9 Months Old!

Can't believe we are at the 9-month mark already!!!!!  And what a GREAT 9-months it has been!

She:

* Still sleeps like a CHAMP!  7:15pm-around 8:00am!  WOW!  Blessed for sure.

* Eats most anything.  Except we are thinking she is starting to not like baby food and wants more solid people food. Which is fine.... except that we have a TON of it made in the freezer.  :/  (guess we'll be making a lot of smoothies....)

* Took her first step on Noah's birthday.  She's tried hard ever since but hasn't done it again. She will push anything she can and use it as a walker around the house though.  She LOVES to walk!

* Is starting to get into things more and more.  We have to constantly keep an eye on her and keep her out of the kitchen cabinets & the food pantry, keep doors closed, put gates up and etc.  Feels like we say the same thing all day long: "that's not yours, Emma. Let's play over here!" ;)

* Has her 9-month well-child check on Tuesday. Can't WAIT to see her stats!

* Has another tooth!  Up top this time.  So she now has one on the bottom left and one on the top right.  We call her snaggle-tooth.  ;)  (we also jokingly call her "Moon Pie," but if you don't watch The Big Bang Theory, it really wouldn't be all that funny to you - :)) 

* Hasn't really been sick.  We've been blessed with healthy kids and the knowledge of how to use essential oils.  

* Waves!!!

* Fits into 12-month clothes already!

* Loves her brother and loves to chase him.  Never a dull moment around here with those two. ;)

* Keeps us on our toes!  All of us.  She's such a blast.  :)

Can't get enough of this picture.  She's just so beautiful!  Could just sit and stare at her for her whole nap when she sleeps....

Her new favorite toy - a rubbery cow that when squeezed, its eyes pop out.  But she keeps it in her mouth and chews/sucks on it like a binky.  Hilarious!

An us-ie (not a selfie - ha!) with big smiles.

Lunch at Steak 'n Shake. This little girl ate pretty much half of a cheeseburger and a whole pouch of sweet potatoes!!!  

Annnnnd.... here we are getting into the cabinets.  Generally a no-no, but this was just way too cute to say no to.  We'll work on redirecting another day.  ;)

Will play forever with her cow in her mouth.  :)

Loves the dishwasher!  We'll see if she still does in a couple of years.  ;)

So silly.  :)

Five Years Old!

So there's this boy.  He lives in our home. We can't really call him "little" anymore.  He'll always be our baby, but he's not a baby anymore.  Our joy boy.  His name is Noah and he just turned five. FIVE?!?!  HOW can this be?  HOW can we get time to slow down just a bit?

So Noah, our joy boy, has been obsessed with everything Star Wars and Legos this past year.  Such big boy stuff.  So we threw a party for him and his friends today fit for the Star Wars lover.  He was beaming. Hardly stopped smiling.  Shook with excitement practically the whole day.  And he deserved every bit of it. He's an exceptional young man.

He had his "friend party" (as we like to call it) at The Home Depot this afternoon - and what a fabulous place to have a birthday party, too! We had made masks for the kids to wear upon arrival - they were a big hit!

Then, they each got an apron with their name on it and went right to work on the TWO crafts that were set up on the table for them.

We also passed out some snacks and "yoda soda" to keep all the kids fueled during their labor.  ;)  After that, it was time for presents!  You've never seen so many kids rush the birthday kid with their gift, practically shoving their gift in his face with excitement.  Noah hardly had any breathing room and we were lucky to get any decent pictures! BUT.... he was almost trembling with excitement with the opening of each gift, so it was totally worth it.  :)

After that, (cookie) cake and ice cream!  Since he's not a huge fan of cake, we did cookie cakes this year. They were quite tasty and the kids (and parents!) seemed to thoroughly enjoy something a little different!

After all the fun and excitement was over and it was time for everyone to go home, Noah passed out goodie bags to everyone who came (that included Star Wars Pez, Star Wars fruit snacks and Star Wars candies), as well as lightsabers.  Oh the chaos that ensued after passing out the lightsabers.  lol.  We were glad we passed those out at the very end.  ;)

 

We can't even describe the fun time that he had.  This party seems to have been his best one yet!  :)

After his friend party, we headed home for his "family party" so we could celebrate with just his family and spend time with just them. At his request, we had Jimmie John's sandwiches and all of his favorites sides for supper - topped off with some of the cutest cookies ever!

Happy FIFTH birthday, sweet boy. We love you so.

Christmas Blessings!

Merry Christmas from 

The Fulkersons!

8 Months Old!

Little Miss has blossomed her little personality these days.  She has grown by leaps and bounds in every way possible - it's SO hard keeping up with her!

A few things about her this past month:
- Her car seat (when we leave it out in the living room) will for some strange reason provide hours of entertainment for her - she LOVES it!  The straps, the handle, the toy. She crawls into it and falls out of it. She can't seem to get enough of it!
- She does this cute little sniffing thing when she wants to be silly.  If we do it back to her, often times she'll do it back to us.
- She's been trying more and more new foods every day.  There is not ONE food this little girl won't eat. And water - oh boy, does she love her water!
- She got her FIRST TOOTH!!!!  We all love looking in her mouth at it - it's just so darn cute!  Someday we'll get a picture of it!
- She loves to use anything she can as a walker.  The step stool in the kitchen, the laundry basket..... you name it.  If she can push it, she'll use it as a walker.  This girl is ready to walk!
- She still doesn't seem to mind strangers!
- She still sleeps like a champ at night.  Can't tell you the last time we had to get up with her in the middle of the night! Seriously, sleeps without making so much as a peep!

And now for a few pictures.  Cuteness overload.  Enjoy!

The Christmas Crazies

As if we didn't already have enough to do this holiday season, in our spare time, we find ourselves finishing up little projects here and there around (inside and outside) the house.  As well as....

We finally got our "first year as a family" plate done.  Nothing like waiting until almost the last minute, huh?  ;)

Made Emma's "First Christmas" ornament (which compliments Noah's "First Christmas" hand ornament with green and gold ribbon).  Best parts of our tree for sure.  :)

Jen is making scrabble ornaments for each of us this year.  She's also making a scrabble picture with our last name and first names on it.  It was super hard to find all of the letters needed and be frugal about it, so this project was slow-going.  :/  (Side note: we totally didn't get our personalized stockings ordered this year - SUCH a bummer!  Hoping for next year if they still have the ones we want....)

Jen crafts with a friend and this is what they made for December!

Noah made a paper chain to countdown to Christmas - cut it and wrote the numbers on it and taped it and everything!  It hangs proudly in our home.  :)  

Finally got our little snowman family completed - since WE are a completed family.  :)

Jen's been wrapping bottles with yarn.  Easy and fun - but these aren't all of them.....

We are in the planning stages of totally gutting and redoing our downstairs powder bathroom.  Since it can't just be a "find what you like and go do it" kind of thing and one decision will ultimately involve a few more decisions and renovations, this is taking awhile, too.  Once it's done though, it's gonna look fabulous!  :) Same goes with our kitchen.... it can't just be easy, can it?  ;)

In the midst of all this, we've had Christmas parties, date nights, and have shopped in about a million stores (online and offline).  We still have Christmas cookies to make, family and friends to gather with, Christmas movies to watch, lights to go see with friends, Noah's school Christmas program to attend, and other etc traditions to stick with.  Christmas is just so great!  :)

Now.... off to start planning Noah's birthday....  :)  Do we ever slow down?  ;)