High Flying

One of our good friend, Ben Kaufman, has a personal 4 person airplane that he offered to give rides in a few weeks ago. I actually took their family pictures last year out at the air strip so the plane could make it into the photo shoot. Our family had to fly in three shifts because you can only fit 3 passengers and everyone wanted to go (except Rocky) up and see what it was like. The first two trips went very smoothly apparently with Zach taking the controls at one point and aquatinting himself very well. By the time the third trip rolled around, the one that I went up in, some wind and rain had rolled in and our flight was a little bumpy. My stomach did not do so well and I was all too happy for the plane to land. Ben later said that it was the bumpiest flight of the day- just my luck- but really, I didn't go for myself. It was always for the kids anyway and they loved it. 

Add caption

Posing for a sculpture

This is Lincoln and I posing for our neighbor who is does life size sculptures of people- Jim Haire. Lincoln is supposed to be reaching for an apple. It was actually really fun to pose with my four year old and Lincoln thought going out to MacDonalds afterwards with part of his reward money was fantastic. He works in wire, then covers it in foam, then in clay and then the final product is cast in metal. If the sculpture is anything like the one Gabe posed for, it won't look very much like Lincoln and me. Mostly we are there just to get the proportions right. 

Getting him to sleep

Mac put him to sleep all by himself and then laid down so that they could both rest.

Baby 3 Months

 Rockwell loves to laugh an smile, but it has been hard to get a smiling picture because he can't see my face, just a giant camera. There is a reason youngest children are spoiled, and it is not entirely the parents' fault. The older children also like to hold him and play with him and generally just make him happy. There are just so many people who love you, it is hard not to imagine being the center of the universe.

Cheeks Jr. has discovered his hands and his body and he is thrilled. You can see his little mind working feverishly to try and control what those tiny fists are doing. He is so pleased that he can now  grab and hold small items, including my hair. "Next step, how to get it to my mouth". Rockwell can roll from his tummy to his back, weighed 14 lb 7 oz when we went to the doctors, and is a decent sleeper- he only wakes up about once a night.

"Hey mom, look Rockwell can stand, take a picture!"

Surprise Eyes

Pool side

Miss Ruth Anne has been missing the pool for the past 7 weeks because of the pins in her broken arm. We decided to just go for it at Uncle Aaron's pool and wrap her arm in plastic bags and try to keep it out of the water by using an inner tube. We had limited success and ended up blow drying her arm for an hour, but Ruth still thought it was worth it. The cast is off now and she is happily splashing around with the rest of the family at pool time albeit very cautiously lest we end up with another broken arm. 

Giant George

Meet Giant George. No matter how hard I look through our zucchini plants, every year we get at least one giant zucchini that I miss. Green vegetables among enormous green elephant ear leaves becomes a real hide and seek game. The kids begged to decorate him and put him in front of the mailbox and I couldn't say no. You can swing by and meet him if you would like. He will be on display until he withers. 

Look Who's a Big Girl!

This super girl did a great job learning to use the big potty while I was on my trip back east. Zach, (bless him) helped train Alara during my 9 day absence. Since my return she has had very few accidents and even keeps her bed dry at night (2 years 10 months) I am proud of both of them. They make a super team. (she is also back to wearing shorts now.)