Grace is 9 months old!

The months are flying by! At 9 months old, Grace is a busy bee...the girl cannot stop moving! She crawls really fast, and has even started to stand unassisted without holding anything. She loves to play with Griffin's toys (he doesn't love this so much) and she still puts everything in her mouth. She loves to read, especially books with pictures of babies in it. She has started to say mama and dada and it just melts our hearts. She has also started to eat table food...so far her favorite is mac-n-cheese.

At her 9 month appointment, the doctor told us to get ready for lots of bruises and to have our poison control number handy because she is just so mobile, she's getting into everything. She said she's basically too physically advanced for her own good at this age! We love this busy bee, even though she keeps us on our toes!

At her 9 month appointment we found out she is in the 3rd percentile, weighing 15 lbs 2 oz and in the 25th percentile for length at 27 inches long. Her head is also in the 10th percentile, in case you're wondering : )

It is increasingly hard to get her to lay on her back or sit still ... so these pictures were challenging, but fun!

Griffin was excited to help with the pictures, he loves helping Grace get dressed and was excited to put her tutu on her.

Griffin's School Picture

Griffin's school picture: clearly he's not comfortable with the idea!

These are just the proofs, but I thought I'd share!

2 years and 10 months old, taken 9-27-11, Blessed Sacrament Preschool

Some new favorites

My newest favorite picture of Griffin ... he was having so much fun at the zoo!

Grace ... love those eyes!

Grace in her first Miami outfit!

Big hugs for Grace

Soccer Fun

Now that it has cooled down (this August was the hottest August in the last 80+ years in Denver...most days were over 90), the kids are loving getting outside to play without worrying too much about sunscreen and melting! They love to chase around the soccer ball!

Crested Butte over Labor Day Weekend

We were able to go to Crested Butte over Labor Day weekend, renting a big house for our family and 5 other families. Combined we had 12 adults and 6 kids ... we made some fun memories!

Crested Butte is a gorgeous five hour drive from Denver, so the kids were happy to get out of the car when we arrived to play on the grass:

Cohen has a little crush on Grace ... he was thrilled to see her and wanted to hug it out ... Grace had things to do though and doesn't have much time for hugs these days! He wants to play with her so bad: at one point she was sitting and he was trying to help her stand up. He said, "come on Grace, stand up, you can do it!" It doesn't get cuter than that!
Grace loves to chase around the soccer ball
Playing in Jesse's parent's yard (our friends Jesse and Sparrow grew up in Crested Butte)
She makes the funniest faces!

We cooked out at Paradise Divide Friday night ...
Grace and Sparrow having fun together
Beautiful!
a group shot

Some family shots:

Josh teaching Griffin about fly fishing

Griffin and Daddy

He didn't catch anything, but the scenery made up for it!

We saw the most beautiful sunset over the mountains!

Griffin and Cohen threw rocks in the stream for at least an hour straight; they loved it. Griffin loved watching others skip rocks. He called it "scooting rocks" and would pick up the flat rocks and say, "here's a scooter!" Adorable.

We had to get Stella out of the water to join us for a picture
Grace watching the camp fire
Grace hates to be held and confined, as he has lots of exploring to do at all times. We couldn't let her crawl around because there were so many small rocks, so we made a 'play pen' for her in the back of the jeep...
She loved it!
Griffin thought it was pretty funny too.
She was on a bit of a bottle strike for the whole weekend and hadn't drank much milk that day ... so she didn't hesitate when Josh offered her baked beans!
Griffin and Cohen pretending they're on a diving board
They had so much fun at the camp fire!
Loving it.
Grace and Eli playing (at a rare moment they were both awake at the same time!)
Grace before a hike
Laurie and I were watching all 6 kids at once, so we put as many as we could (4 toddlers) into swings to keep them in one spot!

On Saturday we hiked to Emerald Lake ... it was beautiful!

Hiking

There was snow on the hike - perfect for throwing snow balls!
It was fun to see snow in the summer time!
Josh and Joel hiking
Griffin playing with Stella at Emerald Lake

When Griffin saw the lake he immediately sat down to take off his shoes and socks so he could get in. I dipped my toe in with him and decided the snow run off was WAY too cold ...
...but the genius guys disagreed!

(you'll notice Josh is the only guy who didn't succumb to peer pressure and get in ... he used taking care of Grace as an excuse - smart. The guys didn't warm up for hours!)
Our group
The girls

Hiking back to the car together

Cohen, Isaac, and Griffin taking a bath together

We got a babysitter so we could all go out without kids...it was fun!

We were lucky to be able to do Sparrow's baby shower in her home town!
The boys at a cook out

Josh and Griffin
Christmas colors in September - oops
On a walk
Griffin loved being carried when he got tired!
Learning about the marshlands
Grace napping on our walk

We have a tradition of buying the kids matching shirts and taking a group picture on our trips:

What? A girl?! Is this allowed?
If you ask Cohen, her future boyfriend, it definitely is!

On Monday we hiked up Mt. Crested Butte ...

The boys were so excited to ride the bus to the base of the mountain!

Waiting for the bus
You have to be really serious when waiting for a bus!
Griffin LOVED the bus ride ... it was his first time on a bus and he was loving it!
The boys waiting to get their lift tickets to go up the mountain. They all had fun on the chair lift!

Me and Grace on the chair lift - she was trying to escape the whole time!

Griffin and Josh on the chair lift...Griffin had way too much to look at to actually look at the camera.

The boys hugged when we all got off the chair lift - so cute.

Hiking up the mountain

Some pictures from the top of Mt. Crested Butte:

It was such a fun weekend!