Groundhog in My Yard

The other day, I was looking outside over my kingdom and saw something that I thought was a stump in the middle of my yard. The second glance revealed a groundhog. In my yard. Awesome. I watched as it slowly edged its way toward the sprinkler. It wanted to get wet :) After it stayed for a while and I wasn't scared that it would be gone when I went to get my camera, I decided to snap some shots. This is from my fake deck (A metal thing they just set outside the back kitchen door lol).
I then decided I would just get as close as I could. I was so stoked when I got this shot! I was "so" close to it!
And then I just got closer...
and closer...
and closer until I was standing in the planter with the groundhog. It got up on it's hind legs, as pictured, and gave me a good stare down. Then I realized that if this thing bit me I might need stitches, and Scott was at work and Addy was getting ready to go down for her nap. That would have ruined my whole day. So I went back inside and smiled so big cuz I was SO brave :)

Happy Mothers Day and Happy 7 Months

Happy Mother's Day to me! As I told Scott yesterday in Pinnochio's voice: "I'm a real mom!" Being a mom is the best thing that has ever happened to me. When Scott and I got married, SO many people told us to wait at least a year to get pregnant. They said that we needed to take some time to get to know each other and get settled in before we complicated our lives with a baby. Well, we didn't listen and four months later we were pregnant. And I am SO glad. We didn't need to get to know each other. That's what you do when you're dating. We didn't need time to get settled. We didn't need to have time together (you do have 9 whole months after you get pregnant, you know). We didn't need to pray about whether or not to have a baby. I prayed about whether or not I wanted to have a baby with Scott the whole time we were dating. I knew I wanted him to father my children and he knew that I was gonna be the best mommy in the world. So we had Adelaide. It was the best choice we ever made.

Now off my soapbox. Addy turned 7 months old today. It's been the best 7 months of our lives, all three of us! Scott and I made a pad for Addy's high chair since we got it used and it didn't have one. This was prompted by her learning to get out of her bumbo. She loves sitting in the high chair!!! Here she is enjoying some toast :)
This morning Scott made me breakfast in bed. I was SO amazed when he brought it in! It looked better than any breakfast I've ever had! And it tasted better than any breakfast I've ever had. There's just something so yummy about food you didn't have to make! French toast complete with powdered sugar and warm syrup, yogurt to "cleanse the pallet," bacon, and vanilla milk. Holy yum. My husband loves me.
Then, we tried to get some cute pictures of our amazingly cute baby. Apparently she's not a performer. She kept making her ugly face. At least she has pretty eyes lol. Addy has learned so much in the last couple weeks. She can:

• Crawl (like, real crawling)
• Say her "b" sound
• Sit herself up
• Say "mamamamamama" and "mommmmm"
• Put herself to sleep and sleep through the night (I love dream-feeding, google it)
• Smile so big it melts your heart
• Frown so big it melts your heart
• Throw fits when other kids take her toys
• Grow teeth (She has one! I found it one day after telling a friend she didn't have any yet lol)

This is her old man face. I'm not sure why she makes it...but I have seen her dad make it before. :)

I was trying to get her to smile. As you can tell by her face (feel free to click on it and blow it up because you don't want to miss it) she was so not into it.

The biggest smile we've seen all day...it was so weird.

Then, we decided to turn on the sprinkler and see what she'd do. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. She would start to get sprinkled and then stop and then decide that she could handle it so she'd go farther in. Then she'd get wetter and stop again to reevaluate. And then she'd keep going. These pictures are hilarious. Don't judge us. It's going to look like we're bad parents (drop the camera and pick up your baby you heartless people) but don't be fooled. She has her agency. She crawled in. We just enjoyed watching :)















After all was said and done and I couldn't take it anymore we picked her up. She stopped crying right away. And loved playing on the outskirts of the sprinkler :)
Well, that's all :) Oh wait! No it's not! I got to talk to my brother on the phone. Well, kind of. He got to Skype my mom and they put me on speaker so that we could hear each other. It was amazing. I love hearing him say my name so excited :) He told me he loved me (and I like to hear that too) and that he couldn't wait to be a dad. Then he kind of scolded me (nicely mind you) by saying "And keep up with your blog). So I guess he does read it :P Well Shane, here you go! Work hard, pray harder! I love you! PS You sound like you're reading a speech when you speak English. Scott and I had a laugh. We love you!

6 Months Old!

Friday the 13th, Adelaide turned 6 months old. I cannot believe I've been a mommy for 6 months already. It's been such a wonderful, hard, uplifting, and fun experience! Addy has many new tricks this month. She is getting to be so big and independent. She has an opinion about EVERYTHING! She's been pretty sick (constant diarrhea for 2 weeks and labs are in at the hospital, we're waiting to hear) for about four weeks now, but she still manages to put an encouraging smile and giggle in there for mommy. Mornings and whenever Daddy is home are her favorite times. Here she is smiling for daddy before trying peas for the first time.

Addy does all kinds of acrobatics in her Bumbo. She can just about get out. She arches her back and leans to the side, the back, and the front. She's about out of it! Her new thing is feet. She loves hers :)
Now as you watch this, make sure and remember that she LOVES peaches, pears, sweet potatoes, yogurt, mashed potatoes, jello, root beer...basically every food we've ever given her...


This morning Addy was being especially happy so I took that opportunity to get some of her tricks on camera. Here is her new face...sometimes it looks more like a grimace, but this is kind of it. I'm not sure why she does it (she uses to show multiple emotions). But I love it!
SO happy in the morning! You can see the spit on her face...that's not from drooling. It's from spitting. That's right. She sticks her tongue out and spits right at me!
She is going to be crawling any day! Here she is rocking back and forth on hands and knees.
Using her leg to scooch her. She gets pretty much wherever she wants to go!

Almost crawling again!

Today she discovered her humidifier. She wasn't a fan...the air blowing in her face combined with laying on the cookie sheet weren't her favorite. This is her pushing away from it. She got out of there fast!
Holding her own bottle. She now pushes our hands away. Her favorite thing is to suck for a second of two and then take it out and wave it around before squirting herself in the eye on the way back to her mouth.
There's our beautiful 6 month old! Shane, we love you and miss you! Work hard, pray harder!

A Very Happy Easter

Well, Easter at our house was a success! To get ready, Addy and I mowed the lawn on our riding lawn mower that we bought off the people we bought the house from. She liked it as long as it wasn't started. Eventually she even let me drive her a few feet haha.

Saturday, mommy and daddy bought Addy a real crib :) I figured that if we were going to use it for 8 kids, we should probably have an actual crib. Here she is while we are setting it up. She has gotten really good at feeding herself. Sometimes, she even one-hands it.
Daddy setting up the crib
All done! Thank you Grammy for the pooh bear stuff. She loves her stuffed animals. She wakes up playing with them and falls asleep on top of them.
First time in her new bed
Addy, meet Eeyore. Eeyore...you have a long life ahead of you :)
Pictures in Adelaide's Easter dress. Again, compliments of Grammy. (Although I did spring and buy that pretty headband she's wearing :)


I'm not sure what this face is. But this is Addy during our Easter egg hunt with Scott's family. His sisters Emily and Sandy and their families joined us. We had amazing food and a fun time. The kids enjoyed the nice weather outside. We ate outside and lounged outside. It was wonderful. Addy even got to take her naps! So we had a mostly happy baby (Poor girl's been sick. She's FINALLY coming out of it)

The nieces and nephews with Marco out hunting.
Shaylee bug with her spoils.

Addy rather enjoyed the plastic eggs. She kept getting mad because they would roll away from her on the floor.

As the prize for the magic egg, Kelton won a big bubble wand. All the kids got bubbles though and it was a great activity! Kept them entertained for hours. And the weather was perfect. Not too windy and just right for bubble catchin'!

We had a great Easter and are so thankful for the real reason we celebrate Easter. We know that Christ lived and died and that He lives again. I could not be more grateful for that.

Monday, the weather was REALLY nice, so daddy and Addy had some outside time. I looked out the window while I was cooking and saw this. I couldn't help but snap a shot.
Tuesday, Addy was feeling kinda down and out, so we just stayed inside most the day and played. She sure loves that microphone from Grammy. (And for those of you who saw the seahorse pictures, she is really starting to like that one too lol).
Well, Shane, we miss you and love you. The gospel is true. Work hard, pray harder!