Sunday Morning Photo Shoot & Kiddo Update

{AnnaB}

She's six now, lost her first tooth and has to do homework each afternoon. Please, make time stop. She is growing up quick, but in a lot of ways she hasn't changed. She still laughs easily, giggles like a maniac at her own jokes, talks without stop some days, loves making friends (even if she cannot remember their names), and she tries to watch out for others.

Notice the missing tooth? She let me pull it out. I love doing stuff like that.

I guess this picture could be considered an out-take, but I've seen this face enough times to know that it was no accident.

{Asa Base}

My sweet rascal boy. He is a charmer with his big blue eyes and a smile that seems to take over his entire face. But don't let him fool you, he takes a real delight in mischief every once in a while, especially if it involves getting Anna's attention.

Mike says he told him to say "I love Mommy" and that this picture was the result. This boy melts my heart. He really does have me wrapped around his little finger most days.

{KaiKai}

Kai has proven to be his own self. Not to be confused with any other of my babies. He has been the most content, the most independent and curious. He'd rather be scooting around on the floor (no crawling for this guy) than in my arms. He'd rather eat table food than any puree I have tried. He had 8 teeth by 9 months no more hair than when he was born.

This is is scrunch nose stink face. I get this face constantly. Sometimes he makes it in displeasure (as seen here), sometimes he does the scrunch with a grin. With the grin I think it looks like Elvis when he curled his lip up.

Tickle fight and Kai is done with pictures.

Eyelashes

Asa has eyelashes so long I am certain he could sweep the floor with them.

Exhausted?

Asa just couldn't last another minute tonight.

Asa's Songs

A & A

When Mike's parents took off earlier this week they left me with a clean house and a full fridge. Annabelle had the day off of school for a holiday. With nothing else to do but curl up with my baby and a book, the kids and I camped out in the toy room for the afternoon. It was all I could do to keep from laughing when after an hour or so I looked up to see what the pair were up to.

Asa is sitting in the toy baby stroller here!

Seriously, does that say love or what??

Guess Who

Yeah! Our little Asa turned one last week. We celebrated his birthday with mud/dirt dessert which he was delighted with and insisted on sharing with each of us.

Annabelle was a good sport, but wasn't about to let that slobbery worm into her mouth! After trying to shovel as much goodness into his mouth Asa discovered the worm and sucked on it for the next 15 minutes.

Asa has developed a funny little personality. Asa says "dada", "annya", "Ahh dun" (all done), "hi" and "hiya". His best form of communication is sign language. His favorite thing in the world is dogs. He stands at the window a few times a day and pants and barks hoping to see a dog even when he is looking in our own dog-less backyard.

Above is the barking face, the bark comes out "Whoo, whooo". Below is the more predominant dog sign, panting. Which is Asa's official name/sign for dogs.

Besides dogs he also loves to to watch for birds and indicates birds by flapping his arms. Earlier this week there was a fat gutter cat in our yard, which has peaked his interest in cats, which he signs by trying to trace whiskers on his face. Other favorite signs are smacking his lips for fish, 'ball', 'more' and 'all done'.

Mike found these little sandals. Asa has been trying to walk for about a month now, when he does walk he gets this big huge excited look on his face. The most steps I have seen consecutively was 23, but he still prefers to crawl most of the time.

His favorite foods are blackberries, yogurt, scrambled eggs, potatoes in any form and almost any snack food. He is 20 1/2 lbs and 31 inches tall. He gives wet kisses with his mouth wide open. When we are in public he waves at people and waits for them to wave back, even if they aren't looking at him. He blows raspberries on my belly. He likes to wrestle and tease. He still loves to pull Annabelle's hair, although he has gotten gentler lately. He'll bite me if he is really excited. He has eight teeth. A few times a day we find him in the pantry which is now called 'The Baby Man Cave" as he likes to bang things around, admire the vacuum and empty the recycling on the the floor. Oh yeah, he loves the vacuum, garbage truck and blender. He still loves to snuggle and often will lay on my chest like a newborn to fall asleep.

New toys are fun!

We love Asa and can't get enough of his silliness. He is a real rascal and fun to be around.

Happy Birthday Asa!

First Hair Cuts

That's right, our kids are growing up! (Sniff, sniff)

Annabelle and Asa got their first haircuts together a couple of weeks ago. Annabelle's hair had never been cut and for the last 2 years or so it seemed that it didn't really get longer, just bigger.Here is her before shot:

I felt a little torn about trimming Asa's hair because it needed a little more length so that we could see whether or not it was going to be curly. But . . . the shagginess around the edges was just looking messy, so I went for it. Here is his before shot:

Annabelle was nervous that she would FEEL her hair being cut. Afterwards she exclaimed, "That didn't hurt at all!" Too cute.

Her hair turned out a little shorter than I was anticipating, but I got the eternally tangled ends off and over all it looks healthier, we might just have to wait a while to get it back into a pony tail. But most importantly - She likes it :)

Asa's haircut went a lot smoother than I anticipated. He loved standing up looking through the chair at a very helpful Sister. She kept him happy and distracted while I trimmed up around his ears and neck.

I didn't take any off the top, just the sides and back. But here is his final result:

I don't know that I'll always cut my kid's hair, but it was fun this time. They put up with me and at this age they can't point out any of the flaws!

Favorite Videos from March

These kids are hilarious. I wish I had more moments like these on video. Enjoy!