Wow- Our baby is SEVEN months old!

Okay- So I am definitely NOT a professional photographer but I decided to play dress up with Tess and have a mini photo session at home. She is just so much fun to play with! She was a trooper and let me do all kinds of crazy things with her- how patient! I cannot believe that she is already 7 months old! She is getting so big!

At seven months Tess is so much fun! She giggles all the time and is the smiliest baby ever! She is such a happy person. I hope she always has such a fun light-hearted personality. She absolutely adores her big brothers. She lights up when one of them talks to her (which is constantly). They all still love to play with her. Now that she is getting so big they think they can haul her all around the house and I have to remind them that she is still a baby. They all beg to get her out of her crib. I think it just about kills them when she is sleeping because they want to wake her up to play with her so badly! She loves to eat!!! She eats all veggies the best and eats fruits but they aren't her favorite. She still can't really roll but it sure doesn't stop her from getting to wherever she wants to go. She lays on her back and digs her heels into the floor and scoots everywhere. She's getting pretty fast at it too. She is such a sweet little angel who we all just love to pieces!!

Tessa- Six Months Old!

I cannot believe that a half a year has already passed since I had Tess. It has been the fastest 6 months of my life. She's so adorable and we just love to watch all the funny things she does every day. She is getting so much personality! This was a funny picture- not their most flattering shots but funny!
Tess has been loving every food we give her. She has tried sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, corn, green beans, peas, avocado, pears, applesauce and prunes. The funny face was from the prunes. She's not a fan of those!! She still ate every bite though. She wasn't crying in this picture it was just a face of pure disgust. It was so funny! I have been making all of her baby food and she loves it all. Oh- except peaches. She pretty much made the same face with the peaches. They're a little too tart for her. She is only nursing a couple of times a day now and has finally decided to take a bottle. I guess she decided that after those prunes formula isn't that bad!

Her brothers love her so much. She is seriously one lucky little girl to have 3 big brothers who completely adore her! They are constantly worried about her and wanting to hold her, feed her and play with her. Also- she loves t.v. I know it is an absolutely horrible habit to let a baby watch t.v. I try not to let her but sometimes she just gets mesmerized by the t.v. She was laying with Tray while he was watching a show- she's is such an easy going baby!

My friend let me borrow this jumperoo. I never used one with my boys and I wish I would have! She LOVES it. She will bounce forever and giggle!

At 6 months she is sitting on her own very well. She started at about 5 1/2 months but can now hold herself up for really long periods. She can roll from her tummy to her back but she will NOT do it the other way! She really does not like tummy time very much. When she wants to get somewhere she will lay on her back dig her heels into the floor and push herself backwards. Her bald spot was really filling in and now I'm afraid she's going to rub all her hair off again- ha ha!

She was so tired here- she actually fell asleep in the jumper but when I tried to take a picture she woke up.

Her big brothers are all so proud of her!

She loves to click her tongue at us. It's so cute. She will mimic us if we click our tongue at her she will do it back. And she loves to stick her tongue out the side of her mouth. Why is it that every little thing a baby does is cute?

At 6 months Tess weighs 14 lb. 5 oz. (18%) and is 25 1/2" long (36%). She will sleep 12 to 14 hours at night most nights but will wake up at 4:00 or 5:00 if she didn't eat enough before bed. She loves her crib! She loves to pull a blanket on her face as soon as she lays down. She's not a very cuddly baby and prefers to lay down instead of being held to go to sleep (which makes me sad sometimes). She has the sweetest little personality and disposition. She is generally a really happy baby- the only time she fusses is if she's tired or hungry. She never ever cries just because. She almost always has a reason for being fussy. We are so grateful to have this sweet angel in our home. Every day with Tess is pure joy!

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...

Traysen FINALLY lost his other top tooth. The poor tooth was just hanging by a thread but he refused to let us pull it. In fact when the other top tooth was that loose I had to have the dentist pull it while he was getting a cavity filled because he is so scared of losing teeth. It's so funny- he's one of the toughest kids you'll ever meet but he's a baby when it comes to this. We wanted to pull his tooth out yesterday but he wouldn't let us. We told him that it was going to be really hard to eat and he said "That's fine- I'll just eat pudding for the rest of my life!" I think he was serious too! He finally let me pull it out this morning. Now he's as happy as can be. We'll wait to see what the tooth fairy puts under his pillow tonight!

Tegen's got off his braces

Tegen has been having some orthodontic work done for the last 8 or 9 months and he is now done... for a while anyway. In January he had to get a palate expander in the roof of his mouth and then they put braces on a few months later. This is the day he got his braces off...
He said his teeth feel really slick. I remember that feeling. What a handsome kid.

When he has lost all of his baby teeth he will get a full set of braces but they shouldn't have to be on for as long as normal. Things have sure changed from when I was a kid!

School Days...

The morning of the first day of school brought tons of rain with it. It sure was a slap in the face saying that summer really is over. It's on to a new year of school! My boys are all getting so big! Tegen started 5th grade- yea that's right 5th grade- holy cow! When did he get so big? Tegen has Mr. Weller. It's his first time with a male teacher and he is absolutely loving it!!!
Traysen started 3rd grade. He has Mrs. Anderson and has the same teacher as all of his friends. Poor Mrs. Anderson!!

Finally my sweet little Talen is in Kindergarten. This has been a much awaited day and it finally is here. Talen asked ALL morning about every 10 minutes if it was afternoon yet. He was so excited! He has Mrs. Taylor in the afternoons and knows a lot of kids in his class. He said he wasn't nervous at all. He's so big!

My three handsome little guys getting ready for their big day!

Yikes! I'm glad I got to stay indoors all day!

Talen couldn't take the bus for the first week so I got to drive him the whole week. On the first day he just ran into the class sat down at the table and started playing. He didn't care at all that I was leaving him. I don't think it was quite as traumatic for him as it was for me :)

End of Summer Party

Sadly, summer seemed to go by way way too fast this year! Probably because it didn't ever get very warm! The week before school started the boys and I decided to have a Back-to-school/End-of-Summer Party with all of their friends. I think we counted and had about 15 kids here. It was a few short hours of chaos but it sure was fun! They ate pizza, played football in the sprinklers, had a huge water fight and had some root beer floats. I'm so thankful that my kids have great friends! It sure is a bummer that summer is over though!!!

Family Visit!

My brother Kris got to come home and visit for a couple of weeks at the end of July to the beginning of August. His boys got to come and visit from Seattle so it was so much fun! Our boys all have SO much fun playing together.

Kris got a new truck- so all the boys had to pose in front of it!

Grandpa Kevin came up from Utah to visit for a couple of days too. Good times!!