6 months

Darla is now 6 months old...6 1/2 really...as time gets away from me and I don't get it all done as fast as I have in the past months! :)  Anyway, she is getting so big and fun.  She is almost always happy...and when her daddy walks in the room...she LIGHTS UP!  It's so cute and almost funny how she can turn on the charm immediately for her daddy!  

Here she is her with blanket and bunny.  She is bigger than her bunny now!!  She enjoys playing with her toys. We got her a new saucer thing that she likes to play in and the girl LOVES to eat!!  Baby food, puffs, graham crackers, that's only what I allow her to have I'm sure she'd eat whatever she was allowed. 

Her first graham cracker...she LOVED it...more more more...

She did finally roll over to see her friend the other day and she's not real interested in rolling since then.  She'll roll from her tummy to her back but not from back to tummy.  She's writing her own book...and that is completely fine with me!

She loves to play "patty cake" with her daddy and again just has her daddy wrapped around her little finger.  She is pretty active.  She likes to play with her toys and wants to put everything in her mouth.  In fact she can get her foot in her mouth...impressive!!  

She absolutely LOVES her brother and I think he kind of digs her too.  She does whatever she can to get his attention and when he finally stops long enough to play with her...he's very sweet and kind to her.  He cracks her up and she is just in "awe" of him most of the time.  I hope and pray that continues!

Well, that's what's happening with Darla at 6 months old!  

The "Spanky Olympics"

So is anyone else just going stark raving MAD with this cold weather!?!?!  Let's just say, WE ARE!  In fact I started refusing to wear a coat and then decided that I was only hurting myself.  SO, I put it back on...but really, is this not the LONGEST winter ever?

SO, Saturday, John and I took Spanky and Darla to the movie and out to dinner.  We went to "Tooth Fairy" if you haven't gone, DON'T GO!  John was ready to leave after 15 minutes and after about 30 Spanky got scared so John said, "You want to go...".  Spanky agreed and out we went....It's really not worth the money...

Anyway, Spanky had been in the house and cooped up for two days, now to Spanky, this is a LIFETIME!  He's used to be going and blowing as we are just on the run all of the time.  So let's just say he had a little extra bottled up energy.  SO, we told him if he ate his yummy grilled cheese we'd have a SUPER fun game when we got home.  Well, he ate the entire thing and home bound we went.  

To blow some of this energy and the sugar buzz from the m&m's from the movie, we got him in his "uniform" and we proceeded to have the "Spanky Olympics".  After the stretching routine, the first event....running.  He had to run around the "circle" in the house 3 times as fast as he could...meanwhile, me taking pictures and John and I cheering him on to run faster!  The second event was the "mountain climb".  He had to climb the stairs three times.  He finished with a thumbs up somewhat like Rocky did when he ran the stairs in "Rocky".  And the final event was riding the wheely bug through the kitchen and back around the pole and back three times.  It's was much like a "tri-athalon" and he had a BLAST!  Not to mention it wore him out a bit.  We ended the "Spanky Olympics" with Spanky receiving his "Medal" on the medal stand.  He held his hand over his heart and we said the "Pledge of Allegiance".  And of course, took pictures!  

Spanky really had fun with the "Spanky Olympics", in fact we've played quite a few times since Saturday night.  He really loves the running game, so we start him off and he runs and runs and we cheer him on and say, "One More".  His favorite part though is receiving his medal.  Who doesn't love hearing their name called and a medal put around their neck!!

Stretch...must not pull a hamstring!

Run...Run...Run....and the finish line!!  

The Mountain Climb...this got him a little wore down.

The Wheeling Bug Race

Mild crash at the end, just for a little "dramatic effect"

Receiving his First Place Medal

USA...#1

Momma is so proud!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wow...what a fun weekend.  It's always fun to have Alfalfa and Miss Rascal here, they are SO good with Spanky and Darla and the little ones just LOVE the time with get with their older brother and sister.  This weekend we had some friends visiting so that just added to the fun.  On top of it all...It's VALENTINE'S DAY!

We have been busy leading up to this weekend with Spanky.  He had a party at school on Thursday, we made "Robot" valentine's.  Spanky really did help me make them.  He helped me cut the cardstock with the paper trimmer...under my CLOSE supervision.  His favorite part of making the valentine's, was of course, THE CANDY!  Since it's a "Peanut free zone" at school we weren't able to use the Mr. Goodbars so Spanky made it his goal to eat as many as he could to really help the cause of not wasting any...of course this was a BIG help to me so I didn't eat them! :)

Spanky really enjoyed getting "Valentine's" from his friends and again, the candy is just too much fun!  It Spanky is a "Lover" of somethings, it's CANDY!  He told me to hold his valentine bag, but "don't eat the candy or Mrs. Hedstrom (his teacher) would get mad".  It's a serious deal, that Valentine Candy!

Friday we enjoyed a fun lunch and play date with the Arneson's and had a great time with Nick and Amy visiting.  Spanky just loves Amy and her "hubbin" Nick.  We all do, but Spanky just thinks they are WAY FUN!  Amy brought some delicious cupcakes and cheesecakes for us to enjoy...yum!!!

One of Spanky's new favorite games is hunting for monsters.  You know, I tried for a LONG time not to allow "guns" in the house, you know, let's just not...really do we need to be violent?  Well, turns out that all boys at a certain age think "hunting" for something is just so fun.  SO, lately we've been "Monster Hunting" at our house.  Now Alfalfa and Miss Rascal set the bar this weekend for "Monster Hunting"...Alfalfa will encourage the drop and roll before you shoot, Miss Rascal has gone "Under cover" for the hunt....it's been GOOD times with the Monster Hunting!!

All of the kids had a great time to just hanging out and bonding, making memories and enjoying one another.  It's so fun to watch your children laugh and play together.  We are so blessed.

I need to wrap up this post so my wonderful "hubbin" can take me out to dinner.  On a side note....my "hubbin" has lost 35 pounds!!  He's looking so good and I am so proud of him!!  Oh and my friend and I got 10th ROW TICKETS TO TIM McGRAW for her birthday!! YEAH!!!

Happy Valentine's day you all!!

Messy eater

Man, time flies when your having fun!!  We've been super busy the last couple weeks, along with all of us have had colds and I hurt my back, so when momma's back hurts, it's a rough house hold to be in!  Apologizes to everyone who's been in contact with me the last couple weeks! :)  I have gotten a handle on the pain with the help of my awesome Physical Therapist so we're feeling better!  BUT, as you all know, life happens whether you feel good or not..so this is what we've been doing...

Darla turned 6 months...I can't believe that!  We're still working on a sleeping pattern....if anyone has any ideas to get this sweet little girl to sleep all night...momma's tired! :)  She is really enjoying her food...you need to be paying attention or she'll just try to do it herself...

Food please....

Here...I think I can do it...

Little closer....

I'll just do it...

Good stuff!!

Now time for a bath!

She's trying to sit up on her own...we're working on those core muscles...her and I both! :)  We think she might be "part Boxer" with as much slobber that comes from her mouth...however she might just be working on some teeth....maybe why she's not sleeping...who knows?? She continues to melt our hearts every day with those big sparkly eyes and chubby cheeks.  She is completely intrigued with her big brother...whatever he does is SUPER COOL!  He's very good to her and we pray they will be good friends.  

Spanky has been gearing up for Valentine's day.  We made robot valentine's and he had his party yesterday at school.  He LOVED the candy, in fact he told..."Hold my bag please, but don't eat any candy for Mrs. Hedstrom (his teacher) will get mad."  He guarded that bag with his life until the candy was all gone.  Good times!  He started a tap class as well.  It's pretty cute and he LOVES the shoes...tap tap tap...oh so fun!!  The rules are though he ONLY wears his shoes at Tap Class...they might get ruined otherwise. :)  Due to his cold, he missed celebrating Kansas Day at School.  He was super bummed because they were suppose to dress as cowboys for school.  We dressed up anyway and took a picture for his journal at school.  What a cool cowboy!  Thanks to our friends for letting us borrow the Cowboy get up! 

 Howdy Partner!

I enjoyed a great weekend with some girlfriends scrapbooking...it's always a great time, but I stayed up way too late so I'm paying for it this week...but it sure was fun!!  I got lots of scrapbooking done of Kate's newborn stuff and just a lot of great fellowship with my friends!

Hopefully I won't wait 2 weeks to post again!  Ta ta for now!

Dinner is Served...

Spanky is quite the helper and loves playing with Darla.  SO...the other night when it was time to feed Darla, Spanky wanted to help...so you know what...I let him.  He was VERY entertaining for Darla and really she ate better for him than she does for me...but again, I'm not sure I am as entertaining as him.  He was a bit like Dennis the Mennace feeding the scary guy the beans by the railroad tracks in the movie...it was quite funny!  I have video of it, but still trying to figure out how to get it on the site....so the pictures will have to do for now...

Happy Eating!