Long Overdue Update!

I'm getting bad at this blogging thing. I put all the blame on my hubby. He bought me this fancy new iPhone for Valentine's Day and I hardly ever get on the actual computer anymore! So it's all his fault. Just kidding, Jeremy, you know I love you! Let me update you on all the Picker happenings since Easter.
May has been a busy month! With all of the end of the year school activities, and Jeremy gearing up for summer, it has been crazy! Jeremy's dream did come true a few weeks ago when he won tickets to a Cardinals game, complete with field passes. It was Ian's very first baseball game (something Jeremy has been waiting for ever since he found out we were having a boy!) Not only that, but he got Mark McGwire's autograph, as well as a picture of him with the girls. He was in heaven!


Ian is still growing like a weed. He is now 6 months old! We visit the doctor later this week, so I'll have to post stats later. He is a chunky monkey though! He babbles up a storm and smiles at everyone. Besides looking exactly like his daddy, he seems to have his friendly, outgoing personality too!

Ansley is my little sweetie! I don't want to brag, but this girl is seriously a dream child! We rarely have to get on to her for anything, and if we do, she is so sensitive it breaks my heart! She doesn't ever do something wrong twice though, because she does not like to get in trouble! She is so hilarious, and loves to make us laugh. She has quite the sense of humor for a 3 year old!

Kennedy is at her last full day of school today! My how that child has changed! She went from being a shy, scared, nervous 5- year old, with a mouth full of baby teeth, not able to read a thing, and lacking in confidence; to a week away from being 6, spunky, outgoing, confident, happy-go-lucky girl with 2 permanent teeth! She is reading at around a 2nd grade level and received a blue ribbon in math facts scholars, for being able to complete addition and subtraction problems. She LOVES school and is not looking forward to summer because she truly wants to be in school! Crazy girl. Last fall on one of her first days of school when I dropped her off, she cried the whole way in. Last week, I took her to school one day, and she walked in by herself acting like she owned the place! Here's a picture from her first day of school, and a picture from today.


As for me, I'm gearing up for a summer with all three kiddos. I don't know what we're going to do each day to keep Kennedy entertained. She thinks we are so boring these days. Hopefully I'll come up with enough fun things to do to stay busy and keep her and Ansley from fighting so much! That's about all!

Easter!

Here are some pictures from our day yesterday. We had a great time with Jeremy's parents and his sister and her husband!

Kennedy is a STAR!

We are so proud of our Kennedy Joy! Her school district has what they call a "STARS" breakfast at the end of the school year. We had no clue what this was, until we got a phone call the other day that Kennedy had been chosen to be honored at it this year. Two students are chosen from each grade (Kindergarten-12th) and honored at a breakfast based on their character.

So this morning, we got up bright and early to be at her school for breakfast at 6:45. She was the last student to go on stage, and her teacher had great things to say about her. This is what she said:

A star shines in the darkness and illuminates a path. Kennedy Picker is a Valley Park Star that guides the students at Valley Park Elementary to good citizenship by serving as a role model. She uses our Boys Town Social Skills when solving problems and exemplifies our Valley Park Pledge. Kennedy is kind to others, follows the number one rule, and shows respect, not only for herself, but for all. She is a responsible student who takes care of her things, can be called upon to carry out a task for the teacher, and always turns in her homework on time. Kennedy follows directions the first time they are given and is both cooperative and honest. Other teachers agree that she displays the qualities of a person with good character. It is said that the way you behave when no one is looking shows who you truly are. The principles that guide Kennedy's behavior lead her to make the right choice no matter what the circumstances. Congratulations, Kennedy! You can be proud of the person you are today. May you continue to be a guiding star for those around you.

She also received a certificate, a medal, and two Cardinals tickets! Way to go Kennedy!

Kennedy with her music and P.E. teachers. She LOVES them!

Kennedy and her Kindergarten teacher--she also LOVES her and is very sad she is retiring and that Ansley won't get to have her as a teacher.

What Do You Think?

So, Ian looks like his Daddy. There is no denying that! However, I personally think he looks more like Kennedy did when she was a baby. But almost everyone else says he looks like Ansley did. Honestly, I think he's a perfect mixture of the two. So here are a few pics of the girls when they were around three or four months old. What do you think?

Ansley

Kennedy

And here's one of Jeremy when he was a baby!

Chunky Monkey

Here's my little chunky monkey and his current (4 mos.) stats!

Weight: 17 lbs. 1.8 oz (90th percentile)

Length: 27" (97th percentile)

Head: 17 3/4" (97th percentile)

Ian is doing great! He's working on rolling over these days, but his big belly just won't let him accomplish his goal quite yet. He's still trying to figure it out and gets very mad when working on it! I think he's working on some teeth, judging by the drooling, fingers in the mouth, and fussiness. He's rarely fussy, so I know something is going on! We also changed his acid reflux medicine to something a little stronger to hopefully help with his large amounts of spit-up. Overall, we love him to pieces and I think we're gonna keep him and his chubby thighs! :)

Hodgepodge

So I'm finally updating the blog. It's been over a month. That's not like me, but there's just something about having a baby around along with two other kiddos that makes the time to sit down and blog rare. So this post will be full of a hodgepodge of information for my three readers.

We'll start with the oldest child and work our way down. The current excitement in Kennedy's life is this:

Yes, she finally lost a tooth! She also has another one loose and her first permanent tooth just started poking through today. She is so excited and was a rockstar when it came to having her tooth pulled. If you're on facebook, then you probably saw the video. If not, then head on over there and check it out. She is very proud of her "gold coin that looks like a penny but bigger, and is a dollar with Sacajawea on it" that the Tooth Fairy brought her.

She still loves school, and in fact, did not want to go on Spring Break, because according to her, she just loves school too much! Yes, my child is one of those kids. Gotta love her!

The middle child is doing great too, well except for her current second bout with Strep Throat. She has recently started "writing her name." At least she is getting the "A" right! Here's a link to her big sister's first stab at name writing.

She still loves Snow White and has a peculiar habit of coloring in only the eyes and mouth of characters in her coloring books, and it's usually done in purple (her favorite color). Seriously, every page looks like this:

She is just as silly and as cute as can be though. Don't you think???

And last, but not least, our little man is growing like a weed. He is the following:

We have his 4 month appointment next week, so I'll post his stats then. He is seriously the happiest little baby I have ever met. He rarely cries (although those from church may not believe my saying that from his little outburst on Sunday) and loves just laying in his seat or on the floor and looking around. He has recently learned to blow spit bubbles, and quite enjoys doing that as well. Generally his shirt is soaked from either spit or spit-up, unless I can remember to put a bib on him in the morning! He's sleeping pretty good, and giving me 5-6 hours stretches most of the time at night. I'll take that any day over the 2-3 hours that I was getting for the first 3 months!

His sisters still love him like crazy and Kennedy talks about how he is the best little brother ever. We'll see at what age (if) that changes for her! Ansley doesn't get to do this very often, but loves when I let her:

Jeremy has been super busy at work lately. Our church recently merged with another church in the area and although it's been really great, he has had a lot of extra work to do in getting ready. His youth group pretty much doubled in size, and we are excited about all of our new opportunities.

I have been staying busy with changing diapers, cleaning up the house, doing laundry (how does a little baby cause so much dirty laundry???) organizing closets, toys, and more. The two youngest and I have been venturing out to the gym three times a week where there is a lovely free babysitting option for me, so that I can workout. Ansley loves it and Ian usually just sleeps. The few times he is awake the babysitters sit and gush over how cute he is, which he seems to enjoy.

I did read two books this week that I highly recommend. 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper, and Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo. I don't know how I got on the heaven theme, but these books are really great and thought provoking! I think everyone should read them!

Well, speaking of being busy because of a baby, Ian is calling for me. Until next time...

Scenes from a Mall

Today I decided Ansley, Ian, and I needed to get out of the house. Ansley and I decided we should go to the outlet mall about 20 minutes away to play on the huge playground and share a pretzel--which happens to be Ansley's favorite part about any mall.

Well, we had done just a teensy bit of shopping; I had gotten my favorite italian cream soda at Joe Muggs; and we had played on the playground. All that was left was our cinnamon sugar pretzel, which Ansley had waited so patiently for. We sat down to "share" our pretzel, which generally means I get a few bites (remember the pretzel is the reason Ansley goes to the mall with me, in her opinion!) Ian had been sleeping the entire time but was starting to wake up, and I had a small bottle with me, so I decided to go ahead and feed him so we would all have a happy ride home. In the meantime, I would let Ansley enjoy her pretzel. She was getting covered in cinnamon and sugar and although I only had a few wet wipes left, I was letting her use them because I didn't plan on changing Ian's diaper until we got home.

While he was eating, I snapped this picture of Ansley.

I was just starting to update my facebook status with this picture, when I felt something warm and wet all over my lap. I put my phone down, lifted Ian up, and sure enough, pee was pouring down his legs all over me. I held him out off of me and the pee continued to pour out onto the floor. I just stood there thinking what in the world am I going to do???

When I finally snapped out of my shock, I called Jeremy to tell him what just happened (he laughed), did the best I could to clean things up, and gathered all my stuff and kids and we made our way to the nearest restroom. When I got there I snapped this picture of my pants:

Of course I texted it to Jeremy, whose response was "I don't think it could look more like you pee'd your own pants, even if you had!" Nice. I then proceeded to clean Ian up with my 2 wipes that I had left. Did I mention he was covered in poop too? No, I think I left that part out. At least I wasn't covered in it! During this time, Ansley continued enjoying her pretzel--

--in the mall bathroom.

I finally got Ian cleaned up, tried to dry my pants with the hand dryer, and snapped this picture of my happy baby boy finally getting to enjoy his bottle. What a morning!

By the way, as I was typing this, it just hit me that I had put some wet wipe packages from a restaurant in a side pocket of my diaper bag a few weeks ago. I'm so glad I remembered that now!