6 months!

Peter is 6 months old! Pete is generally a good baby. He has a sweet smile, and a cute laugh.
Pete now rolls from his tummy to his back, and his back to tummy. He also swivels around on his tummy to get to things. He doesn't scoot much yet, but I'm guessing scooting and even crawling will happen soon.
Pete is really into food. Pete is so much better at eating than Kendal ever has been. So far he has liked every food we've given him. He makes faces with prunes (but who wouldn't) and he doesn't love cereal by itself. Pete lets us know he wants more by grunting, banging his tray, and looking at us then the food with a what are you waiting for kind of look.
Kendal has a knack for getting Pete giggling. He is fascinated with what Kendal does and when she gets silly (which she does a lot) he laughs at / with her. Pete likes to watch what's going on, just looking at his face you know he's taking in everything around him.
Pete has quite a bite on him. (No teeth yet thankfully) He loves to chew on toys, his hands (and ours), hair, etc. Along with a good bite, this little man is a big drooler. Kendal never really drooled, but Pete can soak a shirt in no time at all; especially when he is chewing on something.
When his sister doesn't interrupt him Pete is a pretty good napper. He sleeps for most of the night, has an early morning feeding, then goes down for a few more hours of sleep (that is until Kendal decides to get up).
Pete's six month appointment is over our holiday break so I'll post his stats when we return.

We are very blessed to have this little guy around!

Happy Birthday Casey dear!

"Lucky to be in love with my best friend" - those are some lyrics to one of our favorite songs.
I am truly lucky to be married to my best friend. Casey turns 29 today. He claims that he feels like 29 is old, but I still consider him young. I count my blessings everyday that I have Casey in my life. He is a wonderful man, husband, father, teacher, coach, etc. etc.
Since Casey is at school all day then off to an away game tonight we had his birthday dinner and cake last night. Kendal was confused this morning when i said it was Daddy's birthday since we already celebrated (but she doesn't mind knowing there is still cake).

(I love that he is such a hands on Dad. Kendal and Peter adore their Dad, and we all miss him when he's gone. Casey's favorite time of year is Christmas. He loves the music and holiday spirit that surrounds the season. I love this picture of Casey reading a Christmas book to the kids. I hope our kids will grow up to be smart like their Daddy : D)

Happy Happy Birthday Casey dear, may all of your wishes come true this year!

Basketballin

Basketballin is Kendal's term for when Casey is at Basketball practice / games. Casey is now fully into his basketball season. He three games under his belt and many more to go. Casey is the JV basketball coach and assistant Varsity coach for Challis High School. Casey has always wanted to coach and the opportunity came along this year. Coaching at Challis has come with many challenges. Instead of holding tryouts and getting to pick his team, Challis gets whatever players that show up. This year there are 18 boys on the Varsity / JV team. Since Varsity obviously gets top pick, JV gets what's left. Any good players Casey has also play Varsity games so they're limited on how long they can play during his games. He is a good coach that plays every kid.  He has a few good players, and some new and not so good (all pretty novice). Casey has a lot on his plate trying to coach these boys; he's doing his best and I know he'll have success.
Away games are another strain on his workload. Because we live so far from anywhere traveling to games takes time away from teaching. Casey has to come up with lesson plans for half of the day; so he's always in a dilemma about what to have a sub do, and what does he do with two classes where he can lecture in one during the morning, but is gone during the afternoon for the same class. He also has a couple of classes where athletes make up the majority of the kids. For example when the girls b-ball team is gone he is missing 3/4 of one of his classes.
It's been a sacrifice for Casey to give up his time to Coach. I'm proud of the work that he's doing and feel blessed by what an amazing man he is. The kids and I miss Casey when he is at practice late, or at games, but we know he is doing a good thing and love him so much!

The kids and I got to see Casey last week at his first game. Kendal yelled out "Go Vikings!" for most of the game, and Pete was watching the players go back and forth for most of the time. Kendal loved to see Daddy and yelled at him throughout the game (we may have to sit further away next time) She hopped around and was happy to see Daddy and his "Basketballin" boys. Casey's next game takes him away on his birthday (boo) (Hopefully the boys win for his birthday!)

Good Luck Casey!