Six months old!

Six months ago today, Blake came into this world!

We will be eternally thankful to Aurianna and Jake for their decision of ultimate love and unselfishness, for giving us the blessing and privilege of raising this amazing little man.

I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by! 

Blake has had a growth spurt lately!  When he stretches out, he is almost seven squares long on his blanket!

 He can sit up by himself, which he thinks is very fun!

 He LOVES his toes!  ;)

 And has the most gorgeous blue eyes!

 He loves his sister as much as ever!  She likes to read Junie B. Jones books aloud to him.

 And he already wants to grow up to be just like his daddy!

 I gave him a haircut tonight with the clippers.  I was worried the buzzing would scare him, but he was very brave . . . just curious, which made cutting the back of his head a bit of a challenge.

 He has a great smile and laugh, and makes us laugh everyday!

Silly sister!  She gave Blake a little purple piggy nose!

And she loves to surround him with her toys . . . like her plastic Easter eggs...

Six months is a big deal for any baby, but we are especially excited for adoption reasons! At six months, we can finalize our adoption legally through the courts.  Our court hearing is THIS FRIDAY!!!!  We are beyond thrilled to make everything official.  :)  But even more importantly to us, we can give Blake his baby blessing and go to the temple to be sealed as a forever family after the court hearing is official.  We will be doing both of these sweet and important things on June 16th, and couldn't be more thrilled that this special day is almost here!

 

Blake's sealing/blessing outfit came in the mail this past week, and I couldn't resist trying it on and taking a few pictures!  Here's a little sneak peek - isn't he such a handsome little man?

 Words cannot express how much we love our buckaroo!  He has changed our lives profoundly and forever.  We love him so much!

Birthday Carrots

On my birthday, we tried giving Blake vegetables for the first time.

He LOVES them!  Much more than rice cereal or oatmeal.  :)

Annalee, Aurianna, and Ryan visited that day.  We had fun enjoying each other's company and going out for a birthday lunch.  Annalee has a great talent for shoveling those carrots into Blake's mouth!

Blake's first vegetables were carrots.  He continues to love carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, peas, and will tolerate green beans, though he obviously doesn't love them the same way he loves the others.  :)

We enjoyed going out to Cafe Mon Ami for my birthday lunch together!

Fun times!

Field Day

Today is Katelee's last day of school!  

I am SO EXCITED for summer!!!  

(Yes, I did just use three exclamation points!!!)

The biggest reason is that I LOVE having my girl home.  We have so many fun plans and a great summer schedule worked out, and I am really excited for it to begin.

I have many things to catch up on with my blog, including Kindie graduation, spring piano recital, and more.  Today I will tell you about Katelee's FIELD DAY!  Field day was held on May 10, and Katelee had a fun time.  

She got to play Tiger Tail Tag,

play with a parachute,

play Ant Tag (Katelee is being a dead ant on her back because she was tagged - can you see her?),

put on tattoos,

and eat popsicles.  It was hot, but she had fun!

Blake and I had a lot of fun watching, though I don't think he appreciated it when sister put her pink hat on his head.  :)

More to come soon!

"I Hope You Have a Child Just Like You Someday..."

Dear Mom,

Do you remember how I used to always have a book in my hands?  And when you would ask me to do something, I would keep reading instead?  And when I was supposed to be going to sleep, I was reading instead?  And when I was supposed to be doing chores, I was reading instead?  And sometimes I tried to do my chores and read at the same time (I could totally wash those dishes and read at the same time!), and it must have made you crazy?

I think I'm starting to understand how you felt.  At least a little bit.

Maybe it's because this habit of Katelee's is still fairly new, but I secretly love it, even when I act annoyed that she's not doing what I've asked instead.  Maybe that will wear off with time.

Anyway, just wanted to say that I'm sorry I didn't put the book down and help you more often.  I guess now I'm getting my reward . . . or punishment.  :)

Love,

Jennifer

Sunday Photo Shoot

Look at my two cuties!
I feel like the happiest, most blessed mother in the world.

Katelee is so beautiful and so grown-up.  She amazes me everyday.  She is my girl, my side-kick, my friend, and I have so much fun with her!

And this handsome man! Just look at how big he is getting!  He gets cuter and sweeter everyday, even though I don't know how that is possible.

 

I am a very, very blessed mom. 

Happy Mother's Day to all the amazing moms that I know!

Chipmunk Research Paper

Katelee recently completed her first research project.  Each student was asked to research and write a report about a wild animal.  Katelee chose to do her project on Chipmunks.  She loves chipmunks!  Last week, every student presented their reports to their class and the parents.  Katelee did a great job reading her report.  She did a fabulous job writing and illustrating it, as well.  We are so proud of our smart, confident girl!

A Wicked Birthday

Gerald got me the best birthday present ever this year!

He took me to see Wicked last weekend!

It was amazing, of course!

I loved every second of it.

Thanks, honey, for a great experience!  I love you!

Dance Recital . . . Almost . . .

Does anyone else ever have those days when you realize that you are really, truly the worst mom ever?

Yeah, I had one of those recently. 

It was the night of Katelee's dance recital.  We left with just enough time to get to the church on time.  I thought the recital was in our stake center, the place where they had rehearsed in the past.  We got there, and the parking lot was full of cars.  Running into the building, we found the stage covered with Cinco de Mayo decorations and the gym set up with tables.  Hmmmm.... this was not the dance recital.  We ran to the next church.  And then the one where we took pictures.  No luck.

By this time we were late.  Katelee started crying.  I started crying.  It was horrible.

We ran home, and I checked my email.  Nothing.  I had long ago thrown away the paper with the recital information on it, after I had written it on the calendar.  There, on my calendar, it said the location was the stake center, but obviously it wasn't.  So, I tried calling one of the other moms from Katelee's dance class.  Thank heavens, she answered the phone.  I could hear the music in the background as she whispered to me where they were and how to get there.  We drove like the wind.  Katelee and I ran into the building to hear the music for her dance number playing.  I started to cry again.  We had missed it.  I found the door to the stage, and she ran on and joined them for the last half of the song.  We were in such a hurry I forgot to put on her ballet slippers, so she was dancing in her flip flops.  And she was worried that she didn't know where to stand.

And I was standing on the side looking like a crying mess.

Yeah, the mother of the year award isn't coming my way anytime soon.

Needless to say, I felt absolutely terrible.  Katelee was disappointed.  I pride myself on being an organized person, but sometimes I just seem to be one big mess. 

We tried to make it up to Katelee by taking her out for frozen yogurt.  She ended the night happy.  Still, I hope I never make that mistake again.

Big Boy Blake

Blake is becoming such a big boy; he's growing much too fast!

 These two pictures were taken on his five-month birthday.

 Blake loves to drool, practice sitting up on his own (he's getting pretty good at that!), chew on everything, grab food off other people's plates, smile, and play in his bouncer/saucer.

 And he loves, LOVES, LOVES his sippy cup.

 We never offered Katelee a sippy cup until she turned a year old.  And she wanted nothing to do with it.  So, we decided to try giving Blake one when he started eating solids.  His sippy cup is probably his favorite thing in the world right now.  It takes a close second to his love of drinking water out of a real cup - with a little assistance, of course.

We give him his sippy after he takes a few bites of cereal.  He grips it in both hands and then throws his little body backwards to drink.  It's hysterical! He's been doing it for weeks, and we still laugh every time!

 What a funny boy!

Blake will turn six-months-old on May 27th.  So our court date to finalize the adoption is scheduled for June 1.  Less than a month away!  We are really excited!