Braids, Belts & Babbles

 Michelle has baby radar. Every time she comes over she is like a magnet attracted to "lao liu" (kid number 6)! What a blessing to our family :).

 Earlier this month I got back from a morning run and noticed a funny grin on Lily's face. I walked around the table for a hug and saw her little bro bundled in her lap! Ha! Viv and Dass were up playing Memory in the living room but no one else was up- so precious. 

 Not sure if this is the first time- but letting Gus fall asleep on the 'couch thing' and leaving him there until he wakes up hungry in the middle of the night has become a habit! If he's comfy, so are we :)

 BRAIDS! This was a super fun project. Cade's headband looks the coolest/ most realistic, but I'm not sure where he disappeared to for pictures. Viv was going for the Pocahontas look but ended up looking more like her sister- or so I'm told.

 Dassah's Side Braid and Small Green Feather add to her mysterious look as she stands in the braid holding position.

 Not sure what look Lily was going for, but she did mention she looked like her Auntie Danielle with her bangs. I'm sure it was meant as a compliment :)

 Excuse me sir, have you seen Caedmon anywhere?

 I do love to brush, braid and style 4 heads of hair every morning, but this was not on purpose! It's the outcome of a bun in for too long. Too bad it wasn't the night of the ball!

 The best part about having older siblings- always there to read another story!

It's fun being a mom. I got pancakes in bed this year (by request!) and was bombarded with artwork all day. Mother's Day is such a great reminder of how much I love my KIDS.

 This looked way more hilarious in person- it's Viv & Dass not wanting to play with anyone else. (I can just picture them inside with their noisy giggles and squeaks as they frantically shove all the pillows they carefully gathered into the doorway of their igloo :)

 Elmer's glue + black rice & millet = 1 awesome car

 & 2 fun (and I guess edible) maps

 I have been wondering which stuffed animal August is going to love. Today I put a little orange/ brown cat in his face and said "Kitty, kitty, kitty!" and I got the biggest response ever- he loved it! 

 2 Month Old Baby!

 So far August has been sweet, cuddly & pretty laid back. He's a fun one to have around.

 3 little stooges

 I think Ci ci was feeding August ice cream when we weren't looking...

 all want a turn when i get the camera out :)

 How big is a centimeter?

 Now, look as if you are staring into a starry night sky...

 never without help

 Olivet just loves to be chased around the house. This look came after a "boo!"

 Awesome onesie from our good Chinese friends

Christmas in May

The day before Cade had his best friend Nate sleep over and two days before Caedmon got his yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do he confessed- "I'm so excited, all I can think about is getting my yellow belt and having Nate over!" Look at the top of his Bible Workbook page... it was tough to focus on school to say the least :)

 How do you study with kids in the house?

(Is there any better way???)

 Our Chinese friends always laugh when they come over and ask "Where's the baby?" expecting him to be wearing lots of layers of clothes and all wrapped up snuggly in a crib in the bedroom. We usually say, "Over there" and point to some random place in the living room he is laying, just chilling out and enjoying his siblings (with 0-1 layers on- since it has been in the 80's)...

BABBLES! If we are not getting a huge smile and a "COO", we're getting this look- confused, shocked and yet dignified, all in one :D

 chubby bear

 Lily LOVES giving her 3 sisters baths and getting them ready for bed. (treat for us!!!) Hadassah asked for 3 braids. I might have said, "Dass, it's bed time. I only have one rubber band. Another time." Big sisters rock.

 I had to try hard not to fix the placement of sauce and toppings on this night's pizza. 

Lily also had her friend Madelyn overnight. Girls will be girls.

THE BELT! B4 pic of (upside-down) Caedmon with his white belt... 

 ...and after! Caedmon has worked really hard this year at practice every Monday and Wednesday night. He really enjoys his classes and also loves to try to teach me some of his newly learned skills at home.

 Kind of remind you of the "Rock Em' Sock Em' Robots" Game??

 built tough

 Tying the belt is an art- as Cade demonstrated to me tonight before heading out the door for class.

 Nate & Cade

 Way to go, bud!

Now for a good nights sleep zzzzz

 I wondered what the kids were going to do during Sunday School while I nursed August...

 "That was my favorite part of Sunday School!"

"To infinity and beyond!"

 Astronaut August

Danielle and I found the cutest pictures on Pinterest of sleeping babies in fun/ funny poses. Actually taking the pictures isn't as easy as it looks! First of all you need a SLEEPING baby :). (I probably couldn't sleep either with my head on a paper plate).

 Godzilla Golackson 

"karate chop!"

I wonder what the people in the blue Mercedes are thinking :) 

 Ok, ok! I surrender! 

 An attempted family picture on Easter. The reason for the awesome expressions is mostly because of the crowd of on-lookers. "Smile if you are having fun!"

 We are! 

 These pictures with Phil & Danielle make me lonesome! We dropped them off at the airport last Monday. Cade held it together and even told Uncle Phil he won't miss him... UNTIL we got into the car after they were gone... and he started balling :(...

 I think this is the cutest picture of the bunch! Too bad it would make an odd birth announcement :).

 An Easter picnic at a botanical garden! And no, we don't know the three random people on the right/ front. They just wanted to get in the picture!

 What an Easter Egg hunt! We even found pens and stickers!

 Now we're having fun :)

 What a gorgeous park.

 And two gorgeous girls!

 Our Chinese friend commented afterwards that the whole time we were there she kept thinking, "August has got to be the youngest person ever to enter this park!" (Since Chinese babies generally don't leave their home until they are 100 days old).

 Hadassah doesn't smile often, but when she does we know she means it!

 peek-a-bo Obs

 "I don't dare hold him!" is the most common phrase from our Chinese friends. 

August was happy to be held by Uncle Spring :).

 snuggly buggly bear

 Vivi LOVES to hold August all throughout the day... for about 2 seconds at a time.

 Hadassah is a "picker"... she picks at his face and hands and clothes etc... he doesn't seem to mind... yet

 While dad took a few weeks off of work, our whole family studied the oceans and continents! (What else were we to do with all our time?? :) We projected a map on the wall and had Lil and Cade label them with paintbrushes dipped in water. If you think that sounds like fun... Later, Cade pulled out his nerf gun and shot at the locations Josh called out. I just thought of an even better one... dip the nerf gun into the water...

 3 littles "painting" on the wall

boys

 hard to separate

 more awesome Easter pics

 One of my favorite things at this age is to put my face as close as I can to August's and to feel his little panting breath, and to smell the sweetness.

 "mom, that's embarassing"

 These girls just LOVE memory. I find them playing all over the house at all times of day.

 Why do I even think one picture with 6 kids 8 and under might turn out? :)

 I love the way Cade looks so content and peaceful. Now to get him to change diapers...

 "when's lunch?" -Cade

 "I thought you said to frown"-Viv

 "Those are all my siblings?!"

 August at 1 month

 Our favorite babysitter Laura. She is amazing. The kids ask when we are going on a date so she can come over.

Danielle and I got our final hike in about a week before she headed back to the states. We had quite a time (as usual)! (August came with too :)

 We took a pretty random bus up to a pretty random mountain. We talked about not trusting in horses and chariots as we drove chugged up a pretty steep and windy hill...

We made it! As soon as we got off the bus, I found a stump to sit on to nurse August... after we were greeted by this sweet lady and her husband. August was a few days over one month. Since whenever I say that to anyone Chinese, their response is that we shouldn't be out of the house. So this time I had to think of something clever. "He's not 2 months yet" was my response to her. It worked! She was delighted :)

 

a bird on a broken ear

 some knots in a cool tree

 getting some burps and toots out before the big hike 

 The path was not as rustic as we would have liked (once again), but the surroundings were gorgeous.

 We are pretty sure we found our self in the "Forrest Conservation and Protection" building area. Huh.

 It was a warm day- great idea to bring along the sun umbrella

 Just watering plants on a random patch of land on top of a random mountain 

 On the way down we found a restaurant/ fishing hole/ hotel "park"  

...oh yeah, and a little peacock village

 

 time for a snooze. again.

We enjoyed a picnic of light snacks this time- some nuts and dried fruit.

We found a fun place to relax.

 At first I thought this might be the "youth" hostel, but then we ran into a few fisherman. Retired looking fisherman.

 After a fun morning and a nice hike down, we were glad to spot a taxi. 

Heading home again!

 We got an awesome package in the mail last week from my sister's friends from church! Resurrection eggs (!!!) (It's never too late to tell that story!), CEREAL, some coloring books and some colored pictures from cousins! THANKS SO MUCH!!!

 August's bed has turned into an orphanage without me knowing

 stretch!

 muscle man

 Who needs pets when you can pull a box around the house with a string & a cat's head on it?

(V and H had a blast with these felines. I'm not so sure the cats had as much fun though since they kept getting dropped off at child care :)

 School is overrated. Let's go play ball!

 August's first airplane trip! 

 Phil & Danielle GRACIOUSLY watched the other kids while Josh, August and I spent 2 days in a near by city to get his passport and social security number.

 We stayed at our friends' house who were wonderful hosts and offered us their roof top suite with a garden and trampoline included!

 Peter's was one of our favorite restaurants where we previously lived. We found one in this city and enjoyed amazing salads. 

 It was so great to see old (young) friends! Kayleigh loved holding August, and Zion did a great job too.

 "big sister" Jubilee

Josh waiting in the doctor's office at the hospital where August got circumcised. 

(I could think of no better way of saying that :)

The Dr. who gave August the "surgery" is number one in the entire province and has had 20 years of experience. That was a relief to us :). (And why this picture?... This is the view from the office. Someone is hanging out their pantyhose to dry. reasonable.)

 We were so glad to meet up with our Doula and her husband and grand baby. What a sweet bunch. They are each a blessing to so many.

 Lily & Caedmon were so bummed they couldn't come with to see their friends (though they had a great time with Phil & Danielle!). And other way around- one of their friends said, "When I found out Lily and Caedmon weren't with you I was pretty sad." We took some pictures and brought home some treats. This is Lydia holding August. It was amazing to have all these little arms to help!

 Cade had Tae Kwon Do last Saturday so we all decided to enjoy a near by breakfast (all you can eat pancakes!) and then watch him practice.

 Daddy loves his kids

 me realizing our little travel camera has a fish eye setting. i was excited at my discovery. everyone else seemed annoyed. :)

Hi-ya!