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.

4th Grade!

It's now really the 4th week of school - but better late than never. Ryan and Luke are now the 4th grade. It is crazy how fast we have gone from Kindergarten until now. The year has started off ok for them. We were a bit lazy this summer with keeping up with math, writing and reading - I've been a little busy :)  And all of that resulted in taking a little longer than usual to get back into the swing of things. 4th grade is harder and both boys didn't have the easiest start - but now things seem under control. They are glad to be back with their friends and doing fun stuff every day.

I can never be around on the first day of school, so Greg tolerates my request for a picture. He even managed to get Leah in on the fun of their first day (she looks thrilled).

Leah has had her own transition with the school year. She now goes to Ms. Kelsey's house everyday and hangs out with new friends. Kelsey is a former Kindergarten teacher and her play area reminds me of a Kindergarten classroom-super organized with lots of centers. Leah seems to be loving it. I love getting daily pictures sent to me each day - it's made being without her a little easier. 

Overall, we have all transitioned as good as can be expected. Greg has had to travel each week, so we have gotten used to the morning routine of getting to school, daycare , and work by 7. The boys have been a huge help and are so good at taking care of themselves. Leah, as usual, goes with the flow. 

The End of Summer

It is with great sadness that we announce our summer has come to an end. I can't say it was the best summer, especially for Ryan and Luke. But it was still wonderful. I celebrated my last days of freedom before returning to work by taking the boys to Water World-which is probably their favorite place on earth. We had a great time. It was the first time for me to take them by myself-they are now old enough that it is no problem, but we still missed Greg. Leah stayed home with a babysitter. I don't think she would've been too impressed with Water World.

Last day of summer swim practice. Ryan is not a huge fan of swim team, even though he is a pretty good swimmer. He loves meets, but he doesn't like having to go to practice every day (he generally isn't a favor of having to work hard at anything). But as soon as the season was over he stated he missed swim team and couldn't wait until next summer. Luke, as usual, goes with the flow and really likes swimming.

Luke will try just about anything and will participate in whatever we put him in. But what he really wanted to try is archery. He took a beginners class this summer and really enjoyed it. He would love for us to get him his own bow, arrow, and target for the backyard - we don't really think that is a good idea. 

Now that Leah has transitioned to bottles (which I'm still really conflicted about, but was needed for a variety of reasons), the boys can help to feed her. They are not at all interested in feeding her solid food (they think that's disgusting), but bottles aren't too big of a deal.

Lucy was our house guest for about 4 weeks this summer. The boys were so excited to take care of her while my parents went to Norway. She is really a good dog and did great with everyone-including Leah. Lucy took turns each night sleeping on each boys' bed. She really impressed us all when she killed a squirrel in our yard - we all witnessed it (she shook her head and broke its neck in about 2 seconds)-Greg has a whole new respect for her. The boys really miss her (and predictably now want a dog).

Ryan and Luke spent 2 days this summer building a "boat." The took 2 pieces of particle board, swim noodles, and lots of wood glue to work on their creation. They had many plans to make it better and test it out - but I think they have abandoned it (I now park my car over it each day).

The highlight of the summer was a visit from cousins, Jacob and Olivia. When Lucy was delivered for her stay with us, Conny and kids came with my mom. It was a short visit but everyone had a blast.

This picture turned out ok of all 4 of them.

Luke was not happy when I asked him to sit on the couch next to his brother-most of the rest of the pictures look something like this.

Olivia and Leah-oldest and youngest in the family.

We spent one evening at the Melting Pot. My mom had not been before and the last time I had gone with Conny and the kids the boys were 2 and it was a horrible experience (2 year olds cannot sit through a long Melting Pot dinner). This time around was great.

We didn't have time for a hike or a trip to the mountains, so we headed to Heritage Square and the Alpine Slides before they close down in a few weeks. The kids had a good time and would have stayed all day.

And this little girl has continued to grow and grow. Her little newborn hat barely rests on top of her head now. She is getting so big so fast. I really miss her now that I'm back to work.

6 Months

I can't believe that this baby girl is already half a year old. She is so much fun.

I'm a little conflicted on the bow - it's a bit too much, but it is also so cute on her. She doesn't seem to mind it at all. I guess there really is a very small window in a girl's life when she can wear a giant bow and look cute-we should take advantage of it while we can.

Leah has such a big personality. She is silly and happy 90% of her day. She loves to smile with her whole mouth wide open and likes to let our little squeals of joy throughout the day.

I'm awoken almost every morning to her singing in her little bed next to me. We really need to move her to her own bed, but I'll miss that sweet little wake up call. Leah does go to sleep in her own crib each night, but she doesn't always stay asleep-so I opted to move her back next to me when I go to sleep in order for me to sleep, as well.

6 moths old - and so big!

And as a comparison - here are Luke and Ryan when they were at about 6 months. At her doctor's appointment yesterday, she weighed in at 16 lb 12 oz-which was the 60th percentile (she was about the 50th at her 4 month appointment). Luke was about 2 pounds heavier at this point, and Ryan not too far off of that. We had thought she was looking like Luke, but once I pulled this picture out we think she is looking more like Ryan.

Time flies!

Summer Vacation

This year's family vacation was a quick trip to South Dakota. We weren't sure what it would be like to travel with a new baby, so we opted to stay close to home. Turns out that Leah is a superstar traveler and we probably could have gone anywhere. But Ryan and Luke loved Mount Rushmore and it was a great trip, overall.

Both boys were pretty amazed at the size of Mount Rushmore. We visited the site the first afternoon that we arrived and we heard lots "wows" and "awesome" from them both.

While were were on our trip Greg and I came to the realization that we will be repeating many of the same vacations we've had with the boys once Leah is closer to their current age and the boys will be in college. Here is Leah's selfie at Mount Rushmore - I'll need to be sure to take another one in the same place with her in 10 years or so.

We had a good time in Rapid City - it really is a good place to go with kids. The boys and I hung out at an indoor waterpark on one day while Greg worked. That evening, we had dinner downtown and visited the many life-size statues of all of the presidents. The boys were very excited to see "Abe."  We took a picture with Lincoln to send to Grandad.

Luke's favorite president, Theodore Roosevelt.

Greg was amazed to find a cigarette vending machine inside a hotel - he liked telling the boys all about it and why you don't see them anymore.

The next day we headed to Deadwood - the boys were too small to drive the go carts, but they had a good time on the bumper boats.

I don't know if Leah was as impressed with Devil's Tower as much as Greg and the boys were.

On our way home, we had a picnic lunch at a natural land bridge in Wyoming. There really is a whole lot of nothing while driving through that state.

Leah was an amazing little traveler. She spent a lot of time in the car and in her carseat. She decided she had had enough when we crossed the state line into Coloroado on our way back home. She screamed much of the rest of the way.

She did great in the hotel - slept great and stayed happy - she loves to be around everyone, so she rarely gets fussy when she can watch her brothers.

Ryan and Leah hanging out together.

First vacation as a family of 5.