Troy's Growth, Sydney's Cut, and Charlie's Experimentations

As of last week, Troy (at a little over 5 months old) weighed in at 20lbs. 7oz.! Surprise surprise, right? I know... all of my children have been big, and Troy's no different! He got his first tooth at the end of January, and started rolled over on a regular basis only a little over a week ago. He smiles, giggles, grabs at things and puts them into his mouth, and LOVES the jumping play-gym in which he gets set! Charlie and Sydney take turns "babysitting" their jolly little brother at times when Mommy needs to finish up a few dishes, dinner, etc. "Babysitting" entails entertaining their brother so that he'll stop fussing just a few more minutes until Mommy or Daddy can come attend to his needs. Charlie in particular takes his job as "big brother" rather seriously (and naturally). He shows genuine interest in Troy, and will play with him, and giggle and laugh at Troy's responses to the things Charlie does to try and entertain him. Sydney, on the other hand, shows interest as much as an almost-3-year-old would be expected. She will get down on the floor with him, saying, "Hi, Tay... hi, Tay..." She'll give him a quick kiss, and then she's on to bigger, better, more interesting things.

Last week Charlie did quite the experiment on Sydney. He cut her hair. Her hair was finally at the length where I could braid it. Now it looks like Julia Andrews' hair in The Sound of Music... it actually might be even shorter! Yes, my children can be wonderful angels at times, and then perfectly mischievous at others... I guess their normal. Here are a few videos take on my phone. Hopefully they'll turn out okay.

Quick Update

We've had quite the busy fall/winter! We had Thanksgiving in Idaho this year with David's parents, which was absolute wonderful! We were all able to celebrate Thanksgiving inside Steve's and Mary's beautiful new house, and were surrounded by lots and lots of snow. It felt like we had entered into Narnia. Our week out there was so relaxing, and we had a great time visiting with everyone.

Tessa's (my sister) wedding was coming up, and David and I immediately went into bachelorette party preparations, as well as preparations for the bachelor party, and a bridal shower also hosted at our home... all happening the weekend following our return from Idaho. Following that weekend was the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner (on Friday), and the next day was the wedding. It was a beautiful wedding! Tessa made such a beautiful bride! I was honored to be a bride's maid (well, "bride's matron" I guess), and David looked so hansom in his tux (he was one of Steve's groomsmen). Sydney was also in the wedding as --yep! you guessed it!-- a flower girl! She really thought that she was a princess for the day, and cried when we had to go home, saying, "Noooo, Mommy.... I don't want to go home. I'm a bootiful pwintheth."

After Tessa's wedding, we went into preparations for our family photos (I'll add them later). We were thrilled with Peter Mahar, and we hope to make it an anual thing to have him take our family portraits! (If anyone's interested, you can see some of his work, as well as pictures from my sister's wedding at: www.petermahar.com) We had a piano recital for our students later the next week, and the day after the recital we hosted (at our home) a concert for about 50 people. It went great!

We had about a week break between the choir performance and Christmas, so we decided to take it easy. At the last minute, however, we decided to host a little gathering at our house for Christmas Eve. Friends, family, games, appetizers, soup, and dessert. It was just perfect. On Christmas morning, we made a big breakfast including eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit, cinnamon rolls, sticky buns, and orange juice! Our kids opened their stockings, ate breakfast, and then opened their presents from under the tree. I have to say... it was a very magical morning.

Needless to say, by the time New Years Eve rolled around, we were kind of ready for a quiet night by ourselves. So that's just what we did. We put the kids to bed, and watch a TV series to bring in the New Year.

Now we're planning a Valentine's Day fundraising banquet for the choir, and it's going to be a blast! We're planning a five-course meal, live musical entertainment, a silent auction, and beautiful ambiance. We hope to raise enough money to record a CD... maybe a few!

Well, that's how our season has gone so far -- busy busy busy! But we like it that way... as long as there's a bit of a break every-so-often.