Grandparentless trip to Idaho

Usually we go up to Idaho to see my parents. But not this time. We went to see my new niece Chloe. My parents were away on a ten day cruise, so we just used their house, thanks Mom and Dad. It was our first road trip in our new Odyssey. That's right I now drive a minivan, but I love it. It is so spacious and convenient for a family. I think my favorite feature are the power sliding doors. Brinley calls them the magic doors. On the trip we were even able to take turns laying down in the very back seat. It would have been a great opportunity for a nap, except that William wasn't too happy about the drive.

We had a great visit with my Grandma and brother's family. I loved getting some newborn cuddling in, since Will is definitely not a newborn anymore:(

Just a beautiful Sunday outside:

 Being the first occasion for all the grandchildren to get together, we attempted a group photo. These are the best we were able to get.
 As you can see, the 2 youngest did great.

 However, not everyone wanted their picture taken. We'll have to try again next time, since this probably isn't a very good frame-able picture.

 William's expressions crack me up.

 He is really good at making angry faces. Too bad I find them so cute.

8 months old

My sweet little boy is growing way too fast. Here are some pictures of him from February at 8 months old. He has his 2 bottom teeth that we were finally able to get a picture of. It is strange how different children are. Brinley didn't get teeth until about 1 year old. They were also her top canines, so she looked like a cute little vampire. William got his bottoms first at only 7 months. The top ones were cutting as soon as the bottom were out. He really liked cuddling and chewing on carrots during this intense teething. He ended up cutting four teeth within a week, poor boy.

 Luckily all that teething didn't keep him cranky for long. He still had some smiles for us.

One day I looked up to see that Will had pulled himself up to standing, all on his own. This is the first time he had done it. As you can see, he is very pleased with himself.

The Zoo

I am still trying to play catch up with all of these posts and pictures. At the end of February the Hogle Zoo was having a free admission day. We ended up making it a school field trip for Brinley and her friends. It was also a great chance to go on a road trip in our new minivan. Yes, we are now a minivan family, and I love it!
We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was beautiful and warm. Brinley's favorite animal to see was the giraffe. I liked the tiger, because it was actually walking right by the fence and was "roaring." It was neat to see them do something besides sleep.

 It is next to impossible to get 5 children to smile and look at the camera at the same time. This is the best I could get.

William was loving being outside. If you look carefully, you can even see his 4 teeth. They all cut through within 2 weeks.