Thomas is a sitter. . . almost
These pictures were just too cute not to share:
Then I made a noise that startled him and he looked at me like this:
But he also did a lot of this:
So he’s not quite a sitter.
Grandpa Bird
My dad spent a week with us for Isaac’s baptism. Much of the time he was here, we were very busy with preparations and family, but we managed to take a few outings. My sister, Sarah drove him up and spent some time with us as well.
Here’s Sarah and I and our Babies:
Here’s all 8 of our kids lined up by age:
Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Grandpa Bird with my kids:
(Nicole did not want to be in this picture)
I love the way Nicole is looking at her grandpa in this picture:
I already posted this one, but here it is again because it belongs in this collection as well:
The little girls at bedtime
I’m still working on catch up posts. Here are some recent pictures:
Ila is funny, she’s very particular about what she sleeps with and how. She will yell from her bed for someone to come and re-wrap that doll in a blanket and she always sleeps on her orange pillow from aunt Heidi. She loves her giant orange rock (partially visible below). She must have two plush elephants (a mommy and a baby) who have their own blankets (burp clothes that match Ila’s butterfly blanket), an orange water bottle, and a big stack of books. She has an aquarium lamp similar to this one and a plastic lion who likes to try to eat the fish in the aquarium. I checked on her after bedtime one night and observed the following set-up:
Nicole almost always falls asleep with this book on her lap:
Nicole also likes to try on clothes, particularly socks and underwear, after bedtime. Sometimes I find a pile of underwear and socks in Ila’s bed that Nicole has tossed in for her to try on. I took this picture one night when I went in to turn off some lights (notice the 4 different socks on her hands). She came downstairs for breakfast the next morning with all 4 socks still on:
Also, here are some unrelated pictures: I know I shared these on Facebook, but I thought I’d share them here anyway for the friends of mine who don’t use Facebook. I love seeing my kids all lined up, here they are on the Sunday before Independence day:
2nd Cousins
My cousin Lindsay and her sweet family moved to Seattle at the end of June. Her husband Aaron is here to finish up the next step in medical school. I was able to watch her two little ones while they unpacked. Here are some pictures of our kids together:
I know our grandmother worried that after she died none of her children or their children would make the effort to see each other or spend time together since we’re so spread out. I imagine she was smiling to see her great-grandchildren having such fun together!
When Nicole is Hungry
Nicole has been attempting to be more independent in the kitchen. She has been trying to get her own food, but she does it her own way:
Her finished product:
Remember how I mentioned that she makes her own toast exactly wrong just about everyday? Lately she tries to eat oranges the way most people eat apples:
And I caught her eating a banana, corn-on-the-cob style:
Baptism Video Presentation
Isaac and I worked together to pick all the videos that would play while he got dressed in his dry clothes after he was baptized. We spent a few hours watching Mormon Messages on The Mormon Channel. Zach put the videos on a DVD for us. Here are the videos we picked:
1. Child of God:2. Feeling the Holy Ghost:3. What Matters Most:4. Choose This Day:5. Moments That Matter Most:6. Waiting on Our Road to Damascus:The total time for all the videos was about 18 minutes, but Isaac and Zach returned at the end of number 5, so we didn’t end up watching number 6.
Fountain Photos
I’ve got some catching up to do. Here are some pictures that I took on an outing with my friend Jess and her kids at the end of June. We met up at the fountains by the Kent library:
Ila is wary of the fountains:
Isaac and Charlotte jumped right in and enjoyed them, while Ila and Nicole mostly stayed out of the water and watched:
Ila loves the babies, she spotted my friend’s baby:
He showed her how to be less afraid of the water:
Thomas just got his feet a little wet:
The girls:
Isaac’s Baptism
We had an awesome day on Saturday. I feel very blessed.
On Saturday my son, Isaac, was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
In our faith, children are baptized at age 8, when they are old enough to be accountable for their actions and to choose for themselves whether or not to be baptized. One’s baptism day is a day that is anticipated for years and remembered for the rest of one’s life. (Here is a little FAQ on baptism and other topics. One thing about Mormons, is that we like to talk about our religion and we aren’t shy about answering questions. So if you have any questions, I’m more than happy to answer them.)
He started the day with a special breakfast. A fresh doughnut and a letter from my mother (Grandma Bunny):
We headed over to the church early to set up. There was a funeral going on all day at the church so the building was crowded and hot, but we did our best not to be disruptive to their event.
Here is the greeting table that I set up. I took Isaac to get pictures taken a few weeks before at a place called Portrait Innovations. They were having a special where you get a free mug with the picture on as well:
I had a picture mat for people to write him little notes on as a reminder of this day. Here is what it looked like when it was finished (I am hanging it in his room):
You can see the cover of the program in the picture above (a picture by Simon Dewey of Christ being baptized). Here is what the inside looked like:
Isaac picked all the assignments and songs for the program and choose the videos from The Mormon Channel. On the back, was a copy of his testimony in his handwriting:
Everything went smoothly and his mother cried:
Here is a picture of some of the family who were there:
After his baptism we had a meal in another room. We had cranberry orange chicken salad with homemade wheat bread, fresh fruit and vegetables, potato salad and Jell-O Salad with banana split cake and cookies for dessert. Here are some pictures that I took after everyone ate:
Here are some close ups of the Lego creations that Isaac made to decorate the tables:
We gathered back at our house and his Grandma and Grandpa Cochran and his aunts and uncle gave him a scripture case and triple combination with his name engraved on it. His Great Aunt Margaret gave him a hymn book with his name on it.
(He has loved the gifts. Last night he wanted me to help him find some scriptures on baptism and he enjoyed reading his scriptures. He was very proud to bring them and use them at church on Sunday)
We ended the day with a nice family dinner at Fairwood Thai Cuisine.
Family Pictures!
Tomorrow’s the big day. Oops, It’s after midnight so I guess today is the day my oldest kid gets baptized! My in-laws are all in town. It’s the first time we’ve all been together since we added 3 family members (Dan, Ila, and Thomas) so we had some family pictures taken.
Unfortunately our picture session started with the photographer backing into Ila as she tried to take a picture and knocking Ila down. Ila cried and was grumpy for the entire session. It was hilariously difficult to get a good picture of everyone.
Here is the whole group:
Thomas and Gabe
My youngest sister and I had babies a few weeks apart. Thomas was born on February 6th and his cousin, Gabe was born on the 23rd of February. So Thomas is 17 days older than Gabe. Sarah came up to Seattle for Isaac’s baptism and we finally got pictures of our little boys together.
Here is the first picture I took of them today, I love how they’re looking at each other:
Here is the second picture, I love Thomas’s reaction to his cousin:
I promise we didn’t put their hands together, they did that naturally:
Check out that grip Thomas has on Gabe. He was very intrigued by his cousin.
The End
Photo Uploading
We let our Flickr Pro account expire today. We have talked about using a different service for storing photos online, but we haven’t taken any steps towards signing up with a new service. We did a massive download of the images on flickr, just to make sure we had them all (we had uploaded more than 27,000).
For now we just have limited Free version of flickr which only shows the most recent 200 pictures. Should we decide to renew our pro account, all 27,000+ pictures would be viewable again.
Since I won’t be sharing my whole album online right now, I’ll have to take some time to share a few more here.
Here is a picture of one of the bacon flowers that I made for Zach for Father’s Day (It was a silly idea, but they were super easy to make):
Every morning at breakfast, Ila asks for me to move Thomas over by her, sometimes she holds onto his foot while she eats. She can be very possessive of him. She tells me that he’s HER Thomas:
Thomas has started reaching for things and trying to hold and taste them. On this particular morning, he kept trying to grab the box of Life cereal and the kids all thought it was hilarious that he kept knocking the box down. They laughed each time he did and then set the box back up for him to knock down. Here is a video that I took after he had already knocked down the box many times:We’ve had Zach’s grandmother over to Skype with some of her other grandchildren a few times recently. She loves to hold Thomas when she comes and it’s so fun to share him with her. Last time I was able to make him laugh for her and it brought such a big smile to her face.
These pictures are kinda funny to me, especially when viewed in rapid succession:
(the effect is better when viewing in a photo viewer, cause it looks like he lunges towards you with that wide-eyed expression).
HIs eyes are turning brown, I think:
The girls having a pretend picnic in the hall. Nicole got a call on a some cauliflower that she had to take: 
Thomas might hate me for these pictures one day, I blame his sisters. (My auto red-eye correction was confused by the pink glasses):
Isaac’s Birthday Celebrations
(I started this post awhile ago, but life got busy, so better late than never, right?)
Isaac’s birthday celebration was split up between a few days. He had the presentation and cupcakes on Thursday at school. Then on Saturday, Zach picked up Isaac’s friend and took them on an outing which Zach should post about soon (you can all help me bug him to post the pictures and write about Isaac’s birthday outing). I was glad that Isaac choose an outing over a party this year, because I have been working really hard to keep up with everything since Thomas was born and I didn’t want to add party planning to my chore list. The third celebration was on his actual birthday which also happened to be on Father’s day.
We had orange dreamsicle pie with Lego men and candles on top. 
His Great-Grandmother came over to celebrate with us and we Skyped with his Cochran Grandparents for the birthday song (see the wireless mouse in the picture, the laptop was just outside of the shot).
He was a little upset that Charlotte leaned over and helped blow the candles out:
Anyway, you should all encourage Zach to post the pictures and tell about Isaac’s birthday outing.
THE END
Look who’s gaining on his big sister
Thomas is 4 1/2 months old and less than 5th percentile for height (I’m not sure that less than 5th is on the chart). Ila growth curve is well below the bottom of the chart (she’s 2 1/2).
How long do you think till this kid is taller than his big sister?
Mismatched Girls
Since Charlotte has been gone all day at Kindergarten, my two youngest girls have become good friends. It took them most of the school year to develop their friendship, but now that the big kids are home, they are still choosing to play together.
They are about as different as they can be in personality. Ila is soft and sweet and mild while Nicole is loud and passionate and boisterous.
On one of the last days of school, Nicole was dancing around wearing a mismatched pair of dress-up shoes while Ila was finishing her breakfast. When I took Ila down from her seat, she was wearing the other half of Nicole’s mis-matched set:
Nicole must have brought them over and put them on Ila’s feet. They danced around in their mismatched shoes singing and laughing. My heart swelled with joy to see this mismatched pair of sisters enjoying each other so much! And of course I got out my camera:
Snapshots
Thomas is starting to grab and hold toys. Here is a picture of Isaac helping him learn how to hold toys:
Isaac at 8
It seems like every time I write about Isaac I write the same things. That he loves to build with Legos and other things, that he’s a good reader, and that he is a very curious boy who asks lots of good questions. 
I hope to portray a deeper picture of Isaac this time. I find that it’s harder to describe my children as they grow. When they’re little I can write about their developing abilities to talk and walk and the things that they like best, but as they grow, they develop in ways that are harder to define. Hopefully the following words give you a picture of who Isaac is as he starts his 8th year. I want to apologize in advance that some of my writing for this post seems to be a little more rambling than I like.
The Zoo
My sister gave us some zoo passes that she wasn’t going to use. With her 3 passes we managed to get 7 people in without paying for anything except parking (kids under 3 are free)! My friend from our old Utah ward brought her 2-year old twins and I brought Nicole, Ila and Thomas.
Despite the weather predicting rain, we great weather (only a light sprinkle for a few minutes.)
We got a nice long look at the Elephants which are possibly Ila’s favorite:
Here is Ila petting a Mayalan Tapir :
We thought it was nice of the orangutan to wear Ila’s favorite color of towel:
The penguins did some nice diving and swimming for Ila and Nicole:
This is the only picture that I took of Thomas at the zoo (I know, it’s kinda unbelievable that I only took one picture):
Nicole looking at Leopards:
I held Thomas for about half of our trip to the zoo, so when Ila got tired of walking, she took a ride in Thomas’s seat:
Here she is checking out the flamingos from Thomas’s seat:
By the end of our outing, Nicole was a little worn out:
One of the last things we did was visit the petting zoo. Here is Ila with my friend’s daughter:
Pictures that I’ve been meaning to write something about:
How’s that for a title? I often take pictures with the intent to post them, but I haven’t had much time to blog lately, so here are some of the pictures I thought I’d post at some point:
Ila likes to ask me to take pictures of her. Here she is right after asking me to take a picture of her eating oatmeal:
My Dad, by our primary kids:
In honor of Zach on Father’s Day the kids filled out a father’s day questionnaire in primary. 
Here are their answers:
From Isaac:
My Dad is 35 years old.
His hair is brown and his eyes are brown.
My Dad likes to wear jeans.
He loves to eat burritos and pumpkin cookies.
He is smart because he knows he loves me.
My Dad works hard at work.
Daddy always tells me teases.
It makes my Dad happy when I clean up.
If he could go on a trip, he would go to Carolina and he would take me.
I really love it when my Dad plays with me.
If I could give my daddy anything, it would be a cleaning robot.
My favorite thing about my Dad is he is fun.From Charlotte:
My Dad is 35 years old.
His hair is brown and his eyes are brown.
My Dad likes to wear ties.
He loves to eat delicious food.
He is smart because he knows that I’m smart.
My Dad works hard at his work.
Daddy always tells me he loves me.
It makes my Dad happy when I give stuff to him.
If he could go on a trip, he would go to the park and he would take my hand.
I really love it when my Dad gives me candy.
If I could give my daddy anything, it would be candy.
My favorite thing about my Dad is that he plays games with me.Nicole didn’t finish hers,possibly because she often doesn’t know how to respond to questions, but here is what she did finish:
His hair is blue and his eyes are purple.
My Dad likes to wear a purple dress like me.
He loves to eat orange bananas.This is what Nicole calls orange bananas:
Isaac’s Birthday Treat and Presentation
In Isaac’s class, they can bring in an item or pictures to go with their birthday treat. Isaac wanted to do a power point presentation. He worked on it every spare moment for days. Here he is just before his presentation (with a little cupcake on his face).
He gets very nervous presenting. He avoids looking at the audience, he sometimes speaks softly, and stutters a little. Here is a video of his presentations:
They had a little question and answer session after the presentation. It’s a bit longer. Click here if you want to watch it.
Isaac brought in cupcakes with chocolate Lego mini-figures on top for his birthday treat (my awesome friend and visiting teacher lent us the candy molds).
(I didn’t do a perfect job with the molds, but it was good enough for 7 and 8 year olds!)