Outdoors in October!

The kids love playing outside. Swinging seems to be the group favorite! Below, Jake is being a sweet big brother and pushing Ali in her swing. Jake and Ali have a very special relationship. They seem to get along the best, at this stage anyway. Not that Mari does not have a good relationship with them. They really all three play well together and get along well. At this age, Mari prefers to play with me more than her siblings though. They grow and change so fast, so I am enjoying that while it lasts as tomorrow it might be a completely different dynamic!

The yard and house in October.

Rub a dub dub...

...three babies in the tub. We don't normally bathe them all together, but on this occasion they were being rinsed off from eating something or other (can't remember now) and they all love bath time. Normally we put Ali in first, then add Mari and let them play together before bathing her, then we get Ali out and let Mari play while I get Ali ready for bed (James actually bathes them, wonderful father that he is:) and then Jake goes in by himself and bathes himself (heavily supervised as he likes to forget he has to wash his hair). Jake is perfectly capable of bathing, drying himself off and dressing himself for bed. Mari can do everything but bathe herself, but she is close. They both can brush their teeth (although I do it after they are done, to make sure it is done correctly). It is amazing how fast they grow up! Now if I can teach them to do housework...

Ali at 7 months!

Here is Ali modeling her hat from Mrs. McNearny and some shirts Uncle Robert, Anne-Marie, Marianne and Shona sent her. Such a happy baby!

Wow!

Well, I realize it has been almost 5 months since I posted. It seems like life just keeps speeding up. The kids and I are officially on Spring Break now, so one of my goals over the next week is to get caught up on here. I realize probably no one checks this anymore. I am grateful that my mom updates hers so frequently so that those family that don't see the kids every week, can stay current with what they are doing and how big they are growing. It is so much easier to upload pictures to Facebook, although the blog has a sense of more permanence and is organized better. I really don't do the blog for other people though. Well, that is misleading, I do it to make a record--that is what logs were intended for--of life as it happens. It started out being about my Teacher Corps experience and when the kids came along it seemed like a good idea to do for them. Once I am through with school and they are a little older and I have more free time, I hope to print this all off and make a scrapbook out of it. So for now, I don't do it for others, but I hope that one day it is something I can pass on to my children and if I am lucky enough, grandchildren. Jake and Mari (hopefully Ali will follow) enjoy seeing pictures of when James and I were there age, so hopefully this will be something for their children to enjoy!