Claire at 6 months

Claire went to the doctor on November 2nd for her 6 month check up. She weighed 15.8 pounds and was 26 3/4 inches tall (way smaller than Isaac at this age) She only gained one pound since her 4 month check up, so I'm kinda pushing the solids now :) She has been eating solids for about a month now - she seems more interested in them than any of the other kids.

Yummy!

No, not those kind of solids!

She got her first tooth on October 9th (well, that is the day I noticed it popping through) and just the other day I noticed the one next to it is coming in. (the bottom middle teeth)

She can crawl, but not as well as the other kids were at this age. Isaac was pulling himself up by now! She sits on her own really well and sometimes goes from a crawling position to a sitting position. But mostly she would rather be carried around.

You can tell by the lovely spots on the floor that Claire often ends up
in this part of the hallway and slobbers all over it!

Halloween

One of the reasons I've been so bad about blogging is because we have also been SO bad about taking pictures! These are the ONLY pictures we got of Halloween! So lame! Claire wore a cute little lamb costume on Saturday to the town costume contest - but I didn't get any pictures of it. On Monday we put her in this costume because it was too warm for the lamb one and because all of the kids have worn this costume. (see past post about it here)

Our pumpkin carving was pretty lame this year. We were kinda in a hurry. Roy has just been so busy this semester -he didn't have any time to get creative.

I got Rae's costume on clearance last year. She is a sorceress. Blaise has been obsessed with being a magician lately, so I actually shelled out some money for his costume. He loved it, and pieces of it still get worn daily by him or Isaac, so it was worth the money!

I threw a little party at our house on Halloween. I invited the whole branch and said to bring a pot of chili to share. I provided rolls, corn bread, roasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin bread, cupcakes and punch. I knew the "big family" in our branch was coming and figured even if they were the only ones to show up it would still be fun. Well, they came, one other couple and the missionaries. But the kids had a blast and we sent the missionaries home with a ton of leftovers :) I might do it again next year but not stress over it so much. It was fun to plan an activity - it has been a while since I've been able to do that.

Other happenings

We took very few pictures in August and September. So pathetic. Here are few that we did take:

We've been spending a LOT of time outside enjoying the perfect weather. I'm so glad we bought this swing set - it has been a great addition to our backyard!

Blaise got these capes for his birthday last year and every morning Isaac puts one on and then asks Blaise to put the other one on and play superhero with him. These two boys are getting along really well right now and it's so fun to see Blaise get a chance to be the big kid. He is so good with Isaac - so patient and let's him choose what to play (so unlike his sister!)

I'm doing "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons"
with Blaise right now. I stole my sister's idea and after he finishes
25 lessons he gets to go on a date with me. He finished his first set last week
and we went out to Dairy Queen!

He is such a good big brother. He's so good with Claire and she just adores him. (yeah, I'll admit Blaise is my favorite child right now) :)

Claire found her feet recently. Yummy. Nice to have built-in chew toys when you are teething.

Claire is not the only one teething! Rae finally lost another tooth on Friday Sept.30th. She lost two back in November and this is the first one she has lost since then. She has three more that are pretty wiggly. She went to the dentist on Wednesday and everything is great!

This girl is growing up too fast! She is scooting and rolling everywhere! Ahhh, I'm not ready!

And this little guy is just as cute as ever! We've been having a hard time with jealously issues, but making sure he gets a good dose of mom in the morning and then getting Rae and Blaise to include him in their play really helps him be happy. He's talking more and more and if he takes his thumb out of his mouth you can actually understand him!

Hello Fall

We welcomed October with a trip to a farm/pumpkin patch. We didn't do any pumpkin pickin' (umm, they are cheaper at Aldi) but we did enjoy a hayride, straw maze, animal feeding/admiring and beautiful weather and scenery.

Teasing Blaise (what she does best)

Isaac was not fond of the straw maze. It had a roof over it,
so that made it quite dark and a bit too scary for this little guy.

But Rae and Blaise loved it! (You see Claire? She slept almost the whole time)

That's one cool scarecrow!

Hauling away the prisoners!

Giant catfish

Tiny bunnies

The goats were just regular-sized though

Baby chicks and baby pigs

One more hayride while I took Claire to the car to change and feed her.

"Yay, hay!"

Aren't the colors beautiful??

Camping with Oma and Opa

At beginning of every summer the kids start begging to go camping, this summer we told them that we would go when Oma and Opa came to visit for Claire's blessing. We went the last week of June (when it tends to be nice and dry) We figured it'd be easier with 2 extra adults, and we know that Opa likes to camp but Oma doesn't, so they never go camping. (we didn't tell Oma before they came -heehee) Actually, the original plan was to have the men sleep at the campsite with the kids while the women and Claire went back to the house to sleep - but the place we wanted to camp was too far to drive back for the night. So, we all stuck it out and did one night. We ended up going to the part of the campground with electric sites because the spots were much bigger and nicer. Turns out it is a lot quieter too, because the old people go back into their RVs at 8 :) Here are some pictures of the adventure:

This is Roy doing his "everyone just go away and let
me set the tent up by myself" dance

We always forget to bring a hammer!

The campground was nicer than our backyard!

Make-shift changing table

Just hanging out by the fire

Smores for dessert (of course!)

There were cicadas everywhere!

Thank goodness Oma was there to keep Claire happy!
They went on lots and lots of walks!

The next morning we did some exploring around the lake nearby.
They are looking for snakes.

We camped outside this little historic town called "Arrow Rock", so in the morning we
went into town to explore. The kids were exhausted and it was hot, so we didn't
enjoy ourselves very much.

Ended it all with some lunch and ice cream on the way home. Whew.