Mirrors

Chase was checking himself out in the mirror on this baby toy and trying to talk to the baby in the mirror. My camera wasn't fast enough to catch all the smiles.

Getting hugs

I really like this picture of Chase with his Grampa. I think Aunty Linda sent these pictures over. His eyes look pretty blue still in these pictures, but they are slowly changing to brown I think. Chase is mostly pretty happy as long as someone is holding him...unlike his sister at this age.

Avery loves giving out hugs and it's so cute. However you have to keep a pretty close watch on her because she really wants to poke Chase's eyes too!

If you look close, Chase is really trying to get that toy in his mouth and Avery keeps it just out of reach.

Littlest cousins

The three littlest cousins...to look at you wouldn't guess that Avery was the oldest of the group.

Trying to get all three rounded up, happy and looking at the cameras required some effort.

Everett is only 2 months older than Chase but you wouldn't guess it looking at him. Chase is pretty good sized for his age, but he's got some growing to do to catch up to his cousin. I imagine these two will have lots of fun tearing around here in a few more years. It's especially nice since Everett lives within walking distance...once they start walking anyway.

Avery's Birthday!

My sister's little girl Avery turned one in February so naturally we all had to come over for cake and ice cream. She looked pretty darn cute with her little pig tail on top, although she seems less than impressed with getting ANOTHER picture taken.

Avery wasn't too sure about blowing out the candle on her cake so Carter to the rescue! Carter was more than happy to come over, and blow out the candle. I loved that she had to sing the happy birthday song again before blowing out the candle.

A whole living room full of little kids having a ball with the balloons...which was all well and good until Dad had to show them how to make them squeal, then it got old fast. However the kids all had a high time.

Me and my sister with our babies...and Gramma Betty too!

Beans for Dinner

Carter can be tricky to get in front of a camera. She hides or tries to take the camera from you so that she can take pictures. She had decided that she wanted green beans for dinner and nothing else would do. In fact she ate the whole can all by herself. She snuggled up next to me on the couch later and told me that I was a good mom. I told her thank you and that I though she was a pretty good little girl. She looked up at me and smiled. "Yes, I am" she said. Well, as good as can be expected for one little wild girl.

Carter taking pictures...

I just really liked this one that Carter got of her dad...he doesn't pose the same way for me!

The better binky

Chase has discovered his thumb and really really likes it. So does mom! Unlike a binky, we always know where it is, it never gets lost, he can find it himself, mom doesn't have to worry about forgetting it on a long car trip to town. Yep, really like this thumb sucking. Well, other than all the folks who keep telling me he will have to have braces. (I asked my doctor and he said it's fine and very seldom results in crooked teeth, so there!) At any rate, it looks pretty cute right now.

All Tuckered Out

Carter after a long day with Dad. Robert is so great about taking Carter whenever he has a slow day or has to spend most of the day running errands in Billings. Carter loves going with him and generally is asleep by the time they get home.

Working on Vocals

Here's a short clip of Chase working on his yelling. He was pretty sure he wasn't getting enough attention. He really gets bouncy too in that chair!

The New Year

Robert has been using my camera a bunch this month for a job, so I don't have many pictures to post right now. I need to get it back, but until then, I'll just update with the latest news--not that there has been too much going on around here. It's mostly been too cold (up until the last two days) and I've been busy trying to get everything ready for tax season. That and my sisters got me sucked into Facebook. It's really pretty interesting to see who all is out there and what they have been up to, people I haven't seen for years. I kinda had it in my mind that Facebook was for teenagers, but no so. Like I needed one more thing to take up all my "spare" time.

Carter keeps me busy trying to keep her busy. She has an inventive little mind when left to her own devices (like all little kids I'm sure). Playing in the wood ashes all over the kitchen floor, covering the dog in lip gloss, flooding the bathroom, finger painting the kitchen cabinets with flour--it's been a busy month. We played find the frog yesterday. I would "hide" her stuffed frog in the living room somewhere and she would come racing in to find it. She was starting to get pretty good at it when she decided it was her turn to hide it and I would come find it. That was so funny. I would come into the living room and she would be so excited that she would go jump on the frog where ever she had put it--so I couldn't see it I suppose! If she managed to contain herself so that she wouldn't go jump on it, she would keep looking at the hiding place while I pretended to not be able to find it. Exasperated with my inability to find it right away, she would finally just tell me.

Chase is getting bigger fast. I'm going to have some impressive arm muscles by the time he starts crawling and walking. (maybe not as impressive as Corinne's) It's so interesting to see just how different of a baby he is compared to his sister...I never really thought of babies really having much of a personality, but boy they sure do right from the start!