Family Photo

For the first time in over 2 years my family, my siblings their spouses and all their kids were together for long enough to take a big family picture. It is surprising but not so much when you think about it, how hard it is to get 9 kids 6 and under to hold still. You'd think that the "babies" would be the hardest but it was the older kids (my boys) that gave us the hardest time while taking the pictures. Even after 10 photos I still had to use Photoshop and switch out a third of the faces.

(Can you imagine how hard it was to get everyone to hold their pose at the same time?)

We were also able to get a picture done of our family that included Will. I can't decide which photo I like best. Of course our older boys were getting restless and had a really hard time holding still to look at the camera at the same time.

So these are the two best.

Which should I print?

It was a little easier to get the boys to hold still for individual pictures, especially since I let them climb the trees.

Sweet William

It was William's birthday this week. He didn't know what was going on, but he loved getting lots of cupcakes. The photo is of him after his third cupcake. I think the older boys enjoyed his little party more than he did.

We have really enjoyed having Little Will in our family. He is so excited and full of life. I can already see him being a fun loving kid. He loves to do silly things with his body and make odd noises with his mouth. His feet are almost as important to him as his hands. He loves to slam his feet on the ground continually (you can see that in the video of him crawling) and almost as soon as he could clap with his hands he started doing the "foot clap" which I will share in a video.

Happy Birthday Will, we love you.

Motherly Instinct

KC has developed a strong motherly instinct. G.I. Joe needn't ever to go hungry.

Crawling With A New Doo

William is 1 year old this week. Wow, time flies! A couple of weeks ago he got is first hair-cut. That baby hair was just crazy all the time. He looked like a little mad scientist.

He looks so much older now.

The week after that he finally started crawling, much to the dismay of his grandma who was babysitting him for a week. She was hoping for a happy stationary baby. Oh well, we can't stop progress. I'm sad he won't be walking at one like Andrew was, but I am also happy he won't be walking at one. More time to baby proof the house. I'll share pictures of his little birthday party. I'm sure he'll love his cake.

Here he is showing off is crawling skills along with his waving skills. He's pretty narcissistic as I can always guarantee a wave if he sees himself in the mirror.

Vacation Hang Over

I am experiencing a vacation hang over. It's not the first time either. Why is it when you look forward to a vacation, especially one sans kids, that you expect to come back all refreshed and ready to face life head-on? The reality is that you come back unused to the kids and their "energy" and unused to housework, and it can be overwhelming.

I woke up this morning, my first full day back and I didn't want to get out of bed and couldn't think of a good reason to. All last week I didn't have to make anyone a meal, I didn't have to wipe any bums, pick up anyone else's clothes, clean up anyone else's messes, or even make my own bed. It is almost depressing to come back to normal family life after that. So I call it a vacation hang over.

One good thing about coming home after a vacation is the bed. Oh how I love my bed. It was sorely missed every night we were away. Literally, my hips and back were sore. Yes, I'm spoiled, bedwise at least.

Where was this no kids, no cooking vacation you ask? KC and I thought we'd try to get away to warmer weather by going on a short cruise out of LA. We stopped for a day in Catalina and then in Ensenada, Mexico. It was fun, there was more green and a little more sun, but it wasn't that much warmer since the wind was chilly. At least we tried.

Besides the vacation hang over I am still a little dizzy sometimes as my head is trying to sort out the unmoving earth vs. moving boat thing. When will it end?

Pictures? Here you go.

Here is KC looking good.

Some seals by Catalina Island. We were on a whale watching excursion that ended up being a seal and dolphin watching excursion.

We went horseback riding at a beach near Ensenada. Highly recommended. More padding for the saddle if you have a bony bottom like me is also highly recommended. Ouch, one hour was plenty.

Here's me looking okay, it was windy. My horse looks crazy.