Thanksgiving and 10 Months

We spent Thanksgiving in Lubbock this year. Ryan and Luke had a blast with their cousins and Leah loved spending time with Nana and Grandad and Lucy.

Dinner with Aunt Jane and Uncle Charlie was great.

Crazy how fast 4 of these kids have grown up.

Leah at lunch while on the road.

Greg and I went to the TCU v. Baylor game the day after Thanksgiving. We stood through a torrential downpour and froze our toes off, but it was totally worth it to watch TCU win. It was a great game and the perfect birthday present from my sweet husband. Thank to Grandad and Nana for keeping the kids while we enjoyed our trip.

10 Months Old!!!

Leah's daycare person sends me pictures every day.. I love them!

She has already turned into a little bookworm.

Ryan built a snowman for his sister.

She has the best brothers.

This picture cracks me up - sledding while in shorts. Crazy Colorado weather.

Leah gets a daily report from daycare - each week has a theme and we know what books she read, games played, and songs sang. One report stated she had "free choice toy basket." Greg and I got a kick out of that-all Leah has at home is free choice toy basket.

Leah picked a night when Greg was out of town to have a party from about midnight to 2am.

She was wide awake.

And in a great mood.

I'll never get tired of this sweet face.

The Santa Talk

I will always love this picture - it captures the last day that the boys believed in Santa Claus. The conversation started when Ryan told me that he wanted to believe in Santa, but he really wasn't sure if it was true. For example, it doesn't really make sense how he is able to visit every house on Christmas Eve and why do all of the Santas look different. Luke started trying to explain that he thinks that the way Santa visits every house is through his elves and it's not really him going down every chimney. Ryan then said "I will be disappointed if Santa is not real, but I'll really be disappointed if I'm forced to believe something that isn't true." After some back and forth of saying that Santa is real when you want to believe he is real, etc. Ryan said that he gets it, but he still wants to know because he doesn't want to be "stupid" if Santa is not a real person. Greg finally told him that Santa is not 1 real person, but that there is a little bit of Santa in all of us. Ryan thought that meant that Santa told us what to get him and then we got it. Luke said, "No Ryan, Mama and Daddy order our gifts from Amazon. They are Santa." After the revelation, Luke pointed out a few times that he had found evidence that we had bought his Santa gifts (blue duct tape in the trash can from his R2D2 costume, a calendar that was left in an Amazon box that he later got on Christmas morning). We had been expecting anger or tears from Ryan, but he was fine with it. When I tucked him into bed that night he thanked me for telling him the truth.

Now there are 4 of us in the house who get to keep Santa alive and fun for Leah. Ryan and Luke are excited to get to help out.

Halloween and 9 Months

We had a wonderful Halloween - the weather was perfect, and the costumes were a success. Luke came up with the idea to be Voyager 1. I told Greg that I was out of this one - so he worked hard to come up with Luke's costume. I think it weighed 15 pounds and we ended up having to tie the satellite dish down to the box in order for Luke to be able support his head. But it was a success - and he got many compliments from the adults at the school parade for his awesome costume. Ryan chose to be alien-which I appreciated the ease of his costume. Leah's 1st Halloween was great - she didn't mind her costume at all. She's a lamb, even though one of my friends suggested she looked more like a Shamwow.

I can't believe I have 3 kids this Halloween!!

We tried so hard to teach Leah to say "Baa" before Halloween - but to no success. Maybe next year she'll be more cooperative.

9 months old!!!! How did that happen so fast?

Leah continues to be an absolute delight. She is a happy and silly little girl. She's recently started some stranger danger, but for the most part is super social. She's a "healthy" little girl and has already outgrown most of her 6-12 month clothes. Leah is following after her brothers in the exceeds expectations weight department - she was 21 lbs at her 9 month check up, a little bigger than Ryan at this point, but lighter than Luke.

Her daycare location has been fantastic and I've loved getting daily pictures of what she's been up to.

In October we took the boys to the Corn Maze - it is super helpful to have a map. 

I didn't get any pictures of us in the maze, but I took this one of the 3 kids afterwards.

Leah loves her swing and especially loves swinging with her brothers.

I went with Ryan and Luke on their Cub Scout hike a few weeks ago. It was a gorgeous day in the foothills.

 

Pumpkin patch pictures!

Pumpkin carving time. The boys get so grossed out by scooping the seeds out of the pumpkin.

Nana and Grandad visited during Halloween and stayed a few days longer to help us out while Greg was out of town.

Leah loved watching Grandad carve her pumpkin.

It's a sheep!

Leah had more fun eating the leaves during our photo shoot than looking at the camera or Nana and Grandad.

And then we had snow! After a very mild fall, it finally cooled off. Leah wasn't too impressed with her snow experience - not upset, but not really interested.

Videos:

Jumping fool!

Leah thinks Ryan is the funniest person in the world.

First sled ride!

Months 7 and 8

So it's been a couple of months since I've been able to blog. We have been busy with the return to school, work, Greg's travel, a trip to Texas, and various other weekend events. As a result, this is the first weekend I've had in a long time to get anything done at home - including updating Leah's baby book for the first time since July. Doing anything during the week is not an option - by the time we get home from school, finish homework, make and eat dinner, get Leah to bed, read to Ryan and Luke (we've finished Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH and are currently on Where the Red Fern Grows), get them to bed, make lunches, get my coffee ready for the morning, and go to bed in time to read for 15 minutes, the day is over.Thankfully we have limited the boys' activities this semester to Cub Scouts twice a month and Fencing after school once a week. I have enjoyed being back at work - I didn't know if I would - but I really do love my job and working with high school kids, but part time would be awesome. Fortunately, Leah's daycare situation has been great. I get daily pictures when I'm at work and she's doing such fun and creative things that I would never think of. Overall, we are all just moving along and doing pretty good.

I took the above picture the morning of TCU's first game, which I think was the early part of September. Greg gets his Opening Day Bronco's picture, and I get this.

Leah at 7 months

Leah at 8 months

Our last day at the pool. Leah loves to sit in the pool and splash. She's very observant and can be entertained for hours watching events around her.

Labor Day weekend we headed downtown for the Taste of Colorado. It can get super crowded but we arrived when it opened and had a good hour before it became too much. Leah's philosophy on life seems to be "just happy to be here," so she had a great time like she does anywhere. We all got gelato on our way out. Greg and I gave Leah some of our gelato and she loved it. That is something I would never done with the boys at that age - benefit of being the youngest.

The following weekend we went to Wash Park. Ryan really wanted to get in a boat, so Greg took him on the paddle boats. Leah and I enjoyed hanging out under a tree.

Apparently, Ryan complained the whole time on the boat. When I asked him how it was when he got off, he said it was great - typical Ryan.

Opening Day for Greg.

Leah seems to be taking Greg's crazy Bronco football watching better than the boys. He scared her for the first time last week and she cried, but that was week 4. 

Nana found some cute clothes for Leah from a consignment store in Lubbock. When she sent Grandad to post office mail it, he picked up this little Army outfit on the way.

We went to Lubbock a couple of weekends ago for our 4th annual TCU v. Texas Tech game. It was a great game with TCU pulling off a victory in the last 26 seconds of the game. The Tech fans were really sad, but it was an exciting finish for us. Bonus to the trip was spending time with family, including an afternoon with Aunt Jane and Uncle Charlie.

Ryan and Luke enjoyed the game, but they really wanted to spend time with their cousins. 

But it was such an exciting ending, even Ryan was into by the end.

Leah had a blast watching the game from Nana and Grandad's house.

Leah was the best traveler of the family. It is a long drive to and from Lubbock and we were only there from Friday to Monday. She was not interested in taking a nap during the entire 10 hours both way, but she was perfectly pleasant watching what was going on around her.

Last weekend we went to the Foothills for an afternoon hike. It was a great day - not too many Aspens to look at, but still beautiful scenery.

Leah loves to around her brothers - they are a constant source of entertainment for her.

Video from August - Leah said "Mama"  She hasn't said it often since, but we have it on record. As you can tell, her brothers were so excited.

When Leah is excited, she squeals and screams. She loves lambs and this stuffed animal is one of her favorites.

Ryan is the best at getting Leah to laugh.

Little Miss Chunky Monkey Belly Girl likes to "dance." She's got quite a tummy, but the white shirt and angle of the camera really accentuate it. She's a good 3 pounds lighter than Luke was at this point.