4 months old already!

Ayla had her 4 month check up yesterday. She's growing up so fast! She weighs 14 lbs 2 oz, and is 25 1/4 inches long now. She is now rolling from her back to her tummy, and using her hands a lot, so she can entertain herself with toys a little bit now. I started to feed her cereal last night, and that was kind of fun. Her doctor said we didn't need to start her on cereal until she is 6 months, but I didn't feel like waiting another 2 months. We were having eating problems the last week and a half, so the doc told me to switch back to the size 1 nipples since she was chugging her bottles and spitting up like crazy right after EVERY bottle. Now she isn't spitting up anymore, so that's a relief. But she isn't eating as much at a time now, and eating more often again. : (
After Ayla's appointment we did some shopping at Target, like usual, then went to meet my friend Ashley in Stillwater. Her daughter Katia is 4 weeks younger than Ayla. She is SOOOO cute! I bought a huge inflatable easel while we were at Target. You can draw on it with sidewalk chalk and paint, then just wash it off with water, but I found that the chalk doesn't come off too easily, so we'll probably just stick with the paint.
Here I am finishing pumping it up. It's huge!
Mike is coming home tomorrow for a week, and he's going to wonder what the heck we have going on in the front yard.

Another weekend in Siren

Last Wednesday I met my parents and they took Lara, Ayla, and Ozzi back up to Siren with them. I had a night all to myself which was nice, then Thursday I went to Siren too. We did some more four wheeling, went to the beach, went to grandma Elaine's, and had her over to play some games.

Lara took this picture of Ayla and me!

This was Ayla's first time in the water. That's as far as she went in. : )

Lara and Papa got into a water fight!

Once she was all wet she decided to get dirty.

Mike was home!

Mike came home last weekend for a couple days. It was good to finally see him! Lara, Ayla, and I went to the airport to pick him up. Lara was very excited to see him and ran into his arms when he finally arrived. It was very cute. We went out for breakfast after that, then did some shopping around Woodbury, then later that afternoon we went down to Strum to Nana and Papa's house for a visit. They had the pool set up so Lara played in the water a little bit, and played with Matti.

The next day we did a little more shopping. We bought Lara a booster seat, so that makes things a little easier getting in and out of the car. We went to Outback for dinner and had prime rib, which I'd been wanting for quite some time. It was delicious! On Sunday we had to bring Mike back to the airport, but they should be done in Texas later this week, and hopefully home by some time next weekend. We're not too sure where he'll be working next but we'll find out soon!

New pics of the kids

Here are some recent pictures of the kids....

Ayla in her shades. : )

I'm always making Lara do dumb things for pictures. Poor girl!

Pool time

We had to get the pool out again last week because it's just been SO hot out! Actually, I had to go buy a new one. Last year's pool was disgusting, and I would need a power washer to get it clean. Once again, Lara seems to be more of a chicken this summer than last. It takes her quite a while to get in and actually sit down in the pool. And EVERY little bug has to be removed. : ) The water gets dirty real fast too, which I don't like, because by the time the water actually gets warm, it's too dirty to swim in, and I want to put Ayla in her little crab so she can float around. I dipped her feet in a few times, but she didn't like that too much. I think it was just too cold for her. I went in once, it's fun to just sit and relax and stay cool. And have water fights with Lara. : ) Ayla just hangs out in her bouncer in the shade while we play, and Ozzi usually watches us too.
I gave Lara the fish net for our aquarium so she can get bugs out.

She likes to use her sprinkling cans to water the weeds and sidewalk.

Soccer season again

The girls and I have been going to Preston's soccer games again this summer. Lara and Peyton always have so much fun together. I'm hoping to get Lara in soccer next summer. I think Jen and I were the annoying moms, always taking pictures again. : )

Preston is so cute out on the soccer field!

Parker is such a peanut! Preston's last game was last week, but we got RAINED on! So they were done early. : ( I'll miss going to the games! Peyton just had his 4th birthday a few days ago, and Preston will be 7 in a few days. Happy Birthday boys!!!

4th of July Fun

Mike didn't end up coming home for the 4th of July weekend. Instead he will be flying home this coming Friday morning, and flying back to Texas on Sunday afternoon. Then after that he should be home every 3rd weekend, as long as they're still working out of town.

The girls and I went up to Siren for a 5 day weekend. : ) I guess every day is the weekend for me. As of a couple weeks ago, I am officially a stay at home mom. My unemployment ran out about 3 weeks ago and I was looking for a job, but then we decided it wasn't worth the cost of putting the kids in daycare. Then the unemployment extension passed, so now I'll be getting paid for 3 more months. Yay!!! Anyways, we had a good time and stayed real busy while we were in Siren. We visited some friends, went to the fair in Webster (Lara still won't go on the rides, and my parents bought her an armband, but they got their money back), went to the 4th of July parade, a picnic, the music in the park, fireworks, a bonfire, 4 wheeling, and swimming at the lake. I didn't take too many pictures though.

Her favorite thing at the fair was the animals. She could have spent all day with the goats.

When it came to the rides, this was her attitude. : ) She did play a couple games and won some prizes so that made her happy.