six month belly comparison...

in case anyone is curious, i thought this was a little fun. i never really took pregnant pictures of my belly with the girls, and with chi it was more to track how huge i got, but i was looking through some old pictures the other day, and i saw one of my belly at about 6 months with malachi, so i took another today to compare, again about 6 months... though i didn't take time to do my hair today, sorry!

with malachi  /  with baby 4

graduation / promotions

both afton and rayna 'graduated' from their respective classes this year, kindergarten and pre-k respectively. they both had amazing teachers, made great progress, and generally had a blast this past school year. we're sad to be leaving this school district, and especially sad that we can't take afton's kindergarten teacher with us for rayna next year :).

i love how thy have this cute little school house for the kids to pose with, but it seemed like all the kids were too tall this year! raynz certainly had to duck...

all posing with her medal--citizen of the year for her class! meaning she was always well behaved, and a good example to others--hooray for good kids!

and posing with Mrs. Mayberry.

afton receiving her awards (each student had three announced) for-reading, science, and math. she was also given a certificate later for being a super citizen.

they did a cute little sign, each child holding a letter had a little quote about kindergarten, afton was A
they also did a little song, though my video wasn't working well, so i'm not trying to upload it.

 

and posing with Ms. King, i think we all had a great year with her!
(even malachi and rayna love this lady!)

 

Malachi had a birthday too... more than a month ago

still playing catch-up with blogging, so here's some pics from malachi's birthday (may 6).

he's being a bridge over his new train.

 

with his birthday crown, and in a new birthday shirt

opening presents, a pair of orange and green sunglasses, they're s little too big, so he doesn't really wear them, but i had thought they'd be a good idea...

and after cake and ice cream with grandma, we made a birthday pie for the actual day at our house.
strawberry rhubarb

it was a big hit!

happy birthday malachi! we sure love you, and we're excited to see how 3 is going to treat you!

odds and ends from may

so these pictures really mean nothing, but i just uploaded them all to my camera, and it kinda made me laugh to see all the pictures i take of my kids sleeping... they're a little wild even then :) and i find it sweeter when they're asleep!

 

malachi has some extra mattresses and stuff stacked in his room as we get ready to move, i think he prefers sleeping on the extras to in his actual bed. he's really active in his sleep anyways, we've found him all kinds of funny place by morning.

rayna's a deep sleeper, it wouldn't surprise me if she fell out of bed and didn't realize it, but as far as i know that's never happened yet (knock on wood!)

and i think what happened here is that afton must have been sent to sleep in chi's bed for talking too much with rayna at bedtime, and then we put chi to sleep on his extra mattress, but he climbed into bed with her because he likes company
(he actually frequently ends up in afton's bed, and often she ends up on the floor next to her bed when that happens)

 also, last month paul went to get his uniforms for AF stuff... crazy expensive by the way... but they were out of some sizes, so he didn't quite have a complete outfit of either the dress uniform or the combat-style one, so we took a picture of him in his physical training gear to prove he's got something ;) i think he'll pick up the missing pieces of his other uniforms next week.

all packed and ready to go to COT

and speaking of random pictures, this cracks me up a little bit too, and maybe i shouldn't post it, but i'm in the mood today, so if it's offensive, comment and when i'm in the right frame of mind i'll delete it--maybe. malachi really likes to be 'naked' though he doesn't usually wear socks :)

Captain Underpants!!!

rayna's birthday

rayna's lucky that her birthday is always in conjunction with memorial day, what better way to start the summer than with a picnic and a birthday?! our friends that we usually go to the lake with were out-of-town, moved, and working respectively, so we made great use of grandma's pool, and i think everyone was pretty happy

water wings for comfort

noodles for fun (and uncle cleave is fun too!)

a towel to sit on the edge with, cause it really wasn't that warm yet

and big people to play with

oh yea, don't forget a lawn chair to soak up the sun with!

and of course, plenty of yummy food and happy people to play with!

a few early gifts, including the crown that she was then able to wear to school the next day

and i only took about three pictures of her actual birthday... oops. suffice it to say she was happy and had a great day. we brought cookies to her class (she was one of 3 birthdays that day... how crazy is that?!). she had gnocchi for dinner, and just enough presents to keep a smile pretty much permanently affixed to her face! also a 5 layer cake (okay three layers, with pudding cream between them to count to five all together), and some friends to share it with.

and i had to include this one cause i liked it... malachi's getting big-brother practice with baby evan, i was a little amazed at how sweet he is with the baby... i hope that continues when we don't give the baby back at the end of the day!

melissa and steven got married

on the beautiful spring/summer day of june first, melissa and steven got married :) we were happy to be there.

paul however, is a very amateur phtographer, so becca's more like a wig for steven... sorry both of you

there were a number of adorable neices and nephews there... though not all the cousins could make it...
ps, they're all adorable too

i tried to get some fun cute shots with my kids, but they had other ideas...

afton's always happy to pose

evidentally malachi only has white socks... this isn't normally an issue at church since he refuses to wear any sort of shoes or socks to church, but maybe soon it'll be time to press that issue... maybe this winter?? and yes, if anyone from church sees these pictures, know that he does own shoes!

i thought the kids would be happier to try a family shot if they could climb on the trees a little bit... rayna wasn't convinced.

but the idea of chocolate chips for lunch helped, and she agreed to smile for some of the family pictures... i think this might be the best we got, any opinions???

and then there was the reception!!

we love us a good party :D

 

cousins dancing as everyone else finished getting ready. those 2 handsome gentlemen evidentally tried unsuccessfully to get any of their sisters or cousins to dance with them...

rayna was much happier to be dancing and partying!

afton too!

sorry this one's backwards, they were moving too much to get their faces in the photo

and i just have to include one of the centerpieces because missy did all the flowers for the whole wedding... cause you know, it's not stressful enough being the bride!

and i don't seem to have any pictures of malachi at the reception, but this was clearly his favorite part, i think he had 2 pieces of cake, and tons of other snacks. he was more for eating than dancing :)

and just one more cute little picture, aren't they sweet!?!