Playing with a new toy

Mommy got out one of my new toys to see if I would be interested in it.
I am VERY interested in it and now that I can kind of sit up on my own its more fun to play with these new toys.
When I touch it, music plays and lights go off.
Do you like my Christmas pj's?

Diane's kitchen pictures!

My mom and dad are remodeling their kitchen. For those of you who have never seen there house they live in an old big farm house on 10 acres in the country. They love the house but my mom has always hated her kitchen. She always said when she turns 50 she is getting a new one, well she turned 50 in October and she got her wish. They gutted the entire kitchen, tore out the back porch and these are the almost finished results. Dave painted the kitchen for them two weeks ago and this past week Dave, me and my dad put down the tile floor. It was a lot of work but really fun to get to do such a big project and have it turn out so well. My dad and I both learned a lot. Dave did all the cutting, my job was to lay the tiles and my dad ran around getting us whatever we needed. We worked from Monday-Thursday during the evenings and got it done late last night. The rest of the kitchen should be done by next Wednesday. My mom is so excited, she is tired of all the construction. I will post some pics next week of the final product but I know a lot of you wanted to see what it looked like.

5 months old!

We were trying to get some cute pictures of Colt by himself but when we would try and get him to sit agains the rock he just wanted to lean back and look.....
and reach....
or play with all the interesting things in front of him.

Colt is 5 months old today which also means only one more month until Christmas! Time is flying by and he is growing up so fast. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with all of my family in Spokane. Colt and all his cousins had so much fun together, he is much bigger than both of the twins and Madelyn loved to play with him. She pretty much just wanted to play with Colt all weekend long. She was really the only one that could pack him around very easily he was much too heavy for Lucy (she's only 5). So Madelyn would carry Colt and Lucy would usually take care of one of the twins. Elena was interested in other things besides the babies:)

Now we are back home, only 4 more weeks of school until Christmas break! I am looking forward to the break all ready and we just had one. It is much harder to go back to work after spending so much time at home with Colt. Its like leaving him for the first time again, the tears come out and I cry periodically during the day at work. I do not think it will ever really get easier.

Colt is starting to do so much more. He is really into grabbing things now and of course shoving everything into his mouth, he also likes to grab food off my plate or hands and shove that into his mouth. I am pretty sure he would eat anything I gave him. We have started slowly on the solids he has had rice cereal, sweet potatoes and squash with no complaints so far. On occasion I will give him some small amounts of my food but nothing too big. We will probably start some fruits in the next month or so. I enjoy breastfeeding him so much that I am not in too much of a hurry for him to start eating too much "real" food. He does really well on his tummy and can push up on his hands and roll over both ways though he is pretty selective about when he does it. He also loves to talk and will laugh when he is tickled. He is such a joy to play with and be around, I am loving and cherishing every second of him as much as I can, even the moments when he wakes up crying in the middle of the night just because he wants to be held. He is a sweet little boy who loves to cuddle with his mama the best, but lights up when Daddy plays with him. My favorite times with him are in the morning, he usually wakes up around 7 to eat and then he will fall back asleep in bed with us until we wake up too ( weekends only of course). Dave loves it because it means he does not have to get up early and even though I do not usually fall back asleep I love to lay there and cuddle with him as he sleeps.

Hope all of you enjoy the holiday season that is approaching and remember the real reason we celebrate Christmas!

John 3:16

Fun Family Pictures

Cousins together at last!

This was the first time we all got to be together since I was born. It was a lot of fun. Aunt Amy bought Reese, Perry and I matching outfits for the picture.
Reese, Me and Perry. I am not sure why I look frightened, but there are a lot of people yelling at me right now.....maybe that had something to do with it.
Reese and Perry modeling their new GAP outfits.

Aunt Ann, Aunt Marni, Mommy, Aunt Amy
Elena and Perry, Lucy and Reese, Madelyn and Me.
Di Di and I.
I was feeling pretty silly today....
I was laughing a lot and...
sticking my tongue out!

Playing in our pajamas

After dinner all of the cousins got new pajamas from Di Di. We were all playing a game on Daddy's lap when Mommy snapped this picture. Too bad Reese and Perry were already in bed:(
I'm gonna get you Di Di!!
Elena, Lucy and Madelyn modeling their new pj's.

Thanksgiving Day

We started off Thanksgiving Day running in the Turkey Trot in Spokane. I am in the stroller still sleeping. Everyone else had already left so we did not get a picture of everyone, there were 18 of us that did the turkey trot all together. It was a fun way to start our Thanksgiving.
Here are dad and mom after there run. Di Di pushed me so mom and dad could run since we did not bring the jogging stroller.
See how warm and happy I am! My mommy bundled me up so well and I was perfectly content the entire time. I did not wake up once.
While we were waiting for our dinner we had to entertain ourselves.

These are my cousins Madelyn and Reese playing together.
Andy, Aunt Amy and I took a snooze together.

Lucy played with me in my swing!
Andy and Papa watched football. It was pretty funny seeing two macho men watch football in the same chair!
Di Di peeled potatoes and Elena, Lucy, Perry, Aunt Marni and Madelyn helped.
Finally after waiting all day it was time to eat. I got to have some mashed potatoes and a little bit of stuffing. I loved all of it. It was so yummy!! Mommy fed me first but then Aunt Marni thought it would be fun to feed me off her finger.
Dinner is over and Aunt Marni, Daddy and Aunt Ann and I are just relaxing at the table while everyone else does the dishes. Aunt Ann and Uncle Sam cooked the yummiest Thanksgiving meal ever! Thank you!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are in Spokane this year for Thanksgiving at my sister Ann and her husband Sam's house. All three of my sisters are here along with all there significant others, kids and my parents. Thanksgiving dinner will be for 18 people this year. Our family is getting bigger and bigger. We started off the morning right by running in the annual turkey trot here in spokane. It was 20 degrees out but we all did it! Colt was nice and bundled up, I think he was warmer than anyone there and he got to ride in the stroller. Dave and I along with my sisters Amy and Marni and their fiance/boyfriend Andy and Nate all ran and everyone else walked. Now we are ready to stuff ourselves with turkey though we still have probably another 4 hours before we eat and Dave and I are already starving:) I will post pictures when we get home on saturday until then hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving. I thought it would be appropriate to post the things I am thankful for this thanksgiving!

• My family's relationship with Jesus Christ and how much it as grown in the past year.
• My husband Dave.
• The newest love of my life, my son Colt (who will be 5 months old this Sunday!
• The chance to be with all of my sisters and my parents during thanksgiving.
• Dave's wonderful family who I love and am so thankful for. I could not have married into a better family.
• My favorite little 18 pounder in the world....Colt.
• The health of all of our families.
• My friends in Walla Walla, Lynden, Bow, DuPont, Kennewick, Bellevue, Yakima and SPOKANE! (sorry Mari!)
• My job....though I would rather be home with Colt it does provide for us and I am grateful to be given the opportunity to work with other children everyday.
• and last but certainly not least..... Colt! Oh wait did I already mention him??

My "girl" friends

These are my newest "girl" friends. Madilyn was born on July 4th and Mae(the one laying on me) was born on October 30. We were in Spokane this weekend and we all met up for a photo shoot. It was a bit chaotic!
Mae's aunt Misty is a photographer so she took some pictures of us. She put Madi and me in these giant tea cups, I was almost too big for mine, there was no room to spare!
However they were very comfortable and I enjoyed playing with my toes....
and my hands!
Colt (4.5 months), Madilyn (4 months) and Mae (18 days). Too bad they both live in Spokane it will be hard to be the best of friends when they live so far away!

My first haircut

We were in Tri-Cities on Saturday night and Mommy asked Aunt Kenzie to give me a haircut, I had a bit of a rat tail growing in the back.
She did not have her good scissors with her but she still did a great job!
Thanks Aunt Kenzie!

PS. She is the one who makes mommy's hair look so good:)

Strong legs!

My legs are getting stronger, I can now stand against things and hold on!
"Look at me stand mom!"
Mom had to capture this picture quick before I fell over:)

My fun weekend with Crew!

My parents good friends Chris and Julie came to Walla Walla this weekend with their son Crew. Of course my daddy and Chris started off the weekend with a game of poker.
Crew and I got along great, he liked to help me play with my toys.
He even got down to eye level with me to help me out.
He played on the floor with me...
and gave me love. He was such a great playmate. I can't wait until next summer in Chelan when I can run around with him. Our daddy's spent the weekend playing poker, watching football and hunting. Check out all those birds, they are proud daddy's! As usual there are no pictures of our mommy's, they do all the work and get none of the credit but we love them both!!!

Playing with my toys

I am at the age where I am starting to enjoy playing with some toys. I am also getting very good at holding my head up on my tummy. I can now roll over both ways!! and I can push myself up on my arms. It won't be long until I am crawling mom you better get the house ready for me.
Mainly by playing with my toys I mean grabbing them and sticking them in my mouth.
Though this toy makes lots of noise and I like to try and push the buttons. How do you like my hat? My great grandpa and grandma pemberton got it for me.
Di Di is so fun to play with!