Ainsley Marin is 6 months old!  She just had her 6 month check up and is measuring at the top of the charts for height and weight.  So much for Auntie Kelly thinking we don't feed this one enough!  Still no signs of teeth and not interesting in crawling yet, just happy as a clam to sit around and then roll to whatever it is she wants.  She's very aware of her surroundings and when it's time for nap or bed, she instinctively starts to cry as we reach the middle of the stairs to the bedroom, she knows what's coming...

Aidan Kane is 2 years old!  He loves helping daddy with the yard and loves the "mow lawner" as he says.  He has also become interested in the weather each day and insists on seeing the weather.com radar map ("I wanna see rain map" he says every morning). At night after we put him down to bed, he's begun to come out of his room, stand at the top of the balcony and sing the Twinkle Little Star song at the top of his lungs.  So cute, it's hard to get mad at him.  We started the kid's swimming lessons in the pool this week and he did great.  He was going under water and didn't even realize it.  We just had his two year doctor's visit.  Measured in at the 50th% for height and weight, average on the charts, but not average to us!  Everyone at the office couldn't believe how much of a conversationalist he was for a two year old.  His terrible two's have hit with an attitude "Mommy, don't look at me!" when he's in a bad mood and egging on and instigating his sisters all day long.  Now, in addition to Keeley and Kaelin, he too is very picky about what he wears.  It's sometimes a struggle in the morning because he's so choosy about his clothes and colors - "I want blue color" he insists (whether it's playing with Lego's or choosing a freezer pop).

Kaelin Avery is 3 years and 3 months. Her favorite song, which we tivo'd on MTV so she can keep seeing is the Plain White T's "Hey there Delilah" ( http://www.plainwhitets.com/ ). Every time we play it she wants to know why the man is sad and why his girlfriend is in New York City--she's very concerned about him :-).  The band is playing at a few local parks in the next few weeks.  Maybe we'll take her to her first concert :-)  She loves swimming lessons, the water has been pretty warm even on cooler days, about 80 with the new solar cover we have on it.  Both she and Keeley can touch the bottom of the shallow end of the pool with their feet and walk across from side to side this year.  Very exciting for them, nerve racking for us as they become less inhibited by the pool.

Keeley Shea is 4 years and 5 months old.  Definitely our water bug this year, she wants to head in the pool no matter the weather.  Gymnastics summer program starts next week. She can't wait, she's been bored the past couple of weeks since most of her activities have ended.  She loves the great weather we've been having and finding new adventures outside.

Ainsley Marin is 6 months old!  Sitting up great, rolling everywhere and getting up on her hands and knees twisting to crawl, but not just yet!  She loves her mushy vegetables (especially peas--she lunges at the spoon when she sees them coming her way) but not fruits for some reason.  Although, she does have a sweet tooth and once in a while will get a taste of someone's ice-cream or lollipop!   Her personality is growing and changing, but still the happiest baby on earth.  Her sisters and brother's adore her more and more each day and often argue about who is going to help push her in the stroller, feed her or sit next to her.  She's growing so quickly and just moved up to the same size diapers as Aidan (either he has a small bum, or she's got a chunky one!).  She loves being outside and going for walks and looking cool in her shades!

Aidan Kane just turned 2 years old!  Where do we start with him. Our little "fublemaker" as he says.  Bedtime has recently become a challenge with him. He's just not tired at night any more and keeps the girls up by coming out of his bedroom a dozen times, opening their bedroom door and causing trouble (well, not real trouble...he insists on one more hug and kiss from them....many times).  He's beginning to use his words to tell us how impatient he is "Daddy, come up here NOW!". He can count up to 16, and no longer skips the number 7 (which he was doing for a while).  He also loves to play tackle football with the girls and loves when the boy cousins come over!  He's been Daddy's little helper the past couple of weeks in the back yard as Jeff finished up clearing some of the woods.  He wants to be joined at the hip with him, always with a tool in hand.  Still can't be a kid size or pretend one, he insists on the real things.  He parks his chair down the basement next to Daddy and watching when Jeff is fixing stuff in his work area (like taking apart and putting back together small equipment motors!).  We celebrated Aidan's second birthday last weekend with a truck cake.  We weren't planning on a party, but were surprised that day when people stopped by and we turned it in to a party and Aidan was thrilled (as was Keeley who was drooling over his presents all afternoon, counting them and insisting he was getting more presents than she got when she turned 2...and with her memory, we're sure she actually remembers!).  He got tons of cool stuff and Woody and Buzz Lightyear toys (I loves swinging outside and yelling "to infibity and beyawn!" (Buzz says "to infinity and beyond" in the Toy Story movie when he flies in the air).  We finally have the pool open, and Aidan loves it (and doesn't mind the cold water either!).  Jeff has taken him under a few times as well.  He did excellent at his first dentist appointment and teeth cleaning earlier this month, batting his eyelashes and flirting with all of the hygienists...

Kaelin Avery is 3 years and 2 months. We swung by the Sheep Pasture on the way to an errand a couple of weeks ago and she wants to go back every weekend now. We did head back a second time so she could feed the sheep and goats, she's so great with them and will stand there forever just caressing this one goat that loves her.  Aidan of course yanks on the goats horns!  She was over Nana and Papa's house a couple of days ago and found an old horse book of Mommy's from 20 years ago.  It goes in to great detail about breeds of horses, parts of the horse, equipment names, etc. She took the book home with her and now carries it all around with her and to bed too.  We'll want to wait a couple more years before taking her to horseback riding lessons, but she's going to love them!  Swimming lessons will start in our pool soon, and and she can't wait.

Keeley Shea is 4 years and 5 months old. She had her preschool "graduation" three weeks ago but is already looking forward to her second year of preschool in September.  All of her extra curricular classes have wrapped up for the Summer too. She finished her Maplewood Gymnastics class and Sports class (where she was the only girl with 25 boys! and held her own!).  She also had her final class and recital at the Gymnastics Academy.  But, she'll be taking a summer course there with Kaelin.  She's becoming more and more competitive.  Always wanting to make sure she is first and the best.  So, she gets easily frustrated when she doesn't do something perfectly. Last night Jeff was teaching her to play baseball (he decided that starting her off with a regular pitch instead of t-ball would be the better way to go). She did amazingly well, but every time she missed a pitch, she'd say "aw, I'm never going to be the best!"   (Of course, we reassured her otherwise!)

Upcoming birthdays & events include:

• July 1st Nana's Birthday
• July 3rd Grandpa's Birthday
• July 10th Cousin Ryan O's 6th Birthday
• July 16th Cousin Ryan Y's 9th Birthday
• July 23rd Cousin Elle's 2nd Birthday
• July 25th Auntie Jenn and Uncle Brady's 3rd Wedding Anniversary
• August 10th Mommy and Daddy's 5th Wedding Anniversary
• August 16th Auntie Kelley's 35th Birthday
• August 25th Uncle Cary's 48th Birthday
• August 27th Nana and Papa's 40th Wedding Anniversary