Ortlieb Family Photos!

Yes, I fully realize it's been like 2 years since I've posted to this blog. Life goes on, what can I say? However I want to give you a glimpse into our life by posting our most recent photos taken by a tried and true professional photographer - Erin Moore from Mercy Street Studios. It was so long overdue and we finally have our youngest in our family portrait - only took us 5 years! :)

Violin Recital

Another six months of violin practice, another violin recital.  The boys had the chance to show off their skills once again this past January.  It didn't help that they had spent the two weeks before sick and so hadn't practiced to their usual effort.  But without further adieu...

Mrs. Anderson's (far left) class of musicians

Halloween '12

Here's a quick snapshot of the boys in their Halloween costumes.  If you haven't noticed by now, the Dumbo costume has gotten its fair share of use starting with Jayce.  It has been worn almost every single year now for 9 years with an average of 2 years' use per child.  The other costumes, typically the superhero ones, have also gotten much wear and care.  Luckily for us, they don't seem to mind wearing the same costumes over and over each year.  I guess they love donning that cape or hero mask just one more time!

Our fourth Dumbo

Jayce as Ben 10, Reagan as Robin, Landon as The Hulk and Damien as Dumbo

Damien Walking?

It's hard to say exactly when Damien's first steps were.  Like everything else in his short life, Damien refuses to be pigeonholed into a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g!  He technically took his first steps by his first birthday and was even caught cruising around the living room holding onto furniture.  But it would be a very long time before he actually became an independent toddler.  We're not sure if he just thought crawling was faster or safer or what - maybe even just decided he didn't want to do it so he didn't (which is more than possible in Damien's world).  I'm happy to announce though that he finally is officially a toddler now, preferring the mode of two-legged ambulation over the four-legged crawl.  It only took him 21 months to decide to do it.

Here is a video of him right in  the middle of his transition from baby to toddler.

Celebrations

After finally downloading all the images captured on our camera in the last few months, I realized I had a bunch of pictures to share with you.  So I'll get right on that and start with the boys' birthdays.  Here are some pics from both Jayce's, Reagan's and Landon's birthdays.

Not sure why Jayce felt the need for sunglasses...lol

Make a wish and blow!

Reagan requested a "cookie" cake.

Landon wanted a robot cake.  This was my best try...