Crawling!!!

It may be slow, but we officially have a crawler on our hands. Charlie is so proud of himself! Check out his tongue...Jack and Lauren told me they taught him how to do it. I love how they encourage him to move.

Thanksgiving!

My parents, Jason and I hosted Thanksgiving this year. The best part was seeing how well Jack and Lauren played with their cousins.

Cute!!

Gary and Charlie.

Lauren's Birthday Party

Lauren was so excited for her birthday party! She had it at a gymnastics place close to our house.
Mommy and the birthday girl!
Good friends the Tyacke's. We don't see Caden and Hailey as much now that school has started. We miss them and were so glad they could make it to the party.
Jumping in the foam pit.

Cupcake time!

Friends

Someone didn't want to be in the picture!!!
We ended Lauren's bday with dinner at Red Robin.

Lauren turns 4!

Lauren opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa on her birthday.

My big four year old girl. I can hardly believe she is already four. She is such a joy to be around. She comes up to me, kisses me and tells me she loves me several times throughout the day. We bake something every week together. Lauren now says she wants to be a "cooker" when she grows up. Lauren loves to tease people and gets a coy grin on her face when she is ready to tease. She is always coloring and doing arts and crafts. She also enjoys her dance and soccer class. Lauren loves her brothers and is very helpful with Charlie. She is so close with Jack and likes playing with him. We are so lucky to have Lauren in our family. Four years has gone so fast...I can't wait for the next four!!

I went to Lauren's school for her party. She was so excited but got overwhelmed when the class started singing. She cried and ran to me towards the end of the song. Got to love my sensitive girl. I asked her why she was crying and she said, "Well Mommy, everyone was staring at me."
Practicing walking in my boots. Lauren couldn't even walk in them...the four inch heel didn't help!

Jack gets so excited for Lauren to open her gift from him. He loves going to the store and picking out what she would like. He chose Polly Pockets for her again this year.

Charlie liked helping her open her gifts too.
Sorry the pictures are out of order...here is Lauren at school when they first started singing to her. Lauren's teacher said she couldn't believe Lauren was only turning four. She said that she acts like a five year old.
Playing Polly Pockets with Jack.

Getting her nails done for her bday!
Jason and I got her an easy bake oven since she loves baking. She liked making her first cake with it.

Grandma's birthday party

We celebrated Jane's birthday at our house.

Lauren and Calen

Great Grandpa Frank

While Lauren and I were in Seattle, we visited my grandfather. It was great to see him as it had been a few years. We had a great conversation, hugged good-bye and headed back to Portland. The following Friday we received a call that he collapsed inside QFC. He never regained consciousness and died a few days later. I am so grateful for our visit and will never forget our dinners out when I lived in Seattle. He had a full 90 years of life and will be missed!

A trip to Seattle

Lauren and I went to Seattle the first part of November to visit Melissa, Liese and their new baby Brandt. Lauren and Liese played so well together. They played babies and store the entire time. It was so cute! Brandt is darling as well. It was a fun girls trip for Lauren and I. She didn't complain once during the drive up there or back home and asked me, "Mom, was I awesome in the car?"

8 months

I just found some more pictures of Charlie.

He saw Jason mowing the lawn yesterday and starting kicking his feet and screaming. He was so happy mowing with his daddy.

At 8 months, Charlie is the youngest person to do yoga. This is his downward dog position. =)

Eight months is here. It feels like I was just talking about Charlie turning seven months. Charlie is 19.9 lbs (48%) and 28.5 inches (68%). Last month I would have sworn Charlie would be crawling by now, but he isn't quite there yet. He rocks back and forth on all fours, but hasn't figured out how to move his arms and legs yet. Charlie has learned how to go from laying on his tummy to getting back up into a sitting position. He does move around now by scooting on his bottom. You should see how proud he is when he scoots to a new toy. It is so cute. Charlie loves his brother and sister. If they are in the other room, he whines until he is put in the room with them.When he is in the mood, he still stands by himself. It isn't very long but he is getting more confident. Charlie is sleeping well...through the night some nights and others he is up at 5, but goes back down after a bottle until 7:30. He continues to be a happy boy who is such a joy.See the toy on the rug? He started there and made it to the books by the table. See how proud he is of himself?


Jack and Lauren don't do baths very much anymore, but from time to time the three of them take a bath together. They all love it!



Charlie's toys in the toybox. He does a great job of sitting in there playing!

Halloween!

Halloween was such a memorable event this year. We started by stopping by Adam and Michelle's house. Michelle and I had good intentions of having the kiddos all dressed up in costumes and snapping some pictures. But, we were running late and Calen was sleeping! Instead, we just said a quick Happy Halloweend and let them play a bit.Lauren talking with Calen.
Jack and Charlie wrestling.

Such a cute picture of the cousins.Jack loves his cousin.

After we left the Mauss household, we headed to the Ellerbrooks for dinner and trick-or-treating.

Darth Vadar vs. Obi Wan

The first Halloween with all three.

Friends

The group ready for trick-or-treating..

Charlie stayed warm in his beaver costume.

The dads with coffee??? Or what is in those mugs?

At the door

Jack loved his red light saber...thanks Nana. =)

This house was so cool with tons of decorations.

Half of the group got tired and went home, but the boys wanted to continue for more trick-or-treating. There was no way Lauren was going to miss that! She rallied and spent the rest of the time hanging with the boys. She didn't complain once and had to run to keep up with them. The boys are 5 and 6 years old (the 3 and 4 yr olds went home a lot earlier.) When we finally got back home, Lauren looked at me and said, "Mom, my feet are SO tired." I love that she didn't want to miss out on the fun and didn't complain at all.

This is another awesome house. They had people dressed up and staged outside to scare the older kiddos. Jack was so brave and got his picture taken with him.

Charlie fell asleep half way through the trick-or-treating.

Look at the loot.

Do you think he needs anymore sugar?

Sorting out the candy. How many pieces of candy do you think he had that night? He is so fun right now and was so excited for Halloween.

Lauren sorted her candy as well.