Tys' Fall School Party

Tys' fall school party was on Wednesday.... they enjoyed yummy treats and sang their pumpkin song and a song about falling leaves to the parents. Sadly, my camera's battery died so this is all I was able to video! Tys is doing great in school... it's so cool to see him learning these songs, letters of the alphabet, Pledge of Allegiance (which he says everyday to me!) and making new friends.

Kristiana 4 months

I am not sure where this last month went but, Kristiana is now 4 months old! Her little baby "fat rolls" continue to grow and she has almost outgrown her 3-6 month size clothes. I am anxious to see how much she weighs at her checkup next week.... She still has a passion for eating and is now eating rice cereal every evening before bed (along with a bottle and nursing!) This helps her sleep until about 1 or 2 am. After that she's awake again in about 3 hours. But, I can't complain and am thankful she goes back to sleep! She is slowly getting a schedule for during the day... with 2 older siblings in school it has been hard to get that going for her. It seemed like she just falls into a deep sleep and I have to wake her up to either drop kids off or, pick them up. Thankfully, she sleeps really well in her car seat :) Mainly she takes power naps during the day with a good nap in the late afternoon. And, thankfully she's a laid-back baby who just goes with the flow of her busy family!

This last month Kristiana has become a little more mobile and quite a bit more interactive with us. We have found her tickle spot and love to hear her laugh outloud! She still hasn't mastered the art of rolling over but, is getting really close! However, she has learned how to wiggle around on her back and push herself upwards. If I leave her lying under her entertainer to play she isn't in the same spot when I come back... instead she is lying sideways or, taggled up in the legs of entertainer... she is all smiles and quite proud of herself :) She loves to sit with her siblings on the couch and listen to cartoons or have Katie "read" her a book. And, they love to talk or sing to her; in return she rewards them with her big smiles! We are so thankful and feel so blessed for our happy & sweet baby girl!

Atlas

Kristiana enjoying a little belly time on mommy's bed... she lasts for about 5 minutes before screaming! This week is a busy one for us (which week ISN'T a busy one for us!?) as Atlas is hosting this year's national training class called WreckMaster. Approximately 20 guys from around the western states will be here for the class which, is held tomorrow thru Sunday. Casey and the other guys at Atlas have been busy preparing for this... getting the yard ready and mock "accidents" set up for practice tows. At the end of the class they will be certified for a certain level of towing according to national standards and, on the cover of a towing magazine. Anyhow, Casey won't be the only family member busy this week as I am also busy catering the class' food for the morning coffee break: cinnamon rolls, cookies, coffee cakes etc. And, am looking forward to the big bbq that's being held at Atlas on Friday night!

Morning time snuggles

Mornings are the best time of day for Kristiana to snuggle with her older sibings!

Blackie

"Blackie", our new kitty, joined our family on Monday night. She was found by a friend's son in the desert, alone and abandonded. However, she must have just been dropped off because she was still pretty clean... although very skinny. Our friend's couldn't keep her so, after a quick begging to daddy ("puh-leeze, daddy, can we have a kitty?" ) we brought Blackie home! She is a sweet kitty and caught on to the litter box right away (sigh of relief) She will be an inside kitty for the winter then, hopefully a mouse & gopher catcher in the summer. The kids LOVE her and follow her around everywhere. She is still tiny so we're supplementing her meals to get a little meat on her bones. Her favorite place to rest is in the Elmo chair :) but, she also has her own space in the laundry room. I never thought I'd be a "cat person" but, she's proving me wrong! It's nice to snuggle with her in the early mornings and listen to her purrrrrr AND, her favorite person in the house is Casey!

My Girls

On Saturday the girls and I spent the day together. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to say "my girls"! I am so thankful for each of my kids and it's always nice to have some quality one-on-one time with each child.
We began the day with Katie's soccer game and team pictures (which, the whole family went to) She is improving her soccer skills more and more each week and is learning how to pass the ball back and forth with her teammates. Afterwards, we took the boys home and headed to Elko for the day. We did some clothes shopping and ate lunch at TacoTime. I was happy when Katie voted Taco Time as the best place ever to eat because Casey doesn't care for it so we never eat there... Now I have a Taco Time buddy! Next, we headed to Wal-Mart and to Smiths for groceries. Katie was able to spend her tooth fairy money and bought a new Barbie. It was an enjoyable day with good conversations!

Kristiana continues to be a happy, smiley baby! We had a little scare last week when her neck rash began coming back... after a few days of the new medicine, it cleared up and is back to normal again... yay! She also began rice cereal last night as, she has recently gone back to waking up every 3 hours throughout the night.... uggh! So, I'm hoping the cereal will help our hungry little baby (last night didn't however, with it being her first night I wasn't able to get her to eat very much...)

Kristiana in one of Katie's old outfits... too bad I can't find the picture of Katie wearing it too.

Ducky dress

Comparison pictures of the two girls, about the same age and in the same dress!

randomness

Last night my dad stopped in for the night as he was driving through from the Grand Canyon to home. He, my mom and two of their friends had just been to the GC for 5 days.. everyone else flew home from Las Vegas yesterday so they could work and my dad drove back in the truck. We enjoyed our time with him... even if it was short!

Kristiana loves her entertainment center!! She is always giving us great big smiles and even laughs outloud now :)

Wild Fires

Last Saturday, after watching the BSU/UNR game at our friend's house, we took the kids to our local airport and watched the tanker planes come and go as they busily fought the wild fires in our area. Quite a large number of fires had started the night before after a lightning storm came through... we could see some of the flames from certain fires and smell smoke in the air. The kids loved watching the planes take off and land and, one nice guy let us in the compound so we could watch it all up close!

Trent thought all the noise and wind from the planes was just a little too loud but, he still liked it :)