The weather has been a little bit cooler lately, so the kids have been playing outside quite a bit.
It's a nice change since for a while I would tell them to play out and they would come in after just a few minutes because they were sweating buckets.

The boys are digging for gold. They were disappointed that there wasn't any in that area that day. If you look closely you'll see Micah's green and clear boxes next to him which contain his rock collection. He gets rocks pretty much wherever we go. We actually ate at a fast food restaurant last week and he hopped out of the car and saw rocks on the other side of the curb. He was excited and grabbed some. :)


While the bigger kids were outside, Jude stayed inside and watched from the door. As long as he can see the other kids he is content to stand there and watch them.


Lila got tired of being outside so she came in and talked on her phone for awhile. She has a few and loves them all. Hopefully she can pay her own cell phone bill in 15 years. ha.


I had to get a shot of Joodles pushing this chair. We don't have a walker anymore because I'm afraid it will roll over another kids toes, so Jude has come up with his own "walker." He pushes our kid chairs around and practices his walking.

Jude turned 10 months old a week ago so that means it's time for more pictures.
I really can't believe he will be a year old in 2 months. It does NOT seem like it's been almost a year since he was born. But alas, it's almost here.

He was Mr. Smiley while Tad took these shots.
I'm expecting him to start walking anytime. He's getting braver and braver.




He is working on his 5th tooth, and he loves to bite. I think he's bitten everyone in the family now. :)








He's always entertained by what the other kids are doing around him, and they love him to pieces!

This post is a little overdue. Micah turned 6 on August 7! He had a batman birthday party, and was super excited to sport around a cape and mask the whole time.


Micah put his own candles on the cake. We usually put the number of candles according to the age being celebrated. He got a little carried away. I think Drennan said Micah put 29 candles. But he managed to blow them all out!


We had the party later in the day hoping the kids could play outside, and they ended up staying mostly out.....a plus for summer birthdays.


I love this shot of Baby Jude! He's trying to catch a balloon.


I wanted to get a picture of all the kids. The bigger ones weren't really keen on the idea, so I said everyone who is age 14 and under. Aunt Tina just happened to be holding Cohen because he just woke up from a nap and didn't want his picture taken. :)


Nothing big going on in this picture, I just put it in because I love his smile!!


Can't believe it's been 6 years since he was born!

We started school back last week. The kids were ready, sort of, and I was ready to get back on a schedule. Summer break was great, but was getting a little chaotic. :)

Drennan started 3rd grade and Micah 1st grade. Lila is sooo interested in her letters that she now has her own "school." Sometimes if you ask her what she's working on she'll say, "I'm doing my science." It's so refreshing to have such an eager learner again.

I didn't get any pictures of last week. We were so busy with everything that I didn't get a chance to pick up the camera. Maybe this week...

We took a trip up to see my sister and her family over the weekend. They just moved and are now only 3 1/2 hours away from here. It's so nice to not have to drive 8 hours (although we really loved visiting them when they lived at the beach). We stopped off Friday in Knoxville to eat with my aunt and her family. She has two boys that play with my two boys. Then headed on to Parrotsville. The kids played so hard the entire time. Two of Kelley's girls had Jude pretty much the whole time. Lila as well. She loved the attention. :)
After we left on Friday I asked Tad if he grabbed his camera and he said no. So we don't have any pictures from the trip. Next time we will because it was a great little town to visit and capture memories. Hopefully we can go back soon since it's so close!

It's been a few days since I've had a chance to get back to the blog. I wanted to add just a few more pictures of our camping trip. The first one is really probably not impressive to anyone but me. We decided to upgrade our tent this year since our family has grown. So Tad chose this one and I must say it's great! Two queen size air mattresses fit in it with room to spare. It's massive.


We went to see an Indian Drama while we were in Cherokee and the kids really got into Indians. Drennan mentioned to Micah that the last time we were camping there, he got a drum. So...of course Micah wanted one this time.


And since Micah had one, the little girl had to get one too. They still walk around the house playing with them so it was money well spent. Drennan purchased a pea shooter and spent the rest of his time shooting peas or popcorn kernels at the ducks that lurked around us at the campground.


My Dad wanted to put Jude under this ginormous bear. Jude was none the wiser. If you look closely, you'll see that there is also a bear on his shirt.


And you can't go to Cherokee without having your picture made with an Indian.


We had so much fun. I hate that Jude and I were sick most of the week (as well as my Dad). Hopefully next time we will all be well.

And now Jude is taking a nap so I must go and try to accomplish as much as possible before he wakes up. We'll see how that turns out. :)