Perspective

I love the way my Owie thinks!
I see cantaloupe that needs to be cut up into bite sized pieces.

O hops up on his chair to help me slice the "canewope." Immediately he exclaims, "A tunnel, Mommy!" And to think I would have totally missed that!

Looking for teeny tiny cars that may be hiding in the tunnel.

Disclaimer: Please choose to overlook the huge, scary knife that appears very close to my sweet son in these pictures. No babies were injured during this photo shoot.

Sitting Pretty (Handsome!)

Noah went from very wobbly sitting (Friday) to wonderfully stable sitting (Saturday) literally overnight! What freedom there is in being able to plop your baby on the floor with a toy and walk away for a minute without fear that he will tumble to an unfortunate end. We are loving this phase! Plus, it makes it easier for the sweet Brothers to play together!

Chugga Chugga

Old diaper boxes come in so handy for things, and with two little diaper-wearers, we have an abundance of boxes! We spent a happy afternoon decorating our "train cars" and then hanging out in them. Unfortunately, let it be known that Mommy can not squeeze her post-baby bum into a diaper box train car.

Noah wasn't nearly as thrilled as Owie.

After adding a couple more cars and a new conductor.

One of our wheels was having issues. Owen knew just what to do! He ran right in to the playroom to grab his drill! "All ficked, Mommy!"

Wii!

Have you experienced the Wii?

It is incredible! We hung out with the Amezcuas to get the Wii experience.

Jeremy boxes like a pro

Batter up!

The competitive edge comes out of even sweet little girls!

Some pre-Wii activities. Owen looks so charming in his pink, floppy hat!

Mia loves Baby Noah!

The two tiniest cousins bond

Are You Sure They're Sweet?

It was a most exciting day around here! Our resident foodie (I have never met such an "oral" kid!) was given doctor's permission to expand his dietary repertoire to include tempting orange veggies. I raced to the store and ended up buying Gerber because I was so excited to feed him. (I prepared all of O's food from scratch and will probably do the same for Noah...eventually. Time is much scarcer these days!) I knew it was going to be love at first bite, just as it was with his rice cereal! First bite in...

...and first bite out, followed by this face:
Oh no! What's this? He doesn't care for sweet potatoes? We tried and tried again with the same face resulting after every bite. Soon, he began clamping his tiny jaws shut! I mixed the sweet potatoes with rice cereal. Maybe this would be more palatable?

Oh but no. Poor guy. I wonder how green beans are going to sit with him if he can't muster the sweet potatoes?

Six Months Stats

Noah Cole

6 months old

18 pounds (60%)

28 1/4 inches (90%)

Gumping

The take-off

Air-born

Stuck the landing!

It's the newest fad. Everyone is doing it. My son has become quite good at it! Just look at that hang time!

"What is it exactly?" you might question. Well, in the House of Halpin all soft j's are pronounced as hard g's. Thus plain ol' "jumping" is transformed into something new and radical: the art of "gumping"! You ought to try it!

Kind of a Bust

Yesterday, I was full of good intentions. My parents graciously offered to keep Noah so Owen and I could go on a date together. We donned our swimsuits and headed to the public pool, hoping to take full advantage of the overcast yet not drippy day. We arrived at Terrace Pool (which has received rave reviews!) to find the teenaged lifeguards standing around feasting on a pizza and not a swimmer in sight. Apparently they closed the pool due to the (very distant) rumble of thunder. Not to be easily thwarted, O and I set off for the park next to the pool, a very fun playground promising an afternoon of climbing and sliding. About 2 minutes and 15 mosquito bites later, O and I were loaded back up in the car. What should we do for a fun date? Being the health conscious Mom I am, and dinner being only a couple of hours off, I head to the nearest Wendy's for FROSTIES!! Every little boy needs their dinner spoiled once in awhile! So Owen and I spent our date on my parents front porch, talking about life and what we are so thankful to Jesus for (mainly my Boys!). We couldn't have enjoyed ourselves more!

Welcome to the Thirties!

We helped Kyle usher in his thirties last week with a Mexican Fiesta at Cozymel's. Your best years are just beginning, Kyle!

The beautiful couple

Yaya and Gramps help entertain The O

Jeremy and poor, sick, croupy Noah

Inquiring Minds

want to know...many things these days. Frequently asked questions by my curious eldest:

"Was that noise?" (He has ears that miss nothing! Many times I don't even detect a noise at all!)

"Was happening?" (As in "What is going on?")

"Was Mommy doing?"

Dunked!

The Springs Church had quite a reason to celebrate this past weekend! We had our first baptism!

A bunch of church members relax in Scott's beautiful backyard

Joel explains the concept of baptism. Meanwhile, the candidates for baptism were freezing!

We all look on as Curt and Andrea are dunked

The kids had so much fun splashing in the pool

O had a great time "swimming" in Scott's pool. He "swims" like this in the bathtub now too. He's a self-taught prodigy...as long as he's in shallow water!

Noah's not too sure about all this

Little Minnows

Noah's first dip in the pool. It was quite a bit chilly after all the torrential downpours we've been having, but I think he enjoyed it.

Grinning because he finally got ahold of the football

Me and my sweet little minnows

Fun with Bubbles

We have so much fun with our bubble maker!

Catch those bubbles!

Happy Half Birthday, Noah!

Noah is SIX months old! I can hardly believe it! He is growing up way too fast!

At the doctor this week (We've got the croup!) he weighed 18 pounds, 6 ounces. We don't get the length or percentages until next week at our official 6 month visit.

Big blue eyes. I hope they stay blue!

He is no longer content to recline. He is constantly trying to pull to a sit.

Toes for dessert after cereal

Even croup-y he can manage the sweetest expressions

Blowing raspberries in his cubby. This is sitting up training. He fits just perfectly and enjoys hanging out in there.

Such determination to grab that toy!