Last fall we decided we were bursting at the seams in our house. Tessa is in our room, the girls are in bunk beds, which is fine, except for the ceiling fan that keeps the room cool in the summer is right next to the top bunk. And with the kids getting bigger, the house seemed to be getting smaller. So Nate and I started looking into new housing options. We visited various model homes and looked at a few things for sale here in Lehi. In November we decided to build and picked out a floor plan and a lot. Then right after Thanksgiving we put our house up for sale. We thought with the holidays, we really wouldn't have any interest in the house until after the new year. And knowing that house building is a bit of a slow process, we thought we had a lot of time to worry about selling the house. Well, just before Christmas, about three weeks after we put it up for sale we had a buyer. We went to Oregon for Christmas and then came back home and put ourselves into moving mode.
We packed up all non-essentials and stored them. Then I found a place to rent and we were out of our house by the end of January. After we had cleaned everything out we took an opportunity to go say goodbye to our home of almost seven years. It was good to hear everyone's favorite memories and think of all the changes we underwent as a family. We moved into the house with two little kids and left with four. We tried to improve things in the house and yard. We made many great friends and had great neighbors.
We are excited to move onto the next chapter and see our new house when it is finished! We have been blessed to be happy and close wherever we are!
Isabella participated in the Legacy Center Think Pink meet on February 10th. She is getting more and more competitive and really wants to improve each meet. She works so hard and is determined. Her teacher came to the meet which was so fun! Bella was thrilled to see her there! This meet was a little different than previous ones as it was in the evening. It was way past bedtime when we finished up. The next day, Bella was a score runner for the older girls, she loved it!
My dear friend Nicole took pictures of Tessa for me this past week. They turned out so good, I can't believe she is six months old already. I keep trying to soak up every moment with her, but they still pass by quickly.
At her six month check up Tessa weighed in at 15 lbs. 11 oz. She is 26 and a half inches long. She can sit on her own and roll all around. She is a mama's girl and prefers me most of the time. She has started eating food and loves oatmeal with bananas. She hates peaches, we'll try again later. And anything she can eat off my plate she loves best. No teeth yet, but lots of drooling and biting on things.
Tessa loves Isabella and she will hang out with her after school. Bella always asks to hold her and take care of her, I love having a good little helper. Jack has to constantly defend his glasses when he plays with her, she tears them off and throws them away. Sophie likes to hold her for about 10 seconds at a time, then she has other stuff to do.
I think this is my favorite picture. Isabella and Sophie each have a picture of themselves with angel wings when they are six months old. I am so glad Nicole found some. Despite weighing the most at birth, Tessa is the smallest at six months old. All that spitting up in the early months. Thankfully she seems to outgrown a lot of that and I can go a full day without a burp rag as opposed to using a dozen or so.
It seems we have been busy every day this month. I forget how fall flies by with sports and school and the days getting shorter on top of that. We have been filling our days with gymnastics, football, school, sewing, playing, and spending time with good friends.
Tessa had her four month check up at the beginning of the month-how did that happen?
She weighs in at 14 pounds and is doing great. Despite all of Nate and my efforts to keep her a newborn, she has grown out of that stage and is becoming interested in the world around her. I have soaked up every moment of her babyhood thus far, leaving a much shabbier state of things around the house.
Sophie is the firework she always is, she is a mini-Jack in so many ways. She wants to have fun all the time, she is always seeing what angle will work for her and going after that. She has been such a trooper at all her siblings sporting events. I did pack her a special backpack and get her a special chair to help with that, and it has worked.
She colors and reads and snacks and plays. She also had a checkup and a few shots this month. She is almost 40 inches tall and about 35 pounds. Jack has been QB on his football team this season-follow progress of that at In The Zone.
They have finished their regular season with a 6-1 record and are ready to head into the playoffs. Bella is halfway through her first season of competition gymnastics.
She is doing really well and gaining such confidence in the process. When she doesn't perform how she thinks she should, she comes off the floor and details what she will need to work on next time. Excuse my commentary, I underestimate my loudness often.
Now we are getting all settled on Halloween Costumes and plans for the holidays. It seems once you hit October, everything moves at lightening speed. I am still sticking with the Want, Need, Wear, Read plan for the kids Christmas gifts, it has really simplified shopping over the past few years. I need to get started on that.
This is the video from Bella's first meet. She was third overall for her age group! We are so proud of her. The video is taken by me while holding Tessa and occasionally cheering.
Vault
Bars-I always think this is her best event. I think it was her highest score.
Beam-she struggled the most on this one. But I love her graceful lines.
Floor-they have been working on this routine for so long. Bella had a great time at this meet and is looking forward to the next one!
Sophie turned four this past Monday! It was a minimal day at school so the big kids got out early and we met up with Nate for lunch. Well, let me back up, we began her birthday celebrations at 6:30 am that morning. We seem to have filled evenings these days and we didn't want Sophie to have to wait to open her presents and play with them til almost bedtime, so we just started very early.
My mom had brought her presents down when I had Tessa, so she had quite a bunch of stuff to open.
So we spent the early morning opening presents and singing. Then we got the kids off to school and Nate off to work and Sophie and I played with her presents until it was time to go get the kids. We ate lunch at Zupas then came home and I finished decorating her cake.
She requested a cake that looked like Ariel, I did my best, but it really isn't my forte. I think cake without faces are easier. Then we took Jack and Bella to their practices and came home to get ready to go to the mascot bowl. We met up with Nate and headed over to the high school to watch a bunch of mascots play football with the Lehi eighth grade teams. It was a good time and we didn't get home until way too late.
Four great things about Sophie: 1. She is exuberant, really excited about most things. We love to see how she smiles when she runs, it's pure joy.
2. She is really helpful with Tessa, she has been very patient ever since she was born. She loves Tessa and it shows. 3. Sophie is funny, she says the funniest things all the time, we need to be better about writing them down. Her observations of the world are pretty keen, and she isn't afraid of asking for what she wants and being clear with people.
4. She is smart, she knows so many things. I think she will have a ball when she starts school in a few years, in the mean time, we do joy school and lessons at home. She gets frustrated when she doesn't just know things-very reminiscent of Jack in that way.
We love Sophie and I am glad she had such a fun birthday!
The weather is cooling down, it's not cold by any means, but you can tell that fall is on its way. I take a lot of pictures with my phone to send to my mom and Nate. But a funny thing happens, they don't often get the picture I send, they get a random picture I deleted months ago. This is a good lesson to never take pictures you don't want the world to see. I have no idea how the wrong picture finds its way through the ether, but it does. Usually if I take another picture and keep sending, the right image ends up in the right place eventually, but I only do this if I have a fully charged phone and some time. Anyway, I downloaded all the pics I took this summer and here are a few highlights.
In the hospital
Scary Hands
Pool in the backyard
Sisters
Mom, I want a haircut
Loves scarves
Neptune
I have 40 of these and it's not enough
Gummy Grin!
Splash Park
34 years old
Great form Bella
BYU Bookstore
Crab Spider
Artistic Concentration
He can finish a footlong
She can't finish a 4 inch
Hard earned football cards
Mom, please take my picture
Multitasking
Going shopping
Just a boy with a ukelele
Costco
QB
QT
So, the older kids and Nate are hardly ever with me when I am taking pictures. Tessa and Sophie and I spend the most time together-makes sense. My cell phone says it holds 4975 pictures, doesn't that seem unlikely? It would be shocking if I filled it up. Of course if I did, even more random pictures would go to those I send picture mail to.
