School's out for summer

We finally got a vanity for the upstairs bathroom.  CK was smart and bought motion sensor faucets so the kids can't leave the water running.  See, we're learning...

 This is the first floor bathroom where we have a built in stool for the kids.  Best. decision. ever.

 Reese likes to practice her reading with Emily

 Soren after he rolled over for the first time last week

 We've had a lot of 2nd cousin high school graduations this year and last week we headed to Bozeman.  I rode in the 3rd row with Reese and Asher while Jan was up front with CK.  This was my view :)

 Hanging with Reese in the backseat

 Reese and Asher got new haircuts and new kicks to celebrate summer.

Emily playing in the water at daycare.  Nice 'do, huh?

 And our adorable niece and nephew, Grace and Elijah

Baby boom complete

and with Charlotte's arrival the 2014 Lageman baby boom is complete. Top left: Soren James (Jan 3rd), Top right: Elijah Phineus (April 2nd), bottom left: Hunter William (May 21st) and bottom right: Charlotte Ruby (June 7th).  Now all Mom and Dad have to do is figure out whose graduation they're going to attend 18 years from now. :)

It's a girl!

Welcome to the world Charlotte Ruby Salling!  My new niece arrived on June 7th and she has red hair!!  Congratulations to Sarah and Fred on becoming parents- the hardest and best job you'll ever have.

Reese loses her first tooth

Friday was a big day.  First, Emily's surgery and then Reese's loose tooth was just allllmooost ready to come out so Daddy just yanked it out.  Here's the proud girl with her new smile.  By the next morning she was $2 richer.  Apparently the tooth fairy has kept up with inflation.

 Soren is our first thumb sucker.  Adorable and actually kind of practical given that he is able to self soothe instead of waking me up :)

Love this one of Asher and Soren sharing a brother bonding moment.

Contrast that with this other brother bonding moment circa late 1984:

Emily has eye surgery

Emily had her eye muscle surgery on Friday (to correct her wandering/lazy eyes).  She has the problem in both eyes so had two muscles in each eye cut and then reattached to correct the alignment of her eyes.  The surgery was in Missoula so CK and I got up early and drove with Emily Friday morning.  Here she is in pre-op in her cute little tiger gown.

The surgery (and the anesthesia, which I was more worried about) went fine.  Immediately post surgery she was a bit agitated but fell right asleep in daddy's arms (see below) while we hung out for monitoring for an hour or so.

After that she was cranky, but otherwise ok (just starving since she wasn't allowed to eat after midnight and it was now 1p).  She gobbled up some applesauce and graham crackers and we headed home.  This is a picture from the car ride home with our smiling (and now straight-eyed) little girl clutching her surgical teddy bear.  The staff at the surgery center was great and overall it was a pretty easy experience.  Definitely more anxiety leading up to the day than the actual day itself, but I'm still relieved it's over.

 Emily will still wear her glasses for farsightedness and we'll monitor her vision.  This may not be the end of her eye fun but she's happy and healthy so we're happy.

Smiling kids

Nothing's better than a bunch (and yes, we now have what I believe qualifies as a "bunch") of kids smiling and laughing.  They're not always this cute with each other but when they are I try to take pictures to get me through the other times :)

 Soren's getting more animated (and, in my completely unbiased opinion, more adorable) every day.  Some recent smiles:

 And a picture of the boys doing tummy time together.

New nephew

Hunter William Lageman arrived last week (May 21st)!  Our newest nephew has a lot of hair and luckily looks like his Mommy so far (just kidding Dan).  We're thrilled everyone is happy and healthy.  3 down, 1 to go... ;)  Congratulations Dan and Venus and welcome to parenthood!

Sarah's baby shower

CK, Soren and I headed to Connecticut this weekend for Sarah's baby shower.  We stopped in Minneapolis for one of my projects and had lunch with CK's friend Mike, whom we hadn't seen in years.  It was a great trip and MANY MANY thanks to Jan for watching the other 3 kids so we could have a relaxing trip.  Soren was an easy traveler and it was great to see all of my siblings and my Mom since I don't see them often enough.  Here are some pictures from the fun weekend:

Soren testing out baby Salling's new swing (which is really more like a baby roller coaster)

Diaper four-wheeler

the amazing cake (A Little Imagination Cakes, Middletown, CT)

Becca, Judy, Alison (and Robin)

The amazing elephant minky blanket from Aunt Kim

the proud parents-to-be

Mom introducing Robin to the Tiffany's blue box....uh oh

Fred and Sarah got me a beautiful necklace

The youngest four grandchildren...two in...two out

Judy, Nick, Robin, Alison and Steve

Big Sister and Bigger Sister

Mellow Soren

Soren is such a mellow baby.  He sleeps most nights for at least 6 hours straight, wakes up happy and smiling and generally just goes with the flow.  He does like looking around (maybe to ensure nothing/no one is coming at him??) so he prefers to sit in his swing in the upright position.

 Judy and Steve sent Soren an adorable puzzle step stool.  Can you tell he loves it?

 Emily is breaking it in for him

 and when the puzzle is no longer fun, you can just throw the whole thing over...

 and all the pieces fall out...and the fun starts again

 Asher's eye is getting more colorful.  The pictures on the left are from day 1 and the pictures on the right are last night (day 3).  Luckily, it doesn't seem to hurt him much so he's a good sport about the whole thing.