Ava: 10 months

This week, Ava turns 10 months old. She is doing lots of new things this month. She is scooting on her bottom in a sitting up position to get all over the house (mostly, the Christmas tree!) She is also saying several words, including "mama, dada, bye-bye", and most recently, "uh-oh". She is drinking all of her milk and juice from a sippy cup, and eating some "big girl" foods like yogurt, cheese, crackers, and avacado. She is still a super sweet little one and always has a big smile for people. Here are some recent pics of Ava Leilani.

Ava kept getting into the kid's stuff, and Haleigh suggested a baby gate. So, we improvised. This last about 30 seconds before she tipped it over.

Ava and her ponytail. There's only so much you can do with baby hair!

New family pics

We recently had our family pictures taken at our homeschool co-op. This is the closest thing to school pictures that the kids will have. I was really happy with how they turned out! The best part is that the photographer gave us permission to print however many we wanted. Enjoy!

Fall Harvest Party

Our church does an annual harvest party on Halloween and our kids really love going each year. This was the first year all of the kids dressed up. Joshua refused last year, but this year decided he wanted to dress up like a fire fighter. We have two trunks of dress up clothes, so I didn't have to buy any new things. I just told them to pick something fun to wear! Ava was the only one who needed something new(she was a pink leapord). Mom and Dad had come into town, so they got to play games and go on the hayride along with us. Afterwards, Shawn, Ava and I put on our aluminum foil and went to Chipotle ( a mexican food place) and got our free burritos with some of our gang from church.

Peter and the Wolf

Haleigh and I have vowed to do more field trips this year for school. It is much easier now that Ava is getting older and can stay with a babysitter for a little longer. The Lebanon Symphony Orchestra performed "Peter and the Wolf" a couple of weekends ago. They were with the Madcapp Puppets(which I had never heard of). We took the younger ones to play with Mrs. Janna, and had a really great time together. The Madcapp Puppets are these life-size puppets that the actors are either standing behind or inside. You'll see what I mean in the pictures. The play itself only lasted about 30-45 minutes, but the orchestra played some other fun music that the kids enjoyed. Also, the Jr. High Orchestra performed a song or two while we were there. Haleigh really enjoyed the play, and also the time alone with mommy!

The wolf and the cat. They modernized the old version, so the wolf was more like the neighborhood thug.

The bird had the cutest New York accent, and like to shop!

After the wolf is captured, he was paraded around the room. Haleigh was happy we were at the other end of the row!

October happenings...

This month has really flown by, and I have forgotten how long it's been since I've posted something here. School has been going well and we've really gotten into a good routine, but it's left little time for other things (like keeping up here!) I thought I'd post a couple of things we've done lately.

First, Haleigh is studying about the first colonists of America and the Native Americans. For one of her projects, we made a wigwam. She is a very hands on learner,and really gets into projects, so this new curriculum we're using is a good fit.

The (mostly) finished product!

Haleigh has also been asking to have a tea party with me recently. So last week, while the little ones were sleeping, she and Caleb and I had our own version of a tea party. Caleb was not interested at all until he saw that we were having hot cocoa and frosted animal crackers. Haleigh and I went all out, from using our tea cups and saucers to lighting candles. It was a sweet moment for us all!

Field trip!

I guess you could call this the first field trip of the year for us. Homeschooling the kids is fun and one of the reasons is that you can go do fun stuff with sometimes very little prep work. Brocklyn had wanted to take the kids to our local pet shop and let them look around a little. We made a "school trip" out of it and took the opportunity to learn about animals that people consider pets.Now, you must understand that my kids desperatley want a pet. They beg for one on a pretty regular basis. Not that I am against it, really, I just want them to really be able to care for a pet. I'd love a dog, but we aren't ready for that responsibilty right now. We're thinking of a dwarf rabbit for Haleigh, but don't let her know!! Anyways, here are some pics of our trip. We saw everything from hamsters to puppies to...eww..snakes! The clerks were great about taking the animals out and teaching the kids some interesting things about the animals.

Joshua and a kitty! He loved it :)

Yeah, she's holding a SNAKE!!A corn snake to be exact.

Not one that I wanted to touch!

Oh yeah, and Joshua held it too!

Caleb was content to touch it from a safe distance(like me!)

Ava: Six months

I feel like this time is flying by. Ava turned six months old on the 11th, and she is really so much fun! She just had her well baby check up, so here are her stats!

Height: 26 1/2" 75%

Weight:15 lbs. 8oz. 50%

She is doing so many new things. She has just recently started rolling over from her tummy to her back, but not the other way around, yet. She is also sitting up pretty well, and isn't as wobbly this week as she was last week. I still put pillows behind her, though. She has also

started eating more baby food, with applesauce being her favorite and sweet peas being her least favorite. She loves her big brothers and sister and really enjoys games like peek a boo and

eating her toes. She has such a sunny disposition and smiles alot! We are so blessed to have Ava in our family!

Ava playing in her bed

Ava in her "big girl" bath seat. Joshua really likes bathing with her!

Caleb's first ER visit

I knew it would happen eventually. Caleb was the first child we've had to take to the ER (thank goodness!)Sunday afternoon, as he was putting a toy away, he fell off the chair and hit his head on the computer desk. I heard the cry from the other room where I was feeding Ava, and knew right away that he had really hurt himself. My fears were realized as I went to comfort him and saw the blood coming down the side of his ear. He must've landed on the corner of the desk, becase he had a gash that looked pretty deep and almost like a puncture wound. Anyhow, fortunatly, one of our college students, Katie, was still at the house and stayed with Haleigh and Joshua while Shawn and I took him to the ER. The nurse thought they'd need to use stitches since it was so close to the ear, but we were relieved when the doctor checked him out and said that Dermabond (glue) would be fine. He was very brave, and got to have powdered donuts as a treat afterward. The glue will disolve in a week or so, and we were very thankful that it was not worse.

A close look. Small, but deep.

More summer pics!

I had so many pictures that I needed to post from our summer vacation, so here are some more!

Aunt Leiana and Ava testing the waters in the baby pool

Fishing with Papa at their pond. They just got a new house with a lot of land and a huge pond. Each kid caught more than one fish!

Bowling in TN.

They had a really cool ramp that the kids could use to make it easier for them.

Check out the shoes!

Park in TN with water works! We packed a picnic lunch with my mom and enjoyed the warm weather while the kids had a blast in the water.

Two in one week!

So, Haleigh has finally reached a milestone she has been dreaming of for years. She lost her first baby tooth last week. Actually, she lost two! I had no idea the first one was even loose until she came to me complaining that her tooth hurt. I felt to see how wiggly it was and it was about ready to come out. And, the permanent tooth was already peeking through. No wonder her tooth was hurting! It came out the same day she first showed it to me with almost no effort at all. The second tooth was a different story. It was a little wiggly, until she asked for an apple to eat with her lunch. One good bite, and she was hollering and her tooth went from being kind of wiggly to a lot wiggly. I had to give this one a little more effort, but she only said, "Ouch" just as it was coming out. I can't believe how quickly my little girl is growing up :( The tooth fairy was kind to her and gave her $1 for each tooth(she knows it's me, she just likes to pretend!).

Tooth #1

Tooth #2

Cousins

The kids and I got to spend some time with our family in TN for a couple of weeks recently. I have about a million pictures of our trip, so I'll have to put them into groups a post a few at a time. We had only a few days with my sis and her kids since they were leaving for their family trip while we were there. We had a grill out and softball game, some time at the pool and lots of giggles and laughs(she has 5 children). A few of our children were born pretty close togther so, for the younger ones, we had ages 7,6,5,4,3 and 5 months. She also has three older ones which was really nice to help keep up with the little ones.

My sis in law, Amanda and a very tired Ava at the softball game

Stephanie, my sis, and I! It was nice to catch up :)

We went out to a steak house to celebrate my neice's birthday. I know, we are crazy!

My nephew, Conley, and Ava

Caleb, Conley and Joshua at the park

Summer Splash!

I absolutely love summer! We have really enjoyed the last month of doing no school and just spending time having fun together! The last couple weeks have really brought some super hot days to our area and 4 of our neighbors got pools within one week (no lie). Neither our budget nor our family dynamics would allow us to invest in a pool, so my hubby tried to make do with what we have. He brought out the pool from last year, which the big kids would consider too small, now that our neighbors have upgraded, and created a water slide! It was a huge hit. Joshua took to it rather slowly, but after about  a day of needing someone to catch him at the bottom, he was ready to go solo. It was a great way to keep cool and burn off some serious energy. 

VBS '09 Boomerang Express

This year was another wonderful week of VBS at our church. I realize that I am a little bias, but our church goes all out for VBS and it's always amazing! This was the first time Joshua was able to participate in more than just playing in the nursery. He had such a great time, and even got to go through all the rotations like crafts, music and missions like the big kids. I helped out in Haleigh's class this year, and it was so great being with her the entire week. Caleb had a great time with his buddies in his class. As long as Elijah and Kyler are in the mix, he's happy :) Ava was a happy camper in the nursery taking a bottle just enough so she wouldn't starve! We were all exhausted by the end of the week, but it was well worth it!

Shawn in the dunk tank! 

Haleigh at the sheep farm !

Joshua in his class

Caleb in the croc pond!