Silly kiddos

When I posted the pictures yesterday, I neglected to mention that the reason there were none of Gabriel was because he was gone to his first over-night birthday party that evening. I was a little worried that he wouldn't stay but when he got home and I asked him if he missed us he said, "No, and I could have stayed a whole week!" He had a great time.
The weather was wonderful here this evening so we enjoyed our dinner of chicken nuggets and oatmeal (Gabriel) out on the deck this evening. The girls were being so silly.

and here Gabriel gets in the mix as well

Alena's stuffing her mouth with chips in this one

and finally, some pictures of Eden with her eyes open:

New Camera Pics

We finally saved up enough to get our SLR camera and it came in yesterday. It's going to take a long time for me to learn about all the features, but we had fun getting some pictures last night after bath time.

Mya's in that cheesy smile phase. Every time we say smile this is what we get.

Hopefully we'll get some pictures with Eden's eyes open soon - she is awake a little more everyday it seems.

Can you tell...

who is who?

starting on top left it is: Alena, Eden, Gabe (bottom left) and Mya

School and an archaeological dig

Because life isn't crazy enough around here adding a new baby and all, we started school this week. We've been doing some preschool stuff at home for a few years and will continue to do so with Mya and Alena but Gabriel begins Kindergarten this year. After Labor Day he will be attending a home school co-op one day a week but we decided to go ahead and get started giving us some time to get into a routine.

Here are the "First day of school pictures." They all decorated signs with their age and/or grade but Alena is covering her's up so you can't tell what it says.

Uncle Sam and Aunt Chrisa stopped by for a short visit this week to meet their newest niece.

We've found all kinds of interesting bugs lately and Gabe found and photographed this stick bug walking upside down on the swing set.

Eden taking it easy. Has she really been here less than three weeks - it already seems like forever, and yesterday was her due date.

For history this week, we talked about what archaeologist do and last night had our own little archaeological dig in the sand box. The kids picked out different things to bury and then used toothbrushes and small shovels to unearth the items. I couldn't believe how long it took them to find everything and one plastic neckalce is still missing. They really got into this and came out ready to dig dressed like archaeologists. Here's Mya's version:

and Gabe's:

This is definitely something I'll remember and do again when we've run out of fun activities.

Very random...

I have been trying for several days to get these pictures on and every time something would happen and they wouldn't upload. Hopefully they'll work this time, though.

We enjoyed a visit on Thursday night from Nae's brother Nee and his wife Teng. They also brought with them their two kiddos Savannah and Simon. Somehow we didn't get any pictures of 3 month old Simon but here are the other cousins. Gabe directed a show (that's him in the back with the swords) and played the piano very expressively while the girls danced for us. They also threw in some magic tricks and puppeteering. They had us all cracking up.
This luna moth hung out on our porch for a couple days. We did a little google research and learned that luna moths have no mouth and thus do not eat and they only live for about 5 days laying hundreds of eggs during that time.
Grandmama made the girls their own slings just like Mommy's to carry their baby dolls around in. Somehow I haven't managed to get a picture of both of them carrying babies at the same time, but here's Alena modeling hers.
Another picture of our little pumpkin this time with her eyes (barely) open which doesn't occur very often. She's been a really easy baby so far but we'll see if it continues.

The first week

Today is our second day all on our own and so far so good. We've certainly had a few bumps in the road but nothing too serious. Everyone's kind of settling into a new routine with this little girl.

Eden is still in the sleepy stage so that makes the adjusting a little easier. Here she's doing a little sun bathing to (hopefully) get rid of the jaundice.

She almost always has her little hand up at her face when she's sleeping.

Look at this silly big sister and I don't know why I ever bother to clean that window.

Emma took these next two pictures on Sunday after church and I love how they turned out. We'll have to get her to do pictures more often because the kids never cooperate so nicely for me.

More pictures

While I'm waiting for us to be discharged from the hospital this morning, here are a few more pictures of Eden.

Look at those eyes. Do they look blue to anyone else? They certainly aren't as dark brown as the other three's were, but don't worry I'm under no allusion that they'll stay that way.

The kids came by on Tuesday morning to check out their new sister.

Gabe suggested we do a family picture with the camera's timer. It didn't turn out too bad all things considered.

Oh, how we already love this little girl and can't wait to get her home.

Baby is here

I had it all planned out to do our anniversary post today, but instead we got to meet this new little one last night:
and it was a GIRL!!! Eden Vanh was born at 3:53 this morning weighing 7lbs 5 ozs and 20 in long. We are so thankful that she is here safely and of course every minute of bed rest was well worth it.

More pictures to come soon...