Books!

Etta has always been a good listener. It was pretty easy when I had one child and could just sit and read and not worry about much else going on.

Mae on the other hand ... maybe it's just her. I thought she was never going to be able to sit and listen to a story. And while she is better, she can still be pretty wiggly. (To show a difference between she and Etta. Etta & I were already reading through the Little House books by the time she was Mae's age. And Etta would sit for what seemed liked hours before she wanted to be done. Mae ... not so much.) Although here she is at 5 months getting a story in.

But I think that Russell is going to be a bit more like Etta. For an 11-month old boy who loves to crawl and explore, he sits pretty well. For a little bit at least.

Reading before bed one night. I believe this is "Library Lil" by Steven Kellogg.

Of course you can sit still when you have your doggy. Just like Mae has her Minnie. And always has.

A #TBT for Uncle Erik. Here we are enjoying a group story when Russell was 6 days old. I think he took up more lap room then when he was barely six pounds!

3 Posts I Love

 Some pictures I take of each of the children are purposefully done.

Like annibirthery pictures. They give a record. Show a comparison. Give me an idea of how the children looked on a certain day. At a certain point in their lives.

But then as I was doing Russell's 11 month annibirthery post yesterday I ran across this post. Which leads to this post.

A picture taken with the same background, around the same age. But taken just because. Just because it is such a proud moment in their young lives. Just because it is an important part of our lives. Just because it is so. darn. cute.

Russell actually discovered the piano last week(?) sometime. He is a sucker for open doors and is especially in love with the music room because it is usually off limits. (Too many kids books on the floor for him to eat read.) But one night he disappeared and then I heard "music". There he was. As proud as could be. Just tall enough to reach the keys and make the sounds by himself.

Our dog is going through a ... dominance ... phase. I think here he is getting ready to ... mount up.

Here is Russell making his initial approach. If you look close you can see the joy on his face. It is a happy thing for him.

11 Month Annibirthery!

Russell is 11 months old today.

11 months.

I remember a year ago thinking that he was going to show up any day. Little did I know that I had one full month of misery pregnant joy left.

Russell is into everything. Everything. He is "all boy" in the sense that he is very physical and very inquisitive. He takes the hardest way any time he can and tries to get into any room that he isn't in at the time. His hearing is keen and if you open a door, anywhere in the house, he is hot on the trail to explore. 

He also is interested in looking under things, behind things, around things. One of his favorite games to play is peek-a-boo with Mae. The other day she was sitting on her chair in the dining room and we were in the bathroom. He would close the door and then open it and peek around at her and giggle and squeal. Then it happened the opposite way last night. She went in to wash her hands after dinner while he was still eating. They play very well together. But he is also content to play by himself. For example,  one morning Mae was still sleeping. He went into their room and woke her up. When he came crawling out he was quite proud of himself. So out she came. We started playing on the floor and asked him to join us. He just looked at us and went and did his own thing. Apparently people need to be attentive to him ... but not bother him too much.

While he is not walking yet it won't be long. Last night I put him down on the kitchen floor. In a standing position. It probably took him 8-10 seconds to realize that I wasn't holding on to him and he wasn't holding on to anything either. He then sank down and went about his business.

As he grows he becomes more interested in his sisters. And what they are really doing. The three of them can kind of play "together". They are really pretty gentle (most of the time). Just yesterday I looked into the living room and was amazed to see them just interacting. Makes my heart sing.

You may or may not notice by the pictures ... he is on the down hill side of a pretty horrendous case of pink eye. Etta had it about two weeks ago and I was kind of surprised on Saturday when he woke up from his nap with goopy eyes. I thought pink eye in a 5-year old was bad. It's a cake walk compared to pink eye in an 11-month old. But he has done very well and should be back to his natural good looks in a few days. But even through everything he maintains his laid back, happy personality. Smiles and giggles soon after the torture of eye cleaning and drops.

One more month to 1 year old.

Amazing.

Outfit courtesy of Aunt Molly for Christmas. Note the flamingo legs. Just like Mae at 11 months.

I think from this picture he looks to be about the same size as Etta at 11 months. Not quite as round of face and definitely more hair!

One more just because he is so cute!

Snow!

In Lewiston!

Almost one month ago ... 

It does happen. But it doesn't last very long. The girls love snow. We wish it would happen more often and stick around a bit longer.

Etta loves to help shovel the sidewalk and driveway. And she does a pretty fine job!

Look Mom! Snowy mittens!

Yum!

Sunday Smiles

Some flashback cuteness for a Sunday afternoon.

Here is a picture of Etta in the same jammies.  

A box is truly his favorite play thing!

Christmas Pageant

One of the nice things about Etta being in a small, private, Christian school is that everyone gets a (speaking) part in the Christmas play. 

Even if you don't go to school there.

Well, Mae didn't get a speaking part. But she did get to wear a costume and be on the stage with her sister; aka: Shepherd #1.

Getting in costume before the big show.

The scene is set. It was a two-scene play. The opening was little boys setting up a Nativity scene. The second part was the Nativity characters coming to life and telling the "Puppet" the Christmas Story.

Etta was Shepherd #1 and opened the second "act" dialogue.

Bob thankfully had the foresight to put a plain, white t-shirt under Mae's costume shirt.

Which was good because as the night wore on the costume got higher ...

... and higher. All in all it was a very cute production and all of the kids, including the little cow, did a very nice job.

Other Faces of Three

On the Sunday before Christmas we went to the candlelight service at our church. 

It was a lovely service. 

Candle lit. 

Dark.

So Mae slept in my lap through most of it.

Since we were dressed up I wanted to get pictures when we got home. Mae does not wake up well. (She gets that from her mother.) They are pretty good. Although Mae was not super excited about a photo shoot.

Etta was game. And Russell was all smiles - of course. But poor Miss Mae. Three has not been her favorite age.

Etta's dress and shirt were made by my Grandma Shirley. Etta's Great-Grandma. Etta loves Grandma Shirley and talks about her as if they were best of friends. It was the leading factor in getting Etta to wear the dress. The finisher was letting her add jeans and Converse.

Russell is wearing a vest and tie. Michelle O'Connor made the tie and he was quite dashing. We had already packed his shoes for the trip to Montana, which we were leaving on the next morning, so he went to church in just his socks. Mom win. 

Note that Bob's face doesn't really change in any of the pics. That is one of our favorite things about group family shots. He always looks almost exactly the same in how ever many shots and the kids look different in every one.

Finally, one where they are all looking at the camera. Mae has on Etta's dress, tights and sweater from Grandma Cathy's surprise 60th birthday party.

First Hair Cut(s)!

On Friday, December 27th we went in to Fort Benton to have Kim Pimperton give Mae her first haircut. As Etta knows, Kim is the "only" person allowed to cut hair. (I can do bangs, but that is it!) We try to stick by that rule, and thankfully the kids have hair that can make it 6 months to a year (or 3 years and 4 months in Mae's case) without being cut.

Contrary to the pictures below Mae had been very excited for her first haircut. She had been excited for a few months. The days leading up to the hair cut. The night before at the sleep over at Uncle Erik's house. When we got in the car to GO to the haircut.

Not so much when we got there.

What? I'm three and I know what I want. 

Pretty determined face, yes? Although, if you know her very well, she's really trying hard not to smile at me right here.

Of course Mr. Smiles is happy to see the camera.

The bright cap didn't even help.

Nor did getting started with the cutting.

I said to her, "If you smile just one smile for me you can have a sucker after.
This was the smile she gave me.

Okay, maybe it's okay.

Russell ended up getting his first, full haircut just after this. At one day shy of ten months. He has much more hair than Etta or Mae had at that point. (Did they even have hair? Sheesh. And no, I didn't get a 10 month annibirthery pic of Russell. Poor guy.) I didn't really mean for it to be a full haircut. Pretty much even out his old man comb over. (As shown above.) But Kim is quick. And good. So now he looks like a little man. He sat on my lap and Bob was entertaining the girls so there is not photographic proof. But I can guarantee that he did not make any of the faces that Mae did!