A long post...

I seriously need to update more often so I don't have a long random post of pictures!! So fair warning, it is going to be a long one!!

Last week we celebrated Elaena's 6th birthday!! We had some friends and family over for a BBQ and swimming/water fun in the backyard. (Jake loved the water/sand table... thanks Grandma Ginos!!! I never really realized how small the backyard is until we had her birthday which turned out bigger then we expected... 28 people!!) Also, there are random pictures of Jake and Brynlee.

All of ours kids are growing up so much it is bitter-sweet to see them getting so big and smart.

Elaena did amazing in school and will be in 1st grade, she is a pretty good reader and is doing great with spelling although a lot of the harder words are phonetically spelled right now. One of her greatest strengths is math too. She loves to sing and dance and "tumble", at any given point throughout the day you will see her "flying" across the kitchen or tying to do somersaults and cartwheels outside... we really should get her into gymnastics...

Jake is such a talker and is very smart... he has 2/3rds of his ABC's, you just have to start him off and help a little towards the end. He is quite funny too, the other day Brandon asked him if it was time for bed and he said "No." Brandon said "I think it is..." and Jake replied, "No, been good." Hahaha, he thought he could stay up because he was good, oh and he answers for you after he asks you something like "juice, yeah, juice, yeah". He is getting very opinionated and is very OCD about things, but overall is a great kid.

Brynlee has started to smile and "talk" over the past few weeks and loves to have back and tummy time and on occasion will roll from her tummy to her back. She has done tremendously better since I have cut dairy out of my diet but the smallest amount I have really affects her (like 2 choc. chip cookies, she threw up all over me the next day... twice!). She also is really sensitive to spices like taco seasoning. She has her 2 month check up next week so we will talk to her doctor more but I am just glad we can avoid medication!

Ok enough talk here are pictures!





She was so happy to recieve chocolate for her birthday...

can you tell she is deprived?



She is flying...



Jake went into "his" kitchen, cooked some carrots, went into "my" kitchen, grabbed a pot holder and proceeded to give me breakfast!






Haha we have a singer!!








Brynlee and her "lovey"... we still don't have a name yet... we think Floyd is a clever name but it's already taken...haha



Elaena's 2nd but first "REAL" haircut...she was so excited! (It was free so why not have a professional rather then mom...)


This is the material I used for curtains to match the kids bed spreads that Grandma Ginos gave the last year (thanks Grandma!!)




Sorry it was really bright! They are reversible too!!




When we found out we were pregnant with Brynlee we needed a solution for their room to eventually fit 3 kids... so here is how we organize their clothes...


How we organize their toys...


How we organize their closet, left to right... The little white chest is where their shoes goes.