Since I've been really horrible lately about updating the blog, I figured I could just do another iPhone photo/video dump and hopefully that will catch me up to just about the New Year and I can resolve to do better about keeping up on it. With a better iPhone app for blogger, maybe that will make it easier for me to update on an every day basis like I do Facebook or Instagram. We'll see. I will try, but I'm not making any promises. Anyways, here it goes:
Audree is now 9 1/2 months so in the past 1 1/2 months she really has grown a lot. She is so full of life and energy and is learning at such a fast pace. She now walks along furniture and currently has her 4 top teeth coming in. She has just recently learned how to clap, give kisses and is loving all of the table food she's eating. For her 9 month stats she was 18lbs7oz (55%) and 28" long (65%) making her grow 3lbs and 3 inches in just 3 months. She sure is growing so fast. I think she is definitely going to be my adventurous, daring, and trouble-making one. She likes to climb and get into everything. But she is such a doll. She is always so happy and a really pleasant child.
We've had a couple bad cases of diaper rash lately. This is something that never happened with Josh and so it's all new for me. So every now and then we had let Audree run naked around the house. That little bum is just adorable. :)
In early November I took the kids in for my first time participating in a Presidential Election. Even though the results didn't turn out as we expected or wanted to, I have faith that things happen for a reason and that we will get through it. During election time there was so much raucous going on about the results and the "end of the world" and I remember thinking and discussing with Jake that this time on earth and the results of this election are but a sliver of time in our eternal existence. Of course I think that it's important to be involved in politics and things on this earth, I don't think that we should necessarily worry so much about it that we can't focus on what's important in this life.
Josh still has been having some issues with trying new foods and eating well lately. It really has been the biggest challenge of parenthood thus far. I never know what to do and I worry all the time about him getting adequate nutrition. I also wish every day that I could sit peacefully down to a meal with Josh and be able to feed him what we are eating and have that be enough. I really hope someday that it'll happen.
Josh has really enjoyed his school time lately. We've been a little out of it since traveling and the holidays, but we are hoping to get back into it. Pictured above is him playing with our paper bag cats during the week of letter "C" and then the other is playing with our memory cards for our letters and numbers. He loves it! And he does so well at it.
Josh definitely enjoyed his first snowfall.
Audree had a little incident with the dishwasher. The one second that I looked away she managed to slice her finger on the peeler and so I tried to get a bandaid on her which really isn't the easiest thing to do. She managed to eat off all 4 of the bandaids that I put on her. Eventually it did stop bleeding so that's good.
To bring in a little more income so that I can enjoy my time in Italy this Spring, I started up with Scentsy. I've enjoyed it thus far and I hope that I can continue to be successful with it.
Audree loves to chew on my drawstrings. If she ever sees them out she goes right for them. Guess it's all those teeth coming in. What a cutie though.
Audree has started to really go for table foods. She enjoys her solids and just over the past couple of days she has been constantly starving. The most recent new things she has tried and loved are cheerios, diced carrots, potatoes, and other vegetables, scrambled eggs cinnamon roll, toast, etc. Give her just about anything and she'll eat it. I can't believe how quickly she is growing up.
On the morning that we went and picked out our Christmas tree we let Josh pick out a donut. He went straight for the "chocowat" donut and ate the whole thing once we got home. I'm surprised that there was only chocolate on his face and not on everything else.
Looking adorable in her "I heart Auntie" outfit and bunny slippers. Can't get over how cute she is.
Our Christmas festivities began with decorating our Christmas tree, taking Josh and Audree to see Santa and finishing up our new burlap stockings. Josh obviously LOVED his time meeting Santa (not...). This picture is priceless. I really loved how the stockings turned out too. I love that they have coordinating colors, but different designs and liners.
One day while Josh was in his room fussing while trying to fall asleep, Audree crawled back to his room and was reaching under his door. Love seeing that sibling love. :)
In our short trip to Utah for Christmas celebrations we were able to spend time with family on Sunday while Eli was ordained a deacon. We had great food, decorated sugar cookies, and enjoyed the time we had together as family. I'm glad that we live so much closer now and can enjoy these visits together. During the rest of the week we played in the snow, visited more family, took a trip to Scheels (where Josh took a ride on the ferris wheel and Monster Truck photo opportunity). We really enjoyed our time there and are looking forward to seeing them again.
Also while in Utah Audree learned how to take off her bibs. She definitely learned earlier than Josh did and I'm not that excited about it, but we'll survive.
Before heading to Utah, we found a place in Idaho Falls to rent. It came up quick and wasn't a place that we expected to like, but we really did. Even though it's going to be a crazy move since we've been traveling and have to pack up and clean our current place in just a few days, we are really looking forward to it. We are out of our place at the end of this month and start moving in to this place on the 27th. It's a really nice place with just about everything that we were looking for.
Here are our family ornaments for this year. I thought that they turned out well.
We had a short little break in between Utah travels and before heading out for Montana. During that time we found out that Audree's top 4 teeth were all coming in and that the gap in front is going to be a bit bigger than we expected.
Since getting to Montana we've had a lot of fun. The kids traveled really well here and we've been able to spend a lot of time with family. We are all really looking forward to Audree's first Christmas and Josh enjoying his presents as he is a bit more aware of what's going on since last Christmas.
We've also had a lot of fun playing games from Jake's sibling's childhood "Loopin' Louie", setting up the old slot car tracks from when Jake was a kid, and having a Gingerbread contest with everyone. Jake and I made a Tokyo Christmas with a candy monster attacking the city. The girls made a candy wonderland complete with sled, ice skating man and shingled roof. The boys made a ranch complete with cows, cow pies, garage, and reindeer head. We had a blast. We have a couple more days here before we move to Idaho Falls and so we are really looking forward to the little bit of time that we have left before the long drive and long days of moving.
I'm really hoping that over the next few weeks I can pull myself back together and get back into a good routine in our new house and get back with my resolutions to keep in touch with family better, keep up on updating this family blog, and work on becoming a healthier me overall.
Here are the videos that I've had for the past few weeks as well:
We really enjoyed our 4th of July here this year. We had a lazy morning with the kids and then ended the night well with a great dinner, fireworks and playtime.
While dinner was in prepration mode, we did some "fireworks" with Joshua. We threw some of those "pop-its" and lit some sparklers. He had a blast. His new nickname - little pyro
For dinner we tried out cooking in our dutch oven. It's the first time we've cooked in it for a few years now, so we were both really looking forward to it. We had homemade pizza with whole-wheat pizza crust and pepperoni. It turned out SO good. I think we'll be trying out things in the dutch oven more often from now on. It's amazing the difference it makes.
We unexpectedly ended the night watching the Blackfoot firework show. Josh was so excited watching the ones just out our front window that we decided to head down. Josh absolutely loved it and it made for some great family memories. I enjoy our little family and the time we get to spend here.
Love that both the kids are watching the fireworks in this one. Audree loved them!
Easter this year was a little bit more casual than we would have liked, but life happens so what do you do. Josh got sick and then I did and then Jake did, so we had a houseful of fun for those few days. Josh also threw up Saturday night, so we definitely decided to opt out of attending church the next day. So, the easter outfits will have to wait for another sunday.
But we did have an enjoyable amount of family time that day. I absolutely love Sundays because they are the days when Jake doesn't study at all, so we get him all to ourselves and it's fantastic. This particular Sunday, because of Easter, we had a visit from the Easter Bunny, dyed eggs, and had lots of yummy food. Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast and a BIG dinner of Chicken Ribs, Funeral Potatoes, and a dessert of Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake. YUM!! It's going to take awhile to get all of that off!
Anyways, enjoy the pictures from our special family day.
