Lilly Grace at 7 Months

It's hard to believe that my baby girl is already 7 months and getting ready for her first Christmas! She is growing by leaps and bounds, and amazes us each and every day. Since my last entry, she has learned, tried, and experienced so many new and wonderful things.

She can sit up completely on her own and thinks that she is such a big girl! She loves the world from this vertical view!

Lilly is also on the move (sort of)! Although she is not crawling yet, she still manages to get to where she is going. She rolls over and over like a roly poly, she scoots on her bottom while she is sitting down and she digs her heals in while she is laying on her back and pushes herself backwards.

She started solids about a month and a half ago and absolutely loves them! We are very lucky that there really hasn't been a food that we've tried that she hasn't liked. She loves all of the fruits and the sweeter yellow & orange vegetables, but she also eats her green vegetables pretty good too. She wasn't too sure about green beans and peas at first, but after a few bites, she figured out that they aren't that bad! We have been giving her tiny nibbles of softer "big people" food recently, but she still isn't so sure about them yet!

She has said a couple of words now, with her first word being "mama"!!! (Manuel was soooo jealous)! She did finally manage "dada" too, so Manuel is happy! Even though she has only managed these couple of words, she "talks" all of the time!!! It makes my heart so happy just to listen to her.

She is so happy and smiles and laughs all of the time! She loves to play with us, but is also completely content to play by herself with her toys or in her exersaucer. Her bubba's can make her laugh and smile like no other, and she absolutely lights up whenever she sees her daddy. It is the sweetest thing!

She also loves her nanny! It is nice to have someone come to our house to watch her, and Brandy is so good with her. I love knowing that my baby is so well taken care of when I am not here and that she is completely being catered to!

These are her 6 month pictures that Brandy's husband took. He is just getting started with his photography, and did a wonderful job! Thanks Chris!

Play Time

Lilly loves playing in her exersaucer at night! She stands, spinns around, jumps, plays with the toys and laughs the whole time! She especially likes it when Rocky comes over for Lilly to pet him! Thanks to our cousin Harper for letting us borrow such a fun toy!

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Gabriel's ATA Belt Test

Gabriel tested Friday for his decided purple belt. He did a great job and received his decided stripe today during the belt ceremony. Ryan skipped out on this testing period but will be ready come December 12 to test for his black belt!

Lilly hanging out with Aunt Laurie during Gabe's test.

Purple Belt decided - woo hoo!!

Sweet Lilly waiting patiently during today's ceremony.

Fun With Family

We spent this afternoon out at Justin and Hayley's house hanging out. While me, Hayley, and the babies stayed inside crafting and playing, the boys were outside with my brother working. They put together a trailer for Justins lawn mower, took a quick trip to Home Depot, and planted 2 trees. It was a fun afternoon!!!

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"gr" Blend Expert

Gabriel was named the "gr" blend expert for his class this week. We had to come up with a list of thing that start with his blend, write a sentence using at least 2 words with his blend, and take a picture of him holding something that starts with his blend. Gabe came up with 5 "great" words and the sentence: "The green grass is great!".

Gabe with grapes and a groundhog sitting on green grass!

Lilly at 4 Months

Lilly turned 4 months old on Sunday! It's hard to believe my baby girl is that big already!!! We went to see Dr. Mercer today for her 4 month checkup, and she is doing great! She weighed 14 lbs. 5 oz. (75th percentile), and was 26 1/2 inches long (97th percentile). I am also proud of the fact that she is still strictly on breast milk! I wasn't able to nurse the boys, so I am really enjoying this aspect of motherhood with Lilly.

Lilly loves to talk! She babbles all day long. I can't wait until those babbles turn into words. She drools like crazy and loves to put everything in her mouth and gum it to mush. She can sit with a little bit of help and loves to jump up and down! Since this tends to make our arms really tired, I am glad the Manuel's mom bought her a jumper! She loves it! She gets her feet and legs kicking really fast and laughs. It's really cute!

Lilly spins herself around on her play mat like a clock. You can set her down one minute, and then the next she is turned all of the way around! She has also rolled over a couple of times, more on accident than anything. She can make it over to her side pretty well, but hasn't figured out how exactly she made it all the way over before! Give her a little bit more time, and she will have it down like a champ!

Lilly is such a joy and we are so blessed to have her in our lives!

Gabriel's 1st Lost Tooth!!!

Gabriel lost his first tooth on Sept. 2nd!!! The tooth was soooo ready to come out, but any time I would mention pulling it, he would start crying and freaking out! He was so scared it was going to hurt that he wouldn't let me near it. Finally, when his tooth was nearly horizontal, I was able to bribe him to let me pull it. It cost me $2 to pull that tooth on the first yank, but we finally got it out! Gabe was totally shocked that it didn't hurt. He told me, "Mommy, I was just scared because I didn't know". It was really cute! Between the $2 he got for letting me pull the tooth, and the $5 the tooth fairy brought him, he thought he was rollin' in it! That money was burning a hole in his pocket, so we had to take a trip to Wal Mart so he could buy something!

Adult / Youth Fishing Tournaments

Manuel fished an adult/youth tournament series this summer with the boys. There were 4 tournaments and then a championship. He rotated taking the boys to each of the regular tournaments, and then took Ryan to the championship at Lake O.H. Ivy.

Ryan caught several fish throughout the series. Manuel usually ends up hooking all of the fish and lets the boys reel them in, but at the first tournament, Ryan caught his very first fish all by himself! He was so excited!!!

Gabe was a little less interested in the tournaments this year and played his DS most of the time. He didn't want to touch any of the fish, so I don't have any pictures of him to post. He just enjoyed his time alone with daddy!

For the championship, we all went to the lake for the weekend - even Lilly! We rented a cabin on the lake and enjoyed a nice, relaxing weekend together as a family. Manuel & Ryan didn't catch anything, but they were still pretty excited to have made it that far. All of the kids at the championship got a trophy and a box filled with lures and baits (which of course made Gabe extremely jealous). Gabe was okay with Ryan fishing the championship until about 5:30 am when they were ready to go. He started crying and saying "Daddy don't leave me! I want to go too!". I wish both boys could have fished the tournament, but unfortunately they only allow one child per adult. Gabe will have his turn next year. Of course after we had humongous homemade pancakes and bacon at the cafe, he was totally over it! =0)

1st Day of School 2009

The boys started back to school on Aug. 24th. It's pretty hard to believe that Ryan is now in the 4th grade and Gabriel in 1st! Gabe couldn't wait to start back, while Ryan was a little less enthusiastic.

Gabe's teacher is Ms. Read. He told me after Meet the Teacher night that she must really love reading to be named after it!!! So cute! He is absolutely loving 1st grade and is learning a lot! I think one of his favorite things (aside from chicken fried steak Thursday's) is reading! He likes being able to read his books all by himself now. I hope his love for reading never fades!

Ryan's homeroom teacher is Mrs. Sellers. He switches classes 4 times each day, which he thinks is pretty cool! He has to be much more on top of things now, which has been okay so far (but then again they have only been back in school for 3 weeks).

We are getting in a groove now, and both are enjoying themselves! It can get a little difficult trying to help them both with their homework at the same time since they are so easily distracted, but we are managing!

First Dallas Cowboys Game at New Staduim!!!

We were very excited to be able to attend the very first Cowboys game at their new stadium on August 21st! My Aunt Laurie came over to watch Lilly while Manuel and I took the boys to the game. It was only a pre-season game, but we were still happy to be there (not so happy about having to pay $50 to park at the Rangers stadium and hike over)!

The stadium is absolutely HUGE! Our seats were in the nose bleed section, and for some strange reason, Manuel thought we should take the stairs instead of the escalator... By the time we reached the top floor, we were all huffing and puffing!

Since our seats were so high, we loved the HUMONGOUS big screen! I think we ended up watching most of the game on the screen instead of down on the actual stadium floor! The boys of course had to have some popcorn and cotton candy while we were there, and I had some yummy chili & cheese nachos.

We survived the evening with Gabe only falling one time and skinning his knee (which is pretty good if you know Gabe)! Luckily our seats were near the first aid station, so I was able to get him some band aids, which are his cure all!

We all had a great time, and hope to make it back again sometime soon!!! =0)

Texas Rangers Game

Manuel took the boys to a Rangers game before school started. They all had fun on their boys night out! Of course the boys liked it that they got to eat hot dogs, cokes, popcorn and cotton candy too!!!