Boy Stuff

Little boy socks that look like little boy shoes. I love these!

Boy sleeping in the swimming pool he worked so hard to blow up. (stuffed animals were added by little girls prior to bed time).

Our good friend Zachary and his parents visited us from Carrollton, TX a week and a half ago. Kilian was so happy to have friend with similar interests over. If those 2 sisters would have just left them alone! Thank you to Zach and his family for all the delicious meals, help, gifts and fun! Here are the 3 boys leaning in for a picture. (Ok, maybe Oliver is leaning the wrong way)

Since Kilian was about 4 years old, he has had a habit of planting seeds and pits from foods we eat. We should have left dozens of apple, peach, cherry, and orange trees, as well as kiwi and strawberry plants in the yards of our last few houses. Most of the time, nothing happens, but Brad and I recently noticed this plant growing in our front flower bed. Anyone want to come over for watermelon in a couple of months?? It has actually grown twice this big since I took this picture last week.

and finally, a one month old little boy that makes me smile all day... and even a few times during the night.

Who needs a Pottery Barn catalogue...

when you have 7 and 5 year old interior decorators like I do?

Threedom

They may take our lives, but they'll never take our Threedom!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy Birthday, Camille.

*Post by Brad
*Quote from Braveheart - sort of.
*Picture and more words added by me

Camille turned 3 on Friday. We celebrated with her Grammy about a month early, with her godparents about a week early, with my parents 2 days early, and at home with just us on Friday. She is probably confused about how a normal birthday works now, but definitely knows how many fingers to hold up!

3 things about Camille:

1 - I love it when she walks up to me with a sad look on her face and with a book in her hands and says, "Can you read this to me? I don't 'bamember' all the words".

2 - This girl can eat some spicy food. Tamales, salsa, beef jerky, you name it...she can usually handle it. BUT she cannot handle any kind of mint - it's "too 'picy".

3 - Typical Camille attire:

• White, orange and yellow shirt
• Red and white gingham bloomers, worn inside out
• Purple head band worn like a basketball player from the 70's
• Mud on her face from helping Kilian find earthworms
• Pink shoes on the wrong feet.

Why it is hard to win a Battleship game against Lucy

She has been caught moving her ships around mid-game and even had one that wasn't completely on the grid. I should disclose that this was her first attempt at the game. She didn't realize she was "cheating", but Kilian made it very clear to her once he figured out what was going on.

Recital time

Lucy experienced her first dance recital weekend (rehearsal on Friday and two shows on Saturday) and she did great! I was a little concerned how we would work all of the back and forth and changing clothes at the school and fixing hair and being quiet with Oliver in the auditorium during the shows, but we did it with the help of my parents.

Lucy before rehearsal

On stage, in action

These are the 4 girls from CTK school that were in the same dance class. I know...make up on little girls just looks weird, but it is supposed to help us see their sweet smiles while they are on stage. It is pretty much a "required" part of the costume, but it was hard for me to do!

Look who dressed up to attend his sister's show. Does he look spiffy or what?

But who's counting?

Apparently blogger.com is - that's who. It is telling me that this is my 200th "Chronicles of Jamesnia" post. Woohoo!!

Quick...get the clippers!

I think this boy is going to need a haircut sooner than later.

Layout issues

I am not sure why my usual sidebar items are now at the bottom and the "Older Posts" link is at the top. I have been removing some items while trying to fix it. I just wanted to explain why this looks so plain right now.

The post that is not about the baby

The older kids do not spend 100% of their time oohing and aahing over Oliver. Our days are also spent dressing up and doing ballet in a very messy room with unmade beds (oops).

and even getting along with our sister most of the time.

We finally got around to trying Aunt Angela's recipe for "ooze".

Kilian brings in fresh roses everyday, and we enjoy the smell of them when we go outside in the evening. We also realize that we didn't prune them nearly enough since they are already as tall as the house!

and finally....

we eat



watermelon

at sunset.

One Week of Oliver

Actually, this can be one week of Oliver at home, since he is just a few minutes past a week and 2 days old now. He is a super easy-going baby, even when being passed around between 3 siblings multiple times each day.

Some observations:

• Newborns sleep ALOT. I somehow forgot how many hours a baby can sleep.



• A good way to make your "underweight" almost 3 year old grow really fast is to bring home a newborn. Camille seems so much bigger now!






3 of out 3 siblings agree, there is nothing sweeter than the smell of newly shampooed baby hair!





When your baby starts out at 8 lbs 8 oz, some of the size "newborn" onesies will never be used!





Although I love pink and purple and girly stuff, I am really enjoying seeing this when I open his little sock drawer.

Kid funnies

Camille must have been pretty serious about her name choice. She called Oliver "Zachary" pretty consistently for the first 4 or 5 days. Then she started correcting herself, so his name would be "Oliver not Zachary Thomas James". Then there were a few "Zaaacholiver" times, and now I think he is just "Oliver".

Lucy's words to me: "Oliver is the cutest baby you ever laid....I mean borned". She also finds that she can't stop using the word "cute" when looking at him and talking about his fingers, ears, clothes, etc.

Kilian spends less time right there in Oliver's face than the girls do, but a couple of times a day he'll wash hands and want a quick fix by holding him. The first time Kilian saw me in the hospital room after Oliver arrived, he said "your tummy is shorter than it was!".

Some firsts
Chik-fil-a (not drive through) @ 3 days old
Public Library @ 3 days old
Target @ 5 days old
Sonic @ 1 week...I know...what took so long for that one?? It is because I still don't have a minivan and have not driven yet. Our transmission repairs should be complete today or tomorrow.