it's a bit of a blur

The last three weeks our house has been under painting construction, so between our evenings full of moving furniture and reassembling doors our life has been a bit of a blur. We've done a lot so here is a quick (or not!) recap of September.

I was able to help out at Ari's school a few times. I love getting to meet his new friends.

And Lincoln seemed to enjoy one of his projects he made at school :)

Evangeline has started dance and will have it every week throughout the school year.

We get to do some fun things at home like braiding hair...

and making crafts...

and even some applesauce. (This is our ghetto food mill we had to use-a colander!) Evangeline had lots of fun getting messy.

We took a trip down to Lake Monroe - the kids swam and fished.

We did some major tree trimming - and the kids got a kick out of his balancing act.

They enjoyed their "tropical" pool while we worked hard in the yard that weekend.

We also started up home group every other week. I always have a little helper to make cookies!

Somehow we managed to make it to the zoo with everything we have going on.

Soccer also started up for these two.

This particular day was unusually cold so Selah had to show off her shoes and long sleeves to everyone. It was as if she had never worn them before :)

This is Evangeline's first time playing soccer. She mostly runs around the field just waving to us (which is hilarious), but other times she gets her "game face" on and seems pretty serious about playing.

The verdict is still out as to whether or not she enjoys it enough to play next year. I believe the first season is always the most challenging with trying to figure it all out and a lot could happen in 6 months, so who knows!

Ari still enjoys it so much. His favorite position is midfield since he gets to run the entire field.

This might have been in August, but we took the two big kids with us to do some volunteer work. They did a lot of unwrapping, sorting, and throwing out trash. We were there for 3 hours, which was a little long for them, but they did great!

We also had our annual 10:31 picnic. Fun times with all these fun families!

Mmmm food.

And I can't forgot about all the other crazy things that go on at home :) Thankful it was washable!

Seems crazy to look at all we have managed to this month (not to mention potty training, having a guest stay with us a week, and figuring out Lincoln's crazy sleep schedule)--there's so much to be thankful for!

6 months {Lincoln}

I just love this little guy. He is so happy.

The kids love to talk to him, make him smile, and give him toys to play with.

He has entered the stage of seeing things he wants...and then going for them. Sometimes if he can't reach it then he will squeal with frustration.

He has always been a baby to put his fingers, fist, toy, my hair, etc. in his mouth (unlike our others). Really anything that is in his reach. So these pictures were very realistic of how his clothes look throughout the day (See drool spots below).

He is able to lean on things to sit up, but really has no abdominal control to do it himself. (See uncomfortable pose below).

Evangeline insisted on taking my picture with him :)

He decided not to roll at all until AFTER his 6 month appointment. :) He was so content just laying on the floor until the day after his appointment, then he decided to give it a try.

He doesn't really like to stay that way though.

 He's proud for a short moment after he gets on his belly, then decides he is all done being like that and wants on his back again. Problem is he hasn't mastered rolling back over by himself.

He surprised me at the appointment when he was only a whopping 13 lbs, 15 oz which landed him in the 5 percentile. His last few appointments he has been dropping down in the percentile so I feel less guilty about feeding him in the middle of the night still. Yes, that means he is still not sleeping through the night. Some nights are better than others, but either way he still ends up sleeping the rest of the night in our bed. Ah, fourth child. The things we do (or don't do) just to get a little more sleep. :) (And perhaps he is waking because he is hungry? We will be exploring cereal soon so maybe that will help.)

But he is maintaining his long stature in the 70 percentile. Way to be tall! for now anyway...

He wasn't cooperating this time in the chair, he decided to be lazy and lean all the way back. Lincoln has always loved his bouncer. One thing he learned early on is if he bounces his leg, then his seat will do the same. So now he will stick his leg up and try to get different things to bounce him, even if someone is holding him.