Ryan's 6 Months Old!

Today was Ryan's 6 month appointment. I can't believe he's already half a year old. My baby is getting too big, too fast. He weighed in at 16 pounds 2 ounces (40th percentile) and is a long 27 1/4 inches long (75th percentile). He flirted with the doctor and nurse, rolled over on the examining table, and had 3 more shots (ouch!). He's still not crawling but he's moving himself around within a few feet, turning to face whatever interests him - yikes! Should make Christmas and decorating that much more interesting this year!

After the Road Trip

We had a great Thanksgiving with my family in North Carolina. Ryan was a real trooper on his first road trip and seems to be a good car-rider just like Katie. Katie really entertained us with her songs and stories from the backseat. We heard her legs "fighting", she pointed out big trucks and birds, snacked, and sang The Wheels on the Bus among other things.

While in Asheville we had some beautiful weather, sunny and in the 60's. With such comfortable temperatures we were able to rake up some leaves so Katie experienced her first jump in a pile of leaves (this may not seem like a big deal but since we currently live in Florida, leaf-pile jumping is a real treat!) Speaking of weather treats, on the morning after Thanksgiving we had some snowflurries... brrr!

In addition to the leaf-jumping Katie had a good time jumping on the trampoline with her cousins. She helped grandma make cranberry-orange relish for Thanksgiving dinner and played piano with her grandpa. Ryan spent time checking out his grandparents and meeting his uncle and cousins for the first time. We had a great visit, but as always, it was nice to get home!

Wigglers

Here is a rhyme Katie must have learned at school, she taught it to me yesterday:

Wiggle to the Left, Wiggle to the Right

Wiggle Down Low, now Wiggle out of Sight

Where did my wigglers go??

Here they are!

"Wigglers" are fingers and they wiggle behind her back to go out of sight. Pretty cute!

Bread Making

We finally used our bread machine again yesterday! It was a wedding gift and we used it fairly often when we first got married, then we moved to Virginia, had a tiny kitchen and so it was packed away. That was also around the time that we started having kids and bread-making just wasn't on the top of the priority list. Anyway, when we moved into our larger apartment we found we had plenty of counter space and so the bread maker has been sitting there. Yesterday Katie started asking if we could make cookies, I really wasn't in the mood (Ryan had not slept well the night before so neither had I!) and then I remembered that we had a bread mix so I asked her if she wanted to help make bread.
Katie was so excited to help pour in the mix, add the water, and then to keep peeking at what was happening. We watched it go from powder to a small dough ball, then rising and getting bigger and bigger. Finally, when we came inside from our evening walk it was time to take the warm, fresh bread from the machine. As I popped the loaf out to show Katie she said, "Oh, is it manna?" with such awe. Obviously I had to tell her that no, it was bread and that only God can make manna, but she was still excited to eat her bread and has been asking for small pieces all day today!

Sweet Siblings

Yesterday Katie decided that she needed to hold "the baby" yet again. This time she had more than just holding him on her agenda, she wanted to read to him! I managed to finally convince her that it would be easier to read to him if he sat next to her rather than on her lap. Aren't they sweet?!

A Happy Fan

Go Gators!