1st Grader

Today is Gavin's 1st day of 1st grade. He is excited to go back to school and is ready to have a great year.

The Rest of July

Jake took last week off work to spend with the kids before Gavin went back to school. He and Gavin rode bikes, swam, played video games, and went to see a movie. 

Amelia is fascinated by Jake's see through computer:

Gavin read 100 books this summer! As a reward Jake took him to eat at pizza hut and see Planes 2. Gavin's reading skills are much improved this summer, although he still refuses to sound out words most of the time. He much prefers just memorizing them instead.

 

 Gavin thinks its pretty funny to stand Amelia up:

 Amelia still refuses to eat solid foods, but she does like playing with them. To keep her entertained while we eat she plays with cheerios and drops them on the floor for Tyler.

6 months old

Monday Amelia turned 6 months old. She is healthy, weighs 17.5 lbs (81%) and is 26 in tall (63%). She has 2 teeth on the bottom in the middle and is getting 2 more on either side of those. Her sitting balance is much improved and she can now get into a sitting position on her own. She has started army crawling the past few days and is quickly picking up speed. She's still not big on solid foods but has eaten a few bites of rice cereal a few times. She has not been sleeping well, up 2-3 times many nights. Last night she was only up once, which is why I am coherent enough to post this. She is still a pretty happy baby, likes to be entertained (especially by Gavin), and would like to get her hands on everything. Our house seemed a little big with just the 3 of us, now it seems just right. It is such a joy to have her in our family. 

 Amelia is set up in the living room with a layer of memory foam under the blanket to give her a soft spot to play (and fall):

  Gavin playing with the same toy a week or so after he came to live with us (almost 9 months old):

The hard floors don't seem to slow her down any:

Baby Blessing Sunday

 It was also the first time Amelia wore shoes - she was fascinated:

4th of July

We had our usual 4th of July party with friends. It was lots of fun and I enjoyed myself by not taking one single picture. Amelia took a late evening nap and then got up after dark to watch fireworks. She liked them, shrieking with excitement at one point. None of the loud noises scared her. She got to bed for the night about 11pm, was up 4 times during the night, and then up for good at 6:30 (teething and her first cold/runny nose.) I could have used more sleep, but its hard to be too upset when this face greats you in the morning: