Kids Pictures

Allie - 3 Months Old

Allie turned 3 months old last weekend (the day after Thanksgiving).  I can't believe it.  She has started to smile a lot and also she can be quite the chatter box.  Tyler always thinks that she is saying real words like "mom" and "hi-ya."  It is mostly squeaks and squeals, but they are adorable.
She also really loves to eat her hands.  She sometimes gets her thumb in there and that makes her happy.  She still likes her binkey, but doesn't need it every time she goes to sleep.

She is sleeping really good.  She has only been waking up one time a night for the last couple of weeks.  Lately she wakes up around 4:30 - 5:00 am and then sleeps until about 9:00.  Their are some mornings that I have to wake her up to take the boys to school.  It is so nice to have a good sleeper.  After all the sleep issues with Megan we really needed a good sleeper.
She is still pretty gassy, but seems to be able to get it out a little better.  All my babies have been so gassy, poor babies.

Allie doesn't really care for her swing, but really loves her bouncer.  She likes sitting up and seeing all the happenings of the house and she likes looking at her self in the little mirror.  It is nice to put her in her bouncer while I am cooking and cleaning the kitchen and she does great.
I am proud to say that I have gone this whole time without having to buy formula.  We have gotten lots from the pediatrician and samples from the formula companies.  It has been nice, but we have currently run out of the powder formula and so I had to buy some.  But 3 months is a pretty good run without having to buy formula.

More Leaves

For a little while the weather has been really cold.  So cold the high of the day was right around freezing.  It had been windy and it even has snowed a little bit off and on.  But the last couple of days the weather has been pretty nice.  When it was cold and windy it made most of our leaves come off our trees and created lots of leaves in our front yard (and in our neighbors yards too I'm sure). 

Today Tony got off work early and the boys didn't have school so they were all just hanging out inside the house when I decided to send them all out to rake up the leaves.
It is kind of sad how much fun the kids have "working" outside.  They helped rake up the leaves and put them into bags with Tony.  I am sure that they were probably more of a hindrance then a help, but they really did try.

We have a large rake and a small rake and I recently bought a medium sized (but still kid sizes) rake to add our collection.  The kids all love having a rake to use.  I guess I need to buy another smaller one so they don't have to fight over the little ones.  I thought of that after I had already left the store.

I am sure that it will be windy again soon and then the rest of the leave with blow off of the tree and we will need to rake all over again, but as of right now it looks pretty darn good.  After they were done raking the kids got out their bikes and scooters and had fun riding around the yard.  It was nice being outside again and getting some things done.  That is the good thing about when it gets really cold, it makes you appreciate the warmer days that much more.

Silliness

Allie was on our bed with Tony hanging out when Koda jumped up to be with them and so Tony had Allie and Koda do some snuggling.  Koda is so good to put up with our kids and all their shenanigans. 

Megan wanted to be part of the Koda, Allie, and Daddy party on our bed so she climbed on up too.  If the camera is out then she wants her picture taken too.  She is too cute not to snap a shot whenever we can.

Now Josh and Tyler were watching shows on the IPad while we were hanging out on our bed.  This is a typical site at our house when the boys want some down time.  It is nice that they both like most the same things and get along most of the time.  They are great kids!

Indoor Soccer Has Begun

The boys have started their first season of indoor soccer.  Tyler gets to play on a real indoor soccer arena and it's pretty cool.  Tony is Tyler's coach and Hayden is playing with Tyler too.  It is fun having cousins play together.  It's fun watching them play with Julie and her family too.
Josh plays on the basketball court that they have sectioned off for the little kids.  It is pretty funny to watch.  The ball glides quickly on the floor and the kids all just run around chasing it.  It's a good time for sure.

Sunday Cuties

 The boys got to spend the night at Grandma's house with the other boy cousins and so we just had Megan and Allie at church.  They sure do look so cute in their dresses.
Megan can be just as rough and tough as the boys but she likes to get dressed up in dresses and twirl around like a princess.  I think it is the best of both worlds.  I don't think that I would deal well with a "girly girl" who cried for every little scrape and fall - Megan is a tough cookie.  So it's nice that I can still do her hair cute and dress her up.

Allie just deals with whatever I put on her.  She has quickly figured out how to get her hair bows down around her face instead of on her head, so that's not fun.  If she is like Megan she wont grow much hair until after she's 2 years old, so she'll need to learn to deal with bows.  We love our adorable girls so much!

Happy Haloween

Halloween was pretty fun this year.  I didn't buy a costume for Allie because I knew that she wouldn't go trick-or-treating and I didn't want to buy anything that she could only wear one time.  When my visiting teachers visited me they brought me a cute little outfit for Allie that was perfect for her Halloween outfit.  She made one really cute skeleton.

Megan was an adorable Minnie Mouse.  We got her costume at Costco and she loved it.  She wanted to put it on and play with it before Halloween, but I made her wait so that it stayed nice.  She got it pretty dirty by the end of her trick-or-treating adventure.  She also came home without her Minnie ears and we weren't able to find them anywhere.  I am pretty bummed because they match her dress perfectly.  Ah well.

Josh was a knight.  This is the costume that Tyler has worn the last couple of years that we also got from Costco a couple years ago.  It is a cute costume that has held up well and Josh was happy that he finally fit into the costume...and he got a new sword so that was extra awesome.

Tyler was Spiderman this year.  I don't really like the super hero costumes with the muscles and the mask, but that is what he really wanted to be.  We got it from Costco (we love Costco) and it was a pretty good deal, so he got lucky this year.

The weather was pretty close to perfect for trick-or-treating.  It is always nice when you don't have to put a coat on over your kids costume.  Tony took the kids around the neighborhood for about an hour and a half before the kids were all done and wanted to come home.  Once they were home they all took turns handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters coming to our house.  I think that they still have just as much fun handing out the candy as they do getting it.  We had a lot of kids this year and almost ran out of candy.
I can't believe Halloween is already over.  We all had a great time and we are excited for Thanksgiving and then Christmas.  I sure love the Holiday season.

School Halloween Fun

Since the boys don't have school tomorrow because it's the end of the term, they celebrated Halloween today.  I told Tyler to pose as Spiderman and Josh as a pirate and this is what I got.  Megan was sad that she didn't get to dress up in her costume, but she got to wear a cute Halloween shirt.  They are super cute kids who are super silly.  Glad they are mine.

Allie's 2 Month Check-up

Allie turned two months old two days ago.  I can't believe it.  I took her to the doctor this morning and these are her current stats:
Weight: 10 lbs 13 oz (40%)

Height: 23 inches (75%)

Head: 39 cm (62%)

BMI: 11%
The doctors says that she looks really good.  She said that we need to do some neck exercises with her to make her neck more flexible, but besides that she was great.  She gave us four more small cans of formula (we LOVE free formula) and Megan some stickers.  Then Allie got her 3 shots and one oral vaccine.  She did really good for getting poked three times.  She cried for a minute but then calmed down quickly.  Poor baby.  
Allie has started to smile.  She doesn't do it tons yet, but she will do it.  She still giggles in her sleep.  It makes me so happy when she does it.  It is so adorable.  Makes my heart happy.  She is moving her head more back and forth.  She likes to be in her bouncer and watch me cook, clean, or watch her siblings play.  She is getting better at sleeping longer at nights.  The other night she slept 8 whole hours between feedings.  She is gassy and bubbly, but besides that she is a happy baby.  She doesn't seem to mind tummy time, which always makes it easier to do.  Her eyes are a very pretty blue.  It'll be interesting to see if they stay blue.  She went to all of church on Sunday and did great.  We love our Allie and we are so glad that she's part of our family.  She makes our family complete!

Lazy Afternoon

Allie was hanging out in her bouncer while I was doing some house work and was doing great.  She started getting a little fussy so I hurried and finished cleaning the bathroom so I could get her out and hold her.  When I got closer I noticed that she had fallen asleep.  She wasn't even fussing that much, but I guess she was very tired. 

While Allie was sleeping in her bouncer, Josh and Megan were watching a show and eating some pretzels.  It is good to be a kid!
Megan doesn't have on any pants because she is in her underwear and it is hard for her to pull down her pants when she wants to go potty.  So I just leave her in a shirt and underwear when we are at home.  Got to love potty training!
Megan is actually doing really good lately with the potty training.  Some days she doesn't have any accidents at all.  It is still a work in progress, but I am happy to say we are getting closer every day.