Five Months Old!

My little girl is not so little anymore- she is chunking up all over the place, and is oh so squeezable.  This picture makes me just want to gobble her up, I cannot get enough!  At five months, she is oohing and ahhing, always talking and laughing or letting you know how she feels about something.  She is playing with toys and will sit up for several seconds on her own.  We just tried cereal for the first time today and she seemed to like it... I have a feeling this girl is going to love food!  She is really noticing everyone around her and loves her big brother.  She reaches out with her little delicate fingers to play with toys or shove them in her mouth... from the amounts of drool and chewing going on I'm wondering if we will see a tooth soon.

We had the great privilege to be photographed by this talented lady over Thanksgiving break, so these are some of those pictures I borrowed from her website... aren't they amazing???  You'll be seeing more of them soon, but I just wanted to share a few of my favorites of the big five month old girl. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have several new posts brewing but for now I am busy... busy hanging out with family, eating lots of good food, and just feeling so thankful I could burst. :) Taking a little blog break for now... hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

The Latest on Charlie

Sometimes I feel like I can see this boy growing right before my eyes... see his legs getting longer, and his baby belly slimming up.  His vocabulary and imagination are expanding by the second... he says things every day that surprise me and make me laugh! 

 One of our new favorite things is to go to the library.  I found a few books that he LOVES that we have renewed over and over and he will sometimes quote them randomly, like at the grocery store or in the car... "Pig is STINKY... I am not STINKY!... Duck went into the doghouse, but Duck did not come out... Can't you come out duck?  NO, because I am having Duck for dinner!!!... Duck for dinner???"  (from The Doghouse by Jan Thomas) All of this followed by hysterical belly laughs that are contagious...

 Sometimes I find him kissing Norah on the head, or talking to her in a sweet little voice, saying "Hi sweet baby!" or something that he's heard us say over and over to her.  Sometimes, though he demands that I "Put Norah in the bouncer" so that my attention will be fully focused on HIM!

One of my favorite times of day with him is when he first wakes up from his nap.  He calls to me from his bed and if Norah is still sleeping, I'll go in and lay down with him for a bit.  He'll cuddle with me, or "honk" my nose, or look for the moles on my arms while waking up slowly before he's ready to hit the ground running again.

 He loves to sing and knows the words to several of the songs we sing over and over like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Sweet Jesus, Jesus loves Me, The Whole World in His Hands, Away in a Manger, ABC's, I could go on and on... he loves to sing.                              

We were just recently given a hand me down play kitchen with all the accessories... a phrase often heard in our house lately is "Mommy (or Daddy), your want to cook wif me?"  His favorite is a little metal muffin pan.  He makes me blue and purple muffins all the time... yum!

While cooking is a fun pasttime, his absolute favorite thing to do is play with his cars... we have several of the actual characters from Cars (the movie) and they are his go-to for play time every single day. 

What a job I have, hanging out with this kid every day... oh how I love him!!!

Baby lovin...

Oh what a sweet baby...

 Good enough to eat, baby...

 Sweep me off my feet, baby...

I love you!

Lovely Weekend

Paul and I finally got the opportunity to celebrate his 30th birthday together after a crazy couple of weeks.  My mom came into town to keep the kids for a whirlwind 24 hours while we ran off about 10 miles down the road and shopped, ate, hung out with friends, and most importantly, SLEPT without children around.  It was a glorious 24 hours.  There were only a few minor glitches, like when I gave Paul a bite of my {delicious} shrimp and scallop risotto and he had an allergic reaction to the pine nuts.  And then when our hotel neighbors got busted for marijuana and having like 7 people in their room at midnight.  But nothing could have kept us from enjoying our much needed getaway.  And while I am thankful for getaways, I am also thankful that I have the best job in the world to come home to... here I come, Monday, ready and refreshed!

I'll leave you with one of the only pictures I took this weekend- and it was of Norah!  This was my first night away from her and let me tell you, I was dreaming about those cheeks the whole time I was gone...

Halloween in Pictures...

and one video...

As you can see, Mickey and Minnie Mouse were adorable and Mickey had a BLAST...the sugar high still has not worn off. ;)  Happy Halloween!

Updates on Aunt Carla

Last week I posted about Paul's aunt Carla who was recently diagnosed with cancer and had major surgery Friday.  Her daughters and sister (my mother-in-law) have created a blog to keep up with updates and prayer requests.  If you are interested and want to know how you can pray specifically for her, here is the link:

The Queen Is In

Getting Halloween pics up soon...