Merry CHRISTmas!

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

Luke 2:10-11

Seven months

The sweet little boy turns 7 months old tomorrow!! Only 5 more months and he'll be 1 year old . . . . that's crazy!

Theodore is doing all sorts of fun, new things these days, like "talking" to us, mimicking sounds that we make, feeding himself, and laughing. He loves to laugh, and he thinks that his big brother and sister are the funniest people around. :-) He also likes to be tickled, play peek-a-boo, and jump in his jumperoo.




He is still working on crawling and pushing himself up to a sitting position after being on his tummy. He just wants to go, go, go! Buttercup and Oliver think it's hilariously cute when Theodore scoots himself backward on his knees, but I don't think they'll be laughing too much when he figures out how to crawl and is into their toys all of the time!

Of course he still loves to be outside (which is great, since we are outside as much as possible!). And of course the first thing he does is try to eat as much grass and leaves as he can.






Other big news is that Theodore is finally (FINALLY, thank you God!) sleeping much better at night. He had been waking up consistently around midnight every night, and then again around 4:00am. I would let him cry a little at midnight, then rock him back to sleep if he couldn't settle himself down, and after about 2 weeks of that he finally got the hang of it! Now he only wakes up once (usually around 3:00am) and goes back to sleep until 7am. I'm thankful for more sleep (and also trying to not think about how Oliver and Buttercup were sleeping 12 hours straight at this age)!

Theodore is also starting to show signs of separation anxiety -- which isn't always fun -- but is just part of growing up!

Play time, craft time, and lunch time

Pictures from our weekend

{photos courtesy of my wonderful hubby!}

At the trail again

It's been raining again (whoo hoo!) and this week the rain brought some warmer weather, so we've been outside playing in the rain a bit. The rain stopped mid-morning today, and it was perfect timing for us to get out and play since the baby had just woken up from a nap and the big kids and I had just finished baking Christmas cookies. So, we headed to the trail (of course!) to throw rocks in the water and explore.

Oliver mainly played in the creek:






While Buttercup ran and ran and ran (and ran and ran and ran, etc):




Theodore was only happy in the stroller while it was moving, so I mostly held him while the other two had fun running and splashing. :-)



Then we wandered around for a little while, so Oliver's clothes could dry out a bit.





I love fun, free things for the kids to do. :-)

Brownie FAIL

Earlier this week I made a batch of Reese's peanut butter chip brownies for a friend. I decided to make them from scratch because I had all of the ingredients on hand and also because lately I've been feeling more competent with my baking ability.

I took the pan out of the oven when it was time and did the toothpick test and it came out clean. I remember thinking that something seemed weird, because the top layer was so firm, yet the brownies also seemed to be jiggling faintly . . .

I set them aside to cool for about 30 minutes, came back, and discovered this:


A closer look:


After re-reading the recipe and trying to figure out what went wrong, I realized that I used the wrong size pan. Whoops! I tried the recipe again the following morning -- using the right size pan -- and not only did they come out perfect, but they also taste delicious!


Hopefully I won't mess up the cookies I'm supposed to make tomorrow for Oliver's class party!

Blocks

Blocks are fun.

It's fun to see how many you can fit in your mouth:



Blocks are fun to talk to:



Blocks are fun to touch:


Hooray for blocks!