Shay's 6mo. Pics

So my mom took Shay to get her 6 month pictures taken by a gal we both love. Shay was not to excited to get all dressed up and smile for the camera. The first 9 pictures on the website are from that day. Luckily Jody said we could come back another day and reshoot. I finally got around to taking her and the pictures turned out much better. She is very hard to get a great smile out of, but did much better the second time. I listed the website below for all to check out. If you click on client login and the password is "shay". Remember the first 9 pictures are from the first photo shoot and the rest from when I took her. I think number 21 is my favorite. If only she would smile like I have captured on my wimpy camera, but in that outfit and with that cool background and that clarity!!!! You can't win every time! She is 7 1/2 months, so I guess I should be grateful that I got her 6month picture taken close to the time I should have ;)

www.gehmanphotography.com

Happy Birthday Chloe!

Today is Chloe's 6th birthday! Wow, time has flown by. It feels like yesterday Nate was changing her newborn diaper and she peed all over the changing table. I remember Nate had no clue what he was doing, luckily he has improved since then! I have included some favorite pics of Chloe that I could find.

Some of the reasons we love "lola"....

1. She is always excited to see us.

2. She loves "babysitting" Shay when we are all together.

3. She loves food! This is one great thing we have in common.

4. She has the most caring heart.

5. She loves to shop!!!!!!!!!

6. She is very inquisitive. For the first time I had to explain to someone where poop comes from ;)

7. She loves her family!

8. Conley adores her because she is always willing to play with him and treats him like her brother.

9. She is a girly-girl. We have that great thing in common. We don't care too much for exercise, we're emotional and we come with drama!

10. She is Chloe! There is no one like her and she is the greatest niece/cousin anyone could ever have!

At American Girl Place with her doll. She had the time of her life! It was just fun watching her enjoy the experience and take it all in!

Shay absolutely adores Chloe. Chloe is always able to get a smile and a laugh out of Shay!

With her two buddies! It's a good thing she is bossy, these boys need somebody telling them what do and to keep them in line, haha!

You go girl! A tractor pull in a dress!!!

I'm a big girl now!

This post is an update on Shay! She is growing and changing everyday!!! She has been rolling all over the place for months and can now sit up on her own. She loves to sit up and play with her toys that hang down from her activity mat. She also has her first tooth poking through. The whole tooth is through the gum on the bottom, now we just endure the painful process of the tooth coming the rest of the way. Of course, followed by the rest of the teeth to come! I have always tried not to be the mom who compares her children, but seriously, Conley was amazing with teeth. He never had any issue. Shay has been somewhat crabby and not sleeping well. I can handle the crabby, but not sleeping is not working for this working (45+hrs per week) mom of two! It is a phase, that is what I keep telling Nate and myself! It is just crazy to think that she is closer to being 1. Time flies!!!

We are truly blessed right now with the presence of my sister Jill for the next month here in Iowa City. She is on the pro golf circuit and doesn't move to Florida (we don't feel sorry for her!) for winter until late October. She has been a tremendous help with my children and Conley just adores her. Shay is starting to be a mamma's girl, so her and Jill are in the bonding process. Nate has already hired Jill out to do some jobs around the house and I put her to work with bath time and reading books to Conley. Thanks Jill for everything, you rock!!!

Here is Shay showing off her new skills! She still is quite petite and actually wearing clothing that matches her age. Conley was always about a year ahead in sizing until this year.

This is her new look she gives us. I think she feels the tooth on the bottom rubbing against the top gums. It is the cutest look thus far! And yes, we are still waiting for the hair to come in thicker on the sides and back to accompany the mohawk! haha

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun...

Last weekend Mindy, McKinzie, Chloe, Mary, Pat, Shay and myself all went to Chicago for girls weekend. I don't think Chicago will ever be the same, haha. We hit the road at 7am on Friday and shopped until we dropped! On Friday we hit a bunch of consignment stores in the suburbs of Chicago! We love seeing what else is out there and seeing what great finds we can score. Of course we hit some of our favorite retail stores too, Nordstrom Rack, Marshall's etc.

Saturday was the best day of Chloe's life. We visited American Girl Place in downtown Chicago. It was AMAZING!!!! Chloe's doll got her hair done and an extreme makeover at the beauty salon. We got both the doll and Chloe matching outfits, and we had lunch there. It was unbelievable. The doll sat with us at lunch and the food was amazing as were the decorations. I have included pictures because words cannot do it justice. I would (I think) recommend this experience to all. It is a little much, dollar-wise, but truly worth every penny. It was such a delight to watch Chloe take it all in and have such an awesome time. Of course when we were done at American Girl, Mindy had to bring Chloe back down to earth so we could do some more shopping! We shopped some more consignment right downtown (fun boutique consignment shops) and then headed back to the hotel for some pizza and hot tubbing! Sunday we hit the beloved IKEA and then headed for home. It was an exhausting weekend, but some great deals were had and many laughs!

The little girls did great. The poor things were taken in and out of the car about a million times and never got their needed naps or fun play time, but we have to train them young!!!!

This was our dessert. I love food! This gives you an idea of how "all out" they went on every tiny detail. It was awesome!!!

This is Chloe & her doll (Kit). Her doll was given a highchair that attached to the table.

Below is Kit getting her hair done. Chloe's doll had been quite loved, so it took a good 30 minutes for her beauty shop appointment. Some other dolls came and went in the time Kit got her makeover.

Mindy managing both while shopping! Poor Kinzie, Shay likes to give out lovin'.

Family Camp

We spent this past weekend at Hidden Acres Family Camp with Nate's parents, grandma Pat, Chloe, Isaac and our kids. We drove Tom and Mary's RV and pulled our pop-up camper behind. We had beautiful weather and great neighbors at our campsite, which all made for a great weekend. I tried to take a lot of pictures, because my family and friends will not believe I went camping unless it was documented, however, I am only in one picture. I always seem to be the one holding the camera and therefore not in many shots! I will work on this in the future.

They offered many activities throughout the weekend and we tried to attend as many as possible. It was hard to fit in activities with our nap schedule for the kids, so we have to go back next year to experience some more. Tom and Nate won the canoe race, the kids rode horses, Conley and Isaac played with minnows, some went to a rodeo, we went swimming, played at the beach and did some serious relaxing!!! I have included some pics from the weekend. For those who love to camp and even those who don't (I survived and this camping thing is growing on me) you should look into this camp on Labor Day weekend. They offer so many activities and have great facilities, it was great!

They had a minnow racing contest. The boys could care less about the contest, but definitely loved the minnows. I'm not sure if either minnow survived the boys!!!

Nate and Tom in the canoe race. The final round was intense, but of course they rocked it!

Shay getting a bath in the sink of the RV. She looks unhappy, but actually really liked it.

This was our campsite. Tom and Mary's RV is on the right and our pop-up is the one in the middle with the blue stripe. Grammie was a huge help with Shay. Her and Shay are buddies and got serious bonding time as I chased Conley and Isaac around. Our campsite area is much bigger than this pictures shows. There were many campers of families from Alberty City (where Tom grew up) and 1/2 of them were Sundblads. It was fun hanging out and getting to know everyone.

We biked from our campsite to all the buildings and events. My parent's gave us this burley after Conley was born and we love it! It took a few trips to get Shay positioned, but they loved it! Conley is not a fan of the camera and never has his eyes open when I take a picture!

Grammie helped Conley and Isaac feed this horse. They loved being so close and able to pet the horse.Conley would not get on the horse by himself (no complaining from mom on this one!), so Nate had to ride with him. Although I think Conley did better once up on the horse.

Isaac was first on the horse and out into the ring. Tom led Isaac's horse around the ring.

Chloe was in love! She of course hesitated, but after the boys got on the horses she was ready to go. Mary led her around the ring and Chloe yelled to make sure I got a picture of her!