Kerner family photos

For Jeanie's 60th birthday, and since Jason, Sarah, Jude and Jenna were home, we gathered everyone together for some family pictures. Let's just say Chris of Christopher Roe photography has the patience of a saint! He spent 2 hours taking pictures of our 8 adults, 7 kids aged 11 weeks-7 years and was able to capture the true personalities of us all =)

3 months!!

Miss Ainsley- you definitely are good at keeping your momma on her toes! Just when you started sleeping nice stretches at night and napping in your crib, you threw me for a loop. Now you are up 2-4 times a night most nights and we are lucky to get a 40 minute nap. I feel so bad for you sometimes, because you go for this smiley, happy baby to screaming and inconsolable. This started at the beginning of the month and yesterday I finally took you to see the doc. He thought you might be having some acid reflux and prescribed some Prilosec. We sure hope that this helps because you need your beauty sleep and momma needs sleep for her sanity!!
Quick facts:
- weight 13lbs 5oz as of 8/13
-nursing every 2-4 hours round the clock still (making it very hard for mommy to build up a freezer supply for when I go back to work!)
-still haven't slept through the night
-takes the longest naps when you fall asleep then I put you in your carseat, longest nap 3 hours!
-finally will tolerate tummy time for more than 5 minutes
-has SUPER strong legs and when mad, you better make sure you have a good hold of her or she will push herself right off your lap!
----->>getting cuter and cuter every day and we love you SO SO MUCH!!!

A little of this and some of that

These days, I feel like its a HUGE accomplishment to remember to take pictures of all the happenings in our lives. We are definitely having lots of fun! Between fun, an infant who is still learning the finer skills of napping for longer than 20 minutes, and mommy resting from all the fun, the ol' blog seems to be a bit neglected ;-) Thankfully the pictures fill in the blanks where lack of sleep can't remember!

***Disclaimer in my defense- This blog has been almost 2 weeks in the making. I really am trying to keep up ;-)***

A little of this and some of that perfectly sums up this post. Its the random pictures and happenings that don't fit into a bigger category!

Ella's creative bed

Ainsley's baby dedication at church

Ainsley was unfazed by the excitement of her county fair!

Ella and Aubrey enjoyed playing in a police car and hula hooping at the fair.

And what is a trip to the fair without a giant balloon?!

The girls had so much fun riding the rides, with one exception- the scrambler! Aubrey was all smiles....Ella was terrified! "Are you sure this thing isn't going to break?" She kept asking that over and over, and of course that ride had to last like 3+ minutes!

Ainsley is so full of personality these days. She has lots to say and just smiles and smiles as soon as she sees her big sisters.

Kolby and Ainsley- so cute holding hands!
They are 6 weeks apart so it will be so fun to see them grow up together.

Cousins

Here's hoping that I can add more anecdotal stories to the next few blogs... but if nothing else, we will at least have pictures! 

::--Bring on the sunshine and fun--::

Busy is an understatement of our last few weeks. We've had lots of long, full days filled with lots of family and fun. Uncle Jason and Auntie Sarah are visiting this month from Lebanon, so in addition to spending time with them, we've also had lots of grandparents in to visit.

Grandma and Grandpa Kerner came to visit from for a few days. Of course, trying to get a picture of 3 kids and 2 grandparents all looking at the camera can be a challenge---the best picture of course included Ainsley screaming ;-)

Ainsley has been full of smiles and talking these days. Of course, as soon as I pull out the camera she stops!  Here is one of my best attempts at catching a smile =)

Ainsley- 2 months old
Man, time is flying by!!!

Quick stats:
11 lbs 15.5 oz (She is my petite one! Ella and Aubrey were already 12 1/2lbs by this point)
Sleeping between 4-7 hour stretches at night (YAY!!)
Still wearing size 3 months clothes
Finally lets Daddy hold her for more than 5 minutes without screaming ;-)
Loved bunches and bunches!!

Aubrey's favorite phrase,
"I love my baby sister so so so so so so so much!!"

Twin babies ?!?
I can't believe how much Ainsley looks like Aubrey these days!
Top picture is Aubrey at about 7 weeks, bottom picture is Ainsley at 8 1/2 weeks

4th of July parade in Hillsboro

Aubrey enjoying 4th of July fireworks.
She was not fond of any that made noise so she would cover her ears just in case mommy accidentally bought one that crackled or shrieked. Pop-its are always a hit, and since Aubrey couldn't throw them hard enough to pop...she did the next best thing, stomp them! Then there were lots of smiles with the sparklers =)

Ella was ready for the excitement of the fireworks!
Last year we missed fireworks due to church camp, and Ella was eager to make up for lost time ;-)
She was quite the dancer with her sparklers!! This year she was strong enough to throw the pop-its to make them pop, but still enjoyed stomping on them. (Unfortunately I didn't get very good pictures of that between her quickness and the setting sun.)

Its these expressions of pure excitement that keep parents lighting money (aka fireworks) on fire year after year =)

Ainsley was a great sport during all the fireworks. And since we wanted her away from the smoke,  she provided Aubrey with a great place to stand when the fireworks got a little scary.

On the 5th, we took off for our 1st camping trip of the season. 

Ainsley did amazingly well for her 1st trip!

Ella had her 1st kneeboarding experience and loved it! Uncle Ryan made it a little easier by starting her out up on the water on shore ;-)

The weather was beautiful the entire weekend we were at the lake. But the downside to the nice sunny weather is having to stay in the shade with a newborn. Ainsley and I hung out at camp most of the time and Neal was busy with Ella and Aubrey...with both parents hands full, we didn't end up with many pictures ;(

Ainsley- 10 weeks old
Today during tummy time, she got SO MAD that she rolled from her tummy to her back! She definitely has some strong legs and strong opinions....wonder where she gets that from?!

Just too cute for words!!

A lesson in patience

**Disclaimer** This post was originally started last week in a real attempt at more frequent blogging ;-)

Being a momma of 3 beautiful little girls has proven to be a lesson in patience the last few weeks. Not in a bad way, but just all those little reminders to be patient and all will be ok!

The 1st lesson in patience of recent is technology, and the inability to make it cooperate! My time to sit and blog these days is sporadic at best. I either haven't downloaded pictures, forgot to edit them, can't form an intelligible sentence, etc! Last week I finally had all the peaces in line, typed out an entire blog with cute stories and cuter pictures only to find out that the blogger had frozen and auto-save had failed to boot.

Cleaning, more like the lack there of, has been another lesson in patience for me. I'm the 1st person to say, "Oh well, the xxx will still be there tomorrow and I'll clean it then!" But seriously there are days when I am beginning to question the color of my floor/walls/etc. I finally muster enough energy to tackle one of the many items filling my 'to-do' list and that is the afternoon that Ainsley insists we snuggle. How can I say no to those chubby little cheeks?! 

And then there is patience as we begin yet another new routine. Summer vacation is upon us. Hard to believe that Ella is old enough to be having a summer vacation! And while I am very thankful to not have a place to be at a certain time so early in the morning, I find that we have many mornings where its closer to afternoon before we are all ready to head out to do something. Time will definitely make this transition easier, but I have to just remember to be patient.

Now onto the real reason why everyone checks in with our ol' blog....pictures of our insanely adorable children =)

Ms Ainsley is getting so big that she has outgrown sink baths already

Ainsley- 1 month old
Her personality is starting to really form!

Nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby

My 3 favorite girls

Ella loves her role as biggest sister.

Doug and Myrna came up one evening to meet Ainsley. They brought special desserts that were a HUGE hit with Ella and Aubrey!

Ella, Aubrey and Ainsley are so lucky to have such wonderful people in their lives.
Doug and Myrna play games, wear crowns and give the girls so much love!

Ainsley-- 6 weeks old
I love the little sing-song sounding noises you have started making.
And those smiles...they melt every heart in this house!

Here's to patience and more frequent blogging! Happy start of summer!