This is. . .

This is Jace telling me to stop taking pictures of his face and take a picture of his awesome Lego ship.

And then this is Cameron laughing at me because he threw a Lego at me and it got stuck in my hair.

And this is Jace never leaving Annalise alone.

And this is Annalise still loving him even though he's annoying.

And this is Jace showing Grandma his Lego ship and Cameron being a spaz.

And then this is Liv telling me that the boys did something mean to her.  I can't remember what exactly.  They are always doing something mean to her.

Or so she says.

And this is Jace getting quizzed on multiplication flash cards but then getting mad because I'm taking pics at the same time and multiplication flash cards are SERIOUS BUSINESS, MOM.

Little toy play time

She of course loves to play in the boys room with all their little toys.  Toys that she just wants so bad to shove in that mouth of hers.  BUT if she has her passi in, she'd much rather keep the passi in.  So the toys sometimes hover near her mouth, and then she thinks, "hmmmmm, it is worth it to take this thing out?  Nah."

I followed her in there with my camera the other day and just love all these cute pictures of her just playing away.  These kinds of pictures are my favorite. 

Grandma came!!

Grandma came for her spring break!  We loved having her here.  And for the first time in forever since she's come here for spring break, it was actually kind of like spring!

We did a lot of playing around the house with the girls while the boys were in school.  And then we wrestled with the boys when they got home from school.  Nothing too exciting, but we just loved having here for our every day activities.

We miss her already.  And Leesie girl really warmed up to her towards the end of her visit, especially since they were roommates.  Until Leesie's four o'clock wake up when she comes to bed with mommy and daddy.  Yeah, we're still working on getting her to sleep in her bed all night on a regular basis.

Also I'm taking votes for how to spell Leesie.  Lisey, Lisee, Leesie. . . if you've got a suggestion or a vote, speak now or forever hold your peace.

I can't decide and spell it different every time.  So come on, help a sister out and tell me what to do. 

9 months

Brice and his dad made me this wooden backdrop thing for taking pics so little Liseygirl modeled on it the other day.  But now that's she mobile she doesn't want to sit very still for me, and she is annoyed about that camera being up in her face all the time.  It was inevitable, I guess. 

She is loving her newfound freedom that crawling brings.  And just the other day one tooth on the bottom finally popped through!  Hooray!

She still loves eating basically everything, including any crumbs or anything disgusting she might find hidden in small crevices up against the walls or under the fridge or shelves.  Yuck.

What a drooly cutie.

Homemaking

Today I was complaining through text message to Brice about how I was doing the laundry.  Again.  Because that's basically what I do with my life. 

Laundry.

I wasn't really grumpy about it, you know just pulling the "I hate laundry so bring me home something yummy" card.

And then he joking said, "But you're so good at it.  You make homemaking look easy."

And then I responded back with, "You and I both know that's not true."

And the truth is, it really isn't true.  I do not make homemaking look easy, because I don't like homemaking and I quite actually suck at it.  Or at least homemaking in what might be the traditional sense of it word.

I hate doing laundry, especially the folding and putting away parts.  So all of the clothes just stay mostly rotating from clean laundry baskets to dirty laundry baskets.  Occasionally I'll be super on top of things and put stuff away completely.  But very rarely.

I don't like cooking, or baking.  I do it simply because we have to eat.  I don't try new things and if it the recipe calls for more than five ingredient or I have to buy specific stuff for that recipe, I'll never make it.  I would rather poke my eyes out than make bread or cookies or can or try new things in the kitchen.

I'm not very organized when it comes to household things.  I don't decorate, mainly because it doesn't really interest me and I don't really care and I'm always just waiting till we move out of this house to do anything really nice and permanent.  Or at least that's what I tell myself. 

I can clean.  And I do clean.  Because I don't want to live in filth.  Though I do not it enjoy it even a tiny bit. 

The only thing I like about "homemaking" is the being home with the kids part.  Getting to see them through every phase of their little lives and be there for the fun and the bad and the hard and the gross and the sweetness. 

Oh and also I like the whole not having to be somewhere every day part.  Of course :)

The kids let me take these pictures of them the other day when they are being crazy in the living room and I didn't want to put away clothes (shocker) or start dinner and was distracting myself from those chores.  

Also they've all been sick on and off throughout the last three weeks, it seems.  Like fevers and puking and diarrhea and then fever and puking all over again, taking turns and cycling back through it all, over and over again.  So that's been a pleasant treat. 

In the boys room

Sometimes we play in the boys' room.  Although I will say not that often, because it's take quite some preparing to play in there, due to the massive amounts of legos all over the place.  I have to do some detailed picking up, so it's not really worth it some times. 

But we played in there today.

Lisey girl loves it.  Also she loves crawling around now and thinks she is so so big.

Also at this point when I was taking pictures I remembered that I wanted to start taking more pics in RAW to see if I could start to notice a difference.  I actually have been using RAW for newborn pics, all the two shoots I have done of newborns.  And I did notice a big difference in the detail and also the softness I could get.  

And I noticed the difference in these pictures, too.  So maybe I am going to become a RAW girl after all. . . 

Also Annalise thinks she's a dog with that tongue hanging out all the time, I guess.

And I love the faces she makes.  She's so funny.  And to me she just still looks like a little Cameron with earrings.  Good thing she has those earrings.  Oh I just love her to pieces.

And whenever I try to take pictures of Lisey girl and big sister is around, she becomes quite the camera hog.  Like she wants all the attention from mommy.  So I knew that was inevitable, but it's still kinda annoying.  And I don't wanna be too harsh. . . but I really wanna just say, "Move it, I want pics of your sister now."   I mean Olivia has enough pictures of her to last a lifetime, so I mean really.  

And Lisey girl is starting to pull herself up on stuff.

But then. . . 

she gets a little nervous.  And whimpers for mommy to help her.

And then big sister says, "Look I can stand up on the table, too."  And shows up her little sister.  As all big sisters do, I'm sure.

And then little sister won't look at me because she still hasn't forgiven me for taking so long to rescue her.