Caz's New Tricks - 6 months

Caz is a growing baby!  He's six months now and is up to all the fun 6-month-old tricks.  He is pretty good at sitting up now, a little weeble-wobbly, but getting better and stronger everyday.  He can pretty much roll anywhere he wishes and he loves playing on the floor with his toys rolling every which way.  He has shown the beginning signs of crawling pushing up on to his knees.  No doubt he'll put together the moving his arms and knees in time, especially with Dad and MC trying to 'teach' him. :)  He is cooing and babbling a lot too.  I'm not sure you can count it as his first word, but he chants 'mama mama mama' when he is hungry and/or tired.  It certainly melts my heart.  And the last couple days he has started reaching out when you go to pick him up, another heart-melter.  The eating is going well too as he makes his way through the different veggies.  So he is growing fast and changing all the time.  And he is such a good sport with all the running around he does with his brother and sister's busy schedules.  He's a sweet, sweet boy and we love him to pieces here.  You can check out our sweetheart for yourself in these videos....

Mari Cagle on the Violin

I have several clips of Mari Cagle playing her violin.  She had her recital this afternoon at which she played Waltz in A Major by Mozart.  It's a beautiful piece and you might be able to tell that she is working on vibrato in her playing a bit.  It's a challenge, and she's just begun practicing the new skill which has been exciting for her.

As many of you may know, Brandon celebrated his birthday recently, and as a gift for her Dad, MC taught herself to play a version of the song, "My Little Buttercup" from the movie Three Amigos.  This is one of the songs that Brandon used to sing to Mari Cagle when she was a baby (not your typical lullaby but perfect for BL to sing to his babies).  Recently, it has become a popular tune again in our house to be sung to Caz.  Please excuse my terrible vocal accompaniment but she wanted Nate and I to sing along, and unfortunately you hear all me and very little Nate.  Needless to say, Brandon loved his surprise gift.

Have a great week!

A little more Easter, Art Show & a Race

I have a bit of a hodge-podge of pictures to share this post.  I have a few more Easter pictures and with the end of the school year fast approaching, things are very busy here with many different activities so check it out...

The Easter bunny brought new swings for the swing set including a swing just for Caz...

 He couldn't quite get his little hands around the eggs, or I think he would have liked them a lot more.  Just wait until next year.

 Mari Cagle and Nate were both excited for his maiden voyage.  They both wanted to push their sweet little brother.

 It's hard to know if he really enjoys swinging because he seems so focused on getting the straps in his mouth!  But he's smiling. :)

The school art show was this week.  MC's class studied Vincent Van Gogh and did their own 'Starry Night' painting.

Nate's class was studying architecture.  He did a house entitled 'Sloppy Joe.'  His reasoning, "It's called sloppy, but when someone looks at it they'll think, wait a minute, this isn't a sloppy picture!  So I'm tricking them."

And this Saturday morning we got an early start with the annual Mayor's Run where local elementary schools compete to have the most participants in a 1 mile run around the state capital.  Nate and MC both made a strong showing.  MC was very excited that she ran the whole race. :)

 

Nate looks pooped as he came across the finish line.

Check out MC's pink hair.  The Maxey PTO was there painting all the kids hair making them easy to spot!

And the weekend continues...soccer games and a violin recital still to fit in!!

Happy Easter!

We are having a blessed Easter celebrating our risen Lord! We've hunted eggs, the Easter bunny has visited, we got dressed in our Easter duds for a much needed trip to mass, and enjoyed some playing and relaxing.  I have lots of pictures to share, especially of the kiddos in their Easter outfits.  Then I'm off to attempt a re-creation of the wonderful pot luck Easter suppers Brandon and I remember so fondly at our Grandmas' houses.  Many blessings to our much-missed family and friends!

My silly Nate.

Such urgency & concentration.

Yes, it's pretty cool here for Easter.  We are definitely ready for sunshine and warmer temps.

Quite a haul for a backyard hunt.

Beautiful in blue.

 

 

Caz's expressions are so sweet.  He was such a sport, so quiet and sweet throughout mass and then he tolerated my many pictures.

Our baby is 6 months old this week!  He checked in at 17lbs 6oz and 27 1/4" long.  He's enjoying rice cereal and a special Easter treat....squash.

Soccer update, Flag Football & Caz's first bites

We have been up to the usual this week....school, work, and soccer.  But we had some new additions to our spring schedule too...Nate's flag football games and Caz enjoying rice cereal.  First, a soccer update from this weekend: MC had her first game with no score. :(  But she did get one assist and her team won another blowout.  So it was still a great game.  Nate had a super defensive game as he continued to 'mix it up.'  He played goalie for a quarter of the game blocking two of two shots from the other team.  And at the end of the game playing defender, he had a key block to keep the game tied at 2-2.

In flag football news, Nate and his teammates had a fun game.  In other words, it was chaos with as much socializing and horse play as football, but they certainly enjoyed themselves. :)  Below you get a sense of the laughing and chatting going on as Nate confers with his teammates, but he's ready, gloves, mouthpiece and all.

At almost 6 months, Caz enjoyed some rice cereal this weekend.  It's much later in his life for this first than with Mari Cagle and Nate, but he was ready.  He had no trouble at all with swallowing it down, and he really seems to enjoy the stuff.  It was definitely the easiest first feeding I've experienced.  I have to give a shout out to my camera woman, MC.  She took all the pictures for me while I fed him.  She even worked two cameras, mine and her own while Dad worked the video camera.  Enjoy her awesome shots...

Ready for that first bite, not sure what is about to happen.

Waiting patiently for Mom to thicken it up some.  She was a little rusty.

Getting the hang of it.

Wondering why Mom had to take the spoon away, it seemed perfect for chewing on, as good as any toy.

Keeping an eye on Dad.  You never know what he's up to.

He's got the hang of it and now seems to be enjoying it.

Yum!

Look at the mess Mom made of me dripping cereal on me and splashing it on my head.  She wasn't just a 'little' rusty.

All done!

MC Spring Soccer - this time with pictures!

MC had another great soccer game today!  It was unseasonably warm for this time of year at 84 degrees and the wind was blowing steady at 25-30 mph!  Pretty nice weather so we all got to go watch this week. And it's a good thing we did or we would have missed more awesome soccer action as MC scored TWO goals!!  She got the first of the game again this week and her team went on to win big.  She is hoping for a hat trick next week. :)

Chatting it up getting ready for the action to begin...

Ready for a pass...

  Racing to get in on more action...

 

And this is just a sweet shot of Caz sleeping with his buddy Quackers...

Nate's game is tomorrow barring the fruition of forecasted thunderstorms, so stay tuned.

Spring Soccer

I have no pictures to document the beginning of the spring soccer seasons for Mari Cagle and Nate, but the season is in full swing.  And despite the lack of pictures, I had to post that on Saturday, MC scored!!  She was so excited and it filled her with confidence.  Caz and I stayed at home because the weather was so cold, but I got the text just after the goal was scored...."MC just scored a goal.  Big time."  As I was later updated, the 'big time' referred to her taking the ball down the field, apparently juking an opponent and shooting for the score!  It was the first goal of the game and her team went on to win it, 7-1.  Dad had the video camera, but as it always happens to us, we never have it on when something big happens.  Hopefully, she'll score many more goals as the season continues.

Caz and I did get to attend Nate's game this week.  He played great too!  As his Dad said, "I am so proud.  My son was mixing it up today!"  Nate was getting in there and being knocked over, but every time he popped back up and 'mixed it up' some more. 

It's always fun to watch both MC and Nate play!  We'll be sure to get some pictures and videos at future games.  Hope everyone has a great week!