studio). She can't wait to go next week!I know this is a horrible picture, it was taken through the one-sided observation window:

When I was taking pictures of Macy outside in her leotard, I snapped a couple of Emma. Look at all the teeth she is growing:

And of course we can't forget Charlie in his spaghettio-covered shirt and in-need-of-a-haircut hair:

The Kids

Since I have been behind on my blogging, I thought I would do an updating entry about the kids.

First up, Emma: She is already 9 months! She continues to be a very easy baby; good eater, good sleeper, loves her big brother and sister. This week was a busy week for her. She had her 9 month well-baby check-up and also her cardiologist follow up appointment. Thankfully, she looked good for both appointments. The cardiologist said she still has the openings, (he didn't expect them to close in 3 months) and they haven't grown or anything. He told us to come back in a year, but even if she still has them, she will still have a "normal" heart and it will be considered normal and it won't be an issue in any way. We were thankful to hear that! I did take a quick picture of her getting the EKG. Poor baby:Charlie: 100% boy, enjoys "playing" all sports-especially basketball, golf, and baseball, enjoys shooting everything with his "gun" (the vacuum cleaner wand), and loves playing with his blocks and cars. He has a pretty good imagination and it is fun to watch him get excited about little things. His catch phrase right now is "last time" as in "Last time we go to the park". He says that all the time.
And last put not least, Macy: She continues to be super-talkative and super-friendly to everyone she meets! We visited a nursing home this afternoon and she did such a good job passing out the cookies and visiting with the older people. (Now her behavior at the end of dinner is a different story.) We are enrolling her in a dance class for the fall and she is of course super excited. Her highlights this week were getting a package from Grammy Kelsey and getting a bag of dress up clothes from someone at church. She was so excited! Here she is modeling as a "ballerina bride" (notice the unevenness in the bangs, someone got ahold of the scissors when I wasn't looking): I still can't believe we have 3 kids, and we are very thankful for all of them!

So it has been awhile..

Alright, I know Emma is now almost as old as Charlie is in the picture in the banner and I know it has been over a month since my last post, so I apologize my two blog readers. Some highlights over the past month include a trip up to Oklahoma City and Lawton to see my parents, visits from Seth's family and my brother and his family, so there has been a lot going on. However my camera lens is still busted, so I haven't been taking a bunch of pictures, hence the lack in blog posts.


But, I couldn't pass up posting a couple pictures (taken by me holding the lens up to the camera) of Emma in her dress today!

VBS 2009

We just wrapped up VBS this year. Macy and Charlie had a great time! This is the 2nd year Shawnee Trail has done VBS, we had 60+ kids this year, . Macy and Charlie are already asking when we get to do it again. My camera lens is still busted, but I took a few pictures for the church. Here are a couple with the kids in them:

Seth holding Emma while I was walking around taking pictures:

Charlie in his class:
Macy in her class:
Someone had a 4-wheeler in their class decorations and that is where I found Charlie most of the time:

Emma hanging out in the nursery with me.
It was a good week, but we are spending today recovering from staying up well past bedtime 3 nights in a row!

Finally Feeding Emma

About a week or two ago, I finally started Emma on cereal. She has been doing great and likes the oatmeal better than the rice cereal (does anyone like rice cereal?). I started her on Vegetables yesterday and so far, so good.

Here are a few pictures from her first feeding.

Excited to be in the high chair: First taste of it:

She kept grabbing at, so I had to pin her arm down:

Not sure what to think:

Likes it!:

I will try to be better with the blogging, things are still a little busy and my camera is still broken, it is just the lens, but we took it to the camera store and to get a new lens for it isn't cheap. I have found if I hold the lens up to the camera and hold it tight without moving, I can get a picture, so if we have any major picture moments at least I will be able to get a shot. Hopefully sometime soon we will get a new lens though.

Busy Busy Busy

We are still here! Things have just been really busy lately. We calculated we have had about 100 people over to our house (50 of those people at once for one thing too!) in the last couple weeks for dinners, bible studies and other things, so it feels like it has been constantly busy for a little while, but now have slowed down for little bit.

So to catch up, here are a couple pictures from Mother's Day

I still can't believe I have 3 kids, wow I am old. Also, I know I really need a haircut, it is way too long. Speaking of haircuts, I decided to experiment on Macy and wanted to save $10, so I cut her hair. For my first haircut ever, I think I managed not to mangle her hair too much, I think it is pretty even. I must of not done too bad of a job because Seth let me cut his hair this past week too and I even did Charlie's too, think of all the money we saved! I started Emma on cereal this last week, and will post pictures about that tomorrow or so! Oh, and I broke my camera.. ughhhhh... well, I think maybe I just need a new lens, but it still stinks.