Alara 3 years

Between May 18th and October 4th my children are all two years apart- then the birthdays start.  This fall semester has 3 birthdays, 3 holidays, 2 sports, 2 sets of music lessons, 1 set of art lessons, cub scouts, youth mutual etc. There is no time to catch our breath till January. Alara is first to have her birthday and she just turned three.  She is still a delightful mix of sweet and sassy. Alara would be my constant shadow if I let her and loves to go where ever I go. Her best play mates are Ruth and Lincoln most days but she plays well with anyone. Whenever I ask her how she wants me to do her hair she always answers, "Like Ruthie's" or "How is Ruthie's hair done?" She likes to sing, give kisses at random times, "help" in the kitchen, be buried with pillows, ask dad for a swing, and have piggy back rides up to bed. Please stay three forever my beautiful little one.

There is no picture of her cake because it looked like a purple mess. It was my first attempt at a Swedish Princess Cake and the taste was ok, but the marzipan on the outside was too chunky and sticky. Just picture an Octopus cake without tentacles. Alara didn't seem to mind though, bless her.

The Rock- 4 months

This year is going by so fast! Life has hit warp speed here in our home but that means Rockwell's babyhood is flying by too quickly. Between three and four months old he learned to roll over and now uses rolling as a means of locomotion. He also discovered his hands and how to hold small objects. Rocky is a delight to hear laugh and baby babble. He also loves to give baby kisses. (He will try to eat your face a little.) He is so precious.  

 Numbers-

Weight: 15 lb 50%
Height: 67cm 95%
 Head circumference: Off the chart- like his brothers

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. 

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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.