Due to a last minute change in plans, Andy's parents came to the US on a trip some cousins had intended to take with Andy's Uncle Herbert.  They are traveling all over BC, Washington, and Oregon.  This weekend they were here in good old Milwaukie, Oregon.

Picture #1 Oma with Ezra.  He knows a good hug when he gets one!
Picture #2  Ezra pulling himself up on his knees in his crib.  Time to move the mattress down more!
Picture #3 & 4  Bookmarks that Sarah and I made.  My little girl is not only wonderfully creative, but a fabulous reader too.  She's reading Ramona the Pest and The Boxcar Children (Suprise Island).  And she's only in first grade.  I'm very sure I didn't read those books until I was in 3rd grade!  With all that reading comes bookmarks. 
Picture #5  Ezra fell asleep while hanging onto the railing of the crib.
Picture #6  Conny, Herbert, Sarah, and Ezra.
Picture #7 Ezra pulling himself up on his exersaucer.  He likes to play around it more than IN it these days! 

Friday afternoon Ezra pulled himself all the way up to standing - at only 7 1/2 months!  Crazy strong little boy!  Still no teeth though, and for that I'm glad!

7 months old

Here is our super happy boy in his Bum Genius cloth diaper that we got free with a coupon from Mothering Magazine. Ezra loves his cloth diapers and FREE makes it all the better! Except the velcro, I love everything about this diaper.

Andy weighed Ezra on our home scale the other day and insists that he's 20 lbs already. I can't imagine that's possible, but he IS a very heavy baby. He is very close to crawling, he gets up on all four and will move a knee or hand but then loses his balance. He also is working on sitting up, but I'm pretty sure that's a ways off. He continues to love his food. I'm so grateful that both our kids have been excellent eaters! So far he's had rice cereal and oatmeal cereal, pumpkin, applesauce, and cheerios. We mostly give him the cheerios while we're eating dinner and he has fun chasing them around on his tray. As you can see by the pictures, his legs are ALWAYS in motion. He's constantly kicking, and they are all happy and excited kicks. Soccer? Football? We'll see!

Random Pictures

GIRL GERMS!!!!!!

That's Amore!

Here is Andy figuring out That's Amore on his Dad's accordian. Ezra is completely enthralled by that odd music coming from his Dad. All this time Andy claims he has no musical talent. I think not only did I unknowingly marry a liar, but I married an accordian player, too! ACK! ;)

I Married a What?

First Rice Cereal

The post about feeding the hungry little hippo

The Hungry Little Hippo is very interested in any food or drink we may have. He even tries to grab it from us. Sorry, little hippo, no beer for you!

He finds his own drink and guzzles it down. Loud burps soon follow. Little hippo sure can belch!

Little Hippo has a sweet big sister. She helps feed him too. But still Little Hippo wants MORE. He is never full, it seems!

Mommy decides to give some rice cereal a try. The Hungry Little Hippo is delighted to see a spoon coming his way. He opens wide and gobbles it up!

Mean mean mommy stops to take a photo of little hippos first bites. The hungry little hippo cries. "Feeeeeeeeed ME, Mommy!!!!"

The hungry little hippo attempts to feed himself just in case that mean mommy tries to take any more pictures.



The cereal is gone and the the little hippo is... what?? Full! Amazing! The hungry little hippo is hungry no more. And look at that, most the cereal went into the little hippo's mouth, and not on his bib. Hungry little hippo does not waste food.
After the hungry little hippo eats up all the rice cereal he decides it's time for a little nap. He probably is dreaming about more food!

Playing Games

Last weekend we drove down to Redding to visit with my cousins - we had a really wonderful time with everyone! Here is the one set of pictures I took all weekend. Sometimes I seriously forget about that funny thing in my purse called a CAMERA.
This is my cousins youngest, Simeon, playing the game SORRY with Ezra, Andy, and Sarah. I love how Ezra looks ready to join in. He always is ready to join in. It really makes him a lot of fun!

The reason we went to Redding, though, wasn't for fun and games. My cousin Kaylene's wonderful husband, Toby, passed away after a long battle with cancer. He was a such a good man and we feel blessed to have known him and blessed that he made Kaylene's life so wonderful for the 17 years they were married. Toby was a very dedicated man. Everything he did, he did well. From being a great employee, a good neighbor and homeowner, and especially in being a wonderful father and husband. I know that Andy was inspired by his dedication to his little girls so much that it changed how he viewed fatherhood. Thank you, Toby, for daring to be a better man than you had to be and for setting an example worthy of following. I can't wait to see you in Heaven!

Long

Long. Ezra just seems so long to me already. He fills my arms, he fills my lap, he even fills my bed! This picture is just short of 4 months old.

Ezra continues to be such a happy baby. He's really got that smiling thing down and I'm sure will be quite the charmer when he grows up. He has learned how to roll from his tummy onto his back which he does NOT like at all!!

Sarah is really doing great in school these days. She breezes through her math and reading homework with very few questions or problems. She received several new books and a wonderful Bible for Christmas and has had her nose buried in all of those, reading as much as she can.

I've been feeling creative and experimental and have tried a few new recipes lately. I'll have to take a few pictures and post a few recipes with my next blog post.

Random photos