Callen: 6 months

Wow! 6 months have flown by.  Here's our little guy's growth month by month:

Happy half-birthday little man!!!

Oh this boy is such a joy- we all just absolutely adore him!  

It is so fun to see his fun personality emerge.

Callen's stats:

Height: 27 inches

Weight: 17 lbs 2 oz. 

 (officially our chunkiest baby- we LOVE those rolls!!!)

Takes 3 naps/day. Each 1-2 hours long

Sleeps 12ish hours straight through the night. (awesome!)

Solely breastfeeding- about to start solids

Callen at 6 months:

LOVES babbling. He talks to us constantly and gives the best, hugest grins.

He's been rolling from his back to his tummy, but he hated being on his tummy. This month he started really enjoying being there and is pushing himself up with his arms. He also  wiggles around to try to get the toys he wants. So cute.

He loves jumping in the bouncer.

Met his Aunt Amanda for the first time.

He is such a cuddle bug and loves to be held and sung to.

Enjoys massage/lotion time at nights.

One of his most awesome accomplishments is going to bed ...we NEVER had to do a 'cry it out' time.  We just put him to bed around 8ish and we don't hear a peep until morning!

Is such a trooper with his bros.  He really lets them hug and love on him without getting too fussy.

Is super ticklish on his tummy, chest, & neck.

Loves snuggling with his monkey blankie to go to sleep.

He is such a happy, content baby. He really just loves being around all of us and watching the happenings!!

Dear Callen,

We love you so much, our sweet boy. You are the calm in our day and definitely a joy to all of us.  

You light up the minute you see any of us and give us the best smiles.

You laugh at your brothers and love to be around them. We got out the bouncer this month for you.. you weren't quite sure what to think at first, but now you are a pro. You love turning yourself around in it to see the different toys and bouncing as high as you can!  And oh the sound of your laugh- it is pure happiness!  If any of your brothers are grumpy, I just have to ask if they want to hold you and the grumpies melt away. They answer an enthusiastic YES and race to the couch to hold you in their arms. You hold that magic, my sweet sweet boy. You make our days brighter and better. We are so glad you are part of our family.

Love love love you, little man.

Love, 

Mommy, Daddy, & the bros.

Amdanda's Visit!

My wonderful sister in law, Amanda, came to visit.  

This visit was extra special because she came to see just us & to meet our cute Callen!  

Usually there is a family vacation planned, a reunion, a wedding, general conference, or other family members here to visit. But this time, it was all US. 

And I couldn't be happier. 

We had so much fun just hanging out, snuggling on Callen, playing with the boys, freezing in the snow (since it decided to DUMP on us while she was here), watching movies, having a girl's day of shopping and fun, painting toes, making smoothies, talking, laughing, and loving being together. 

I love this girl.

More than I could ever say.

Thank you for coming to visit.  I miss you. SO. MUCH.

Sadly, I didn't pull out my camera the whole trip. 

But we had a blast.  

I know that without many pictures to show for it! :)

Halloween!

The boys decided months ago what they wanted to be for Halloween. Since they had picked Avengers characters, and there were now 6 of us, I figured it'd be easy to form the whole team.   We had so much fun at our old neighborhood trick or treat lane.  It was so fun to see our friends. 

Black Widow & Hawkeye

I didn't want to buy or sew mine and Jeff's costumes, so it was all about the accessories.  You can't see behind him, but he has on a pretty sweet quiver of arrows I made out of a mail tube. I also painted the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on his shirt.  I spray painted some of the boys toy guns for me and made a bracelet of bullets and then also my black widow belt buckle. Oh, and I've been wanting to go a little red for awhile, so I saved it for now.  I'm liking how it turned out. The boys love it and Weston asked me to keep it awhile. I think I will. :)  

Weston, aka, Captain America & his buddy!

Tave or HULK

Ryder:  Iron Man!

West had so much fun with his friend, Jaron. They sure miss hanging out daily!

Since the boys have missed each other, my friend, Rachel came trick or treating with us in our neighborhood. It was such a GORGEOUS day and the boys had a blast. I'm so glad we all hung out!

I love these kids!  

The two babies are missing from this pic, I can't believe we have 8 boys between the two of us!

Cute Callen hung out in his seat while the boys ran door to door.  He was so happy to talk to us, and have his Thor stuff off!

Happy Haunting everyone!

October's Everyday Moments

October was another busy month full of friends, school, and lots of fun activities. We enjoyed the nice weather..fall had hit but the temps didn't drop too drastically. We were still able to spend a lot of time outside.

Shar & Trav stayed with us for about a week while their sewer line was down. We had a blast and loved every second of having cousins around. So much that we didn't take any pictures. Here are the kiddos the last morning at breakfast:

The boys favorite thing to do is go swimming in Jeff & my bathtub.  And swimming it really is...this tub is awesome. They love turning on the jets,which always results in bubbles:

Weston being goofy with the bubbles:

My sweet boy is such a helper and growing up way too fast.

Silly Tave insisted on wearing these glasses for about a week straight (like one of the power rangers)

He also had a fun field trip this month to the red barn. He loved the hayride and the awesome slide:

Sometimes he doesn't like pictures...but I had to catch one of this cute kid with his very favorite blankie:

Ryder is always a hoot and so energetic!  He keeps me on my toes and I love (almost) every minute of it:

Those minutes I don't love- he quit napping. It is not fun. He is only 2 and still really needs one, but I cannot get him to go to sleep. So we have, unfortunately, converted to quiet time. He gets super grouchy by about 4 pm...so we try to get him down a little earlier for bed. As a result of no napping, he occasionally falls asleep in random places:

Ah, happy little Callen. He sure is loved by all of his bros.

He's such a good sport when they want to play with him:

I couldn't resist...I made this hat for a friend's niece and I had to try it on a model. I died laughing.  

Oh October, we sure had some laughs, didn't we?!

Pumpkin Carving!

We are so glad to have cousins back in Utah!! It makes holidays super fun.

Shar & Trav had a full garden of pumpkins, so they invited us over for some carving.

The boys loved choosing their own and then we got to work!

Ryder added a silly face to his:

Trav carved a face:

Tave put a silly face on his:

 And both boys helped carve a 'real' face:

K & M drew the face they wanted:

Our finished pumpkins on our porch: