Brielle's 6-year-old Pictures

These are Brielle's spring school pictures for her Kindergarten year!! Can't believe it's already almost over! These school years are just going to fly, aren't they... :)

Brielle’s First Field Trip

The Kindergarten had their first field trip of the year this past week – to the Zoo! Brielle has been SO excited for weeks!! And I was so lucky to be able to go with her – so excited I didn’t have to miss out on her first field trip… :) We had a very fun day there together – and I also got to meet two of Brielle’s best friends from her class who were in our group. They just had a blast together! One of Brielle’s favorite parts of the whole experience was getting to pack our own sack lunches for a little picnic lunch there at the zoo. We bought little snacks and treats especially for that day, which she was so excited about and looked forward to eating for days beforehand… :) She continues to bring back fun memories for me of my own elementary school days – I love how kids do that for us! :)

Our Colette

Colette surprised me the other day and actually wrote her name all by herself for the first time! We’ve been working on it together, but I didn’t realize she was catching on so quickly… She was excited about it!

And then the other night, as always, she dressed herself up – she had found some red pants, her sunday shoes, and one of her dress-up necklaces… Somehow no matter what she chooses to wear, she always looks adorable! Brielle, who is constantly asking me if she can take pictures and video with the camera - (wonder where in the world that came from!) – took this picture… :)

Samuel in Basketball

We just love these little Start-Smart classes they offer here at the Youth Center -- letting the smaller-aged kids be involved in sports. This past month has been basketball for Samuel, and he just gets so proud when he gets to feel like he is apart of a sports team! He has a blast! Here's a cute picture of our little aspiring athlete at his Start-Smart class... :)

Father-Daughter Dance

Brielle was SO excited to go to her Elementary School's annual Father/Daughter Dance last week!! She has been talking about it for weeks, and we were so thankful that Jared's work schedule actually worked out for once for him to be able to go. They had such a fun time together -- Jared said that Brielle was out there on the dance floor just dancing away the whole time, and of course she made her Dad join her for much of it as well! :) She was so excited to tell us all about it when they got home! What a cute little pair they made... I can't believe how grown-up she is getting these days...

Timothy's First Baby Food!

Well, Timothy has been ready for this for awhile now, but we were trying to follow the doctor's orders and go as slow as possible introducing food for him and stuff... So this past week was his first try of baby food, and boy does he LOVE it!! (And boy does Mom love it too -- as he is sleeping so much better at night these days!) :) I just wanted to post this fun little video of him because he was making the funniest face between bites, getting so impatient if I didn't give him the next bite fast enough. We didn't get the greatest video of it, but you get the idea... :) (We had to move him to the carseat to eat because he's still not the greatest at sitting too long in his walker)...

Cute & Happy Boy

Timothy Bruce Ray
6 1/2 months old

I know - way too many pictures of the same pose - but he was being so funny and giggly yesterday afternoon, I just kept taking pictures of him (which he thought was hilarious!) He's our fun little happy boy!

Happy Easter!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter! Here's all our pictures of the kids from Easter morning... :)

Timothy's first Easter! He loved watching all the excitement...

Colette of course is my one that actually lets me dress her up for Easter and LOVES it! :)

Peeling their Easter eggs for breakfast... :) They had a fun morning!

Easter Fun

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We've been doing all the fun stuff this week, coming up on Easter, that gets the kids more and more excited of course for the upcoming holiday -- they always have a count-down going! These are just a few of the things that we happened to take pictures of... We made a cute Easter Bunny cake for Family Home Evening this past Monday, and then a picture of the girls after church last Sunday with some Easter treats from their classes. (I just thought they looked so "Springy")! :)
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We had a fun little egg-painting morning today! The kids are really starting to get to some fun ages for things like this, and they get so excited about all the fun little holiday traditions! They had a blast watching their eggs turn into the colors they chose. (We have of course been doing some fun egg hunts as well today)... Timothy was quite mesmerized, watching his brother & sisters paint their eggs, and then of course quite upset that he could not reach anything to grab and investigate for himself. He was reaching his arms everywhere, and accidentally came across this (luckily empty) pitcher that was sitting on the counter behind him. That of course quieted him immediately as he began inspecting this new-found treasure -- he was definitely intrigued by it! Funny little guy... :) We were all getting a kick out of him!

A Few Updates...

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Just posting these recent pictures of the kids for fun, since I haven't had a chance to in awhile... Mostly I just wanted to give a little update on Timothy. I think he finally had his last specialist appointment this past week -- because the doctor is completely thrilled with how well he is doing and says there is no need for anymore followups!! Yay!! He is doing awesome! Still probably about a month behind in the physical development areas, but hey, that's awesome considering his beginning! We've just started him on rice cereal recently, and he absolutely loves it! This kid is all about eating! It's crazy -- he has gone from below the 10th percentile in weight (right when he got home from the hospital) all the way up the 75th percentile now!! He's getting to be quite the chunk! :) He's started saying "ba-ba-ba-ba" now, and we think its his word for food! He just loves to eat! (Starve a poor baby for a little while, and that will of course be all they ever want to do from then on, right)... :) He's rolling everywhere now and getting so close to sitting up on his own, and defintely the little jabberer. He is our happy little sweetheart as always -- and his brother and sisters are completely in love with their baby brother!