First Food

I finally got around to feeding Amelia something besides formula. It was funny because looking back through my photos of Jacob and Ephraim, I discovered that I was feeding them cereal at 5 months old. Amelia is nearly 7 months old now, so it was about time!

At first she wasn't quite sure what to think about it... but she knew that she liked the spoon!

She kept trying to grab it out of my hand, so I finally let her have it. Isn't she super-cute?

In the end it seems that she liked the oatmeal we gave her. Just check out the smile on her face!

Macro Me

For my birthday, Joe got me some cool macro filters for my camera. They attach to the lens and magnify what I am seeing through the lens. I would love a macro lens, but they are expensive! So this was a much less expensive option. Here are some fun pictures I took with my filters.

This is the top of a mushroom growing under our neighbor's tree. Cool, huh? Here is a much more normal looking mushroom. It was actually pretty tiny.

Then I went out by the side of the road and took some pictures of weeds. I love how close the macro filters let me get so I can see more detail.

These flowers are really tiny too. I thought they were actually quite pretty.

This photo is my favorite. I love how it tuned out. Maybe I will turn it into a Thank you card or something.

Or maybe this one.

I love all the cool things my camera can do. I even took closeups of the kids eyes. Can you tell whose is whose?

I can tell my macro filters are going to be so much fun!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a very nice birthday this year. Joe decided to stay home, so to start my day off I got to sleep in a little bit with him. Heavenly! Then Joe took Jacob to school while I got Amelia and myself ready for the day. I thought Amelia looked absolutely adorable in the cute new clothes that Mom and I bought on clearance at Babies R Us. So of course I took some pictures.

Who am I kidding?! I took lots of pictures because she is so cute and I love taking pictures. Check out how good she is getting at rolling over.

I love this cute little outfit with the embroidery and the paisley pants. You don't find baby clothes in black very often and it sure is cute!

I even got to use Amelia's black headband. Too cute!

After our impromptu photo session I took Ephraim and Amelia to Music Makers. It was fun to see so many of my friends on my birthday. When we got home Amelia took a nap while I took pictures of the little mushrooms in our neighbor's yard. They are so cute and I am going to use the pictures for a photo challenge on my public blog. At his insistence, I also took a picture of Ephraim.

Then it was time to go get Jacob from school. Melinda was kind enough to watch the kids for us so Joe and I could go to lunch alone together. We went to Olive Garden and it was so nice to spend time alone together!

After lunch we dashed to Best Buy and picked up two filters for my camera. One is a regular UV filter like the ones on my other lenses, but the other one is a diffusion filter. I can't wait to try it out. We also ordered some other camera goodies online that I should get next week.

Then we picked up the kids and headed home. It was cool enough in the afternoon that Joe worked on the bricks in front of the house. Jacob was a big helper to daddy. He carried the small old bricks to the back yard where daddy wanted them.

Ephraim also helped when he woke up from his nap. He helped daddy sort the big chunks out of the wheelbarrow full of dirt.

What a great team!

 

The new bricks look SO nice! We need a couple more to finish, but it is going to look spectacular!

Amelia and I helped by being the adoring onlookers for our work crew. Here she is in her swing, kicking her feet up in the air.

What a cutie patootie!

In the evening we opened my present from the Devereaux's -a new shirt! It is so cute. I even got Joe to take a picture for me (with Amelia sticking her tongue out at him!)
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So now you have seen everyone at our house on my birthday. It was a good day.

Sharks' Soccer Skills

Saturday was busy as usual, but we always make time for our Saturday soccer game. I have to say that Jacob's team is really learning some skills and improving at soccer. His team got five or six points, and the other team got only one.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the afternoon.

Here is Jacob dribbling the ball. He is a good dribbler and runs pretty fast. It was actually a pretty warm day for September. Apparently I should have brought a hat for Amelia.

Here is another picture of Jacob taking the ball towards the goal. Each game he gets to play defense and offense, which I think is great for him. Now we just need to teach him to be a little bit more aggressive and go after the ball!

I am so glad we got Jacob into soccer. It is a good sport for him and he loves it! We only have three more games this season, then we take a break until spring.... maybe by then Jacob will have grown into his uniform a little bit!

Acorn Afternoon

Pinterest is a new addiction of mine. So many fun crafts and great ideas. Since I have found so many fun things to do with acorns on Pinterest, one afternoon Jacob and I went on a walk in our neighborhood to gather some. I want to use them in my apothecary jars. I haven't decided if I am going to use glitter or paint on them, but the possibilites are endless!

I love this picture of Jacob's little hands trying to hold as many acorns as possible. We found tons of acorns! I think we nearly filled an entire gallon ziploc bag, so I am sure there will be plenty for me to play with. I was thinking of glittering the caps or painting them. I may leave some au naturale because I think they are kind of pretty already.

Amelia at 6 months

Can you believe that my baby is six months old already?

Oh my goodness, what a sweet girl! I took her six month photos this morning and I love how they turned out. The best part of taking your own photos is catching your kids when you know they are happy.

Of course I had to try different hair accessories, but you can see that she is getting quite the head of hair!

The hardest part was getting her to hold still! She desperately wanted to grab the sign next to her. She has discovered that paper is fun to play with.

This time I took some head shots that I really love. Check out all the hair on this girl!

I cannot even tell you how happy we are to have Amelia as part of our family. She brightens our days and truly is our little sunshine!

It is amazing to watch her grow and see all the things she is learning! She has become more comfortable on her tummy, and can actually roll from her back to her tummy and then back again. Luckily for me, she has not quite figured out how to use rolling as a mode of transportation yet. I have a feeling we are going to have to childproof the house soon.

We love you Miss Amelia! We look forward to watching you grow through all the milestones to come!

Sunday at the Devereaux's

Today as we got ready for church, I thought that the kids looked particularly nice. Jacob and Ephraim were very well coordinated, and Amelia was super cute. So I sat them all down on the couch and took a picture.

Who am I kidding?! Of course I took way more than one picture. These are just my favorites.

Don't I have the cutest kids on the planet? Of course I may be a bit biased.

Evening at the park

For my public blog I have been participating in several photo hunts or challenges. I find that they help me to try to take better pictures. It is also fun to try to find the items I need to take pictures of. This week one of my challenges included a "street photography" prompt, so I took the boys downtown to take some pictures. They were happy to run down the street with me and be my pedestrians.

I had Amelia in our little stroller, and the boys wanted to push her. I had them take turns pushing her down the street, which they thought was so much fun!

After walking down the street, we walked to the nearby park. Joe was working late and the boys wanted to play for a while, which was fine by me. Amelia got tired after a while and I managed to get her to fall asleep in my arms. Isn't she cute?

The sunset on the way home was gorgeous! I took the boys to Maceys to get some ice cream and had to stop and take pictures of the sunset in the parking lot. So beautiful!

I also ended up taking a picture of the full moon this week. I think it turned out rather nicely.

My Boppy Baby

I realized this morning that it had been a while since I had taken any cute pictures of Amelia! She was so cute this morning while sitting up in the boppy that I had to take a few pictures... and by a few, I mean tons.

Amelia is getting better at sitting up, but still needs a little support or she will fall over.

She prefers to sit up because then she can see what is going on around her a little better. Her busy brothers are always interesting to watch!

I can't believe how fast she is growing! She is almost six months old!

I also can't believe how many pictures I took of her! I just can't help it, she is so cute!

Of course the best part is when I get her to smile at me!

Or stick out her tongue- whatever!