Amelia at 6 months

Can you believe that my baby is six months old already?

Oh my goodness, what a sweet girl! I took her six month photos this morning and I love how they turned out. The best part of taking your own photos is catching your kids when you know they are happy.

Of course I had to try different hair accessories, but you can see that she is getting quite the head of hair!

The hardest part was getting her to hold still! She desperately wanted to grab the sign next to her. She has discovered that paper is fun to play with.

This time I took some head shots that I really love. Check out all the hair on this girl!

I cannot even tell you how happy we are to have Amelia as part of our family. She brightens our days and truly is our little sunshine!

It is amazing to watch her grow and see all the things she is learning! She has become more comfortable on her tummy, and can actually roll from her back to her tummy and then back again. Luckily for me, she has not quite figured out how to use rolling as a mode of transportation yet. I have a feeling we are going to have to childproof the house soon.

We love you Miss Amelia! We look forward to watching you grow through all the milestones to come!

Sunday at the Devereaux's

Today as we got ready for church, I thought that the kids looked particularly nice. Jacob and Ephraim were very well coordinated, and Amelia was super cute. So I sat them all down on the couch and took a picture.

Who am I kidding?! Of course I took way more than one picture. These are just my favorites.

Don't I have the cutest kids on the planet? Of course I may be a bit biased.

Evening at the park

For my public blog I have been participating in several photo hunts or challenges. I find that they help me to try to take better pictures. It is also fun to try to find the items I need to take pictures of. This week one of my challenges included a "street photography" prompt, so I took the boys downtown to take some pictures. They were happy to run down the street with me and be my pedestrians.

I had Amelia in our little stroller, and the boys wanted to push her. I had them take turns pushing her down the street, which they thought was so much fun!

After walking down the street, we walked to the nearby park. Joe was working late and the boys wanted to play for a while, which was fine by me. Amelia got tired after a while and I managed to get her to fall asleep in my arms. Isn't she cute?

The sunset on the way home was gorgeous! I took the boys to Maceys to get some ice cream and had to stop and take pictures of the sunset in the parking lot. So beautiful!

I also ended up taking a picture of the full moon this week. I think it turned out rather nicely.

My Boppy Baby

I realized this morning that it had been a while since I had taken any cute pictures of Amelia! She was so cute this morning while sitting up in the boppy that I had to take a few pictures... and by a few, I mean tons.

Amelia is getting better at sitting up, but still needs a little support or she will fall over.

She prefers to sit up because then she can see what is going on around her a little better. Her busy brothers are always interesting to watch!

I can't believe how fast she is growing! She is almost six months old!

I also can't believe how many pictures I took of her! I just can't help it, she is so cute!

Of course the best part is when I get her to smile at me!

Or stick out her tongue- whatever!

My Soccer Shark

Saturday morning we had another soccer game. We were among the first ones there, and for a while there we were not sure the other team was going to show up! There were at least 6 players from our team at the field before any of the other team even showed up!

Jacob's team had fun warming up while we waited. Here he is shooting at the goal. I love this shot!

Ephraim wanted to wear soccer gear too, so we dressed him in one of Joe's old uniforms. Isn't he cute? Good thing the other team wasn't in red!

The game went pretty well. I got some fun shots of Jacob going after the ball.

Coach commented to Joe and me after the game that Jacob is a good little runner and does a great job hustling after the ball. That made me smile.

I love this picture of Jacob sitting on his ball taking a rest while the other half of his team plays.

Though he did not score a goal this time, he did get to assist several times and he kicked the ball in from out of bounds, which he thought was fun.

After watching the other coach, I am even more impressed with Coach Art. He sure makes the game fun for the boys. He tries to include all the boys, teach them the game, and make it fun. Here he is telling the boys that first you kick the ball towards the sides, then you kick it towards the goal. You can see that Jacob is pointing which way to go too.

It was fun to have Joe at the game this time too. It was also nice because we got new camp chairs to sit on. So we did not have to sit on the wet grass. We also have a great little wagon to carry our equipment to the field. It is funny how much stuff we ended up buying for ourselves so that we could watch Jacob play soccer! Oh well, at least we will use most of this stuff for years to come!

Can't Catch the Gingerbread Boys

This week Jacob had his first real homework assignment. So far his homework has just consisted of reading with me for 15 minutes each night. This week he had a new assignment in his homework folder. Jacob's assignment this week was to decorate a Gingerbread man. The teacher said to be creative so I got out all the crafting supplies, and the boys went crazy (as you can see from the mess on the table!). Jacob's gingerbread man is the one on the left, and Ephraim's is on the right. I printed one out for Ephraim to decorate so he didn't feel left out. Don't you think they turned out great?!

I especially love the noodle hair and the oodles of glitter glue! We finished the Gingerbread man on Wednesday so Jacob could take it to school on Thursday. It wasn't due till Friday, but he wanted to get it in early (my kind of boy!).

By Friday (Jacob's 8th day of school) I think Jacob was starting to feel a little homesick. While we were getting ready for school Jacob said he wanted to stay home with me. That made me feel good in a way because I know that he misses me! He loves school, but he loves to be with me too.

In the end he was glad he went because they read the story of the gingerbread man and got to help decorate and eat one! It was so much fun! Then Friday after school we went to UVU to have lunch with Daddy. I wanted to take some pictures in the courtyard for my public blog, so I let the boys play around while I snapped. Here are some pictures of the boys checking out the waterfall.

The boys had fun checking out the waterfall and I had fun checking out how the waterfall looked at various camera settings!

I love it when I caught the water looking sharp rather than blurry. Too cool!

The boys had a great time running around in the courtyard. Their favorite place is the part of the waterfall that they can jump across.

Amelia was not with us because she fell asleep. So we let Daddy take her to his office while we played outside. We had a good time and I got the picture that I needed for my photo hunt. I love it when we get to see Daddy in the middle of the day!

Growing Teeth is Hard Work!

Poor Amelia! We are pretty sure that she is working on some teeth. Her nose has been a little runny, and she has been drooling like crazy. Not to mention being a little crankier than usual.

Yesterday she took some really good naps. She was asleep enough that I sneaked into her room to take pictures. I guess all that fussing and growing teeth made her pretty tired! With our new schedule she gets a chance at a nap in the morning after we drop Jacob off at Kindergarten, and then again in the afternoon when both the boys are home. She often takes a late evening nap as well.

Here she is this morning:

She was wearing a headband, which messed up her hair a bit. But you can see how long it is getting!

Here she is later that same day. This time she fell asleep wearing her headband. I have been trying to get her used to them so she will let me make her pretty when she is a toddler!

Isn't she just the sweetest thing ever?

Makes you want to come over to our house and hold a cute baby, doesn't it?

Don't Bug Me

The boys have spotted some interesting six-legged critters roaming around recently (outside the house, thank heavens!). They are fascinated with bugs and love it when I take pictures so they can look at them again later. I don't particularly care for bugs, but when you have boys you do what you gotta do!

 Besides, I think the pictures turned out pretty well, don't you?

This grasshopper was kind enough to hold still for a while as I crept up on him and took his picture.

Then today as we were leaving for Kindergarten we spotted this awesome leaf bug. We were almost late for school because we had to ogle this bug. He is pretty cool, don't you think?

We were amazed at how big the leaf bug and the grasshopper were! When Ephraim and I got back from Kindergarten, the leaf bug was still on the door to the shed, so we watched him for a while. We have not had many bugs outside up until now, probably because it has been to hot!

I am cool with it just as long as the bugs stay outside!

Let's Go Sharks!

At our practice on Wednesday this week, Jacob's soccer team voted on their team name. The choices were pretty funny, including the "bad bears" and the "fire breathing dragons". They all closed their eyes and voted, while the parents watched and chuckled from the sidelines because of course some kids voted for more than one name. Luckily they ended up with the Sharks, which is perfect because their uniforms are grey, black and white.

Thursday evening ended up being our very first soccer game. We were sad that Daddy couldn't be there, but Jacob was excited to get to play. After the first game I have to say that I am even more impressed with Coach Art. He did a great job of helping the boys play the right positions on the field and keeping the game from turning into "bunch ball".

When they got to the field, first the boys warmed up by dribbling their ball around and shooting at the goal.

Jacob was one of the first set of four boys to get to play. Here is Coach telling the boys what they need to do.

I had so much fun watching Jacob play and cheering him on. He did a great job of following the coach's directions. Here he is chasing after the ball, trying to turn it around.

Here is a shot from a little later in the game where the ball came to Jacob...

and he headed down the field with it. Jacob is such a natural runner. He never complained that he was tired, only thirsty! Good thing we brought lots of water!

 Jacob's team did really well at their game. I wasn't really keeping score, but they scored at least three goals. Would you believe that Jacob scored a goal?! I was so proud of him! Here he is right after he kicked it into the goal.

Just look at the smile on this boy's face! He was so excited that he got a goal!

My heart nearly burst with pride when he went back to Coach Art, who gave him a high five! Way to go Jacob!

Jacob was excited for a while after that. At one point I was laughing because he was spinning around in circles on the field. I had to tell him to be sure to pay attention to the game and the ball! What a cute boy!

Jacob had a great time at the game. When it ended he said, "It's over already?!"

I am so glad that we got Jacob into soccer this year. He already loves it and is having a great time running around the field, kicking the ball.