Carlee tells us all about it!

Brent took Kate to a birthday party this morning. Carlee saw them getting ready to leave so she hurried, struggling to get shoes on, only to learn that she wasn't going. To make it up to her, Carolyn told her they would come see Cookie.

There were a number of photo ops, but I never had the camera ready and she wouldn't repeat them. I asked her about her friends at school and she started telling me all sorts of things, gesturing to her arm and her head, talking up a storm. Of course, I didn't have the camera on and commented to Carolyn that if I reached for it Carlee would stop what she was doing. She turned to Carolyn about that time and continued the conversation and I grabbed the camera and started shooting the video.

Part way through Carlee's speech, Carolyn realized that she had switched from talking about her friends to telling us about "the wheels on the bus" and "the babies on the bus." Enjoy!

Girls and boys

Kate was on the little John Deere, the boys were "roping" and Carlee was trying to fasten a bike helmet. Just a regular Sunday afternoon.

Brent and the girls had come over and picked up Kelly and the boys and they went down to the neighbors to look at the cows. Just a little outing.

Happy Valentines

These little valentines were happy to see me, especially when they realized that I was bringing goodies for them. Not much, really. But, it doesn't take much to make them happy.

As you can see, it's almost impossible to get them to stand still long enough for a good photo. This is how it went:
1. They both look at me smiling
2. I back up a step to get them both in the frame
3. Carlee takes a step forward and then gets distracted
4. Repeat steps 1-3
5. Carlee takes a step forward as Kate gets distracted
6. Repeat all steps, as many times as you want. The outcome is unlikely to change.

Mule Train!

Taking the trash to the dumpster is fun now that they have a Mule. Carlee didn't want to ride in it at first. Wendy said they could hear her screams next door. She settled down by the time they got to the road.

Making music

Musical instruments were much enjoyed by Kate and Carlee as shown here. Pop demonstrated the proper position for Carlee, who didn't quite know how to hold her little guitar.

Kate looks like a rock star and sings into the mike like she's been doing it for years!

New little Bubela on the way!

Carolyn and Brent will be welcoming a new baby next May. They just found out this week that it's a boy. They plan to name him Jax Wade. He is due on Carlee's 2nd birthday, May 17. Carolyn has been a week or 10 days early with the girls, so she is expecting the same deal this time. She doesn't like anything to mess up our yearly trip to Schlitterbahn the Sunday before Father's Day. Of course, we are all very excited to have a new baby coming!

Models

Robin tried to get photos of the kids in red plaid p.j.'s, etc. for the New ICM catalog that they send to retailers. Robin took pictures with her camera and Wendy and I took pictures with mine. What a zoo! The kids acted like they had been on candy and soda pop all morning. Trying to make them stand still, smile and look at the camera was a fiasco. The best plan was just to let them be, shoot lots of pictures and hope we got something good. The odds that they would all be still at the same time were very small, but we went at it anyway.

The gown sent for Carlee was much too small, but we put it on her anyway. The gown that went with Kate's robe was left at the store. It was rare to get a shot in focus. My camera just takes too long after focusing. Here are some of the shots: