Montana

Penny and I got to go to Montana this past weekend for a few days of rest and relaxation.

We joined a couple from our church who has a house in Bigfork, on Flathead Lake. This is the view from their backyard.

Another beautiful view from their neighborhood.

One afternoon we went out on the lake and puttered around, grabbing a bite to eat at a lakeside restaurant and enjoying the amazing scenery.

The weather was in the mid 80's during the day and the upper 40's at night. Such a nice break from the St. Louis heat!

We flew over the Rocky Mountains on our way in - there is still snow on top of them!

Painting

It takes a good mood for me to be willing to get the paint out for the girls. For some reason I feel like it makes a huge mess, though many times it's not actually that bad.

The girls love to paint, and it's been fun to see Mead improve in her "art" as she gets older. Lots of colors and full pages make it really pretty! Paint on, Mead.

9 month check-up

I took Cole to the doctor this morning for his 9-month check-up. There's no denying it - he is a big boy! He weighs 24 lbs 12 oz. (94%), measures 29 inches (75%), and his head is 47.5 cm (95%)!! The predominant comment I hear from everyone is about how smiley he is. We love it!

He's been a little slow to move and speak, but hopefully those things will develop soon. He's been rocking on his knees lately, so crawling could happen any day now.

We found out he had an ear infection, though he didn't complain about it. Once that clears up he should be able to hear better, and he may start repeating sounds a little more. His only consonant so far is m, so he says "ma ma ma" all the time. I'll take it!

Birthday, cont'd.

Last week was Laine's birthday, and she seemed to have a wonderful day. She requested to go to the zoo, so we braved the almost 100 degree weather. Then we met Daddy at Red Robin for lunch - the balloons were a big plus.

Here's the cake I made for Laine - she's been really excited about Rapunzel lately! And since we had already devoured the cake at her gymnastics party, we served chocolate chip zucchini bread with a candle at breakfast on her actual birthday. Yummy!

Laine has loved being 5 already, regularly talking about being a "big girl." I know she's grown an inch this summer, and I look forward to see all the other ways she will grow - physically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually - this year. We love you, Laine!

9 months

Cole is 9 months old, and he's getting so big! He weighs about 24 pounds. (I'll take him for his official check-up in a couple weeks.) He continues to eat well, smile a lot, and laugh at his sisters. He is starting to move forward a little when he is on his tummy, though it's still not a productive crawl yet. I can tell already that he'll get into everything as soon as he figures out how! We love you, big guy!!

Happy Birthday Laine!

Laine turned 5 today - how is that possible?! This weekend we celebrated with her friends by having a gymnastics birthday party. Laine had a great time!

We played games for a while with the big parachute, and then everyone did lots of jumping, running, and tumbling.

Everyone got inside the parachute dome and sang happy birthday.

Laine's best buddy, Ellie.

The whole birthday group.

Eagerly waiting to blow out the candles.

More birthday and gymnastics pictures to come!

Grant's Farm

It's been a while since we visited Grant's Farm, so Rachel Banks and I ventured there with the kids today.

Our first stop was to feed the goats, and both girls wanted to take a turn.

I thought Mead was going to be afraid of the goats, but she did a great job and handled the onslaught well.


Hard to believe that the first time Laine fed the goats at Grant's Farm she was celebrating her first birthday - riding on my hip for safety!

Look at those beautiful blue eyes!

Ahh... the mist helped us all cool off a little.

This is typical Mead - she is such a wanderer - never in a hurry to get anywhere. Meanwhile, Laine is yards ahead and already exploring the next exciting thing.

A bit of a silly family picture at the end of our visit today - we had a great time.