Sabrina - Six Months Old

Sabrina's six month bouncy chair picture. She has outgrown the bouncy chair. I will still take monthly pictures of her, but they will be more on the move - especially since Sabrina is on the move these days. She rolls all over the toy room getting into everything she can. It is time to teach the "big" kids about putting away their small toys. The next year should be an adventure keeping things out of Sabrina's mouth.

Sabrina climbed up the ladder to the top bunk to say goodnight to her big brother.

Sabrina is in the middle of rolling over

After refusing to eat baby food for months, Sabrina has finally decided to eat. She loves to feed herself, so every meal includes a handful of crackers. But in this picture we were at Palmer Park for a running race. I had forgotten to bring Sabrina any crackers, so she is eating CHEETOHS. What a good mom I am ;-)
When Isabella is in a good mood, she loves to mother her little sister. Other times she just gets in Sabrina's face and is quite loud.
Sabrina playing in the toy room
Sabrina in her first swing at the park. This picture was taken on November 4th. Can you believe that it was shorts weather in Colorado on November 4th?

Fall YMCA Basketball

Orion and Isabella are both playing fall basketball at the YMCA. This is Orion's second year, so he is a "seasoned" veteran. Orion is playing in the 5 & 6 year old league. This is Isabella's first year and she is playing in the 3 & 4 year old league.

Orion's coach is teaching the kids some of the basics about guarding your man and staying a little more spread out on the court. Last year all of the kids would just bunch up under the basket.
Orion plays on an eight foot goal. He has made two baskets during a game - so far.
Isabella running down the court
Isabella has been practicing her dribbling and her coach commented last week that she is definitely getting better. She plays with a six foot goal. She hasn't made a basket yet, but she hit the rim twice in her last game.

Random Fall Pictures

Here are a few random pictures from the beginning of November. They were so cute I couldn't resist sharing them.

In September my parents brought a load of furniture from their house to our's. They are always trying to pawn stuff off on us that they can't bring themselves to get rid of. But the piano was actually an "asked-for" item. The kids are very excited to have a piano. They are doing a good job of learning to play gently on the piano. In this particular picture Hunter was playing the piano and singing - his own words and his own music.

Isabella dressed as Cinderlla and my college roommate's daughter dressed as Tinkerbell

All of the kids like to play under the deck, but I just happen to catch these pictures of Hunter.
Orion and Isabella holding carrots that we grew in our garden. These carrots were about four inches in diameter and they tasted very sweet.

Halloween 2007 - Part 2

Our vampire pumpkin (293 pounds) and our bat pumpkin (189 pounds). The kids picked the designs, but Brett did all of the carving.

Our little ladybug, Sabrina
Isabella was the Queen of the boys
Sabrina was a ladybug
Orion was a vampire
Hunter was Tigger

Tigger, Mommy, Ladybug, Vampire pumpkin, Vampire Orion, Bat pumpkin, Queen Isabella
Right before leaving for trick-or-treating
The candy haul. They were SO excited about how much candy they got.

Halloween 2007 - Part 1

Isabella's preschool class Halloween parade.

Isabella racing cars at her preschool Halloween party.Isabella and Brett carving the BIG pumpkins in the garage.
Sabrina posing with the Halloween monsters - what a cute pumpkin!
Isabella and Orion playing around in costumes after school, but before trick-or-treating. Orion wore his vampire costume to school which is why he already has make-up around his eyes.
Brett posing wth our Jack-o-lanturn pizza

Road Trip to Kansas State

The last weekend of October Brett and the three "big" kids traveled to Manhatan, Kansas with our good friends, Cindy & Herb. Their son, Corey, plays for the Kansas State University football team. Brett and the kids traveled and stayed with Cindy & Herb in their motorhome. It was quite an adventure for the kids ... and Cindy & Herb. Hunter, Orion & Isabella with the giant pumpkin they brought to Corey to carve - in front of Ms Cindy and Mr Herb's motorhome.
They went to the Wildcat Walk before the game. Seeing these "tall men" was the highlight of the weekend for Hunter.


Hunter, Orion, Corey and Isabella after the football game

Giant Pumpkin Weigh In Party

Brett's coworkers have had a pumpkin growing contest for the past three years. This year there was even a blog. Brett was obsessed with his pumpkins; he even called from his fishing trip in Minnesota to check on the pumpkins - not the kids, the house or me. We hosted the "official" pumpkin weigh in at our house. There were about 35 people who came to witness the pumpkin weigh in, eat chili and then carve pumpkins.

Hunter, Isabella and Orion lounging on our pumpins before the weigh in.

All the kids of the pumpkin growing families

Wayne holding wild-haired Sabrina
Carving pumpkins on our back deck
Brett, Orion and Cindy. Cindy is who started this pumpkin growing contest and provided some of the first giant pumpkin seeds.
The carved pumpkins. Our's is the pirate in the upper left corner. We lit it each night in our front yard for two weeks.

Fall Racing Season

For many years now Brett has run in the Pikes Peak Road Runners Fall Series. Each of our kids have started running in the Kids' Fall series races as soon as they are able. The first age division in this series is called the Diaper Dash. This year was Hunter's first year as a participant. All three of the kids ran the first and last races in the series. (They were out of town for the 2nd race and the 3rd race was really cold.) Isabella and Orion's races vary in distances up to 1/2 mile. These races are fun and pretty low key.

Hunter's first race

Our three finishers after the first race of the season.

Orion's school (Scott Elementary) participates in a District cross country program for elelmentary schools. They have races for all grades. For five weeks, Orion ran in a cross country race each Tuesday. The races were a little crazy with so many kids, but Orion enjoyed the experience.

Skipped 4, But Here's 5 Months

The top picture is Sabrina four month bouncy chair picture - September 5th. The bottom one is her five month bouncy chair picture - October 2nd. She doesn't look that much different in size, but she has developed a bunch. She plays with toys now - both kicking at them with her feet and reaching for them with her hands. She rolls over easily from belly to back and just today started rolling over from back to belly. Sabrina belly laughs when she is tickled.

Labor Day weekend we went to Salida for the day. Here is Sabrina hanging out with her daddy.
We played (or attempted to play) miniature golf. Here is Sabrina with her Auntie Ondie at the golf course.

Sabrina laughs at the camera. She has a bunch of slobber on her chin; I should have cleaned her up for the picture.
Sabrina's first taste of oatmeal cereal. Each of her siblings had to give her a spoonful. I'm not sure she liked the cereal all that much. I think she liked the attention from the whole family though.
Post cereal grimace
I put Sabrina in the kids' toy stroller. She just fit. Orion pushed her around the toy room for about 10 minutes. It was really funny to see Sabrina in this miniature stroller. She didn't seem to mind too much.

Sabrina rolling over - here she goes

Sabrina looks a little surprised after rolling over

She just started sitting in the high chair. She doesn't eat in the high chair because she doesn't really like food yet. (She cries every time I try to feed her.) She does like sitting in the high chair when the rest of us are eating, so that she can see what is going on.

Mommy's favorite picture this month.