Jackson Hole Vacation

Spencer and Sydney were so kind to invite us up to Sydney's family cabin up in Jackson Hole this summer. We had such a great time going for hikes, checking out the town, and spending time together   at the gorgeous cabin. We loved getting away and Lyla now considers Syd's cabin as one of "her cabins".

Penny is in Preschool!

Penny had her first day of preschool! She was so excited that it was finally her turn and to be going with her little bestie, Aria. I don't know that there has ever been a cuter preschooler than Penny. She is loving school so far, and is finally getting the hang of referring to her as "Miss Jana", instead of "Dr. Anna" (from Daniel Tiger).

First Day of School

Lyla is in first grade! She was SO excited to start! It is her first year of full-day school. She is doing really well so far, but definitely seems exhausted by the end of the day. Her teacher is Mrs. McCall who just happens to live in our neighborhood. I have no doubt that this girl is going to rock first grade!

Lyla is extra lucky this year because her cute aunt Debbie just took a job in the front office at Burton Elementary! How cool is it to have your awesome aunt at school with you??

Lyla struck this pose all by herself

Lyla in her classroom

Molly Nine Months

Molly is 9 months! This is always a bit of a challenging milestone for me when they hit the "they've been out as long as they were in" age. Pregnancy is so long and miserable, but the first year is so fast and such a joy and speeds by.

We love this happy little girl. She has the best smile and she loves to just grin at people. She is super engaging. She just started pulling herself up on everything and crawling for real after several months of army crawling.

Molly Five Months

And just like that, Molly is five months old! She continues to be the sweetest little creature I could ever imagine. She loves to roll from her back to her tummy, has started interacting with toys a little bit, and gives the biggest, sweetest, double-dimpled smiles. She also makes the sweetest cooing noises. She is a tiny little thing still. She weighed 11lbs 6oz at her 4 month appointment (3rd percentile) and hasn't exactly packed on the pounds since then. She is such a little gift and I just love having her sweet spirit in our home.

Molly also got blessed by her daddy this month and got to wear a special dress that her Mimi got after Nana died. They don't know for sure, but they think that Nana was probably blessed in the dress and are positive that it was hand-tatted by Grandma Howell. It was extra special to have her wear it and made me feel like a piece of Nana was with us.

Penny is Three

Penny turned three a few weeks ago! She is quite the girl. Right around her birthday, she finally learned her colors and has them down pretty well. Orange seems to be her favorite/most requested.

She still loves animals

We took away her pacifier about a month ago and it went better than I expected, but now she won't nap anymore. We took her to build a bear to stuff them inside an animal and we picked out a cute little bunny and she was happy to put them inside. At bedtime that day she of course asked for her paci and I told her she could have the bunny and that they were inside. She did NOT want the bunny. I tried to just set it next to her bed and then on her dresser, but she insisted that it be taken out of her room entirely. Obviously she has some negative feelings toward the stuffed animal.

She has been on a puzzle kick and just loves doing puzzles and is really pretty good at them.

She is growing a decent head of hair, but hates having me do it or brush it so she looks fairly disheveled most of the time.

Penny is still really good at playing on her own. When she gets in the "zone", she can easily play for an hour by herself. When she's not in the "zone", she's often very needy and clingy. This makes her either really easy or pretty challenging, depending on the situation.

She is a little bit of a tease. For example, Todd's been saying "I looovee you Penny" and she says back, "I no love you".

This girl gives a whole new meaning to "stubborn", but we sure love our Penny girl!