Happy Birthday To ME!

Well, today I turned the big 2-8. Not really a big deal but we celebrated with a fun filled day.

In the morning, we went to the zoo with a bunch of friends from church. This is Lindsey, Patrick and Keegan checking out the water buffalo.

Tatiana and Cadence!

Keegan hanging out with the big kids.

He was tired after the zoo.

After nap time we walked to the end of our street where they are doing some road work. We found out that this machine is called an excavator, but Keegan thought it looked like a dinosaur.

After a yummy dinner at Olive Garden, Aunt Jess took us to her aunt and uncles farm to check out the horses. Keegan got to get on his first horse, Joker. He wasn't too sure about it at first but he relaxed a little and got a kick out of it.

Cadence got her first "ride" too.

Cadence and June!

Keegan's favorite was the donkey, and he kept telling us that is said "hee, haw!" We also kept hearing a rooster from a neighbors house and Keegan was running around looking for the rooster but we never found him.

I think he preferred the horses from a distance. :)

Jess's cousin Jenna is a champion roper. She showed Keegan a few moves.

Got him!

Even with Matt out of town it turned out to be a fabulous birthday. Thank you to everybody who celebrated with me! I love you all!

Best Big Brother

Cadence LOVES Keegan so much!! Yesterday Cadence and I were sitting on the couch with my back to the stairs and Keegan woke up from his nap and poked his head around the corner . Cadence immediately saw him and got a HUGE smile on her face. As he slowly came down the stairs, not even saying anything or really acknowledging Cadence, she stared laughing and cooing and just got louder and happier as he came down the stairs. It was SO sweet!
Then, just today when we were driving around Cadence was awake and Keegan noticed it. He started talking to her very sweetly saying "Hi Baby" and "Sweet Sister" and she started laughing. Her laughing made Keegan laugh, which made me laugh, which make Keegan laugh again which made Cadence laugh even more! I was laughing so hard at all the cuteness in the car that I had tears in my eyes! I even called Matt and put him on speakerphone so that he could hear the kids making each other laugh. Very cute. Wish I had it all on video.

Fourth of July weekend at the cabin

We just got home from a WONDERFUL weekend up at our family cabin.
This post is picture heavy for Grandma and Grandpa Porter. We sure miss having you guys up there!

We spent LOTS of time outside.

Cady loved every minute of it!

Keegan LOVES the cabin too. It's hard to get him to go inside to eat or sleep.

We went on a couple of hikes.

Keegan needed a walking stick ... or several walking sticks ... as many as he could carry. He later filled his pockets with as many rocks as he could pick up. He wouldn't let us help him carry them.

Beautiful Columbine.

On another walk. Cadence loved the new view.

A mother duck with NINE babies swam up to us almost as soon as we got there. Thankfully I had some stale bread in the car just for occasions like this one. The ducks ate till they will full and then paddled off.

There were tiny little fish swimming in the stream.

Matt even got some work done :)

SWIMMING!!! Cadence is a water baby! She splashes with joy the whole time we are in the water. Keegan is quite the water kid too. He doesn't like getting his face or ears wet, but he loves to jump off the edge if someone is there to catch him.

Sunday, the 4th, we were debating on driving down the mountain to see fireworks, but decided that they started too late for the kids, so we didn't. But around 9:30 we heard some faint booms and looked out the window and could see the light from the fireworks. So we turned off all of the lights and just watched the colors in the sky. It was pretty neat. Later that night we had a spectacular thunder storm ... mother nature's fireworks.

6 month stats

Height 25.75" (60%) grew 1"
Weight 16lbs 0.5oz (55%) gained 2lbs
Head 17.5" (93%) bigger by an inch

She is growing perfectly!

6 months old!

My little girl is 6 months old today! How has the time gone by so fast?! She is such a sweet little girl, who makes me smile every day. She loves to roll all over the place and is never in the same place that you leave her. She is working really hard to sit up by herself. She is basically there but every once and awhile her head takes over and pulls her over, and she is usually not very happy about that. She laughs at the silliest things, and Keegan can make her laugh like nobody else. She loves to eat, well nurse and bottle, but she isn't crazy about solid foods yet. She likes to gnaw on apple slices and ice cubes, but doesn't think much of the baby purees (understandably). She is slowly working on growing more hair. I love you Cadence!
She has her check-up on Friday, so I will post her stats after that.

Gymnastics

Keegan and I are currently taking a parent-tot gymnastics class at the rec center. My sweet neighbor watches Cadence while Keegan and I go once a week to his class. It is so great to have some one-on-one time with Keegan, and it seems like he is really enjoying the gymnastics class. He loves all of the hanging equipment, and the trampoline, and even the balance beams. He has already leaned to do a forward somersault and can do a backwards one with help. Last week he was even starting to do a flip on the bars! What fun!

And here is just a cute picture of my little girl on Fathers Day. Matt was traveling, so we got to spend it with my folks.

Congratulations Camilla

Lance and Paige brought Camilla into their home a few days after she was born, and they immediately knew that she was theirs. It has taken the courts in NY four years to figure out that she belonged in that family but it has finally happened and Camilla was officially adopted! Horray! We can't wait until August when we get to see her sealed to her family for eternity. Love you guys!

Dinner in the bath tub

It was just the kind of evening that by 7:45 this is how I got Keegan to eat his dinner ... in the bathtub. A few seconds after taking this picture my phone dropped in the tub and I am now phone-less until I can get to the AT&T store. (frustrated!)

Hammonds

Today we took a trip to Hammonds candy factory.

Keegan was very excited about the many types of free samples and he sampled each of them (at least once).

As always, Cadence was happy to be along for the ride.

They still make a lot of their candy by hand or by using machines from the 1920's when the factory opened. This guy was making a chocolate filled raspberry candy cane. That roll of candy can produce approx 550 candy canes!!

The boys enjoyed watching, although I don't think they really understood what was going on.

Dancin' Fool

Keegan loves to dance, and he will make up a dance for whatever you ask. So you say, "do a _____ dance!" And he will do that dance for you. Here are a few of the dances in his repertoire.

And here is that video of Cadence eating that I was trying to upload awhile ago. She is getting to be a pro eater now ... if I remember to feed her solids.