11 Months

 

 11 Month Fun Times!

~Nicolette and Owen are becoming fast friends. Owen loves Nicolette and Nicolette loves to help take care of "bubba chubba." (She told me yesterday that's what she likes to call him.)

~ Drawers and cabinets... the boy is obsessed! We have child locks on, but that does not always deter him. 

 Graham crackers... an Owen favorite snack.

 Picture taken by big sis Ava.

I am not sure what the cracker on the head means...oh funny boy!

Yum! Yum! This boy LOVES to eat!

9 and 10

 Owen turned 9 Months during UEA. We were at the cabin. Owen got to go hiking for the first time on his nine month birthday. We even talked Mam and Poppy into coming to Bryce Canyon with us for a hike.  

 I don't know if all the girls were thrilled about hiking and posing for pictures, but were so glad they are willing to be good sports.

 Poppy, Vivien,Ava and myself ended up on quite the adventurous hike. A few of the paths were closed but, that has never stopped Poppy. We blindly followed...and, were all still here to tell about it!

 Ava was happy to pose for a photo:)

 10 Months was spent at Chili's for dinner. We probably won't be going back there for awhile. Owen loved chewing on the crackers and anything else that was available. 

At 10 Months:

Owen is as busy as ever!

He loves his sisters, and loves to smile.

Is crawling everywhere.

We are now keeping the bathroom doors shut as he has discovered the toilet and thinks they are for splashing in the toilet water.

Owen is a busy boy and we all love him to pieces!

Girls trying to be happy for a picture:)

Happy Birthday Ava!

 Ava turned nine years old on September 28. We had a lot of celebrating and Ava had a great day!

 Ava with her little sisters in front of presents. I think the little sisters were almost as excited as Ava!

 I found fun letters so we can have Ava's name with the birthday sign.

 Ava and her cake. She picked the kind of cake and the colors she wanted on the cake. 

 I can tell by the look on Nicolette's face, she is wishing it was HER birthday now! It's so hard to be patient when you are the tiniest sister! 

 Ava received plenty of great gifts this year! Including fun art things from Grandma and Grandpa. 

 Grandma and Grandpa with the birthday girl. 

 Ava chose a dinner out with mom and dad and baby Owen. 

It was a perfect way to celebrate the birthday of our nine-year-old girl.

 She also chose to go to Build-A-Bear for her main present this year. 

It was very fun!

 She chose a bunny and started taking great care of bunny from the get go:) 

Ava, Mom, and Dad, and Owen on our way out of Build a Bear.

Happy Birthday Ava! We had a great day celebrating with you!

We Love you Ava! You help make our family complete.

More Big Firsts...

 Nicolette has finally entered her preschool career! It has been VERY exciting for her to get to head to school like her big sisters.  Can you tell how proud and excited she is from her picture?

She gets to go to school with one of her BFF's. This makes school all that more fun.

Ballet Day...This was sheer joy for girl number 5. She has been watching the sisters go to dance all of her life...and finally her turn! Oh fun times.

Once again, everything is more fun with your BFF:)

 This was truly one of the best days I have had in awhile.  Little girls dancing=pure sweetness.

 Congrats to Nicolette on all of her fun firsts!

Busy With a Capital B

That would be my BOY! Busy with a capital B. Today Owen is eight months old. He celebrated by showing me how busy he likes to be now at the ripe old age of eight months.  And how busy he is going to keep me.

Eating the Gerber Graduate puffs was a highlight in the day today.  Why you might ask? Because this boy was actually contained!

Today Owen:

*crawled everywhere and anywhere he could.

*smashed  his face into the tile and bled all over mommy.

*some how drew pen all over his face?

*played with his toys.

*played with things that are very much NOT his toys. (for instance the pen)

*ate banana and oatmeal baby food for dinner.

* consumed at least half a bottle of baby puffs.

* made us all laugh

* got caught underneath the exersaucer and cried VERY hard.

*only took one nap today:(

* is still awake and jabbering at his dad @ 12:48 A.M.

Maybe he wants to be an artist?

Today while Owen was being eight months and busy:

* Lexi had strep throat and had to go to the doctor.

* Lilli went to dance and got to hang out with one of her favorite friends.

* Ava learned her four times tables! woo hoo!

* Vivien made a guitar out of trash and got to play with her B.F.F.

* Nicolette went to preschool! (big post to follow:)

yes, we are busy these days at our house. No, I would not trade it for anything.

Duck, Duck, Bird.

We had a very fun event during this summer. We had the fowl in the area really like our home!
See the cute little duckling on my lawn?

Well, this is where we found about a dozen ducklings...in our window well! This brought tons of excitement to the neighborhood! It was fun yet sad to watch as the ducklings tried their hardest to get out of the window well.  The mom of these cute ducks was flying around trying her hardest to "quack" us all away from her babies.  Luckily...

Doug got home just in time to help the ducklings out!

He crawled down into the window well to lift each duckling out one at a time.

Eventually, our neighbor found a net for them.  The box was not working and they would just hop out of the box once they got out. (half of them ended up across the street.)

The kids were all VERY fascinated!

We ended up finding a box that the ducklings would not jump out of! I wish I had a picture of where the ducklings ended up...but, I don't. So, we found out one of the neighbors just a few houses down had a pond where two ducks came to every morning.  We ended up putting the ducklings in that pond. It was so fun to watch them all swimming around having fun with their brothers and sisters. we don't know for sure, but we think the mom did come back for her ducks because they were all gone by late that night!

We also had a birds nest here above our front door/window.

Doug was able to climb on the ladder and get a few good pictures of the eggs in the nest.
We did end up with three tiny baby birds chirping away. That was fun. The mess their parents left behind, I could do without:)

Three Big Firsts

Owen has been busy trying out some new things...like a tooth! A couple days ago I noticed something very sharp in this boys mouth. Finally a tooth has popped through.

A runny nose.  This is a sad first for the boy. Luckily, he has been a trooper through it. I figure he made it through his first six months with not one sickness. Which seems pretty amazing considering he has 5 older siblings! 

Crawling everywhere! We are finding Owen in different parts of the house on a daily basis. His exploring has definitely started. He's already fond of the bathrooms...darn.

On your mark...

Get set...

There he goes!

It's That Time of Year Again!

No...not Christmas time! Back to school time. Our summer seemed extra short this year. We are all focusing on being positive...so we are just rolling with it! This is the last year these three girls will all be in the same school together. Again, I'm rolling with it! no tears..no tears...

Vivien is starting the first grade! That means being at school the whole day and getting to eat in the cafeteria with her friends. It's pretty exciting! 

Ava has now made it to the 3rd grade. I can't believe it! When we moved to our new house Ava was not even born yet. She is excited for her new teacher and getting to be a third grader.

Lilli is at the end of her elementary school career. She will be in the sixth grade. She gets to have one of her favorite teachers again this year. This is an extra treat for sure!

ummm....here is my Lexi...my first born child. So, to make a long story short. Lexi really did not feel she had time for her back to school picture. I did empathize with her feelings, but being that I have taken a "back to school" picture of her since she was three.  I really felt like I could not let this slide. So, I let her know if she did not have time at home I'd have to get one at the school. Now, I thought she would be expecting me at the school.  Surprisingly, she had to be called to the office four times before I could get her for her picture. ( I guess that speaker at the jr. high really needs to be replaced if the kids can't even hear their name being called on the loud speaker! ) It's such a shame when the budget does not allow us to fix up our schools.

Anyway, my Lex was I guess not feeling in the picture mood...so I got what I could get.  That's just the breaks when your the mom, make do make do. Luckily I've had lots of practice at the make do's.

Lexi heading back to class.

I did follow her back to class hoping for a better smile picture. No luck. Maybe next year:)