9 months old today!

Kella is 9 months old today!  She's having a lot of fun enjoying her new mobility and has started to pull up on things to sit on her knees.  This lets her investigate more areas and as I write this, she is sitting on her knees, next to a chair, emptying out a play basket full of play food.  Speaking of food, this girl has no love for veggies.  My current strategy is to buy every flavor of baby food that is a mix of fruit and veg.  Today, baby girl ate pears & squash for one meal and something with purple carrot in another meal.  She eats three meals now and is starting to take a bottle with dinner-slowly starting to wean to the bottle.  She is on pretty consistant nap and sleep schedule.  She takes 2 naps a day and usually wakes up between 7-8 and goes to bed around 8pm.  Of course, tonight, it is 10pm and she is still up with us :-).  She is not in her crib yet, we are in the beginning stages of wanting to move Liam into the bigger boys' room.  When we do that, we will repaint some of the walls before Kella moves in.  Maybe before she turns one, hopefully.  She loves her blankie, her brothers, being read to, being told she's pretty, and being sung to.  She's so sweet-we love her! 

championship weekend

Basketball was the theme this weekend. We started with Cale's championship game on Saturday. There were 6 teams in his first grade league, but the teams were pretty skewed with talent so instead of a bracket playoff,  the top 2 seeded teams (Indiana and Michigan St.) played for the championship.  This was a rematch of a game in which Cale's team handed Michigan St. their first loss of the season.  Needless to say, that did not go over well with some of the Michigan St. players (and a few parents based on comments I heard, anyway).  We knew it would be a good game and the kids gave it all they had.

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Here's the lineup before the game.  At the playoff games, they have announcers who call out the players who make baskets.  They also have music during timeouts and inbetween periods.  It's fun and makes the game more special.  Cale played almost the entire game.  He sat out for half of the 3rd quarter.  (every kid has to sit out for half a quarter)  He needed the break-you could tell he was getting tired and was frustrated with the player guarding him.

Cale got to shoot some free throws.  He cracks me up that he has a certain way that he prepares to shoot.  He bounces the ball twice, twirls the ball and bounces it again before he shoots.  What a player!

The game was great!  Indiana led for the first half and then Michigan St. came back to tie it up for the 3rd and 4th quarter.  Indiana finally got ahead by 2 with about 30 seconds left.  And, since there is a "no-stealing" rule, Indiana slowly dribbled the ball down the court and ate up the clock before taking one last shot to win by 4 points!

Here's the team!  So happy for a great season!  Cale had a great coach and really improved as player.  I'm so thankful for such a great experience for the kids.

Onto game 2.  Sunday afternoon was Marcus's championship game-Wake Forest vs. Georgia Tech.  Marcus's team had played G.T. 3 times in the season, all resulting in losses.  I wasn't too sure about today, but the team Wake beat to get to the championship had beaten Georgia Tech twice.  "We are due for a win," said one mom.

Marcus got to start and played a good amount.  He made some good rebounds and steals.  He tried for a couple shots that didn't go in but were so close!  He gave a great effort and made a positive impact on the game.

Wake was behind for the first half.  Wake was down by 5 at the half, which was pretty good.  We weren't getting blown away, we were still in the game.  Wake came back in the third quarter and by the 4th quarter we were tied. = overtime.  Marcus got to play the overtime which was cool.  Wake ended up winning by 2 points.  What a great way to end the season!

Here's the team.  Again, Marcus had great coaches with an awesome understanding of the game.  They helped make the season really special for the kids. 

It was a great season folks.  It was fun to see Marcus and Cale improve their basketball skills and have fun with their friends.  Of course, what does Cale say after his game: "Now we can go back to Saturday gymnastics!" *sigh*

we live to play another day

Basketball season is almost over. Marcus's team had their playoff game last night against Duke. They had played this team twice before and had split the series.  Marcus did pretty well.  He tried for a couple shots that didn't go in-but they were the kind that were right on-just hopping out of the basket.  He got a couple fouls-but did not foul out like in his last game.  Overall, his confidence as a player has increased this season and he seems to be understanding more about the game.  They play in the championship on Sunday at 2pm-good luck!

In other news, our new crawler has added "trying to pull up" to her list of new things. 

Cale plays in his final game on Saturday afternoon against a team that was undefeated until Cale's team beat them about a month ago.

Illness is hanging out with us this month.  I think everyone has been sick with either fevers, respiratory stuff or stomach stuff.  The lastest to go down was Ewan on Thursday.  Poor kid's been running a temp and not feeling to awesome.  Of course, he had to go to Marcus's game-not because he wanted to, but because we were meeting Andy there after he got off work.  Thank goodness for ibuprofen.

On a happier, healthier note, I have purchased curtains for our bedroom!  I found them at Hobby Lobby (50% off this week).  They are white sheer with a black damask pattern and will need another curtain to be hung behind them to keep the room dark, which means a double curtian rod (putting that on my shopping list).   I also got some scrapbook paper in that trip with grand plans to finish both Liam's and Kella's first year scrapbooks this spring.

And, I think I have found the color to repaint the boys' room with.  It is called Ship's Harbour and is a darker blue than what they currently have.  According to all the boys, coached by Andy no doubt, the two colors I put up on the wall to test look excactly the same.  Whatever.  Momma is happy and therefore they should be happy, too.

you know you're the 5th child when...

...Mommy decides you are ready to try cheerios in the hopes that they will distract you enough so that she can make dinner!

not too sure what to think at first-I mean, they are the multi-grain variety and not just the plain kind

Turns out, she liked the challenge of trying to get them into her mouth.  Added bonus-she did not gag or choke on them.  We have entered the world of beginning finger foods!

from the mouth of Ewan...

("If I found an alien...play with it, swing it around and around and smash its house!")

("I wish I were a super villian")

This is no surprise-he tells his Sunday school teacher that he would like to live in a jail!

just some photos

Because I can, I am posting a couple photos of Liam and Kella.  The first 2 are how I found Kella when I turned around from cooking dinner last week.  She was being so quiet.  Turns out, she was watching the demo of a Sonic game repeat on the television.  She didn't even notice me taking her picture.

And, here is one of Liam.  I love his choice in clothing.  He is actually wearing 3 shirts-a long sleeve tshirt, his favorite short sleeve tshirt and a sweater.  Paired with camo sweats and snow boots, he is quite the fashion star.  I don't know, with his red hair, he kind of looks like a little Irish boy who should be running around taking care of his sheep.

Enjoy!

Cale had his school program

Cale had his first grade school music program last Thursday.  I'm never excited to go.  It usually involves a crowded viewing area, lots of traffic all looking for the closet spot and standard, hard to understand (because of acoustics) kid songs.  This year did not disappoint.  The first graders sang songs about winter, penguins and snow.  They all had to wear black and white-thank goodness I was able to find the 1 pair of black dress pants we own that Cale wore with a white tshirt.  They did a good job singing together and doing their little hand motions.  Our other kids made it through the program, too.  Marcus and Ewan got to record some of it with our video recorder.  Liam danced around for a while and then complained that he wanted his blankie-it was time to go.  Kella sat in Andy's lap and got her fill of people watching.  I worked on trying to take the perfect picture with my camera and finally got some good ones after about 8 tries.  Cale is in the back and center of each of the top 2 pictures-it's kind of like a "where's waldo" shot.  The last one shows the entire first grade.  It also gives you an idea of how far back we sat.  We took the seats in the last row with room for our stroller-a perfect spot for our kids to all move around without bothering the "serious" program-goers.

a study in crawling

Well, Kella's on the move!  She's been crawling for about a week and a half now, making her first moves on Superbowl Sunday.  It hasn't taken long for her to figure out that this movement gives her a lot more freedom.  And, she can go from crawling, back to sitting, which means she does not get stuck on her belly.  This also means we have to be more diligent about picking up what is on the floor.  Kells excels at finding every little piece of paper, string, etc. that has missed our attention.  Another big milestone for our little girl!

Kella's 8 months old!

Kella was 8 months old on the 29th of January!  What a big girl she is becoming!  Here is a list of what's going on...

*she has 2 bottom teeth-with about 4 more that are so close

*she is eating 2 meals a day-lunch and dinner.  sometimes we manage breakfast, too

*she loves her fruits and tries very hard to gag on her veggies

*sleep? overrated-she still is getting up several times a night-sometimes just to be tucked back in

*babbles-says "da-da-da"

*almost to crawling-can get on her hands and legs and then goes right back down, but that moves her forward-like a worm

*loves to see what is going on

*gets so excited when Andy or I come home from work

*loves when her brothers talk to her

*just starting to get into books and loves to be sung to

her biggest fan-Ewan!

she has always loved bath time

loves visiting with her Grammies

Jr. Husky Night

The boys had their appreciation night at the high school last Friday.  They were pretty excited to go.  It was fun-they got to sit with their teammates, watch a basketball game, have a snack and walk out onto the court between games to get recognized for participating in the basketball program.  It was a good basketball weekend-both Marcus and Cale's teams went on to win their games and the boys both played well, too.

Here's Cale's team-the Indiana Hoosiers (1st grade boys/girls)

part of Marcus's team-Wake Forest (3rd grade boys).  They never turned around to face our side of the gym for a photo. 

and, here's a picture of the players-it's a great program-well-run and organized-and the kids have a great time!