Emerson at 6 months

Weight:  14 lbs  13 oz  (18%)

Height:  27 in  (79%)

She has been an expert crawler for a few weeks now.  She officially started crawling on Father's Day (June 17th) when she was 5.5 months old.  She love standing and can pull herself up, but she prefers if someone supports her a bit (like her sister above).  She is such a happy baby and will gladly go to anyone who smiles at her.  Given the choice, though, she would rather be held by Mom.  She loves eating and will try any food that we offer.  She especially loves to feed herself finger foods.  It is so much fun to see her learn and grow.

Galveston

Meghan was visiting for the week and we decided to take her down to visit the ocean.  A few years ago we took a trip down to Galveston and the older girls didn't care for the sand.  It was Emerson's first trip to the beach and she did not have the same aversion to sand that the older girls had.  But you'll have to wait a few days for those pictures because they are on Meghan's camera.

Charlotte liked going out into the water with Aunt Meghan, although she preferred being held over walking by herself.  Once, she came back and told me that the water "tastes a little bit bad."

 Addie trying to build a sand castle.

 Chilling on the shore.

Mad Bowling Skillz

Charlotte won the prize for most bumpers knocked over (3 times).  Addie won the prize for consistency (every frame she knocked over the 3 pins on the very right, and rarely knocked over any others).  

Oh yeah, look at that form!

 I had to include a picture of our final scores.  Check out Meghan's final frame!!

Check me out!

I now have more posts this year than I did 2011 and 2010 combined!!

Climbing

We went rock climbing this weekend.  Addie was by far the best climber,  I guess all the door-frame-climbing has been helping.  She was a little nervous the first few times because these walls are MUCH taller than the doors she is used to climbing.  

 See that dotted green line?  That was the boundary for climbing without a rope.  It was about 10 feet in the air.  Charlotte was not nearly as daring as Addie.  It took quite a bit of convincing to get her to climb this high.  She eventually got her feet above the green line and earned herself an ice cream sunday.

 Meghan traveling across the wall.

 Addie was such a pro that she started climbing backwards.  Look!  No hands!

 I made it to the top of one of the medium-difficulty walls!  My arms were sore for the next two days.

Poor Emmy didn't get to climb, but she seemed to enjoy watching.

Look at her go!

 Addie has taken door-frame-climbing to a whole different level.  She spends most of her hours at home doing this.

Silly Monkey

Yesterday it took me almost 10 minutes to get a picture of Emmy up on her hands and knees.  Today she is a pro.  All day long she has been getting into a crawling position and holding it for upwards of a minute.  She even rocks a bit and can sometimes move one knee just a smidgen.

5 months

Emmy's latest trick is pulling her knees up into a crawling position.  It only lasts for about a second and then she falls onto her face, but it is amazing to see.  She is now 14 pounds exactly.  She loves to grab anything that she can reach, especially hair and faces.  She's happy to try any food that you will give her.  She gummed half a strawberry a few nights ago.

Super Readers!

I am so proud of my girls!  Yesterday was the end of the year awards ceremony for their school.  Each class gave out a handful of excellence awards: reading, writing, math, Spanish, social skills, and commitment.  BOTH Adeline and Charlotte earned the reading award for their class!  

Addie and her teacher, Mrs. Thomas.

Charlotte with her reading award and completion certificate.

I am amazed at how much they have grown this year.  Here is a picture from their first day of school.  ::sniff::

DNA

Adeline has been asking a lot of questions about DNA recently.  She is fascinated that some of her traits come from Mom and some come from Dad.  She got her eye color from Dad's DNA.  She got the freckles on her nose from Mom's DNA.

Today she was hanging up some of her clothes and, as she was tying a bow on one of her dresses, she said, "Mom, I can tie this dress when it is on the hanger, but I can't tie it when I'm wearing it because the bow is behind my back.  I think I got that DNA from you, that I can't tie things behind my back."

Cutest.Picture.Ever.

Adeline reading to her dad and sisters.  Yesterday she started end of the year testing.  At the beginning of the quarter she made a goal to be at reading level 10 by the end of the year.  Yesterday she passed the level 10 reading test, so she met her goal!!  We're not sure yet if she has surpassed it or not.  Tomorrow she will test at a level 12.