Baby Angel is 6 Months Old

Can you believe she is already 6 months old? Wow! Elise is sitting up on her own now. She still falls over every once in awhile, but is pretty steady for the most part. Her favorite thing to play with is the dog. She goes crazy over Charlie. She loves to grab his ears, paws and fur. Suprisingly Charlie doesn't seem to mind. She can pull on his hair very hard and he will just lean into her. Her eyes always light up when he walks into the room.

Last week Elise started baby food for the first time. She had a very strange look on her face at first. It was sort of a concerned look. I'm not sure if it was the texture or the flavor, but she seemed very unsure of it. The last couple of days she has been showing a little more enjoyment in her face. She is readily opening her mouth and not spitting as much out.

First Time Using Scissors

Yesterday was craft day at our house and as I was getting together some craft supplies I found some chldren's size scissors that I used when I was little. I had not yet let Halina use scissors, so I thought I would let her try these out for the first time. She did great! She cut and cut and cut for about three hours straight! She told me she ws making a mountain. A mountain of tiny little peices of paper is what she did.

Halina and I made a scarecrow head together. She had so much fun glueing the pieces on and admiring her work as we went along. While we made the scarecrow head she kept asking, "what does a scarecrow do?". I told her they are for scaring big black birds called crows off of the corn crops. That seemed to satisfy her need to know. She then proceeded to take the scarecrow head outside. I went outside to ask her what she was doing. She told me she ws going to scare the bugs off our plants and the birds that came into our yard. She ran around the yard facing the head to each tree and shouting "boo." I had no idea how much fun the scarecrow head would be.

To the Mailbox

Halina chose her outfit this day. Blue spring dress, pink tutu (under dress), brown winter boots and giant orange bow (in hair). She is very insistent on what she wears. Once she has her mind made up it is almost impossible to change it. I think she gets that from her grandparents on both sides :).

It was fun to see her ride her scooter to the mailbox. It seems like every time she rides it she gets a little faster.

A Childhood First

Tonight at about 5:30pm we recieved a loud knock at our front door. I thought maybe it was Landon because he was outside firing up his motorcycle to head to a meeting, but instead it was one of the neighbor girls on her scooter. "Can Halina come out to play?" she asked. I was so tickled to hear that statement for the first time with my little girls name in it. Halina, standing behind me, was jumping up and down with excitement. "Can I, Mommy?" with her face a glow. "Yes, but you have to get some play clothes and shoes on," I replied with a little laughter in my voice. She has never been so cooperative! She quickly got dressed and ran outside to greet the two girls that wanted to play. The little girls are in 2nd and 3rd grade. They are quite a bit older then Halina, but she didn't have a problem keeping up with them. Well, except when they went further then Halina was allowed to. I only let Halina go two houses down in either direction. She is still just two years old!

For two straight hours they rode their scooters back and forth in front of our house, covered our driveway with hop scotches and rolled in the grass with lots of giggles and squeels.

My baby is growing up. I won't ever forget that first knock at the door for my sweet Halina. I still remember what that sounded like in my childhood home and the anticipation of hearing a neighbor ask if I could come out to play. This was definitely a treasured moment for me.

First Garden

Towards the end of June I bought a tomato kit to plant with Halina. The kit was made up of a five gallon pot, a packet of seeds and a bag of soil. Halina poured the soil in the pot, pressed about ten seeds into the top inch of the soil and then watered it. About a week later she accidently dropped it while trying to move it and about a third of the soil came out. I simply scooped it back in and hoped that something would still grow even though I couldn't see where the seeds were. About a week later three litle sprouts popped up. This was so exciting for Halina and I. After another three weeks the plants were about eight inches high and I think two of the stalks grew together. We were supposed to transplant them about two weeks ago so this wouldn't happen, but I kept forgetting to do so. It has now been about three months and the tomato plants are almost six feet high!
There are dozens of tomatos all over the plants. In my amazement I thought I might plant something else since these were doing so good, so I planted a red bell pepper plant. It too is doing very well and has about four peppers with several more on the way. As of yesterday I also planted sweet basil and lavender. I'd really like to have large garden, but I think most planting is suppose to happen in the Spring. I hope to do some deep reading on gardening before then so we can have a bounty of vegetables and herbs in the Summer.

Puppy Dogs, Cousins and Some Other Silly Stuff

Yes we love dogs! These adorable little guys are Kellie and Loren's (Landon's Niece and Fiance) new dogs. Charlie absolutely loved them! He was especially taken with Molly (see below). Probably because she is a girl and she wouldn't let him dominate her or push her around. Charlie really liked Jackson too, the cute little guy in the first picture, but Charlie really has a sweet spot for the females. Even moreso when they play a little hard to get!

This is Molly. She is Loren and Kellie's newest dog-child.

Halina and Cousin Katerina posing for the camera before they do some swimming. They are precious!

Halina and Cousin Zack making yummy chocolate brownies
Zack is so sweet!

Heading over to Beb's and Pop's for some family fun. Charlie loves to ride in the car. He usually sits on the middle console or on the back of the middle seat for best viewing. Halina looks so big in her car seat. She insists on getting in her seat and "sliding" out of it

Halina has always been a wild sleeper. Sometimes she puts a blanket around her head and calls herself Miriam or Princess Aurora and then stays that way for the whole nap. Landon and I thought it was so cute when we came in her room to wake her up from naptime. This is what we found.

Apparently she wanted her pillow on top of her head. She must have needed some peace and quiet. Don't we all!

Elise is getting a little bigger. I thought I would use some measurables for future references.

Back to MOPS

Yesterday, MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) had its first meeting of the year. This is my second year at MOPS and I have really enjoyed all that it has to offer. It has been a great place to make new friends, expecailly with other women who are in a similar stage in life and to do some fun activities. Oh, and don't forget the huge yummy breakfast that I didn't have to cook! I love that!

Halina really loves her Moppets class too. They do some crafts, sing songs, and have snack time. She has so many friends there and never wants to leave. I haven't put Elise in childcare yet, but am willing to give a try.

This year I am slso a table leader and am really excited about it. I have a great group of ladies at my table and I know it is going to be a lot of fun getting to know them.