conrad jay - week 9 + a birthday

We've had a crazy fun week, full of lots of birthday celebrating!  We like to make birthdays a pretty big deal around our house.  Tuesday was full to the brim from Birthday pancakes to birthday spankings, and everybody got in on it.  Plus haircuts!

Conrad had been fighting sleep all week long.  I thought maybe he was ready for longer wake time, but that didn't seem to be helping.  He would just lay in his rock and play, not crying, but not sleeping.  It was rather frustrating.  And now I think it was a wonder week.  I vaguely remembered these from the previous boys, and sure enough, week 8-9 is where they are recognizing patterns and have trouble going to sleep.  Nailed it.

His not sleeping during the day came in handy Sunday night where he slept for just over 9 hours!  And I went to sleep when he did, so we both slept that long!!!

He's seems to have a cold currently.  I'm definitely more on high alert with him than I was with the other two boys and early colds.  Hoping this one passes without any complications.  Come on breast milk!  Do your duty!  And now he's sleeping like a champ.  In fact, he's hard to wake up.  I think he's tired from fighting off the cold.

Conrad joined me on my run to the store this week.  It was just him and me and he was good company.  All his smiles made the trip fly by.  I think his brothers think he's a keeper.
                                             


                     

Saturday brought the big birthday party.  We were a little worried that the Hiking part of it might get rained out, but luckily the forecast was wrong!  It was super hot instead.  All the Dad's a big kiddos headed out and the moms stayed for conversation and iced coffee.  Do you see what I did there?

The kids received the mission and found their maps.  They headed to the trail to hunt for clues!  They were very success and found the treasure.  They returned just in time for lunch and cake!  It was definitely a good day, spent with friends.

                                       

And Sunday brought...you guessed it...more cake!  

 HOW?  How does he look so old???

 A WATCH!!! Amos, what time is it?

We had a combined birthday for all the family at my parents house.  We don't get to see our cousins near as much, so we always have a fun time with them.  Conrad was a bit of a handful, but he slept his longest stretch to date that night.  I told Jason the key for him sleeping through the night is just to be fussy and not sleep at all during the day.

This week is WORK WEEK at the Vance house.  It's just about as exciting as Christmas here, for me!  We are tackling most of our Summer To Dos and I'm loving it.  And I have a WONDERFUL husband who loves me!  We're putting in a swing set, moving our carport, finally cleaning out the basement and ending the week with a party involving both our dads and lots of power tools!!!  Such fun!  I'll hopefully have lots of finished project pictures to show next week!  Stay tuned!

amos jack is five

Amos turned 5 today.  He's been warming me up to the idea since the day after he turned 4.  So it's really no surprise, but it's still hard to believe.

We've started a few new traditions this year.  One is to create a chalkboard all about Amos.  I was the only contributor this year, but I hope in the future to have the brothers join in. Some of the words I used to describe him this year were: determined, fun, silly, kind, thinker, curious, crazy, adventurous and observant!

I have a little book for each of the boys that I try to remember to document important things and write down funny things they say.  Jason and I both wrote a letter in Amos' book and we hope the books stick around long enough for him to read when he's grown.

His birthday menu choices looked like this:
Breakfast - birthday pancakes with sprinkles
Lunch - Quesadillas and grapes
Snack - Jello
Dinner - Hamburgers, mac and cheese, and corn on the cob.
Cake - Brownies and ice cream

1st Birthday

2nd Birthday

3rd Birthday

4th Birthday

5th Birthday

conrad jay - week 8

Conrad says, "Happy 4th of July!"

Isn't he a cutie?  He's been fighting naps this week, which has made it a bit of a rough one.  We're making it through on smiles and snuggles.

And then staring into these BIG eyes.  Still not a definite color, but we're pretty confident they're going to be brown.

After a pretty long day, Jason took the older 3 boys for an adventure hike to give me a bit of a break.  They ended it with icecream, of course.

We were visited by Great Grandma and Grandpa Garrett this week too.  They hadn't met little Conrad yet.  They said he definitely fit into the family.

Great Grandma spoiled Amos with some pretty awesome new toys.

And Ivan found a new friend in Grandpa Garrett and his hat.  This guy is such a stinker.

That evening we had planned to cook chicken out on the grill.  This is how it ended.  With a hail storm.  You never know what kind of weather Missouri is going to send you.

On Friday mornings, we've been participating in a Mom's Bible Study.  It's been so refreshing for me to go and spend time with other moms and the boys love to swim after the meeting.  The two youngest boys have been staying at home with Dad so I don't have my hands full when I go.

Silas has gotten a lot more brave this summer.

And this guy has improved leaps and bounds.

Saturday brought our annual trip to the lake for the fourth.  We had really nice weather and lots of fun with family.

Jason was checking out our potential lake homes...hahaha!

After Daddy did a flip off the boat, this guy decided to do a cannonball!  Way to go Moose!

He wasn't so sure about getting all wet, but he has no fear.  Lots of head dives into the water for this one.

Our cousins were down at the lake this time too! Kolbi loved Conrad and helped take care of him the whole time.

Ivan thought he would share Jason's dinner after eating his own.

We haven't seen a real fireworks show since before children, but that didn't keep us from having fun with some sparklers at the lake.

This is Silas' classic face currently.  If you've been falling along for a while, he use to do something similar as a baby, but now it's kinda the half smile.

This guy.  Lots of time under the baby gym.  He's a little more protected in it and we get to do a little tummy time.

However, Ivan still invades his space when he can.  He just wants to participate too!

And here's a little 4th of July Vance Boy style.