Eden at 6-months-old

One of the main reasons I finally broke down a couple of months ago and started our own blog was because I wanted to be able to document the first year of Eden's life month by month as she grows. Time goes so fast right now and I thought it would be fun to see how much she changes from post to post. :) Unfortunately I didn't start blogging until she was 5 months old...I wish I had started when she was born because it would be cool to see how much she has changed! I guess that is what my real scrapbook is for. Note to self...stop blogging and get caught up on real scrapbook. ;)
Anyway, Eden is actually almost 7 months old now (she will be on Jan. 2) but I've had this post saved in a folder for a couple of weeks now, so better late than never, right?
So here's all about Eden at 6 months old! I wanted to write a few things about her at this age...for posterity.

At her 6 month check up Eden weighed 18 pounds and was 27 inches long. (I know...she's big. Dave and I are big people...so we have big kids. It really shouldn't be so surprising! :) )
This month she's figured out a lot. She started sitting up at about 6 1/2 months...and it's so nice now she can sit on a blanket with a pile of baby toys and be content for like hours. O.k., not hours...but at least a few minutes while I'm doing the dishes or making dinner which is so nice for me! She is a great eater...and even likes the baby food peas and green beans which my other kids both hated from the beginning. Hopefully this sticks! She sleeps mostly pretty great and now shares a room with her big sister! Which Emily thinks is awesome. Eden is super smiley and happy and content and I feel like such a lucky mommy!
Things Eden loves: Her brother and sister. Looking at herself in the mirror (she loves her reflection almost too much! I don't want her to be getting a big head already 'cause she knows she's so cute. j/k) Me and Dave. Being held. Eating, I mean reading, books. Chewing on the drawstrings of my hoodie jackets or the drawstrings of her own pants. :)
Things that make Eden sad: Being left alone for too long (thanks to Emily and Justin this hardly ever happens...she almost always has company.) Having to wait too long for mommy to make her rice cereal as she sits in her high chair. Her car seat...she's never been a big fan. And finally...when mommy takes those delicious drawstrings she's been happily chewing on away from her.

Here are a few photos of Eden at 6-months...

Finally sitting up! It took her awhile to figure this
out. She was always so wiggly and would topple herself over.

Like in this picture...

(Emily caught her just in time)
Her first Christmas!

This video is pretty funny. My friend lent us this bouncer and Eden just loves it. As you can tell from the hysterical laughing of Emily and Justin...Eden is definitely our main (and our most favorite) source of entertainment in the house!

We just can't get enough of this baby!

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

This is going to be a couple of posts at the same time again. I'm really trying to catch up. December is just such a busy month...I expect January to be much slower. :)
We had a wonderful Christmas with both mine and Dave's families...and I have lots of great pictures to share. But before I get to that I wanted to catch up on some fun things that happened right before Christmas. Last week Emily's Christmas dance recital took place. Her class tapped to "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" and it was of course very cute and very entertaining. Enjoy!

All curled and ready to go...

Emily's the tall cutie in the middle...

This picture is way too dark, I don't even know
why I added it. Oh well.


Emily and her good friend Emma after the recital...

We went out to eat afterwards to celebrate.

It was such a fun night!

A very short clip of the dance...I wish we had gotten more of it!

Again, Emily's in the middle. :)



It's O.K. to fix your hair DURING the performance, right?

Snow

Most people in our area have already blogged about the wild and crazy snow storm that hit Vegas a couple of weeks ago...it was definitely blog worthy news! I'm just totally behind. Our area didn't get nearly as much as some, but we still were able to go outside and play and have a good time. My poor kids don't have the usual snow gear for playing in this wet and cold stuff, so they were pretty frozen after about 10 minutes. They had a blast anyway. :)

The precious snow...

I still remember when Emily was 2-years-old and we lived in SLC and she would walk around outside when it was snowing with her mouth wide open and say "Mmmmm, vanilla!" over and over again as she tasted the snow. She hasn't had many chances to taste it since then...I wonder if she still thinks it tastes like vanilla ice cream? (wouldn't that be nice if it did!?)

Emily's 7th Birthday

Emily turned 7 this week, actually...she turned 7 today...but we celebrated her birthday a few days ago with a big shebang at Peter Piper Pizza. Our kids get friend parties every other year, and this was an on year for Em. She invited some of her best friends, and some of her fun cousins (we are so lucky to have six of her cousins that live in the area) and we partied the night away. It was a fun--and crazy--celebration.

And so the party begins...

Me with my girl...


games, games, games...



Crazy Girls...

The birthday girl with Grandpa Hooper...

Eden spent most of the party with Grandma H...

Ready for cake...Emily looks so serious in this picture.

Maybe she's contemplating her wish?

Out go the candles!

The whole crowd, ready to open presents...

This picture makes it look like some of the kids are

trying to steal away one of Emily's gifts and she's holding

on for dear life. But actually, the gift was just stuck in the bag and

they're helping her pull it out. I just thought it looked funny.

Party's over!

It was a very good night.

I Heart my New Necklace

In general Dave and I don't get a lot for each other for Christmas. We both feel (as I'm sure most parents do) that the majority of our Christmas budget and planning as far as presents go should be for the kids. This year we decided we'd just get each other one thing each. Dave needs a new suit...so that's his present for this year (even though I am actually surprising him with something else that's fun...of course...he's the best!), and then I just thought I'd leave it up to him to decide one thing for me. But then I remembered these necklaces from a bow party that I went to a few months ago. This nice girl in my area makes hand stamped silver jewelry (I know in the picture below the necklace looks bronze, but it's silver.) She does all sorts of different words and designs, and they are so pretty. The particular one I had my eye on was made of silver discs with your children's names stamped on each one. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I saw it, so when we were talking about Christmas I decided this was the perfect time to get my necklace. Dave was more than happy to let me go about getting it picked out and ordered. :) And it arrived today! I just love it and am so thankful for this nice present. I know it's early...but I'm wearing it anyway! I realize this is kind of boring stuff...but I just love it and wanted to share!

Like I said, the necklace is silver, not bronze (even

though that would be pretty too!) And if anyone is interested

the web-site is...http://www.simplyornamental.net/

Celebrating Christmas Part 1

This is gonna be kind of a big update. We've been busy and had a lot of fun the last few weeks...it's just that time of year I guess! Anyway, keep scrolling for multiple posts!



Starting off...last weekend we went to see some fun Christmas lights in our area. A nice, local man with a big yard sets up a super fun Christmas lights display for the public to enjoy for free! There are lights everywhere, fun Christmas displays, Santa, hot chocolate and cookies for sale, and even a fun train ride. We had a great time.

All bundled up for the light show...

On the train...the kids thought it was so fun...

Eden liked it too!

I like this picture cause of Justin's funny facial expression

Eden's face as she checked out the lights...

Almost got it...

Visiting Santa at our ward Christmas party.

Emily asked for a Littlest Pet Shop VIP, Justin asked for Transformers.

(done and done :) )

We also decorated Christmas cookies with friends last week...

so fun!

Justin loves his Santa hat...

he wears it day...and night!

Eden likes it too...

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Decorating the tree

I have to confess that I really, really don't like our Christmas tree. I know that sounds awful, but it's true. We've had the same dinky, little tree for years...and every year I plan on buying a new one, and every year I decide that we really don't need a new tree and we can stand our old tree for just one more year, and there are more important things to spend money on right now, etc.

Thank goodness that our kids don't care and think our tree the most beautiful tree in the world. :) They had a wonderful time "making it pretty"...I just love how excited they get about the simplest things...decorating our tree was truly a magical evening for them!

Justin had the honor of putting up the first ornament...

Emily next...

and Eden finally got to put up her first ornament ever!

more decorating, they were so into it!





Look at our pretty tree Eden!

The finished product...

Afterwards I caught the kids doing this...

and this...

They truly love our tree!

(Good thing somebody does)