8 Months Old

Emmit is 8 months old today! This last month seemed to be another one of milestones for Emmit...he's moving around A LOT now, becoming more vocal, and just showing more and more personality. It'll be interesting to see if he does the hand and knee crawl at all, because he has his inchworm MASTERED! He is all over the house now and into whatever he can reach. He is really quick too. He really gets going on the tile or hardwood floor - Auntie Stephi calls him a little penguin =) We definitely have to watch his every move now. With this crawl that he does, one thing that has suffered this past month is our carpeting. Emmit is spitting A LOT - on his tummy going places and leaving a trail to show for it =P The day we can clean our carpets will be a happy one =)

Emmit is babbling more these days...dadadada, babababa...he's also mastered the high-pitch girly scream =) He laughs and giggles all the time. Ellie makes him laugh a lot. It is so fun to watch him watch her. He just follows her around with curious eyes.

Emmit is a very good eater. He really likes his finger foods, his favorite thing so far definitely being pancakes! He loves taking baths, going outside, playing 'peek', and just getting lots of lovin' from whoever will hold him. He is so happy and smiley and still so chubby...=)

Happy boy



Emmit loves his Mama...he loves Daddy too, but he REALLY loves Mama lately...Mama can't even leave the room w/o cries of protest!



One of his favorite things to get into lately...he can't actually get in, but pulls and pulls on the door very determined...



VERY ticklish!



Getting where he needs to go...



Talking a lot more these days...

River to River Relay

Last weekend, Sara, Steph, and I ran in an 80 MILE relay with 5 fun guys. We finished in 9.5 hours, and it was a ton of fun! I have been working up to this for months - basically signed up shortly after Emmit was born so it was a great motivator to try and get back into some sort of shape. Still have a little ways to go, but I ran my 10 miles and that's all I wanted to do! After running for 9 1/2 hours we crossed the finish line 18th and ended up taking 28th overall and 6th in our division - way to go team!!! I'll tell more with pictures, because there are a ton!

At about 5:00 am - ready to run! We had the earliest start time at 6:15, but had to drive up a mountain basically to the start line.



Ready to go!



All the vans lined up at exchange 1. There were 250 teams with 8 people on each team - lots of runners!



Seth kicked us off in a stellar way - down the mountain he came to Steph.



Steph ran second



Waiting for Steph



Then me 3rd



This course was REALLY hilly, I mean REALLY hilly. This was my hill in my second leg =)



Sisters before Sara's first run



Tim was runner #4, handing off to Sara



Running her first leg and keeping pace with the guys!



The guys early on



Nate was our anchor



There was this team called the Dixie Flyers - they were all men average age 65 - some were EASILY in their 70s. They took 39th overall and to top it off, not only did they run 80 miles, they also biked about 60 of it - the only used a car on the gravel roads - CRAZY!!!!!!!!



A typical road...it was a mix of country, off road, and highway.



About halfway we came across some vineyards...tempting...





Our running fuel!



Our van...over the 3 days we spent about 36 hours in this baby!



Tim towards the end



Done!



Our van again with the mildly innapropriate painting on the side...this hill, described as "the hardest" in the program was a real killer!



Thankfully, Kraig ran it for us! Here he comes...not even HALF way up! =P



Bryan was runner #7 and our team liability...he seemed to have some issues getting in and out of the van =)



All DONE at the Ohio River. The race went from the Mississippi to the Ohio, along the southern-most tip of Illinois - 'Little Egypt' because of the hills and the rivers. That's Kentucky on the other side of the river.



And another team picture at the top of the observatory tower at the campground we stayed at (after a few Coronas and Blue Moons!) =)



Sunday...cheese puffs are GONE!

Easter Weekend

We spent Easter weekend in Minnesota with Wellyn, Sue, Brendan, and Aiden. As always, we had A LOT of fun, and Sue and I took A LOT of pictures, so I'll just let the pictures tell the story. I am going to post a ton, and this probably isn't even a quarter of what we took!

We got there around 2:00 on Friday, and spent the rest of the day celebrating Brendan and Ellie's birthdays. It is way past Ellie's birthday, but because there were gifts for her to open, it became her birthday too. She was a little confused, but of course loved all the excitement! =)

Loving her new vaccuum



Opening more presents



Ellie got a new step stool which she immediately had to push into the bathroom and test out! It's working wonders for getting her to brush her teeth at home now too! =)







Ready for cake!





Blowing out the candles...we had 9 candles, 7 for Brendan and 2 for Ellie =)



Mmmmm...



This was a FUN toy all weekend long!



Sue and I ran out for a couple errands that afternoon too, and look what the boys did when we were gone!



And Emmit and Mama just hanging out



On Saturday morning after breakfast, we colored some eggs. Ellie wasn't quite getting how to gently put the eggs in the color....she cracked a couple =)



Emmit was content watching in the highchair



More fun inside in the morning





And, then we had lots of fun outside on Saturday too...it was a beautiful day! Sue made an excellent Easter dinner/lunch on Saturday, so all the outside pictures are from before and after lunch. I love in this first picture how Ellie and Aiden are turned toward each other - so cute =)



















Saturday night we went to Brendan's soccer game. He did AWESOME - so quick out on the field. There he is, #2! That night ended though with Ellie hitting her head...since I've already told that story, we'll move on to happier times...



And Easter Sunday...who was the first one up - Emmit of course!





The Easter Bunny was super tricky again, hiding eggs, candy, and baskets all over the house! The kids had a blast! =)





Ellie is STILL enjoying the Easter candy a week later (and so are Mama and Daddy!)...I need to just get rid of it!











And just a little more play in before we go...we had a great weekend, many memories made!