Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Weekend Festivities!

We spent the weekend down south (in Salem) with lots of family.  Since most of my cousins and siblings live within a few hours of Salem, we all try to coordinate weekends we come 'home'.  It's fun for us big kids as well as all the little ones.  And, with the weather so nice, we spent a lot of time outside.  Which meant tired, dirty kids at the end of the day!  
One reason for choosing this weekend was a wedding shower for an old friend of mine, Laura Petrea.  On Saturday, my mom, Linda, Libby and I went to a lovely bridal shower brunch at The Badollet House in Salem.  It was so nice to catch up and celebrate with Laura (and meet the Mr).  
Libby and I with Laura
The very tasty banana bread we all got to take home!

Pretty much the rest of the weekend was spent hanging out and letting the little ones run like crazy outside.  On Sunday, we had a little Easter Egg Hunt since we were all together.  Enjoy some pictures of cousin craziness!

Ethan and Scout...Give these 2 a golf club and they are happy!

Ethan, Scout and Josiah trying to 'fix' the Barbie bug

A little garage ball!

Libby and her girls...Haley and Katie

Yes! They are as ornery as they look!
My Grandpa was in town and this was his first time meeting Nora.  
She likes him!!

Easter Egg Hunt time!

Letting them loose!

Pop helping Nora a little :)

Paige, Josiah, Finley and Haley

A very excited Ethan

And, he found one!

Haley was partial to the pink and purple eggs.

We also spent some time out at Grandma Karen and Grandpa's house.  While I was at the shower, Jared took the kids out, but since I had the camera, no pictures from that trip.  We did, however, make another trip out for dinner on Sunday night.  
Having a cupcake with Grandma Karen and Great-Grandma Diane

Enjoying a slow 4-wheeler ride with Grandpa

Trying to show off her new rolling skills...
But didn't quite make it.  
I stayed on Sunday night into Monday with the kids.  I took Ethan up to my dads 'distice' office, in hopes that he would get his teeth cleaned.  My dad took a look and ended up doing 4 sealants on him.  He did great!  And, next time we're in town, I'll just clean his teeth!

Pop and Ethan

He was such a big boy!  I'm so proud of him and how well he did!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Happy 5 Months!

Nora is 5 months old today!  She is so much fun and, of course, growing and changing everyday.  Because this blog is my journal/scrapbook, I like to list a few things she is liking and doing these days.

Love that toothless smile!!


She likes to chew on anything and everything.  Especially fingers...and they don't have to be her own.
Still no teeth, but I'm expecting one or two to pop through sometime soon.
She wears bibs most of the day so she isn't always wearing a wet shirt.
She is eating about every 4 hours, unless I need to feed her sooner for our schedule.
Still sleeping well, although, we have had some days begin before I'm ready.  Ideally she goes to bed around 9 and gets up around 7, but there have been a few 6am wake-up calls.
As mentioned in the previous post, she is starting to sit up on her own! Yay!
She loves her rice cereal.  We feed her that in the evenings, which usually doesn't happen until after Ethan goes to bed.
Has not rolled from back to belly yet, but is close.  However, we don't give her too much opportunity since she is on her belly or upright most of the time.
She has rolled from belly to back though.
Smiles and laughs a lot.  She is pretty much ticklish everywhere, especially under her neck and on her legs.
At home statistics: Weight: 16 lbs, Length: 26 in
And, of course, is a huge blessing to our family!


Sunday, March 25, 2012

Sibling Love!

Ethan was in a very loving mood this afternoon.  He is always wanting to kiss Nora and he has told us on more than one occasion that 'when Nora grows up, she can give me kisses'.  He's so funny.  Jared was holding both kids this afternoon and Ethan told him to get up so he could sit and hold Nora.

Trying to make Nora laugh

Sweet kisses.  Never mind the smashed face :)


Such cute kids we have! 

Other exciting news...Nora can sit up!  I call it a 'tripod' sit, she topples easily and it doesn't last long, but it's a start. 

Such a big girl!!
All smiles...

...And she toppled :)

Friday, March 23, 2012

Spring is Here!!

This is our first spring at our new house, so I'm loving seeing all the springtime blooms around the house!  Here are a few pictures I snapped during our brief time outside this morning.

I have always loved Bradford Pear trees and now we have one!
I should have taken this a few days ago.  It's already starting to lose the flowers and turn green.

Lovely flowering tree.  Not sure what it is.

Close-up of the blooms

Azaleas in the front garden
There are also a few of these around...
Ethan brought in a 'sunflower' for me!  I had to put it in a vase :)

One day this week, we decided to have a picnic in the park to enjoy the day.  It was windy while we were eating so, in effort to keep our food/trash from blowing away, I didn't take any picnicking pictures.  But here is Ethan enjoying the park part!

He used to need help to just climb the steps at  this park, now he does this all by himself...tear.
And he told me he didn't want to swing in the 'baby swings' and that he wanted to 'go high as the sky'!
Happy Spring!!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Fun-Filled Weekend

We had a fun and busy weekend around here.  Saturday morning we headed out to the Decatur St. Patrick's Day parade.  We met the Maxey family there and Ethan and Braden enjoyed lots of candy.  At one point, we looked down and Ethan had a sucker in his mouth and another one unwrapped in his hand waiting on deck.  The parade was alright, very heavy into dogs, politicians and 'girls on roller skates' (roller derby girls).

Very intent on those suckers.

This is how Nora enjoyed the parade.  She isn't asleep here, just appears that way :).

Then on Saturday night, Dustin (Jared's brother) and Amanda came up to spend the night and his parents came up on Sunday.  We had a great Sunday hanging out and playing outside.
Swinging with Uncle Dustin and Amanda 
Grandma Karen and Grandpa hanging out with Nora

Grandma Karen and Nora
And Sunday evening, after our company left, we decided it was the perfect evening for some fishing!  So we loaded up and headed out to Judy's (a wonderful former co-worker) pond.  But not until after Jared dug up some worms.  Ethan was super excited and has his own pole.

Giving him a little instruction! 
Jared's fish on his first cast!

He's a natural!

And...done with the fishing.  On to running and eventually throwing dirt in the pond.

Beautiful pond view!

Ethan gave the fishing another try.  And caught a good sized catfish!  He cast it and helped reel it in!

Nora was there too, she just spend her time in the house.  Judy wasn't upset by that at all!  Besides it was a little windy and starting to cool off.

All in all, we had a great weekend!  I love the weekends!!  Especially with this beautiful weather :)!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Yum Yum!

Friday we decided to try rice cereal with Nora.  I remember wondering if Ethan would EVER eat that stuff.  So, I was expecting a gagging, spitting, head-turning baby girl...I was wrong!  This girl loved it.  She figured it out by the 3rd spoonful.  And when I wasn't moving fast enough, she let me know.  It was crazy!  She now locks in on the spoon and starts leaning forward with her mouth open when she sees it.  
Her 1st Bite
Give me more!
Happy customer!
And, I can't forget about Ethan.  He is such a ham sometimes...
He loves this applesauce!  And, I must say, it's much less messy than the regular stuff.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Beautiful Days = Bath Nights

I'm afraid to say it, but I think spring just might be here!  We have been taking advantage of the beautiful weather and spending a lot of time in the backyard, at the park, walking/biking.  All the time outside means baths are necessary.

Might have been a better picture if there was not a lovely trash can behind him...

Enjoying a nice ride

I looked out the backdoor and saw this...Adorable!  I think they found an old baseball and Jared was unraveling it.
 Bath time!
He moves too fast sometimes...

Such a sweet face!

I couldn't choose which one to post, so I chose both!

Oh, and on a totally different topic.  Nora found her toes!



Monday, March 12, 2012

Happy Housewarming

Abby and Alex moved to Troy a few weeks ago and they invited us over to see their new place and for a delicious lunch.  It was a great time, and their apartment is very nice!  Ethan and Haley had a good time playing and pretending...

Lovely couple in a lovely place!

Pretending to nap on the stairs...

And, more pretending to nap.

Katie Sue is 7 months old!

Linda and Libby

Just hanging out!  Linda, Jared and Nora

Thanks, Abby and Alex, for having us over.  We will definitely come back.  In the words of Ethan, 'I liked Abby and Alex's new house'!