6 months!

Annabelle turned 6 months old last Friday!  We can hardly believe that she is 6 months!  It feels like she has been in our family FOREVER!  We all just love her to pieces!

Stats

• weight 19 pounds 10 ounces
• height 26 1/2 inches 

She is sitting up really well on her own now.  She has rolled from her stomach to back and back to stomach.  Loves to play with her toys.  Loves to play peek-a-boo.  Loves to watch what everyone is doing.

We are so blessed to have her in our family!!!

Rachel's Feis

Rachel competed in her second feis this past weekend.  Although she didn't place this time, she still did awesome!  She competed in the Beginner 1 Reel and Slip Jig.  She also had more competition this time as well.  She competed against 9 other girls in one of the dances and 4 other girls in the other.

I was able to video her in the first dance that she did.  Then they made the announcement to remind everyone that it is against "Feis Rules" to video.  So I wasn't able to get her second dance.  Anyway, this will give you an idea of what a feis is like.  Rachel is the one on the far right in a black dress.

Just a little explanation....There are 4-5 stages. Each one has different competitions going on.  Two to three dancers dance at a time on each stage.  They have to do two dance steps for a total of 16 measures of music (I think.)  Each dancer could be doing two different steps which could make it difficult for some dancers.  (You can't watch the person dancing next to you because they could be doing something completely different!)  There is live music playing...an accordion and sometimes a piano.  It is pretty fun to watch!

A girl and her blanket

Annabelle LOVES her blankie!  It is so cute when she snuggles it and when she is in her carseat and she has it grasped in her little hands.  I LOVE it!

She also loves to sleep with it over her head.  And I'll be honest, it kinda scares me to death.  I'm always pulling it off her head when I go in to check on her, only for her to pull it back over her head.  Silly girl!

Sunbeams

John went to Primary for the first time a couple weeks ago.  He was a little apprehensive about the whole thing.  I think he was thinking, "Wait a minute...where are the toys?  You mean I have to SIT here?"  Well, maybe he wasn't.  But he is a little tearful when I left him in the Primary room.

Here he is before church:

He was pretty excited about it.  And yes, he took his blanket with him to class :) 

In other news around our "beehive", I have been busy organizing our pictures.  If I only do ONE thing this year, it will be to PRINT my digital pictures and put them in ALBUMS!  It has been fun going back in time, though, remembering fun moments.  I found pictures of Rachel's and Andrew's first day in Primary...

Weren't they cute??  And yes, Rachel took her nutcracker to class. :)

And here's a picture of Annie, just because....

She has discovered her tongue recently.  And it is constantly sticking out.  Love these four so SO much!!

Exploding coke

One of the things that Santa brought Andrew in his stocking was a "Geyser Tube" set.  It is basically a test tube that you can screw on to a 2 liter bottle of soda, put Mentos in, then release them into the bottle and have a geyser of soda come out.  He has been wanting to explode soda since this summer when I told the kids about it, but never actually did it with them.  (I even bought some mentos with the intention of doing it.  But I think I actually ended up eating the mentos....Ooops!)  So Santa made sure Andrew would have a way to explode his soda.  Ryan took the kids to the park with two 2-liter bottles and they had a blast...literally! :-)

Five months old on Christmas Day!

Annabelle turned five months old on Christmas Day!  She is such a joy to have in our family.  Not a day or minute goes by that she just makes us smile!  

Christmas 2012 in pictures

Our Christmas tree

Eating our Velvet Creme Popcorn that Nanny sends us every year.  The kids LOVE getting this and it is GOOD!

The Sunday before Christmas in Christmas finery!

Ice skating in downtown Denver on Christmas Eve.  Rachel LOVED it and caught on pretty quick.  The boys didn't love it so much and were ready to go after one time around the rink.  John kept telling me, "It's swippery, mom."

Annabelle's first Christmas outfit.  Oh my goodness....Love her!!!

Christmas morning!

 Rachel got an ipod touch.  She was VERY excited!  

Andrew got "everything he wanted and more"!  A new bike, legos, and a headlamp.

John was most excited to get Perry the Platypus slippers!

And a new bike!

Annie LOVED her little light up vanity.  And of course the wrapping paper.  She was so excited about every gift she received which was so fun to watch!

(I can't figure out how to rotate...sorry.)

The boys on their new bikes

So there you have it...our Christmas in pictures!  It was a fun, memorable holiday this year. Especially with the addition of our Annie-girl!  So hard to believe that it was a year ago that we told the kids that they would have a new sibling.  It seems Annabelle has always been here!