5 Golden Rings: June 2013

Summer Days

We are really enjoying our summer already! The babies love it outside, and they are perfectly content to hang out in their bouncy seats and watch Kaleb play on his new water table or in his new swimming pool. We also spend a lot of time on the front porch swinging and watching Kaleb blow and chase bubbles.

Kaleb says he's a "movie star" when he wears his sunglasses!

Kirk has our yard looking better every day!

Kaleb helps keep the lawn cut!

I don't think many movie stars cut their own grass, but Kaleb does!

Had to share this... Emery has her head turned backwards because I put her where she couldn't see her brother. About 5 minutes after I took this, I looked in on them and Oliver had turned all the way around so he could see her!

We won Kaleb's water table in a raffle at the Easter egg hunt we went to at All Star Adventures.

Kaleb wanted to swim in the water table... we bought him a pool the next day!

Our pretty garden!

We look forward to putting Emery and Oliver in the pool soon. I think by the end of the summer they may be able to sit up enough to get in and splash around. Until then, we'll have to get in and lounge with them!

Melissa

Milestones...

My babies are growing up. We are doing very grown up things these days!! Things such as eating baby food, rolling over, sitting up in their activity seats, and jabbering a lot!

I decided that, with 2 babies, we could save some money by making our own baby food. So far, I've made sweet potatoes, carrots, and squash. They have also had green beans, but they were not made by me. We're moving on to some fruit now. I think we will try bananas for breakfast in the morning. Kaleb is very interested in their new foods. He tells me, "Mama, I was a baby and I ate 'tweet tatas!' 'Emmy Ahver' like 'tweet tatas!'"

Our first bite!

And Oliver's first bite!

Emery rolled over first. She did it on the exam table at their 4 month checkup about a week and a half after they turned 4 months old. She rolled from stomach to back all by herself, and she hasn't done it since. Oliver figured out how to roll from back to stomach a couple of days ago, and he does it constantly. He rolls over and then yells until someone comes and helps him to his back again. He can't figure out stomach to back yet, but I'm sure he'll get there soon!

Emery and Oliver enjoy their activity seats for short periods of time. Kaleb makes sure he demonstrates all toys and buttons for them each time they're in their seats. They look so big sitting up playing! I can't believe they're already old enough for such activity.

Oliver likes to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while hanging out in his seat!

Oliver found his voice about a week ago and has been jabbering ever since. Emery, who is about a week behind Oliver on most things, found her voice a couple days ago, and now she is jabbering just as much. I can't wait for them to start having conversations with one another!!

Before I know it, these 2 will be crawling all over the place, and I am NOT ready for that. When Kaleb was a baby, I couldn't wait for him to crawl and then walk. With Emery and Oliver, I really appreciate being able to put them down in one spot and they stay there. Those days are coming to a close... Stay tuned! I'm sure we will be scooting soon!

Melissa

Our Vacay to "Ippeesippee"

We spent 2 weeks in Mississippi in May and what a fantastic visit it was! Kaleb really enjoyed his time with his grandparents and cousins, and Emery & Oliver got to meet all of their adoring fans in "Ipeesippee" as Kaleb pronounces it!

We spent the first week with my family on the coast. When we are at my parents' house out in the country we spend most of our time outdoors and, for the kids, shoes and clothing is optional! I was sick for the majority of our coast visit, but I made the best of it. Kaleb and my niece, Kamille, really enjoyed one another's company this visit. They've finally reached an age where they play together pretty well, and they had a good time together. Kaleb even bathed with her every night... and Kaleb does not usually enjoy bathing with other kids for some reason. Every morning when he would wake up, he'd ask where Kamille and Ashton were. Kamille LOVED her new baby cousins. She was so sweet with them and just wanted to love all over them all the time. We had many visitors while we were there, and all 3 kiddos got LOTS of love! We also had Emery and Oliver baptized while we were there and had a lunch reception at my parents' house after the Baptism. We had planned a trip to the Aquarium in New Orleans with my parents and my brother and his family, but we planned it for the only day the Aquarium is closed. So, instead, Kaleb got to go to the beach for the first time ever. Then we went to lunch and spent the rest of the day at home with the kids in the pool and boiled crawfish for dinner. It turned out for the best I think. It was way more relaxing than driving to New Orleans with 6 kids!

Cousin Gavin loved his new cousins too!

Paw Paw and his girls!

Kaleb really liked Mawmaw and Pawpaw's touch screen computer!

Our beach trip was not so fun for these two, but sometimes they just have to go along for the ride.

Ashton is a water baby... he had a great time at the splash pad across from the beach!

Looks like Kaleb is trying to turn his cousin into a pirate... she's wearing his pirate t-shirt and cuddling in his Jake blanket.

Kaleb and Kamille napped on either end of the couch for a while after our beach morning.

Oliver's first "dip" in the pool!

Hard at work filling the car up with water from the pool... whatever keeps them busy and happy!

Kaleb was pretty excited about Pawpaw's tractor!

Mawmaw and Pawpaw with all of their grandkids + Aunt Ashlie!

My sweet Goddaughter, Arrington, came to play!

Aunt Azlyn and Uncle Adam getting some love. I love the way Oliver is looking at Aunt Az in this picture!

Oliver did a lot of snoozing on that swing!

Emery's and Oliver's sweet Godparents, Courtney, Michael, Katelyn, and Jason.

Kamille latched onto Uncle Kirk when she discovered he'd read to her!

After our week on the coast, we headed up to Vicksburg for our week with Kirk's family. Cousin's Charlie and Drew spent several days with us at Mawmaw and Pops' house. I'm so glad Kaleb got such quality cousin time on this trip. It makes me sad that he doesn't get to see his cousins that much especially after seeing how much they enjoy their time together. The timing of our trip worked out so that we got to be in Vicksburg for Kirk's cousin Katelyn's (Emery's Godmother) graduation. Kirk went to the graduation, and I stayed at the house with the kids. Then we all went to Kately's graduation party. Then the next day, Kirk's entire family minus a few (on the Jones side) spent the day at Lake Bruin. That meant a day with even more cousins!! We had such a great relaxing day and Kaleb got to go on his first ever boat ride!