Ellie's Photography

No doubt Ellie has an eye for photography.  We all defer to Ellie for taking pictures.  Emma has already secured Ellie's services for her wedding...whenever that day comes.  We're encouraging Ellie to hone her natural ability...could be a great job as she gets older.

This is a picture of our red wagon with dirt and water in it.  Ellie had Everson lift and drop one end of the wagon, so she could get a picture of the water movement.  I think it's so creative.

Wouldn't this make a cute greeting card?

This is a self portrait taken at the Mutton Bustin Rodeo last fall.  Those are stick horses next to Ellie.

Ellie takes lots and lots of self portraits at all kinds of funky angles.

We don't often have such heavy cloud cover, it's a great contrast with Ellie's green shirt.

A pretty exciting week...
Someone learned how to sit up

And someone joined the metal mouth club...

The cool thing about Emma's braces is that the top braces are white, while the bottom are silver.  Makes for a less shiny smile under the ballet stage lights.  18 or so months to go for Emma...and Erik and Ellie are going to be joining her in the not too distant future...we could have 3 in braces!  We're learning all the soft foods that Emma can eat, so that when the time comes, we'll know what to feed Erik and Ellie.

An interesting night...A long, but seemingly short night
A night in which I interacted with 4 of my 6 children
All between the hours of 1 am and 6 am...

I stayed up late so that I could take Emma and her best friend, Micaela to the midnight premiere of The Hunger Games.  They were meeting up with several friends from ballet (and way-cooler-than-me moms).

1:00 am, Egan teething for 2 weeks woke me again...
2:47 am, Emma woke me me to tell me she was home and the movie was great
3:30 am, Egan woke again
4:00 am, Elisha woke to say he had an accident and could he sleep with me
4:30 am, Ellie woke me to say that she had thrown up
6:00 am, Egan woke, again

Erik and Everson win the award for not waking me!

I love my life and my kiddos.  But I also love my sleep ;-)

Since I hold on for dear life just about every day, I haven't had time to update the blog. 

Here's some pictures of my 6 lovelies, courtesy of family photographer Ellie and her new camera.

Egan is 6 months old!  

It's hard to remember life before Egan (but I DO remember the swollen feet).  He's a happy, content little guy who loves the life that happens around him.  In our household, there's a LOT of life being lived every moment of every day!  Each of the 5 older siblings have special things they do with and for Egan and it's fun to watch them dote on him.  He's started to eat solids and roll over (when he is down on the floor long enough).  We're working on sitting up.  The only problem with sitting alone is that Egan likes to rock when sitting and no one wants him to hit his little head on the floor by rocking back.  Here's some pictures of our sweet little guy.

Nutcracker 2011

The girls have 6 roles between the 2 of them and will perform 4 times this weekend.  Emma is excited to have her first solo role as the wind up "Kissy Doll" from the party scene.  And the red shoes...magic marker...yes, she was a bit loopy when she was finished.

 My Kissy Doll/Snow Corps/Spanish Corps/Waltz Corps and my Soldier/Chinese Tea Corps

 Elisha had to strike a pose with his favorite Kissy Doll...

A new look...
For quite some time, Emma has wanted a new hairstyle.  I needed a haircut (it's been 4 months), so we went this morning to see my cousin Rachel at her salon.

 Before...

Very satisfied after...

Those curls are NATURAL!

She can't stop looking at herself...She was beautiful before the cut.  It's hard to improve on that, but wow!

TOTALLY COOL NEW PLAYGROUND! 
A few weeks ago, a new playground opened up.  The kids wanted to go, I decided the best time to go was during a schoolday, since the playground is across the street from an elementary school.  We went this past week and have made all kinds of plans for what we'll take the next time.  Erik and Doug loved the brand new basketball court, and I tried out the walking path with the stroller.

I wonder if I can get them to do their schoolwork at the playground...

Check out this insane rock-wall-twisty-climby-thing!  That's Ellie in the yellow shirt.

Emma loved this playground.  My high school freshman begged to know when we could go back...she loved these rings...they were all independently suspended...so they move when you climb on them.

Elisha has some interesting poses for the camera!

Everson enjoyed climbing on this 'rock'.  Good thing he thought to pack his army gear...he actually tried out his parachute!

Pictures of Baby Egan, Sir Poopypants, Egan-boy...3 1/2 months old

 Egan loves to suck on his fingers and hands, especially the little chubby part at the base of his thumb

 Everson thought that Egan needed to try on the Green Lantern mask...he makes a cute superhero!

 He is especially cute when his face is all wrinkly when he cries.  And oh, the size of his tears!

Just this week, Egan was introduced to the Bumbo.  What a great invention!  In no way is he strong enough to sit by himself, but this little rubber seat is so supportive.  Mr Egan can sit and enjoy his siblings and all their theatrics.  I'd give anything to know what he thinks of the insanity that goes on here!

Ellie is developing her own fashion style.  These ruffled leggings were begging for a matching top...and Emma's pincurls made for tight ringlet curls.  A little fashionista!

 This little cowboy can't resist a laid back pose for the camera...especially in his cowboy duds!

Elisha said, "Me too!"  Then turned around and struck this pose!  Yes, I DO have my hands full!

Come back soon for pictures of Egan!

Glimpses of October

                                                                                                                                                        

Everson and his best buddy David at the Wooly Bully

 Everson and his 2 best buddies, David and Sam...these boys were born within 6ish months of eachother, are homeschooled and go to the same church...thick as thieves!

Armstrong kids all "Texified"

(note Elisha's flip flops...after 2 weeks of intense boot-wearing, he seems to prefer his flip flops)

A cute,  but blurry closeup of Baby Egan.