6 Months Old Already??

Summer turned 6 months old on October 17! It is so hard to believe. I swear each child grows up faster than the one before! She is a fun, sweet little girl with so much personality! She loves people-especially her two older brothers. She loves to be held and cuddled. She sucks on her bottom lip all the time, plays with and sometimes sucks on her toes. She occasionally sucks her thumb too but usually she prefers her binky. We had these pictures taken of our angel last Saturday! They all turned out so cute it was hard to choose which ones to buy. I love the ones of her with her pooh bear and blanky but Karl preferred the ones of just her without the hat! Of course, his favorite was my least favorite. I am sure you can pick out which one that is!


These are just the regular portraits:

Karl's favorite

My favorite

Karl's other favorite

These are the enhanced pictures. We thought they were fun to look at even though they are too expensive to buy:

Family Pictures

My dad took some family pictures of us on Saturday. It was quite a challenge with 2 active boys running around. Trying to get them to settle down long enough for the picture was anything but easy. I have decided that the kids get harder as they get older since Matthew was the hardest and Summer was the easiest. Even bribery didn't seem to work (yes, we tried bribing the boys, terrible I know). Anyway here they are. The first is our favorite. Some of the others are good for a laugh!

Happy Birthday to Us!

For those who don't know, Karl and I share a birthday. It was last week on Oct 9. It was a biggie for me-the big 3-0! Yep I am 30! I am not too sure how that happened. It just sort of crept up on me. I told Karl that no matter how old I get he will always be older! He is 31 now! We didn't do too much on our actual birthday because Karl had to work until 5:30. But he brought home some pizza, a cake and ice cream and we had a little party! Matthew and Steven thought it was wonderful. We just did small gifts this year. Karl gave me two books-A Long and Fatal Love Chase by Louisa May Alcott and The Pemberly Chronicles (I can't remember the author's name). The one by Alcott she wrote before writing Little Women but it wasn't published until after her death because it was considered too scandalous. It is about a women being chased by a stalker. The Pemberly Chronicles is a sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice which is one of my favorite books. I haven't had a chance to start either yet but am hoping to soon!
For Karl I got him a DVD-Night at the Museum, and the book Eragon. He enjoyed the movie but hasn't read the book yet. I made the mistake of taking the kids with me to buy Karl's presents. I told Matthew not to tell Daddy what we got because it was a surprise. When Karl got home from work, Matthew promptly told him that we got him a book and a DVD. I guess he doesn't get the idea of a surprise yet!
On Saturday the 11th we went out to dinner at Red Robin. We even splurged and got the mile high mud pie. If you have never had it-it is delicious! Definitely worth a try! I didn't take any pictures on our birthday so this is pictureless! Sorry!

Silly Stevie!

Steven is two years old and has such a fun little personality. He is our climber and can get into just about anything he wants. It is very hard to childproof with him around. He hasn't climbed out of his crib yet but it is just a matter of time. He can get to the top of the railing but hasn't realized that he can get out of the crib by dropping off. We really need to get him switched to a big boy bed but I am too scared to have him running around free at night.

Steven loves music! His favorite song from his nursery class at church is "Roll Your Hands". He will say "mommy" and start rolling his hands which means he wants me to sing it with him. That is usually what we do during car rides. He also likes "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam" and the theme music from "Backyardiagans". Whenever "Backyardigans" comes on he will drop whatever he doing and dance to the music. He has to follow the same steps that the kids on the show do. It is so cute!

He is also big into "knock-knock" jokes. He picked them up from his cousins. Unfortunately he only knows one. It goes something like this-

Steven: "Knock-knock" (he always makes a knocking motion with his fist)

Karl or Debbie: "Who's there?"

Steven: "Boo"

K or D: "Boo Who?"

S: "Cry, don't" (which roughly translates to "Don't cry, it is only a joke!")

We get to hear that joke over and over again and Steven thinks it is so funny. He cracks himself up!

Steven is good at keeping us entertained! He is also a big helper. He likes to bring Summer her binky and toys. He is likes to help mommy in the kitchen and to fold laundry (as does his big brother!)

He loves books also. His current favorites are: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. He likes stories that have a rhythm to them. He always has to take a book to bed with him. It is as important as his blanky and puppy! He loves big trucks and the big machines at road construction sites. He likes animals from a distance. If they get too close to him though he screams and cries. We have a black lab that lives near us that is very sweet but Steven is scared to death of her.

Steven is definitely a 2-yr-old these days and wants his own way. He also is started to want to do things all by himself.

We love our Steven and don't know how we ever got along with him! Life is never dull when he is around.

Brrr! I am cold mommy! (this picture was taken at his early b-day party we had in June while Karl's parents were in town. the kids were playing in the sprinklers)

Cheese! We have tons of cheesy smile pictures!

Summer's blessing day!

He looked so cute in his tie!

At the zoo! He loved the animals but hated the carousel!

At home, being silly!

Look Who's Sitting!

Yes, Summer has started sitting! Karl and I had been working with her, trying to get her to sit up and she would just fall over. Then all of a sudden, on Sep 24 I sat her up and she did it. She sat up like a pro and just looked around and grinned. She could tell she was doing something pretty cool. She still is a bit wobbly sometimes and falls over occasionally but she doing pretty well. We definitely have a sitter on our hands! It is hard to believe that she is already 5 1/2 months old. The time is flying by and she is growing so fast. She is a happy girl with a heart melting smile and adorable laugh. Summer particularly finds Steven funny. He had her laughing so hard this morning she was shaking! She still isn't sleeping through the night regularly. She will every once in a while but usually she wakes up at least once to eat. But when she does she eats and then goes back to sleep so it really isn't too bad! She will go in for her 6 month well baby visit in a couple of weeks so we will update everyone on her size then! FYI-she weighed 10 lbs 8 oz at her 4 month appt. Sorry I got a little nuts with the pictures but what can I say? I am a proud mommy!