Addison Kate is 4 months old!

I can't believe my little baby is four months old. It actually hurts my heart. I just want to squeeze her and beg her to stop getting bigger.

Happy girl, hanging out on our porch.

Addison Kate is quite the little charmer. She bats those baby blues and has us all wrapped around her finger. She has gotten past the babbling stage and now lets out this yell/squeal that could wake the neighbors. She thinks it is very funny and will do it over and over again, especially when the big kids are being very loud. I think it is her way of joining in on the fun.

You know what four months means . . . rice cereal time. Yummy! She gobbled up her first bowl like a champ and then decided to eat the spoon for good measure.

My three little fishies

We were lucky enough to go swimming with some of our friends on Memorial Day weekend. It was pouring on the way to the Kahle's pool but as we pulled up to their house it cleared up and we were able to have a fun afternoon. Here are all the kiddos lined up, ready for swimming.

We eventually were able to pry the water floaties off of Amelia's arms and she realized she did remember how to swim. She gained a lot of her confidence back that day thanks to our friend Cynthia practicing with her.

Luke surfing with daddy and Tommy.

Addison's first time in a pool. One can see by her expression she was not a fan of the pool or her brand new floatie. However, she did eventually come around and enjoyed the pool while daddy carried her and she got to kick her little feet in the water.

Memorial Day Fun

We had some uncertain weather here in Mississippi over Memorial Day weekend, chances of thunderstorms all three days. So instead of heading to Horn Island on our boats, we met at the Dock. The Dock is a fun restaurant with live music and the kids can run around outside without bothering anyone.

Captain Luke.

The kids did a lot of running around, rolling and somersaulting down the hill that afternoon. They all had that sweaty, itchy grass look about them by the end of the night, I remember the feeling fondly from my summers as a kid.

Okay, kind of a gratuitous bikini shot but can you blame me? How cute is Addison Kate looking all sassy.

Big smiles before church. Let's just say I should have left well enough alone and had this be my portrait of the children. Tried to take them to a portrait studio this week and it was a train wreck. I should have ordered the pictures of Addison arching her back screaming, Luke rolling on the floor screaming that he wanted to hold Addison and Amelia rolling her eyes at Luke telling him he's being a baby. Oh and me in the background sweating buckets saying cheerfully, "Look at mommy, smile, look here!" Pitiful, so pitiful, why do I torture myself.

Dad and Grad

Amelia had donuts with dad at her school. The picture shows how excited she was to have daddy at school with her. She made sure he wore his transformers t-shirt because she said the boys in her class would like it. She also had an Accelerated Reader Luau party at school that day and was awarded for all the books she read her kindergarten year. We are so proud of our big girl, first grade, here she comes!

Mr. Luke graduated from two year old preschool and is very proud of himself as you can see. The tough man has a tattoo on his arm, I scrubbed and scrubbed but that sucker was staying put for graduation. So he had half of a turtle on his arm for his graduation, whoops!

Addison Kate loves to stand up! If we prop her up against the couch, she locks her chubby legs and will stand there and laugh and suck her little hands. She loves it. Crazy baby.

My little Picassos

The kids and I have been busy working on some new artwork for their playroom. We decided on a fish and a crab as a nice memory of our lives on the coast. The kids did an awesome job on the artwork and I was really proud of them. I drew the shape for them and they did the actually painting and then I followed up with some details later.

Maybe we'll open up a booth at the Peter Anderson art festival this year and sell their paintings, they can fund their own college accounts! The way the market is going, they are going to have to be creative!

They even signed their works of art.

Had to stick a picture of Addi in there, I just love this one because of her big eyes and big, chubby cheeks.

Happy Mother's Day

Amelia invited me to "Muffins with Mom" at her school. Her kindergarten class sang two very cute songs that made me cry immediately and also served us muffins and juice. Amelia made me a plant and a bookmark and a poem about fingerprints, all very cute. She also filled out a little survey of sorts about me, my name, age, favorite color, favorite meal etc. She got everything right on except for my weight, she wrote 101 pounds, God bless her.

Muffins with Mom with my Lukey Michael. You can see the plant Luke made for me and he also made a very cute place mat. Luke ate his plate of food and then mine too, he told me that his muffins were not good so he needed to eat mine, of course that was after he already ate his completely. What a little scam artist. Luke also filled out a survey of mommy and his answers were so cute.

My Mom

Age: 6 +20 ( I wish)

Eyes: green (nope, blue)

Weight: 6 large (Thanks a lot big guy)

Favorite restaurant: Mexican (Hmm, we do take him to El Satillo a lot)

Favorite animal: monkey (This is true, remember my Christmas list mom and dad, for years it had monkey as #1)

Job: Do dishes, fix dinner and load dishwasher (Man, dishes are like a full time job around here)

Anyhow, it was a fun week with both the kids and it made me so happy to see how excited they were to have mommy at their schools.

Me and my sweet baby girl.

I love you Amelia, Luke and Addison Kate. What great kids I have, I am a lucky mommy.

Biloxi Schooner

Our wonderful friend, Billie, invited us aboard the Biloxi Schooner. We had a terrific time sailing around, chatting with good friends and enjoying plenty of good food (and wine)!

Katie, Andrea and I had a great time leaving all the kids (eleven between the three of us) behind with babysitters.

Stephen had a GREAT time, just look at that face.

Big Hats, Mint Juleps and Horses (Must be the Derby)

Our friends Kristen and Rod had a Kentucky Derby party last weekend and it was so fun. They did a great job with the theme, bidding table, mint juleps and bourbon balls. Everyone really got into the Derby vibe, the ladies wore hats and sundresses and the really brave men wore seersucker. Stephen of course, did not, staying true to his northern roots that no man over the age of 24 months has any business wearing seersucker. You can see above a picture of all the ladies at the party in their Derby attire.

Amelia and I all ready for the big race. Amelia bid on Chocolate Candy and Luke bid on Mr. Hot Stuff. Too bad, the Boskovich Family went home empty handed, but not before I enjoyed a really yummy bourbon slush.

All dressed up for the Derby. I went hat shopping with the mission of buying the biggest hat I could find. Mission completed. I love that hat, I wish I could wear it more often. I mean really, think how much more fun going grocery shopping would be if I had that think perched on my head. It did have some downfalls though; really, really hot to have something that large on your head and the sheer vastness of the hat. It practically had wingspan and I repeatedly hit it against walls, my husband's head, etc. It was a tad dangerous but so, so worth it.

The littlest Derby fan. Even Addison Kate had a big hat on, granted she is looking at me like, "Seriously mom?" but still, so adorable.

1,2,3 Fiesta!

My little amigo ( I know that means friend but I don't know what son translates to in Spanish, so amigo it is). Luke had a Spanish Fiesta at school last week to demonstrate all the Spanish he and his classmates learned in Spanish class. The children sang many different songs and performed a Mexican hat dance and the Macarena. It was very cute and Luke was very, very proud of himself. Muy bien buddy!

Check this smile out. My little man has his first girlfriend. Luke's teacher let me in on Lauren and Luke's "friendship" recently. She told me Luke always has his arm around Lauren in class and even when he does move his arm, Lauren places his arm back around her shoulder. How adorable is that? I have to say the little man has good taste, Lauren is a cutie.

This is Luke's preschool class all dressed for the Spanish Fiesta. These are his teachers Miss Winnie and Miss Mary who are so loving and wonderful. If you look closely, guess who has his arm around Lauren?