Time to catch up on pictures.

So yes it is 1 o'clock in the morning and I have so much on my mind that I have been laying in bed for over an hour and have decided ENOUGH, ITS TIME TO GET UP! I can't stop thinking about all the stuff happening right now so I might as well do something more productive than laying awake all night and so here I am. I finally found our camera (it was in Trevor's scuba bag, since he used it last while scuba diving) so now I have some pictures to post! YEA! So I hope you enjoy the pictures and stories that go along with them.

Since it is so nice outside I have been letting all the little kidlets play outside and Patrick has decided that his favorite spot is right off of the porch in the dirt. He would play there for hours if I let him. But the one thing that I hate more than Sand is mud, and since mud starts out as dirt, I have a very strong dislike for dirt.
But as you can see it makes him so incredibly happy to get this messy, so most of the time I just let him have at it.
which is why this is the way I found him the other day, out in his favorite spot...the pain-in-the-butt to clean dirt! Makes for great pictures though.

I was on the computer with my legs up on the arm of the couch when Patrick comes in between my legs looking exactly like this.
Now you can get a good look at his four teeth. and chubby cheeks, true the stick does accent them a bit.
and his stunning good looks!!



Josh and his best friend Michaela. I watch her three days a week and so far she is the one friend that he plays the best with. Trevor put up his hammock for the kids to play with and man did they love it.

This is Aleko, for the last two weeks I have been watching him along with Josh, Patrick, Michaela, and Clara. Yeah count them there are FIVE! Needless to say due to his age and everything else going on right now five kids was a little bit stressful. But I only did it for two weeks. This next week I will have Michaelas' older sister as well so it will be back up to five. But next week and for the rest of the summer I will only have Josh, Patrick, and Clara. Now that I can handle.
One afternoon while making crapes I gave the babies some strawberries and Clara took the liberty to have a little whipped topping with it. She was able to reach over to the table far enough to grab the lid and lick off the whip topping on it. As you can see she missed a spot on her nose.Clara is such a great child to watch. She and Patrick pretty much play all day. Allie helped us adapt a saying for babysitting her. "The Clara Clause" which pretty much states that we can watch Clara whenever, she does not count as an extra child due to the fact that she is SO GOOD. We have been so blessed with Clara and Michaela, there are no two kids that I have meet that have played better with my children then these two do.


Our little birthday celebration-- mainly a cake and a "happy birthday" for Patrick.

We bought a much needed bike trailer for Patricks birthday gift. We figured with all the gifts from grandparents and this being his first birthday he wouldn't mind that being his only gift.
The Sunday before Patricks birthday we got together with my family to celebrate Patrick, Josh, and my dad's birthday. Contrary to the number of candles Josh actually turned 4, Patrick turned 1. And we will just say that my dad is over the hill again for one more year. Which is my way of saying that I can't remember exactly how old that is, I am pretty sure it is 43 or 44 though. Sadly I can't even remember how old I am, I always end up counting from 1983 to figure it out.Patrick enjoyed the food, especially learning about olives! That is my sister Isabella in the background.
I took this picture to show you one of Patrick favorite things to do, drink water from a straw and instead of swallowing it let it all fall out of your mouth and down the front of your shirt. In the background is my brother Zach's youngest, Zach.Josh has been dying to have a Batter Batter Baseball for his birthday, so everyone pitched in to get him one.As you can see he really liked it!

The next day we took it to the park and played our first game of baseball as a family.
Partick doesn't like the feel of grass on his knees so he crawled to the bases on his hands and FEET.
He successfully reaches the base and stands up.
then gets ready for a lead off to second.

Evan and Patrick at Liberty Park, this is Patricks first time feeding the ducks! He loves ducks and dogs. I don't know if I have mentioned that he can says both words.I would have to say I love this shot. I am excited for the day that we buy a nicer camera so I can take better pictures from more creative angles. I would have to say that is the one thing (by thing I mean physical object that I don't really need but really really want) that I would like the most.
Evan and Patrick decide to take a little break to feed themselves. I would have to admit it was some good bread!
Patrick has been standing more and more these days without any help or support getting up.

We are big yogurt lovers around here, especially Josh. This is the first time though that I let Patrick try to feed himself.
He has done finger foods but never a spoon and bowl.
I think he did a really good job feeding himself. Well, all up to the point where he was done eating. At that point he did a really good job making a mess of the leftovers.

These next two pictures are right after I have given Patrick one of his many hair cuts, these are two separate occasions, his hair grows so fast. How do you like the style? Can you believe how grown up he is getting?

Well there you go...now it is 3:16 Am and since I have a busy day ahead of me tommorrow and a child who like to wake up at 6 Am I think I better try again to stop thinking and go to sleep.