Catching up!

The boys have been in school for one week and they love it!
Maddox is slowly adjusting to being the only boy around the house during the day. He's stopped asked every 3 minutes when his "brodders" are going to be home. It's now every 7-8 minutes.
Olivia has embraced 1 with fervor! Temper tantrums are a regular thing around here. Thankfully they are short lived and she moves on rather quickly.
Travis and I celebrated our 10 wedding anniversary last Friday. It was great to go out to an adult dinner (The Melting Pot) and just enjoy each other's company without being interrupted by the kids.
We close on this house this week. We are still looking for our next one, we have seen several, love lots of things about lots of them, but haven't settled on the "perfect" one yet... God knows what we want, He knows what we need, He will show us the perfect house for us, we are confident.
Pictures are coming soon, I promise! I have lots from the first day of school, fun times with Grandma Nelson, and more from Olivia's birthday party.

Happy Birthday, Baby Doll!!!!

Today our baby doll is 1!!! We can't believe how fast this year has flown by. Happy Birthday, Olivia Lynn.

First day of school

The boys had their first day of school. They loved it!!! Cooper loves being in 2nd grade. Nelson loved 1st grade as well. I hope the excitement doesn't wear off too fast.

The crazy week has begun!

1. I survived, without tears, Olivia's birthday party. I can't wait to post the pictures. SHE WAS ADORABLE! Now, I just have to survive Wednesday, the actual birthday.
2. Tomorrow is a HUGE day in this house. By 8AM I will be with 1/2 the children I gave birth to for almost 8 hrs every day. Yep, school starts. Cooper has his "nicest" shorts and polo shirt all laid out, with his backpack and shoes ready to go. Nelson... I had to convince him that shorts with lots of wear holes are not the best choice and will not make the best first impression on the 1st grade class.

Lots of pictures coming tomorrow, lots of pictures. 1st day of school and birthday party fun.

Ferris Family happenings...

Not sure where to start, and what to share. I don't want to share something and then have to come retract it...
1. School starts 2 wks from today!!!! (I can share this, it's an absolute that won't change.) Cooper and Nelson are both really excited. We got school supplies last week. 1st and 2nd graders require a lot of "stuff". Nelson is very excited about going to school all day long. Cooper is excited that he's in 2nd grade, apparently that means he's going to be in a different part of the building, away from Nelson. (K and 1st share a wing)
2. Olivia turns 1 2 weeks from tomorrow. (I can share this one too, time doesn't stand still as much as I've tried to get it to.) It's crazy. We are in the midst of planning our last "1st Birthday Party", very bittersweet.
3. This one has me leery, but I'm going to throw it out there. We are scheduled to close on the house we are living in Aug. 27. We will be renting it back from the new owners while looking for something else (read: BIGGER). All the inspections have come in and are clear. Now we sit and wait until the day we sign papers.

Don't need us anymore...

I love when my kids gain confidence and Independence. I don't love it when they all do it at the same time!!!

The older 2 boys insist on swimming alone, no need to have Mom and Dad with. Who cares that they can stand on each other's shoulders and still not be above water... (insert eye rolls)

Maddox has decided that he can shop alone. He looks at me and says, "where is my number(read: size)? "

Miss Liv has decided, she doesn't need Mommy or Daddy to feed her, spoons and purees are over rated. Just cut everything up (that the rest of us are eating) and toss it on the tray, she can take it from there. The spaghetti was a huge hit! The tub was a huge clog after the bath. I never knew a child could hide so many noodles in so many places during one meal.

New shoes!!!

Olivia was given these shoes within days of being born. Now, at 11 months old she can wear 3-6month shoes. we are so excited. Thanks "Aunt" Betsy!!!

Funniest. Face. Ever.

Liv manages to purse her lips and do a funky snort out her nose! It's hilarious. We catch ourselves trying to get her to do this face all the time. Seriously, it's all the rage.

Let the summer begin!

Cooper finished summer school today! We are all really excited. Travis and I decided earlier this week we would celebrate the beginning of the Ferris summer with a fun family activity. The bag and cooler are common sights around our house. They are usually packed for a long weekend. But not tonight! That bag was stuffed to the point of not being able to close with towels, shirts, toys, and a blanket. (that bag holds 3 outfits, 2 pairs of shoes, and all my cosmetics, with room to spare when I go away. We require way too much stuff for mere hours away.) We headed to the park mere seconds from our house for some water fun and a picnic dinner.



All of the kids loved the different fountains. Maddox took a little while to warm up to the idea of water splashing him everywhere.

The easiest and fastest way to dry off before the picnic was to swing and let the wind do the job!

Nothing says, "I love you" like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, and juice boxes!

(don't worry or send hate mail! Liv had a jelly sandwich, no peanut butter for her yet.)

More Family Fun!

We went to Chicagoland for the 4th of July. The highlight of the long weekend was July3. That Friday the weather was perfect!!!! We were all in our suits and in the pool by 10AM and stayed there all day long. I loved it. As the day went on, the boys got braver and braver with the pool. The older 2 went off the diving board and Maddox went down the slide once (in my arms). I was able to float and visit with Tracy (no worries, I saved you all from that picture).


Cooper jumping off the diving board. This was HUGE!!! he was sitting on the edge of it in a huge tube and just dropping himself into the water. I finally told him to "Man Up" and jump for a picture. We managed to get him to jump for 5 or so "pictures" :)

Nelson had little fear, he got to the end of the board and just lept off. We were really proud of him.

Maddox only went off the slide this one time, after that everytime someone went near the slide he ran to the other end of the deck. He didn't like that water splashed up into his face. He never went under the water, but the splash was just too much for him to handle.

Olivia just loved being outside and the center of attention. When she wasn't jumping around in the exercauser she was enjoying being held and played with by her cousins.

Saturday was a dreary day and we were trying to figure out what to do with all the kids until nap time and time for us adults to get ready for the wedding. Karl came up with the idea of going to McDonald's to play and eat. We all loved the idea of getting out of the house, not having to clean up the mess of toys or lunch and drove over to McD's. Olivia, who started crawling the beginning of the month (3 days earlier to this picture) was more than ready to try out her new skill in the playland. Thanfully Travis drew the short straw and got to climb with her and follow her all over the place.

All the cousins posing for a picture right before lunch came. This picture is the only documentation of Layna playing. She wasn't a huge fan of the playland. She was much happier just watching her cousins play.

Lunch is served! Olivia ate her first chicken nugget and loved every bite of it!!!!

4th of July festivities.

We are in Orland Park for the holiday weekend. We swam all day yesterday. Cooper and Nelson even got brave enough to go off the diving board, we were so proud of them. Maddox sat on my lap and went down the slide. He hated all 7 seconds of it. You could hear him screaming, "I'cared!!! I 'cared!!!!" all the way down.
Today it's dreary, rainy, and cold. Cooper and Nelson are enjoying Lego's Indiana Jones on the big screen TV.

Maddox pulled out all of Grandma and Grandpa's matchbox cars and convinced Travis to play with him for a little while.

These are the kinds of family vacations I enjoy; lots of fun and lots of relaxing.

Olivia's current milestones.

Lately, Olivia wants nothing to do with pureed or mashed foods. She wants to pick the food up and feed herself. I love the ease of this. I just pull veggies out of the freezer, throw them on her tray and she has a meal. She's also learning how to use a sippy cup. It's a slow process. She's much better at holding her own bottle.
This past week she's figured out how to crawl forward, but still prefers to just stand. Today she managed to pull up on her toy box and then wave to me when she saw the camera.

Crazy first month of the summer

Things have been crazy since the summer started. Cooper is in Summer School every day and loves it!!! He comes home so excited about what he's done that day, I'm so gald that he's enjoying it. Nelson and Maddox have been enjoying day camp every Wednesday this past month. Olivia likes it too, it means that she gets 5 or so hrs of no big brothers.
Travis and Nelson both celebrated their birthdays this past month. We saw Batman converge on the house!!! Travis did a great job with the birthday party, all the kids seemed to have a great time. For Travis, I took him to a Chicago Fire game. It was the perfect way to celebrate his birthday! My parents kept the 4 kids and we 3 hrs of just sports, and adult conversation, Travis only had to ask me not to cut up his hotdog once. After that, I was able to remember that he was not a child.
While my mom was in town with Sophia she watched the kids for me to go get a hair cut. It had been a LONG time since I had been in a salon. I though I would just trim it and put some layers in, but then got some other ideas and ended up cutting over 6 inches off of the back of it! I love it, Travis is slowly getting used to it...

Rub-a-dub-dub

4 monkeys in a tub.
(I had a better picture of the kids, but the dolphin placement wasn't so good.)

Summer Vacation is here!!!!

The boys came home yesterday yelling and screaming. I'm still digging out from under notebooks, folders, crayons, and other "treasures" that they had in their desks all year. Maddox loves having them home, he's been following them around all morning trying to get involved in all of their games. I was brave, I took all 4 and headed out to the grocery store. It went really well. They helped me load the cart, unload the cart, and then it came time to pay... I left my wallet in the diaper bag, by the front door. We live right behind the grocery store, the older 2 decided they wanted to race me home. They completely misunderstood me and didn't stay there waiting for me, the van and the younger 2 kids. They went running back to the store!!!!! Needless to say, They were just sitting at the check-out laughing with the clerks when I got back there. Talk about a "frist day of vacation" adventure.



This picture has nothing to do with the post, but was just too cute to leave out! :)

Memorial Day Weekend

The Memorial Day weekend started with a great birthday party for our neice, Layna. She turned 2 and did it in style! She had the most amazing "Princess" birthday party ever! The cake was a pink and purple crown and she even had glass slipper sugar cookies. While at my brother's house Maddox decided to flex his big brother muscles. He sat on the floor, spread his legs, and declared, "I need Div to sit in mines lap!" Of course, I had to oblige.

Since there was a brief moment of dry ground and no rain we gave Nelson his birthday present a week (or 2) early. He got a new, bigger bike. He loves that he can now keep up with the rest of us on bike rides. We were even able to make it all the way around the block before the thunder and rain started again.
Toby did a great job of summing up most of our weekend! The rainy weather helped us all be really lazy.

All about Liv.

Olivia is growing so fast! Okay, not really... But she is slowly getting bigger. We went to the doctor on Friday for her 9 month physical. She's 16lbs and 11oz (that's a 10 lb weight gain in 9 months) and 26 inches long (that's a 7 in growth in 9 months). She's in the 10th percentile for both height and weight. That puts her right on par with her big brothers. She eats anything she can get her hands on or convince her brothers to give her. She has no teeth, and no signs of any, but still loves to chomp on crachers, cherrios, frozen veggies, and scrambled eggs. She squeals whenever she sees her brothers or the dogs. She has definately mastered sitting and reaching for anything and everything. This past week she started pulling herself up to the standing position. No crawling yet, just lots of rolling and scooting when she's sitting. Up until a week ago I was always in awe of the little coos, giggles, and girly sounding noises she would make while playing or "talking". Then she learned a new sound... It's a deep throaty growl! So not little girly, but it gets everyone's attention and she smiles and giggles whenever she makes it.
With the big 9 month birthday comes new explorations... Just this morning she took it upon herself to try to update the blog and listen to the charging i-Pod.

Super Tallie

It was only a matter of time before Nelson got to someone in the family. In his quest to take over West County and turn it into a land of good, he recruited another hero. Super Tallie now resides in our house!!!! She defends all that is good in our house. She rids the yard of squirrls, bunnies, and other small rodents. She protects the front door from leaves, sticks, and the random passing car.

Fun without Daddy!!!!

Travis has been really busy at work. This is great for him, but not always the best for the family. He loves what he is doing, but with the overtime freeze he gets "comp" time. This means he has free hrs to take the following week. So far, he's up to 16.5 hrs that he needs to use this week. (It's already Tuesday and he's working late again tonight.) It makes for really long days for me and the kids. Friday was the longest day! He left before 7AM and did not get back to the house until after 10PM. Instead of being all frusterated that I was alone with the kids all day, I decided to do something different for dinner.
We got pizza, a movie, and a big blanket and made an indoor picnic in the family room. We watched "Space Buddies" and ate pizza. It was a lot of fun. We are doing it again this weekend because Travis is going to "Man Camp" with our church... Yeah, I don't need to hear the details from that trip.

Baseball fever

Cooper and Nelson are both in baseball this spring/summer. It is proving to be quite the challenge during the week. They both practice on different days, and sometimes while one is at practice the other one needs to be at a game. That's not usually a problem, except when Travis is on call and they have practice and a game at the same time 20 minutes away from eachother. That made me work hard for my Wonder Woman cape! Thankfully my wonderful brother was able to step in and help for 45 minutes.
Cooper is loving baseball! He loves practice, the games, throwing, catching, batting!! And he's really good at batting and throwing!!
Nelson.... Well, he will tell you he's not good at catching, when he throws he looks like he's lobbing a javaline at someone, and he has a lovely 360* spin when he swings the bat. His first game yeilded 2 injuries in under 10 minutes. I am hoping that as the season goes on he enjoys it more and more.