many much things

A lot has happened over the last couple of weeks or so. Kate has started sitting up more and more on her own. I still keep a boppy behind her in case she goes down backward. She is also a crawling machine! She pushes herself up on her hands and knees and then kind of flops along, but she is quick. She also likes to almost like run in place up on her tip toes while she's crawling. It's adorable. Also, Kate's two bottom teeth are in, and she's working on her top teeth.


Kate sitting up in her boppy looking at me with her weird eyes. (My friend Leah, who I haven't seen for like 7 years or so, came over two weeks ago with her children. Her 4-year-old asked me why Kate had such weird eyes. "Her eyes are staring," she said. It made me laugh. Also, it was great to see my old friend!)

Colin and Nate were throwing a ball back and forth in Colin's room. Normally I don't approve of throwing balls in the house (not that that phases Nate), but Nate was teaching Colin how to catch. It was cute, and Colin got so excited.

While I was neglecting Kate one day she fell asleep in her exersaucer. I knew she was tired, but I really had to get my bread in the oven, so I just left her there until I finished. This is what I found. She didn't even stir when I moved her to her bed.

We had a little family get together before Hannah and the Hiatts went back home to Iowa. My brother-in-law Scott and his kids stayed at our house Monday night. Here's a picture of Hannah playing with Kate while a pensive Scott ponders in the background.

Addi quite liked Colin's truck. She was really good at walking along behind it. A grown-up had to walk along behind her though, just in case she fell over.

I don't remember what my crazy kid was doing when I took this picture, but he is adorable.

I decided this last week that I should try giving Kate some rice cereal before I took her in for her 6 month checkup tomorrow. Here are some pictures from her first sampling of "solid" foods. I made it with some ready-to-eat formula I had from the hospital, and it was a little thicker than I intended, so she was not a fan. Notice the fear in her eyes in the first picture. She's a lot better with it now, after a few more attempts, especially since I switched to using great tasting breast milk.

I was wearing this awesome apron that my mother-in-law made for me for my birthday the other day while I was making some bread. Colin saw me and decided he also wanted to wear the apron.

His penchant for aprons didn't end there. He went to the neighbors' house to play with his friend Mary, and he came home wearing this cute little number. He also found my vacuum and decided to be a "big helper." (His words.)

Kate wanted in on the apron action too. The next day my apron was in a heap on my bedroom floor, and Kate crawled over to it and got herself tangled up in it.

On Saturday Nate, my mom, the kids and I went up Camp Williams to meet my brother as he came home from Afghanistan. We got there at 9:45, but Grant didn't arrive on the bus until about 11:45. It was a looooong 2 hours. Some of Grant's wife's family was also there, as well as my friend Dave from high school, who was there to see Will, another friend from high school. It was fun to visit with Dave and hear some of his stories about kickin' it in DC with the President.We made some signs for Grant for the kids to hold. Colin's said "UNCLE GRANT is a MARINE" because that's what Colin says.  I also wanted to make one that said "Uncle Grant Marine mission Afghanistan" because that's another of Colin's phrases, but I didn't. I don't have any pictures of him with Kelli because I was taking video when he arrived. I figured everyone else there with cameras would take the pictures. After our 2 hour wait we only talked with Grant for about 10 minutes before we left. He had been up for a couple of days and needed to go home to sleep. We're still waiting for him to wake up so we can see him.

Grant with his nieces and nephews.

Grant giving his mommy a hug.

I took this picture of Kate while I was holding her. This sign has unicorns and Sleeping Beauty and hearts and says "Best Marine Ever."

My mom and Colin wearing his special "No Mission Impossible" Marine shirt.

Grant with Kelli and her mom.

My children all dressed up for Memorial Day.

Colin wanted to hold Kate for a picture. 

Kate even sat up on her own for one, but Colin's face didn't cooperate.

Yay pretty baby!

Another apron picture. I asked him to pose and this is what I got.

We had a bbq on Memorial Day with Nate's family. (My family hid downstairs and ate the leftovers.) We were celebrating Tia's and Kaylee's birthdays since Kaylee will be on vacation during her birthday. 

The big bag is from us. 

It contained newspaper and these earrings.

Kate tried crawling in her bath Monday night. It was hilarious. I have video, but not on this computer.

These last ones are from yesterday. They were supposed to be from today, but I couldn't get this blog finished in one day. Boo. 


Colin and his best friend in the whole wide world, Mary Nelson. Notice another apron. Sigh.

Weird staring eyes. But cute.

Three pictures that all have the same caption—Mom throwing a ball at Colin's head.

Last night Colin was blowing on Nate's belly while Nate was lying on the floor. Then Colin got up and said he was going to sit on "Daddy's seatbelt." That would be Nate's belt on his pants. We laughed pretty hard. As far as house stuff goes, Nate has the beds outside all ready to plant. We just need to decide what to plant. The garden is good to go. Beans and squash and cucumbers have been replanted, and we added some tomatoes. Nate's almost got the drip system finished. We're still working on getting a fence. I think that is all. My babies are crying for me.