First Cereal

Alyssa had her first cereal today and LOVED IT!!! She has been showing all the signs of ready for solids but I have been stalling as long as possible. It takes extra time and is messy but I decided I couldn't put it off any longer. She did fabulous - she ate it very well and thought it was so fun (she didn't even get that messy)! I love this age of 6 months when they love all these simple things like getting to try foods.

Pet

Kaitlyn came home from preschool and they had asked her to bring a picture of her pet (everyone has dogs here). They did say that you could cut a picture out of a magazine. Well as we talked about it, she said she had a pet, the pink poodle that Uncle Chad bought her. So we took a picture of it (Bryson wanted to take the picture outside on the grass but Kaitlyn said it was an inside pet). Kaitlyn has the best imagination and showed me how the dog was smiling and all. I think we solved the dilemna of pets - we do have pets, lots of nice stuffed animals.

Latest Happenings

Kevin was harrassing me that I hadn't posted to our blog for quite awhile. I told him that I didn't have anything to post, I have been working on things around the house but nothing is "complete" so I couldn't take pictures. He said, what about your family coming to visit, Bryson starting kindergarten... Oh yeah, I forgot about that.

My family came a few weeks ago and were a HUGE help with doing projects around the house and playing with the kids.


We worked them very hard. They did everything from sanding our old free piano so Kevin could stain it to helping me decorate to deep cleaning and on and on. We had to play the last day they were here so we took them to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis. It is a great place, we have already been there 3 times in less than 2 months.





And the other big thing is of course Bryson starting kindergarten. He loves it and loves to ride the bus to school each morning.

Let me count the ways

We love owning a home! Unfortunetly we don't have any furniture to show off in our new home but we are loving all the extra space for the time being (and easier to clean - quick vacuum, no dusting). There are so many things we love about this home we thought we would share them with you in no particular order

Bryson loves going to the mailbox. He loves when we have letters to mail cause then he can run out first thing in the morning and put them in and put the flag up. Then he is so good at watching all morning for the flag to be down and then runs back out there to get the mail.


Kaitlyn loves having so much space to spread out her toys. She seriously loves to set each one up and it is cute to listen to the makebelieve that takes place while she does it. It is so nice for her to have all that room to play and we still have room to walk around.


Alyssa LOVES having her own room. This is her waking up from a 4 1/2 hour nap. She never could do that in our apartment. Someone always woke her up if she was in the hall or someone eventually would need to get into the bedroom that she was borrowing.


I love these 2 doors!!! The one of the right goes to the laundry room. I love that you have no idea what state my laundry currently is in because the door is closed!!! The best part of that door is that my laundry is not in my kitchen!!!! I love the door on the left because it goes to the basement: "Go play downstairs." "Oh, you want to race and chase, go downstairs." "Hurray, your friends came over to play, take them downstairs." I LOVE HAVING A BASEMENT!!!


We love our swingset in the backyard. While Kevin's dad was here, he and Kevin sealed it and fixed the chains and swings - it looks so nice! Bryson loves doing "tricks" on it.



This is our garden. It doesn't look too good currently but we have great plans for it next summer. If you look really closely, there are lots of stalks in the back part, that is asparagus!!!


This is how much asparagus I cut every other day. We are in asparagus eating heaven!


WE LOVE OUR KITCHEN AND ALL THE SPACE! Sunday after dinner, when dishes were not even done - Kevin and the kids decided to make homemade bread, they even ground their own wheat. I love that there was enough room for them to make bread with even the dinner dishes out!


I LOVE THIS HOME!!!

Kaitlyn and Bryson Wakeboarding

You read that right - Kaitlyn and Bryson Wakeboarded! I was shocked but it was SO FUN TO WATCH!!! While in Utah, we went and stayed at Chad and Cara's. Chad took us out on his boat and Cara, Thayne, and MaryAnne also came. Chad asked the kids if they wanted to wakeboard with him. At first they said no but after they watched him do it (I don't know how a 360 and jumps and flips convinced them but it did) and Kaitlyn wanted to try it. She hung onto his neck and went for it. It only took her a few seconds to relax and she LOVED it!

Bryson on the other hand wasn't so sure. Once he was out there, Chad convinced him to wave to us on the boat but doing it once, he wasn't about to let go of Chad's neck again. He never really liked it.


Once Bryson got done, Kaitlyn wanted to go again. Chad was about completely worn out but said he would take her again. This time he had her standing on the wakeboard. That is right - look close and you can see her standing there. She LOVED it!!!

Utah

On our way to Indiana we stopped in Utah for a few days to see a much family as possible.

The kids loved getting to spend time with their cousins (Kaitlyn and Benjamin)
Alyssa and Josh are only 5 weeks apart in age

We even got a family photo with all of Kevin's immediate family. (unfortunately Bryson and Kaitlyn had been up all night the night before with a stomach bug but they were still good sports and smiled when they had to)

Kaitlyn and Bryson with Great Grandma Mumford
Great Grandma Thacker and Alyssa
Great Grandpa Thacker and Alyssa (we were so glad they flew in from Arizona the night before we left for Indiana)

Kevin, Dacia, and Alyssa made a quick day trip to Idaho for Alyssa to also get to meet her Great Grandma Garner

Family Photos

A good friend at Stanford offered to take some pictures of us on campus. What a great way to remember so many wonderful years! Thanks Sean!!!