what my iphone saw last week

tired baby

swim lessons + a little light reading while waiting
Carter's favorite pastime + school thanksgiving projects

all curled up + doesn't really like the snow

Thanksgiving smiley potatoolive fingers at the holiday table
my Christmas helpersour first fake tree - I want a real one
my favorite ribbon hair so far
playing in the mirror

brad-man

That's the newest nickname lately. Little Brad-man. He's 10 months old now! I can't believe time is going so fast. He is still the most fun-loving little guy, and always on the move. He is definitely the most active of all our kids at this age, which is really saying something after Carter. I look like a ridiculous wrestling match at church every week with Brad on, in, and all over my lap.

He LOVES these rings from the stackable sets. He likes to have one in each hand, and crawl around. I always laugh when I see him heading down the hall like that. He also takes them into the kitchen and throws them around over and over to see what they do. I think he likes the sound of it.

He also likes to do this yoga move. It's hard work, hence the drool.


Smiley boy, and little toes.

And here he is, ready to go golfing.

Or maybe a little gaming first. Also notice the awesome mohawk - mommy's favorite hairstyle. Yes, babies can have hairstyles too.

Other Brad facts: he's getting to be a picky eater - no more grapes (cut up small, mom), yogurt bites, or those meltaway snacks. Yet he eats everything on the floor. He thinks Carter is the funniest person on earth. He makes the weirdest little donald duck/growl/tv-static noise, which I have yet to catch on video. He is the best at going to sleep, just lay him down in bed and not a peep you'll hear. But he's not the best at staying asleep. He still likes his pacifier. He looks more and more like a blonde Stuart everyday. He is a speed crawler, and is now walking around while holding on to furniture. He's starting to wave. He will crawl over anything, no matter how inconvenient, instead of going around it. He plays shy-baby, putting his head on my shoulder when someone talks to him. The kid seriously won't sit still for more than 2 seconds - he's definitely not a cuddler. He goes into Carter & Addie's room whenever the door is left open - it's a jackpot in there! He loves going outside, but hates when it's too windy. When he's mad, he'll hold his breath and make his face turn bright red for a really long time, I almost think he's going to pass out any second!

Cam & Jewels

My parents came out to visit us in August. It was so much fun having them here and showing them around. Of course we had to do the big things like Rushmore and Devil's Tower, but we were also able to hang out at the park, shop around town, and celebrate Carter's birthday. Here are some picture highlights of our time together.
In order: Rushmore, hiking at the tower, Carter's new winter boots (I'm a little jealous), and the park

carter gibs

I've been calling Carter "Gibs" more and more lately, which really confuses everyone around me. I'm always explaining that his middle name is Gibson. But there is another Carter on his soccer team and in his church class, so I find it easier to call him Gibs. This kid had a lot of action in one week: 7th birthday, then first day of 2nd grade, and a new soccer team. He's loving it all though. Here are first-day-of-school pictures. This is the first one I got after asking him to smile big - it's blurry because I was laughing that he looks so crazy.

Then a nice one, and one with Adelynn.


And a few from his birthday. He wanted pizza (not homemade, he requested), rootbeer, and chocolate & vanilla cake for his birthday dinner. This kid is so easy.
And so handsome.

bring on the toddlers & tiaras

We put Addie in a pageant. And by we, I really mean I, because Stuart didn't have anything to do with it. Now, before you go thinking that I'm turning into some crazy mom a la Toddlers & Tiaras, let me tell you that this was a natural pageant. No fake nails, hair, eyelashes, tans allowed. It was a small local pageant, School House Rock theme with only 4 girls in her age group. She had to show party wear and casual wear, plus a photogenic category. She won most photogenic with the picture above. This is seriously my favorite picture of her.
Her casual wear outfit was a little school girl theme, with shorts, knee-highs, and a cardigan. I wish we had a picture of it, she was so cute doing her little routine in it. Surprisingly, Addie was pretty shy on stage; she kept looking back at me for cues on what to do next even though she had everything down pat. So she didn't look at the judges very much, but she was cute as a button. She was eager to go back on stage after everything was over though, and says she wants to do another one. It was a fun little event for us to work on together.

All the girls in her group.
Being crowned for Mini-Supreme Queen, which is like second place. She also won Most Beautiful, and Most Photogenic.
This is her little friend, Zoee, who won overall. They had a lot of fun doing this together.

end of summer fun

Today was the first day of school.....YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS! Even though only 1/3 of my kids are away for the day, it makes such a difference. Less noise, less fighting, better naps, and a more laid back mommy. First-day-of-school pictures to come soon.

Anyway, here's what we were up to this last month before school. Going to the pool, going to the pool, and going to the pool, with a trip to the lake thrown in the middle somewhere. Gillette has a great city pool that is free. Yes people, free! I thought I would have to stand in line forever everytime we went, but 20 minutes was the longest we ever had to. It's totally awesome for my kids' ages. I could just let Carter and Addie loose in the shallow end and they were in heaven. I also have the best tan I've had in years. (Not hard to say after coming from Oregon though.) The snow-cones that we usually ate on the lifeguards' breaks weren't bad either. And Brad loved it from the first moment we put him in. Another bonus, he now enjoys bath time as well. He is hilarious to watch in the pool though, non-stop kicking and a constant smile.


First time in. He doesn't look that thrilled here, but trust me, he's loving it. And don't worry, he had on proper swim attire every time we went after this.
We often met friends there. The boys liked to jump off the side, while the girls liked sunbathing by the side of the pool.



And here's the lake that's about a 45 minute drive for us. We just decided to check it out one day, and we definitely picked the right day. Some friends of ours happened to go out the same day, and they were nice enough to let us ride their jet skis! It was Carter and Addie's first time out, and while they were a little scared at going too fast, they couldn't stop talking about it afterwards.

6 months and counting

The little Brad-Boy is already 6 months old! His stats from his check-up: 16lbs 11oz, and 26 1/4 inches long. He is our lightest and longest baby so far. I asked the kids what his talents are and they replied with rolling over, eating, trying to sit up, and screaming. That's about right.
Brad is such a vocal baby, he is constantly talking. Especially when he's getting attention from his siblings. He loves eating now - the only thing he hasn't really liked that we've given him is peas. I can't really blame him. But everything else goes down without a fight. He has started recognizing his bottle and freaks out whenever it's time to eat and he sees it. And he has definitely mastered rolling over. He's constantly going back and forth across the living room, getting his hands on whatever toys have been left behind by the kids. A few other things to note: he scratches at his head and face when going to sleep, he likes his pacifier, he smiles all the time, he likes going in the pool, he loves sucking on burp cloths or any other type of cloth.
Here are a few pictures I took last week of the little man.

the latest

In the last week, a few things have happened I thought I'd share. First, Carter lost both front top teeth within a couple days of each other. That's a total of 4 now.

We went to one of the National High School Finals Rodeo performances over the weekend too. It was fun to watch, and I'm surprised that the kids lasted almost 2 hours in the bleachers. Carter was interested in all the times and always watching out for the fastest, and Addie liked whenever the girls did their events. Brad fell asleep. We went through the trade show afterwards and bought these hats for the kids. Looks like we're finally true Wyomians now. (I don't really know if that's what we're called, but it sounded good).

Here are their cowboy faces. And Addie's lovely little cowgirl stance. You think she likes modeling for the camera?