Tor's New Swing

Tor has a new swing at Grannie and Papa Woodruff's house. Even though he really hasn't ridden in a swing much before, he really seems to like it, even when he gets pushed pretty high.  And when it slows to a stop, he enjoys just chilling out and watching his sisters running around.

Good Ideas

Aunt Dianne comes up with the best ideas.  One day Jillian was throwing rocks in the pond, a no-no, so I asked her why she kept doing it.  She answered, "Because I never get to throw rocks in the water."  That was a good reason so I got a bucket of water and they threw in rocks until it was full.  But talking to Dianne she said she gives the twins soapy water to wash rocks in.  Aha!  This is even better because now the rocks are clean.  Cute pose again by Jillian.

Ty's House

 Jillian gave Ty instructions on how she wanted the house built and it was to have a roof which was no easy task.  I love Jillian's pictures now, as she's learned how to smile and look at the camera, which can't be said for Bridget yet.

 They were so excited to decorate the inside of their house and have snacks.  Jillian even put up signs outside the door that said no boys allowed, except she made an exception for Ty.

Tor is the happiest baby unless he's hungry.  He loves to interact and talk.  Tierney is making him smile and almost laugh.

Swimming Girl

Believe it or not, this is a photo of Jillian swimming with her face in the water!

A couple days ago, Daddy made a deal with Jillian that if she put her head underwater every time her swim teachers asked her to, then she could get a Glow Pet (something she's been wanting for a long time). Jillian was very excited about this, and couldn't wait to get to the pool and start going underwater ... she explained to us many times exactly how she was going to do it, and then practiced doing it at home. At swimming lessons, as soon as she was in the pool, she plugged her nose and closed her eyes and went under about half-way. Daddy told her how far she went under, so she tried again, going a little farther. This continued throughout the lesson until the end, when she put her head all the way under. Jillian was shaking from excitement about doing this. She ended up picking out a penguin Flashlight Pet. When we got home, she said that going underwater wasn't so bad.

Now, just a couple days later, Jillian is going wild about going underwater. She doesn't even bother plugging her nose, and she doesn't even think twice about getting water in her eyes. What a change! Her swim teachers are thrilled, and now Jillian wants us to watch her do all sorts of underwater tricks. This photo was taken at Rielee's pool, and after just a short time in it, she took off her water wings so she could go underwater easier. She was having so much fun getting her face in the water, she didn't want to stop.

Good morning

Here's a photo of Tor waking up in the morning, with a big smile on his face as always. He is very good-natured in the mornings.

By the way, this is a first attempt at posting to the blog from our new smartphones. Heather's old slider phone was failing, and we figured we could switch to Virgin Mobile and upgrade for about the same price. Seeing how easy it is right now to post, maybe there will be a lot more blog posts from now on?

Cousins at the Beach

Jillian was thrilled to have Rielee at Cousins at the Beach days.  The first day they spent a lot of time chasing waves when it was nice without the wind.

It was surprising how long Jillian kept playing Monopoly with Rielee, Auna, and James.  Somehow James managed to get all the girls' money by trading.  Jillian was willing to trade any property for some money.  Lessons in life.

 Daddy had built a wind break for Bridget to get behind when the wind picked up.  We couldn't figure out what she was doing as she would put her face and fingers close to the sand and just wiggle her fingers.  It must have felt nice.

 On Sunday Daddy and the big kids dug deep holes in the sand and made tunnels between them.  On one end of the hole the girls made their own kitchen.  They had a microwave, oven, refrigerator, and pots of something cooking.  They even stuck sticks in the sand for coat hangers. 

 Tierney left early before she got to go to the beach.  This moat wasn't very big but they all got on top, even Sophie.

Outnumbered

We were thrilled to have all three for the day, but outnumbered, as Daddy went to school to plan.  The girls got to watch a video while Tor got fed and changed.  It went great all day except for a short time of chaos and then mostly calm.  Ty came for awhile and played with the girls in the play fort.  Tor ate and then took a long morning nap.  Then Tierney came to play with Tor when he woke up.  She took him to the mirror to see himself.  He got wide-eyed when he saw his reflection.
 
Then Tierney took Tor to visit Aunt Robin.  When she came back, Tor was ready to eat and nap again, so Tierney did Play-Doh with Bridget while Brock played with Jillian in the sandbox.

Jillian spent a lot of time in the sandbox while Bridget was sleeping.  In this picture she is making a town with roads, a lake, waterfall, and river.  She had people all over, some buried in the sand to be found. 
Also, she was making sure I was doing everything right with Tor all day.  When I filled the first bottle she was upset because I put the powder in first and then the water.  She informed me that it was to be the water first and then the powder.  Later she asked if I was doing it right, after I fed Tor at least a couple of bottles.  When I teased her and said I put the powder in first one time she got very disgusted with me until I explained.