My Baby Turns Six

"Padyn, what did you enjoy best about your birthday?"

"EVERYTHING!"

She seems to have had a good day.

Happy Birthday, Padyn Baby. We love you!

If you are interested in seeing Padyn's birthdays blog entries over the last couple years, go here and here. And here and here.

Photo Friday:Hi-Ya!

Padyn tested for her orange belt this past Monday. She has been in Tae Kwon Do for almost 3 months now. This was her first belt testing. Passing from white to orange is pretty simple. A few kicks, blocks and punches are about all it takes. But she was nervous beforehand. Mostly she didn't want a bunch of people watching her. Fortunately, we did her testing during her regular classtime instead of the set testing time. I think that helped ease her nerves.

Here's a few shots from the class. Her form may not be fabulous, but she does seem to like it.

posing for a sidekick

palm strikes and knee strikes

blocks

punch

final bow-thank you, ma'am

She is very excited to be getting her orange belt. I'm sure she will want to show it off in a photo or two.

Oh, but she's more excited that she turns six tomorrow. Guess I better get working on that post, too.

Happy Friday!

I Knew There Was Something Different About Us Teachers...

Kate reading to her brother from our new library book, The Teacher From the Black Lagoon:

"Robbie, this is the teacher from the black lagoon. Teachers are always from lagoons."

Photo Friday-Pumpkin Carving

I waited until the very last minute to carve pumpkins this year. Maybe that's because I waited until the very last minute to buy said pumpkins. I didn't actually buy our future jack-o-lanterns on this trip to the pumpkin patch. I didn't manage to get back to a patch until Friday, October 30th. That's right...the day before Halloween. Surprisingly, many people apparently waited until the last minute as well. When the girls and I arrived at 5:30 last Friday evening, there were a ton of people at the patch. And they weren't just petting the farm animals and winding through the hay maze. They were also purchasing pumpkins. Needless to say, we waited at least 20 minutes in line to pay for ours. But, in the end, I think it was worth it. The girls were pretty happy with how their pumpkins turned out. Here's the photo breakdown...

Upon arriving at the impossibly crowded pumpkin patch, the girls and I spent the first few minutes conquering the hay pyramids.The next morning (yes...we didn't carve until Halloween morning), we set up shop in the front yard while the baby took an excessively long nap. Each girl picked a pattern out of one of those carving kits and Mommy got to work. I have to say, Padyn did an impressive job scraping out her pumpkin. Kate took a few stabs at it and then left the rest to me. She was more concerned with washing the other pumpkins.

And here we are with our creations...

On display Halloween night. First, with the flash... ...and here without the flash.
We didn't get many trick or treaters. Possibly they all came earlier when we were on the other side of town with our friends. So, if you come over sometime during the next few months, expect to be offered candy. We have lots of candy.

I just realized there are no pictures of young Robert in this post! So, here's a random one of the boy...

Happy Friday!

I just walked in and found this...

I think I may have to hide the iTouch...

World Conquerers

Who is dressing the older one these days?

Halloween

I know, I know...I haven't posted any Halloween pics yet. But really, there aren't many good ones. You can look at these two while I sort out the rest...

Since you might not be able to tell, I should tell you who everyone is. Kate was a ballerina. She was going to be a bunny...that's what she wore to school on Thursday. I stitched a cotton ball tail on her pink footy jammies and everything! But we had a last minute change of heart. I'm not sure if it was the tutu or the tap shoes that excited her more. Padyn was a unicorn. Not just any unicorn...she is Goldalicious. We don't own the book yet, but I'm sure we will soon. And Robbie was Tigger. Mommy? She's a Mommy, of course!

Here's a fuller explanation of Padyn's outfit. It all started when our friends decided to be Pinkalicious and Purplicious. If you have girl children in your house and you don't have these books, you might want to get them. They aren't my all time favorites (that's reserved for the Olivia and Fancy Nancy series), but they are decent. Anyways, Goldalicious is the newest book in the series. She is Pinkalicious's imaginary unicorn. Padyn had already said she wanted to be a unicorn, so when we found out that Ninners was going to be Pinkalicious, it seemed like a natural fit. They were pretty happy to complete the series that way.Now if we could only get Purplicious to smile...

All By Myself

Apparently my son can sit up by himself now. I didn't notice it until he was in my lap tonight. I let go to type something on the computer and he remained upright. So, I tested it out with the Boppee as support. Here's the proof...

He's six and a half months now.

Other updates...

At his 6 month check-up last week, Robbie weighed in at 16 pounds, 9 ounces. He is still in the 25th percentile for height and weight, but what do you expect from a kid who wanted to enter the world 4 weeks early?

We are now at two solid feedings a day...they consist of brown rice cereal, pears and bananas, or some combination of those three. He loves it. He is still getting 6 or 7 liquid feedings a day, as well. Talk about a lot of eating.

He's napping 3 or 4 times a day and is sleeping 8 hours at night. He's up for a feeding around 4 or 5 am, then back to sleep for another couple hours. The time change has shifted things for him a bit-he's very bright eyed and bushy tailed by 6:45am now. Mommy's not so thrilled about that.

He continues to love jumping in his exersaucer. I'll have to post the video I have of it. You'd swear he was going to launch himself right out of the thing.

He is into grabbing everything he can reach...he's particularly fond of my hair. He also puts everything in his mouth. But the upside of that is he's figured out how to get his pacifier into his mouth on his own. Now if he could only keep it there...

I know I seem rushed, but that's because he's lying here on the couch next to me yelling. It's bedtime. But I'll leave you with one last picture...

He was one tired Tigger Halloween night.