She has hair Part II

I've already put up this post back in January but I have more pictures that I just have to post. I stopped putting pig tails in Jill's hair because she pulls them out and loses them, and this is just a battle I have chosen not to fight! But as I did Beth's hair one morning for gymnastics recently, Jill asked for her hair to be done. I did it.

And they stayed in through the class and library visit. Then we went to run errands and the rubber bands came out...

Oh well...she now has her own pig-tail created style.

I had to take a picture of the top/back of her head. I just can't get over how flat the middle is and how flared the sides are...it's pretty incredible :)

Beth taking pictures in the car...

One of the many reasons I love digital cameras is that I can allow my kids to just take photos and more photos and any photos...and every once in awhile I get a gem :)

Sisterly Love

Self-portrait

Close-upOver-the-shoulder brother shot #1

...and brother #2 (not clear but couldn't leave him out :)

Model Train Rides

Every third weekend in Costa Mesa, the model train engineers provide free rides for the community. This service is in exchange for them being able to use city land to lay their tracks and play with their trains. If you're in the area on a third weekend, I suggest taking a ride!

This family picture may not show it but we all had a blast! Adam asked if we could stay all day and just ride again and again. Can't ask for more than that from a free activity!

The two trains we rode. The second maroon one is a working steam engine, super cool!

A beautiful day for a train ride!

And for fun...here we are riding the trains almost 3 years ago...we're all there (Jill is 3 months in utero :)

Hide 'n Go Seek

You may have had to be there to understand the humor and adorableness of it all but I had to write about it so I could remember. Beth and Adam were playing hide 'n seek the other day with their stuffed animals. Now we've hidden toys before and tried to find them but they are actually "talking" the animals and the animals themselves are doing the seeking. They had one animal hide (the tiger Beth is holding) and the other seek (Luigi that Adam is holding.) So Adam knows where tiger is but Luigi does not. Will he find him? You'll be glad to know, he did find him after only a few minutes of searching. Luigi is good at this game even though Tiger is a pretty good hider :)
I could watch them play all day. Hilarious.

Because it's not too crowded enough around here...

What does a condo with four children need? Less stuff! But no, this week we've added more and it's all big! First, Daddy decided a tent would be fun and it was...he put one in the girl's room right on Beth's bed and one in the boy's room, on the floor. The next night, everyone wanted to sleep in them again and then the next night and the next...I see no end in sight! Especially when he put Jill's crib mattress in a small tent so she can sleep comfortably "in" her tent. The boy's room has no room to play but they play in the tent and the girl's have incorporated the tents and their beds so they're not actually giving up any free space although to me, it feels a bit crowded upstairs! So what did I do to help with the crowding, you ask...I bought a ball pit for Jill!

We've had balls since we lived in Georgia and even bought a Buzz Lightyear blow up spaceship for Christmas to use as a ball pit but it had a hole so when I saw this pool on clearance at Toys R Us (I was supposed to be only sizing a bike for Adam but it jumped off the shelf!) I couldn't resist. So now our downstairs living area that is seriously not much bigger than this pool, is crowded and constantly has balls rolling around. I am crazy but they are smiling and it's only for a season, right? And they won't be sleeping in tents forever, right?

Jill, Bat, Ball

After lunch today, Jill came to me with a bat and ball (not a baseball, a big red handball) and asked to go outside. This is usually naptime but ok, let's go. She had a blast hitting the ball and chasing it. I wanted to get her running full speed on video as it is a sight to see. She really gets her arms into it and makes it look exhausting! I didn't really get the running I was looking for but I caught plenty of amusing moments that I must share...
First the basic bat and ball play (be sure to catch the jeering , "ha, ha!")


And the "it's hard being the youngest clip"


And finally, she switches to basketball (love the signature, "yep" right at the end)

You'd think after all this play she'd be exhausted, but alas, there was no nap today. Ahhh...toddlers.