Jack - 10 months!

Can you believe this little man is already 10 months old????

He now has three teeth: the two bottom middle and one - top middle left.

He is crawling all over the place, pulling up to standing on anything that will hold still to hold him up, saying "Ella" and "Dad" and signing "please" for everything, especially and mostly for food.

My favorite is when you say, "give me a kiss" or he sees someone kissing, he says, "mmmmaa" with puckered up lips and a big "shmack" of his lips!

Go Pokes!!!

Jack loves to rock in the rocking chair and he also rocks on his bum on the floor - his core strength is quite impressive!!!

Ella's Birthday Party

We celebrated Ella's birthday at the YMCA this year. The kiddos got to swim and ride bikes and play in the gym. I think a good time was had by all! I know Ella was thrilled!

Meg, Jack, Dave, and Ella

Annie

Meg

Medora

Ella

Ella and Annie

Medora

Dave and Ella

Reed

Ella and Samantha

Samantha, Ella, Robby, and Reed

Dawn and Jack snuck in some snuggle time while the festivities were going on!

Annie, Samantha, and Ella while the candles are being lit...the anticipation is all over their faces!

"...happy birthday to Ella.... "

Ann did a great job taking pictures!!! Thanks Ann!!!

L to R, around the table: Carter, Reed, Robby, Annie, Samantha, Ella, Missi, Meg and Medora

Ella and Medora

Reed really liked the blue frosting...

and Jack is getting really good and hammin' it up!

Carter, Reed, and Jeremy had a good game of "dodge ball on tricycles" going.

Medora gives Jeremy a ride.

Ella and Alex

Ella and Meg -- these "Ella the Elelphant" books are some of our faves!!!

Weekends at Home

So we hadn't been home over the weekend for about 6 weeks. It was so nice to just hang out in our jammies all day Saturday. I thought it was just me but I know the girls enjoyed it as well. I think Meg played with play-doh for about an hour --- these are two monsters that she made and they were making all kinds of different food for each other. :)

Ella and Dave harvested some carrots from our garden - this is nothing compared to Allie's chicken adventure (www.hubertfamily7.blogspot.com) but we have been enjoying the harvest from our tiny garden. We've had some HUGE zucchini, a few cucumbers, and the carrots just keep coming!

Brook goes to Pre-k at Holy Name

Ella took Brook to school for show and tell. She was a little nervous (Brook) in the classroom but once they got outside, she was in heaven!!!

The Birds

Our Little Biologists...

This is one of our porches... unfortunately, the bugs were pretty thick so we didnt' spend a lot of time out here...




This is our view of the bay from the back of the house. We had a little pond right out our back door and no real close neighbors. The area had nice walking paths and beautiful views.

The girls and Dave took a walk over on the bay side and found many fun things!!!

One of the favorite things for the girls when we went to Costa Rica was the hermit crabs. Ever since, Meg has been saving her money to get a hermit crab "habitat" from the pet store - which she got a few weeks ago. Now she has been saving her money for the actual hermit crab. She decided that she could take one of these home instead!

Great idea...

So being the practical parent, I talked with Meg and told her that it really wasn't going to be possible to take a hermit crab home from Texas. Unbeknownst to me, Dave had already talked with her and told her that they could try... seriously???

So we are heading out of Galveston - just leaving the house and Dave takes the long way around, tells me to hop out and go "harvest" a hermit crab to take on the airplane and back to Denver and eventually on to Sheridan... Ummm... it's not just because I took Marine Biology in high school that I don't think this is going to work... and yep, you guessed it. It didn't work. We got in to Denver and the little guy seemed a bit swollen ... yuck. He traveled in a plastic cup in Dave's backpack and we got rid of him before he started stinkin'

Meg and Ella took it well.

Lazy River at Pointe West

There was a second pool that had a lazy river that the kids loved! It also had a hot tub, which they also enjoyed.......

Reed, Annie Kate, and Meg

The kids and I had fun playing at the pool - right at the edge of the lazy river... I would throw the stones and they all swam to get them. I am so impressed with all of their swimming abilities!

Lazy River

We celebrated Amy's birthday on Saturday night - we had candles and cake and everything!!!

We decided that Miss Gracyn and Mr Jack could be siblings --- beautiful red hair... gorgeous blue eyes... good lookin' kiddos!!! :)

The Beach in Galveston

We arrived in Galveston Thursday evening, along with the Rabon family (Amy and Steve with their kiddos, Gabbie and Mia - twin, almost two year old, girls - and Reed who is Ella's age - almost 5)
We hit the beach Friday morning where the girls were loving the sand and Jack loved eating it. Meg was thoroughly enjoying the small waves that the Gulf provided. She even got the hang of the boogie board!

Mia

Meg with the boogie board

Jack and Mia

Up at the Beach Club at Pointe West, we enjoyed the pools and restaurants. This was the main area of the subdivision where we rented the house. It was very nice!!! A nice pool with a kids' pool down below and just a walk down to the boardwalk to the beach. We spent most days here - Jack napped in his little "Pea Pod" tent while we all got a bit sunburned and enjoyed the amenities.


The Carter ladies joined us from Dallas on Friday night. We hadn't seen Janet for a year or so and it was good to be with all of them. (Janet and her girls, Gracyn and Annie Kate)

See Jack floating along in his blue floatie complete with shelter!! (thanks Kothe!!!)