can it be?

That Blake is already 9 months old? It just doesn't seem possible! He's such a fun little baby ... and such a peanut. Those that knew Katelyn, Grant and Max as babies are probably wondering how come he's so tiny, especially being born at 9 lbs., 10 oz.!! Crazy! And he eats like a horse! It's hilarious ... loves his food!

Here he is ... just some quick shots, because I was behind on his 9 mo. pictures (shhh, don't tell!).

little drummer boy ...

Well, it's Grant that wanted the drum set, but I think he'll have a little competition with Blake! Blake was having a blast with the pots and lids that I pulled out for him to bang around with. Can you tell he's teething (still haven't gotten one tooth!!).

County Spelling Bee ...

So, Katelyn was one of 17 kids that made it to the County Spelling Bee (out of 50,000), and she did an amazing job. Much to her dismay, she didn't win, but did get 10th place! Woot woot for her!!! It was an exciting night, and what a great experience for her. We're so proud of you, K8!! Great job ... you'll get 'em next year!!

it's been awhile, hasn't it?

So, I guess I've been a slacker as far as the blog goes. I've missed a couple key events, like this one ...

introducing our newest family member ... Cocoa. He is Izzy husband!! Well, they're just in the getting-to-know-you stage, but are soon to be married ;) LOL! He is super sweet, and NOOOOOO it wasn't my idea. I woke up one morning and the kids and Steve were discussing it, much to everyone's shock, I'm sure! But, I love him to pieces. He follows me everywhere and is sweet as birthday cake (I don't like pie, so it's cake for me!). Izzy wasn't quite sure about him at first, but now they tear around the house wrestling and playing ... it's so good for Izzy!

Isn't he cute!!!

OK, so once is not enough ...

Katelyn decided she needed to win the Regional Spelling Bee too! Wow, what an exciting, nerve-racking hour!! Every time she got up to the microphone, I kept hoping it was one she knew! Funny, she got two words that she had been having troubles with ... ominous and hygiene. Now she heads to County!!! After that, Nationals! Woo hooooooo!

My favorite photo ... The Lone Speller



With her trophy:

Winner, Winner, Winner

As Grandpa would say, "Winner, Winner, Winner" ... Last week, Katelyn competed in the District Spelling Bee. It was extra special, since Grandma and Grandpa were in town visiting, so they could watch her take ... 1ST PLACE!!! Woo hoo! I'm glad Grandpa drilled her the day before the Bee.

Here's the winner!

(Grandpa made the cool banner for her on the fireplace!)

Gingerbread houses

Grant was begging me to buy a gingerbread kit. I found one at Costco and surprised Grant with it. He was so excited and had fun putting it together! Max had fun eating the candy off (along with the other kids!)

grant & izzy

Steve needed some pictures for his new office, so I had to take some new pictures of the big kids. I don't get many of Grant not goofing off, but when we added Izzy to the mix, Grant was elated (Izzy's his baby!). I loved this one of the both of them. Grant definitely needed a hair cut, but oh well!

Blake and the mirror

We're getting ready to paint our living room/kitchen area, and so I had one of my mirrors down against the couch. We were looking for Blake and found him here ... entertaining himself (giving himself kisses). It was so funny ... he was having fun with that little baby in the mirror!

Blake - 8 months

Well, I kind of missed it by a few days, but seeing as he's been sick (along with the rest of us), I didn't think a runny nose would be too attractive in a photo, so we took them today. Since he was 8 months on Christmas Day, we put him in his Christmas pjs (and he didn't have anything else cute to wear!).

This is the look I get 90% of the time! He's done this since birth, but lately I think more because he's teething.

a new one of Blake

Just a random shot that I really liked.

One Crazy Ride!

I came across this when looking for some files. It's from our trip to Lincoln this summer. We went to Adventureland in Des Moines ... it was quite fun! I wouldn't ride this ride, but talked everyone else into it! Someone had to watch the baby ;) Ugh, made me want to puke just watching it! Poor Katelyn ... she looks a little petrified on the ride! Her and Julie ... LOL!

we all miss you, Emmitt!

Everyone in the family is sad that Emmitt went to doggie heaven, even Izzy. Katelyn put Emmitt's collar on her stuffed dog and Izzy wouldn't leave it's side all night long ... it was the sweetest thing. She even growled when Nacho got close to it. We miss you, Emmitt! You were our first "baby"!

Blake ... another video

Here is Blake pulling himself up on the couch ... stinker!

He's off ...

So, really, you know, it's cute for your first baby to crawl early, walk early, talk early. But the 4th. It's just not cute, and actually is kind of a bother. Now we have to have eagle eyes out for Blake ... he's a crazy one. Maybe even crazier than Max!! He always heads right for the fireplace or to the couch to pull himself up. Max used to think Blake was so cute and sweet, now he can't stand the fact that Blake will come over and wreck his train tracks that he just set up! Now Max knows how Grant feels when he breaks all his Lego ships!! Ha, ha!

So, all kidding aside, it is fun to see Blake grow and develop ... but it just seems to soon. What happened to my little baby??? :(

max's birthday

So, this year, we're going pretty low key with birthdays ... We paid off the older kids to not have a birthday party and just gave them cash instead (don't tell them, but we got a great deal!!). For Max, we just invited a couple friends to Chuck E.'s to play and eat! Max loved it ... noise and all (he blended right in). Grant went through 60 tokens in a matter of 5 minutes (seriously!) but the rest of the kids spent an hour or so playing games and running around. Max loved his Thomas cake (and so did mom ... it was yummmmmmmy! I so look forward to birthdays just so I can have some cake!). That was it. And again, I was bad mom and took about 5 pictures! At least I took some!

Here's Max with his cake and giving us a monster face (I have no idea why!):

old man gummy

our little octopus

So, he didn't really get to wear his costume as he napped through Halloween, so we left him at home with Grandma, but I thought I couldn't get away with not taking some pictures. Doesn't he make a cute octopus ... and he has tasty tentacles :)

train ride to the pumpkin patch

So, we found this cool place in Fillmore, CA, where you can ride the train to a pumpkin patch. We thought that since Max was so into trains, this would be a great place to go and find our pumpkins for Halloween. Well, it was definitely a cool train ride but the pumpkin patch left a little to be desired. I definitely miss Roca Berry Pumpkin Patch in Nebraska, where you can pick your own pumpkin, right off the stem. Plus, these were pretty thrashed. And it was hot out :( But, it didn't matter to Max ... he was proud of his not-so-perfect pumpkin and proudly carried it to the train. The train was totally cool, and hopefully we can do it again sometime. Here are some photos from our day. The picture of Grant in the middle of the train was the concession stand ... Grant's favorite place to visit! They had some great cream soda (according to Steve and the kids) and even better grape soda (according to me)!

Oh, I'd better not forget the coolest part of the ride! If you're a Matlock fan like me, you'll appreciate this ... Cliff was on our train ride back from the patch!!! Nobody believed me at first, but I was right (of course ... ha, ha)! I was too embarrassed to take a picture of him, but I did get one of the back of his head!! If you don't know who I'm talking about, his real name is Daniel Roebuck (www.danielroebuck.com). My second star sighting!!

blake and peas

The combination of those two are a complete mess. We got a little bit of a late start on solids because Blake wasn't very cooperative (and mom gave up!). So, here we go again ... Blake definitely loves to eat, but that darn tongue does some weird things, like push the food right back out! It's kind of funny, but messy. So, today we did peas. He ate almost a whole jar! It's good ... he needs to gain some weight. He was only 15 lbs. 10 oz. at his 6 mo. appt. The doctor wasn't worried, but I sure wondered. I've always had such chunky monkeys .. Anyway, maybe all these peas will do more than make a mess on his face and in his diaper! Ha, ha!