The Last 6 Months

The last 6 months have been crazy at the Lardie House! I am so overwhelmed with all that we have done that I don't know where to even start. All I know is: I am a bad bad blogger.. But here we go with my summary of the last 6 months:

- We remodeled our kitchen. We went from this:

to this:

Needless to say this process took a few months! It was awful having so many people in and out of my house for a couple of months but so worth it!

-Somebody turned 5!

-Took a family trip to El Sal and baptized Emily while we were there.

-Played at the pool!

-Parents came to visit and we got to celebrate my dad's birthday with him!

-Somebody turned 3!

-Took a trip to Austria without the kids!

-Somebody turned ONE!

I am praying next year Emily will enjoy a real birthday cake. Since Emily is still allergic to dairy, soy and wheat she enjoyed a gluten free chocolate muffin with whip cream made out of rice milk. Luckily she loved it!

-Stephen competed in his second Ironman 70.3 (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and 13 mile run). He is amazing!!

-We also did lots of fun days at Boulder Creek, picked strawberries at a strawberry patch, chilled at home and started preschool!

Happy 6 months Emily!

I know I say this every month - but I cannot believe how fast time is going by! I cannot believe my precious little princess is already 6 months old. We went to the DR this past Monday and Emily weighs 15lbs 3.5oz - she is 35% for weight, 75% for height and 80% head.

Emily here is what you have been up to this last month:

- You are eating solids - we started with rice cereal and now you are having everything from oatmeal cereal, bananas, apples, pears, prunes to avocado, squash and your all time fave sweet potatoes.

- You are outgrowing your 3-6 month clothing quickly so we are in a lot of 9 month and 6-12 month clothing.

- You have rolled over from tummy to back a handful of times.

- We are trying to spend most of your play time on your tummy (I guess I have done a terrible job so far on this!). You really don't like it and you cry after 10 min or so - but we are working on this. I am hoping this will help you master rolling over.

- We are also working on you sitting up by yourself.

- You have started babbling alot - mostly saying "dadadadad". Daddy LOVES LOVES this.

- You are sleeping thru the night more consistently. I think you were not sleeping thru the night because you were soaking your diaper and it would overflow into your pjs. And well who can blame you for waking up when your back is soaking wet. Bad bad mommy!! So we finally started using size 3 diapers for night time.

- You are wearing size 2 diapers during the day and 3 at night.

- You love when your brother Jake makes you laugh. No one has been able to make you laugh as much as Jake. Of course Jake loves this!

- I am finally able to hold you on my hip. I love this!

-And last but not least- your first tooth popped thru the day you turned 6 months old. It is one of your bottom teeth and the one right next to it is going to pop thru any day now.

Can you see the bottom left tooth has popped out and the one on the right is not far behind!

Christmas Vacation

Well it is only appropriate that this post be about Christmas since my last post was about Thanksgiving. I am hoping that this year I am more consistent with the frequency of my posts. I guess we shall wait and see.

Anyways we had a fabulous Christmas in Dallas. Stephen and I have been married for 10 Christmases and up until this past Christmas we had only spent one other Christmas in the States. Normally we are in El Sal for 3-5wks for the Holidays, so I was a little apprehensive of spending Christmas in Dallas. Luckily it turned out to be wonderful. We had a fantastic time with Stephen's mom (aka Ginny), Stephen's sister and her family, my brother and his family, my sister and our friends. I was really sad about not spending Christmas with my parents (this will be my 2nd Christmas without them in 32 years- yickes!!) but it really helped that we stayed so super busy the entire Holiday!

Here are some highlights of our 2 wks in Dallas:

After 5 years of not attending the Christmas gift exchange at Jamie's - I finally got to attend! Jamie has been hosting a gift exchange with all our high school girlfriends since we went away to college. I had a ton of fun getting together with them. I wish I had taken my camera that night so I could get a pic of all of us girls. (ugh the downfalls of having a big camera! Note to self: take the little point and shoot camera!)

So even though I don't have a pic from 2009, I do have one from 2003! This is from the last gift exchange I attended.

We met Sara, Taryn and Becky the day after we arrived in Dallas for lunch and the trains at NP Mall. Can I just say that boy I miss that mall! Why in the world can't we have something comparable in Denver! (Now that I think about it - I bet Stephen and his wallet are so thankful we have nothing and I do mean nothing that even comes close to that mall!) Anyways we ate at Cibus (delicious!!) and the boys had a great time playing in the courtyard of NP and since the restaurant was almost vacant the boys also enjoyed playing in the outside lounge area. It was like their own personal sand box - yickes! But I cannot complain, all of us moms really enjoyed having a "play area" for the boys. It was so nice to get together- let the kids play and the moms get to pick up right where we left off. I wish I had taken my camera so I could have a picture of the moms and kids- 3 moms 7 kids and 1 on the way. The pictures I do have are courtesy of Sara's phone! Thanks S! (The girls Carrington Burg, Kate White and Emily where there as well - but no pics of them- maybe next year!) My hubby was there too - he is such a great sport hanging out with all the girls - it's very nice that we were all super close at A&M and luckily we still are!!

Pic of all 4 boys - Jack White, Logan, Jake and Carter (well the back of his head anyway).

Jack White, Carter McColgan, Logan and Jake in the background.

Logan, Jake and Carter(Becky's) playing in the lounge area of Cibus.

Logan and Jack wrestling in the courtyard.

Some pics of Christmas Eve:

Mommy and sweet little Emi
Ginny and Molly
The Clarks
Christmas Morning:

Yes- that is a 2ft Yoda courtesy of Santa who hauled it all the way from Disney World- along with the huge puppy and dinosaur.

We were so honored to be godparents for Kate Clark. Here are some pics of her baptism:

Nicole and baby Kate.

My brother and his youngest - baby Lex.

This pic is for my mom - my sister, my brother and his family and my family.

And last but not least - New Year's Eve. We had dinner at Ra - yum! I am hoping the boys will start eating sushi soon. For now they only eat the edamame and calamari.

After dinner we went to a pj party at the Burgs where we rang in the new year.

Oops - I was wrong - more pics. This is our last day in Dallas at my brother's house. I just love how much the cousins love each other. I wish we lived closer so the boys could play together more often.

A little note for tuni/nani/her/Vane - thanks so much for spending all your free time with us! We love you so much and are counting down the days until you come visit us! Seriously her - thanks for all that you do for us - especially for loving my kids so much! XOXO