Kites

It was unseasonably warm this weekend - in the mid-60s - and the kids wanted to fly kites after church.  There was a bit of a breeze, enough for kites, so they gave it a try!  Anna reassembled her kite and flew it on her own.

 Such a pro!

Since the big kids were flying kites the little boys HAD to be a part of it.  They are big too after all. Just ask them.  Grant did a good job holding the kite.  He was sick that day so was in his (storm trooper) jammies all day.  But he said he felt good enough to go outside to fly kites.  After half an hour or so he told me he wanted to go back in.  He went back in and laid on the couch again.  Poor Grant.

 John kind of participated.

Matthew was also able to manage his own kite.  He did just fine except for one time when his kite took a dive into a thorny, kite-eating rose bush.  It took him a while to get it out, but he eventually did.  We enjoyed our warm weekend.  This cold winter business gets a thumbs down from me.  Especially with five kids in a small house.  So, we're hoping winter decides to end sooner rather than later.

Pere Marquette

This weekend we drove up the river a little way to Pere Marquette State Park.  During the winter Bald Eagles will fly down from Canada (or other points north) and winter here (a little north of St. Louis) along the Mississippi River.  Here we are along the river where we spotted our first several bald eagles.  Matthew and Anna wanted to peek at the big river - there was lots of ice in it.   Brrr!!  But the air temperature was in the mid-60s.  Very nice!  That's some smokestack behind the kids across the river.

We saw quite a few bald eagles and at first I tried to take pictures of them.  But they were just so hard to photograph.  Here is one attempt.  That black dot in the upper left is a bald eagle.  He/she was much lower when I started attempting to take a picture.  So this is a terrible picture.  And I decided to give up taking pictures and just enjoy seeing them in person.  We saw a lot of them - it was very cool.

Pere Marquette had a pretty cool little visitor center too.  They had lots of little displays and a few movies.  Here are the kids in a giant eagle nest (an aerie?).

After the visitor center we decided to take a short hike.  Here's Scott looking at a little map at the trailhead.  You can see everyone else already heading up the trail.

 It was a nice day but still very wintery looking.

 Here's a selfie of Emma and I, and Scott in the background.

The hike was only half a mile or so and pretty mild, but we ran into quite a bit of unavoidable mud.   Luckily it wasn't that deep.  So everyone got a little muddy except Emma, who thought the whole thing was wonderful.  She smiled and cooed for most of the hike.  You can see Scott was carrying her at the end 'cause I was carrying a muddy John most of the way back down the hill.  Matthew didn't mind being muddy but the other kids did.  These are the same kids that love making mud pits in the yard and playing in them.  So I don't know, but we still had fun.  Matthew and Anna were leading the hike.  At the end Matthew hid his walking stick in a special place in case we came back.  I was so happy we had a warm day and could get outside!!

Growing Bigger

Here are some more recent pictures of Emma, taken within the past week or so.  She recently had her two month check up and was up to 10 1/2 pounds, the 35th percentile for weight and height.  So she has caught up a bit.  Hooray Emma!  She is holding her head up much better and has longer stretches of awake and alert time during the day.  But she still wants to be held most of the time she is awake.  She sleeps maybe a good 3 or 4 hour stretch at night and then shorter stretches after that.  But overall she is a pretty good sleeper.  And she smiles at us now, which is very nice.   :)

 It's hard to get the smiles on camera.

 But still I try

 Ma2/Grandma Guptill holding Emma

Emma loved being held by her

 Anna got Emma to giggle by letting her feel a soft fuzzy kitty toy

 It didn't always work

But it was very cute when it did

 Funny laughing faces

 Emma likes Scott to hold her also

They have Emma/Dad bonding time a lot

She is still so little...but growing and growing!

Christmas is Here

We stayed here in Illinois for Christmas and things were pretty low key, but very nice.  Here are some pictures from our Christmas.  This is a picture of the kids on Christmas Eve in their new jammie pants from Grandma Guptill.  Emma had hers on too, but didn't sit by the tree.
Grant had a goopy eye that day, which we found out later was from a cold.

Our annual Christmas program.  In this scene Anna is an angel and Matthew is a shepherd (with a touch of Luke Skywalker).  Off to the left is Ariel the dolly (the understudy for baby Jesus).  The kids really wanted Emma to be in the play, but she fell asleep when it was time for her big theatrical debut.  Read about Anna falling asleep for a past Christmas performance HERE.  And right in the middle is Grant.  He didn't want to participate...or wear clothes.  And couldn't be bothered to move off our stage area either.  :)

Here are the kids Christmas morning looking in their stockings.

We ate some breakfast and took a quick family picture.  Anna wanted to hold baby Emma in the picture, so she was making a mad face for most of our pictures.

And here are just a few kids pictures

Matthew helping people get gifts

John got a truck!

Grant opening a gift

Matthew looking for gifts

John reading a new book he unwrapped

Scott opening some gifts.  He has been good this year.  :)

And here's Emma in her pajama bottoms enjoying her first Christmas.  She missed the Christmas Eve program, but made it for Christmas day.  It was fun being together on Christmas!!

Photo Session

Way back before Thanksgiving my friend offered to take some photos of Emma (and a few pics of the other kids).  Here are some of my favorites.  Emma all bundled up.
Note:  These pictures were taken November 21st, so Emma is lots bigger now.

 And with a flower

 A cute little hat

 I was amazed how much she slept during this photo shoot

 Then she woke up and cried

Grant and John were test subjects while my friend found some good light in the house for a full group shot.

 And she snapped a few of the kids by themselves as we got everyone rounded up.

Here's Grant - 3 1/2 years old

 Matthew - 7 1/2

 Anna - 6

 John - 2

 Getting a group shot is always a challenge

First we tried Matthew holding Emma

 Grant cried and wanted to hold Emma - so we let him have a little turn

 He felt better after that

Anna wanted a turn too

And all five kids looking in the general direction of the camera, eyes open and mostly smiling.  It's a miracle!!  Thanks to my friend for the beautiful pics!!