Danielle, Olivia, & Miles came to visit us for a few days and we loved every minute of it. We took them to the Children's Museum and the kids had a bunch of fun. In these two pictures they're pretending to be vets.
I think their favorite room was the water area.
We loved letting the two smiley babies play. (Miles is two months younger than Ellie, but they're about the same size. :))
Ellie kept trying to roll on top of Miles, she was very interested in him.
A couple cute pictures of James. John has gotten James in into watching football recently. James is a smart boy - he knows that if it's bed time and he wants to stay up later he goes to his dad and says, "Watch football, watch football." James really likes to watch "YU football" (his waying of saying BYU). :)
Our poor big boy is still sleeping in the pack n play. We bought him a toddler bed, but he wouldn't stay in it, so we'll try again soon. :) Normally, we wouldn't mind if he got out of bed and stayed in his room, but Tori and him have to share a room right now. Poor Tori would come tell us that James was touching her eye while she was trying to sleep - so back in the pack n play he went (he does look pretty cosy, though).
Here is a little video of Ellie's very first time eating solid (well as solid as rice cereal gets) food. You can hear James in the background at the beginning trying to sing Happy Birthday and then asking for candy. This is because the last time we had the video camera out was two weeks ago for Tori's birthday - which he loved and ate a bunch of candy. I was plesantly surprised with how well she did for her first time.
Tori lost her very first tooth in August this summer. I was a little late taking a picture and doing this post since the summer got pretty busy at the end. She was so excited when she first noticed the loose tooth. She's one of the youngest in her grade and of her friends so she felt like the only kid who hadn't lost a tooth, yet. She wiggled and wiggled the tooth and then the next day (without really thinking) I fed her a whole apple and corn on the cob and that tooth popped right out that night. She loved getting to use the tooth fairy pillow she made in kindergarten.
Below are just a few cute pictures I tried to get of James and Ellie sitting together. James loves to hold his little sister.
Tori was so excited to start her first day of 1st grade. She's such a brave, happy, sweet girl. Even though we were in a new school in a new state, she was still happy and looking forward to making new friends. James wanted to be just like his big sister so he had to have a backpack on, too. :)
In front of our house with Ellie in the stroller, getting ready to walk to school (I was so happy that it was beautiful weather.).
A couple pictures of Tori in front of school. Her first day went really well. She loves her teacher, Mrs. Goddard and had fun playing at recess with her good friend from church, Natalie. I love my big girl!
The kids really wanted to go swimming for Tori's birthday weekend, so we found this really cool indoor pool that they just loved! They hadn't been swimming all summer (except for Tori's swim lessons) since there aren't really outdoor pools here since it doesn't really get hot enough. They both loved the little waterslide that was just the right size for them. It's so fun to see James grow up and get really excited about things. He has no fear and loves the water (so he definitely keeps us busy when we're at the pool).
Even Ellie put on her swimsuit. She was so interested in the pool that she wouldn't look at the camera.
Below, Tori is playing with her webkinz cat that she got for her birthday.
Our sweet little Tori has turned 6! We had a really fun birthday weekend. First Tori wanted to help make and decorate her own cake - chocolate with pink frosting and lots of M&Ms.
The big thing she really wanted to do for her birthday was to catch a fish and actually eat it. She has gone fishing with Dad a few times, but they never really caught anything worth eating. So we drove her up in the moutains in Oregon to a trout farm where we could be sure that she would catch something worth eating. The place was absolutely beautiful. It was all so picturesque and the weather was so pleasant and mild. Tori and James had a blast - it was a wonderful day. Below Tori is catching the first fish of the day (I think we brought home about twenty or so pretty decent sized ones).
James also pulled his weight and realed in a few fish of his own. I was impressed at how well he was able to handle the fishing pole (though I won't lie - it was a very stressful job making sure that he didn't go swimming with the fish during this fun adventure).
Tori catching James's fish in the net for him.
Ellie didn't get in on the fishing action this year. :)
Below the birthday girl is eating the fish she caught earlier that afternoon. They really were delicious
Cute happy kids - what a fun idea for your birthday, Tori!!
