Snow!

The kids woke us up bright and early on New Years Day and that's when we discovered we got a New Year's Day treat for Tucson: snow!  We bundled up as quickly as possible and went outside to play in the cold white stuff.  The snow wasn't great for making snowmen or even snow balls: it was very light and powdery.

It was great for snow angels.

 Being the desert rats that we are, we don't have sleds, so Colette got a laundry basket and a rope and we had fun pulling the kids back and forth across the yard.

 If you squeezed hard enough you could make a snowball and who doesn't love throwing snowballs.

 Here's a picture of an upright snow angel (named Annie).

 Here's another upright snow angel (named Rachel).

And now we're back to enjoying highs in the 70s. I was kind of hoping for a few more days of freezing weather to kill off all the bugs. Last year we only had 3 nights where it got down to freezing and the summer was really bad for bugs. This year we've had a few more days, 5-7 I think, but if it doesn't freeze more we'll have another buggy summer. The lizards will love it.

Family Pictures-Knight version

We did our family pictures back in November, but since Todd and Savannah were visiting for Christmas we wanted to get some pictures with everyone together. We almost forgot to arrange it and left it for the last day, which happened to be a freezing cold day, so we nixed our plans for going to Agua Caliente Park for a family photo shoot and just opted for some pictures at our house. My friend, Karolee, was nice enough to come snap some pictures for us.

Jared enjoyed photo bombing as we did test shots to check the lighting.

 Annie was being fancy...

The day happened to be overcast, so our natural lighting through the windows wasn't as bright as we had planned, but we got a few decent pictures inside before we headed outside for a few quick (cold) pictures.

 Grandma and Grandpa and all the grandkids:

 And just the grandkids:

 Check out Ryan in the following pictures. Trying to get "grandpa pants" going on, I guess.

 Not that his grandpas wear pants like that, but that's what we always call pants up to your armpits. Ryan is one funny kid sometimes.

We managed to get his pant fanatics calmed down and snap another good one:

 And a couple pictures of the happy couples...

 We threw some super nachos in for lunch and enjoyed the fun of having all the cousins together for one more time.

 It sure was fun having Todd and Savannah visit. Now that they're gone, we're contemplating a visit to their house this summer. Playing with cousins is just so fun!

And another picture of Ryan that doesn't fit anywhere, but he sure is looking good. :)

Megan is 6 months old!

Megan hit half a year old at the beginning of this month. To celebrate her half birthday she began army crawling. It took her about a week before she realized she was actually moving around, then she really took off. She has since started to get up on her hands and knees, rock back and forth, then dive forward, sometimes face planting. She knows there's a more efficient way to crawl, but can't quite get it just yet. Give her another week or so.

We pulled out her Johnny Jump Up and Annie and Rachel were more excited about it than she was. She tolerated it just fine, but hasn't quite caught on to the jumping aspect of it.

At 6 months old some of her favorite things are Ryan, pulling out fistfuls of hair, Ryan, gouging out eyes or gums with her fingernails, Ryan, eating paper or cardboard, Annie, biting a finger with her two new teeth that came in a week before she turned 6 months, Rachel, cords, Daddy, shoelaces, and Mommy. She is becoming a bit of a Mama's girl. She's happy to be crawling around, playing, or hanging out with Ryan, Annie, and Rachel, but if she sees me walk by, she starts crying. But Ryan can always cheer her up. He is the best big brother and loves making her happy. And as soon as Megan sees Ryan she'll break out into a huge smile. They're so cute together.

Ryan loves his cars and won't share with just anyone. Except for Megan.

Megan was rather fascinated with Ryan's helmet.

He was happy to accommodate her.

Ryan decided it was time to introduce Megan to all his big cars.

She was a fan. In this picture Megan looks so much like Ryan. Everyone says Megan is a mini, girl version of Ryan.

Ryan at 6 months:

Ryan taking a picture of Megan:

Megan is enjoying being able to eat like the rest of us. (Another picture Ryan or Annie took.)

Watching people chew is one of her favorite pastimes. She is totally fascinated by it. It even will calm her when she's cranky.


We took Megan to the doctor for her 6 month check up on Friday and her stats are in: 27.4 inches, which is the 94th percentile (no wonder she's growing out of some of her 9 month size clothes already) and 15 lb 6 oz (30th percentile). She got her immunizations like a champ--screamed at the nurse good and loud, then as soon as I picked her up she quieted down in less than 5 seconds and was totally happy heading out to the car. It somehow made me think of the very first time immunizing Rachel. It made me tear up to see my baby screaming in pain from the shots. Now it doesn't even phase me. Maybe because I know how resilient babies are. Or I'm just callous and unfeeling. ;)

Megan is a very smiley baby, but doesn't laugh all that often. It takes some real effort to make her laugh. Or she has to be almost too tired, then it's a little easier.

We got a pretty good video that captures her happy personality (and skillful hair-grabbing) pretty well.

We sure are happy to have Megan around. She makes getting things done around the house super hard because she prefers to be held or have someone (preferably Mom) sitting with her the whole time she's on the ground. But she makes everyone happy with her squeals and smiles and even hair pulling. And everyone in the family is learning how to serve and help out, both around the house, and with the baby more. When Megan starts crying now I hardly ever have to ask anyone to go help her, they just jump up and run over to try to cheer her up. It sure is fun to see her learning and growing and progressing. 

And speaking of growing up, Ryan thinks he's approaching the age where he can give up naps. Yesterday I couldn't prevail upon him to nap for anything. We finally settled on sitting on his bed reading books for quiet time, which he did. A few hours later the kids were watching a movie and Ryan couldn't hold out any longer.

He woke up SO cranky he wouldn't stop screaming for a half hour. His sleep needs are a delicate balance and getting too much or too little or falling asleep at the wrong time makes for a very cranky 2-year-old. I do not enjoy this stage so much.