Audrie: 6 Months

Audrie turned 6 months old today!!! It is hard to imagine our life without this precious girl.

Here are a few shots of her snacking on some packaging materials. She hasn't started solid foods yet, but she has eaten her fair share of paper. I guess that's what happens when you're kid #3.

Mmmm . . . delicious.

And here's one of her after her morning nap. She has blue eyes like her brother and sister, but they aren't quite as bright.

Audrie is seldom happy holding still. I remember that even during her first tummy times she would try to push off by digging her feet into the carpet. On the day she turned 4 months old she scooted herself backward and got stuck underneath the couch. Last week she had both the kids laughing hard when she pulled herself up to the side of the laundry basket and started gnawing on it, and just today she attempted to climb up a stair! She will, however, stop for minutes at a time, sit up and enjoy sucking on whatever she managed to get her hands on. Everything goes right into her mouth.

Audrie is a bit bigger than Ashlyn was at her age. I need to get out the measuring tape and scale so I can get some exact stats. What I'm judging it on is the clothes that Audrie fits into. She has been wearing a lot of 6-9 month outfits for over a month now. I don't think of her as particularly chubby, but she has some nice arm and leg rolls and people are always commenting on her gooshy cheeks! She has the fairest complexion of all of my children and her cheeks seem to get very easily irritated - they are often dry and red, so I'm always putting Cheek and Chin Balm on them.

One of the up sides of being the third kid is that Audrie has an older sister and brother that absolutely adore her. It melts our hearts to hear Carter say "I wuv you audwie." Ashlyn also likes to tell us that "Audrie is the cutest baby in the whole wide world." It doesn't have to be true, but it sure makes us happy that she thinks so! We think she's pretty great ourselves!!!

Audrie: 5 1/2 months

Audrie will actually be 6 months old next week, but I thought I'd put up a few cute pictures now (who knows if I'll even get to a 6 month update). Audrie likes to be wherever the action is, so a lot of times she will play happily on the floor with anything as long as Ashlyn, or Carter, or Mom or Dad is nearby.

She is a drool monster!

I love this shot of her stretching for a toy. She just barely started doing a little army crawl, so she can now move forward and get what she wants. I think it has been frustrating for her because despite her best efforts, she could only push herself backwards.

Success!

Carter Man

Carter . . .

loves bananas (and every other fruit),

likes to join in when anyone is playing band hero,

and really loves to rock out with his dad.

Taking Juston to the MTC

Yesterday Juston went into the MTC. He is going to be there until February 14th when he leaves for the Tacoma Washington mission! We always love having Juston around because he is so chill and fun, but we know he's going to love his mission!

Here are some pictures we took in front of the temple right before dropping him off (at the curb!)

A Very Merry Christmas!

It was a very Merry Christmas! I just love celebrating this holiday with young children . . . it's magical!

Let It Be Written

Ashlyn can write the names of everyone in her family!

Let it Snow!

Although our winter here in Utah started out quite mild, we have still enjoyed a good deal of snow. We've had it light and we've had it medium and we've had it heavy!

Here are the kids outside playing in the snow on a light day. You'll notice that they are just wearing jackets and boots with their normal clothes (for Ashlyn that would be a dress). They've made quite an impressive little snowman, haven't they?


Here are a couple of pictures of them outside on a medium snow day. To me, this is the perfect snow. Fluffy, plentiful, but not on the sidewalks or roads.

Then there are the heavy snow days where even Brad can't resist going outside to play. Here he is building a snow fort:

And here is Juston's snow fort:

Ashlyn is digging with Daddy's shovel trying to find her shovel buried under the snow somewhere. I guess that's what happens when we leave our toys/tools out.

Carter enjoyed the mountains of snow too.

I don't think I'd like snow like this too often, but once in a while it's pretty fun!