Tess at 9 months

Tess is now 9 months. She has become quite grown up this last month and increasing in opinions. She cut her top two teeth On January 28th.

 She sported her first french braid! It might be awhile till we try that again. She was crying and I was swearing annoyed at the lack of cooperation.

 She can pull herself up now and she LOVES it! She gets into more and more things. The good news is she can get herself down so she hasn't gotten stuck.

 She still thinks she is hilarious! Look at those cute teeth.

A Piano

We bought a piano! I have been wanting one for a long time and we finally started our search on craigslist. It is in great condition and plays well. It has been fun to play again although I most often have someone helping me.

 Tess has taken quite the liking to the piano. She loves to play it.

 Cole loves to help her play.

 And he is quite taken with it himself! We have started "lessons" and he is doing quite well.

A boy and a box

Ethan took a liking to a box and played and slept in it for days!

Snowmaggeden 2012

They called this storm snowmaggeden. It wasn't that bad but did cause us to have a fun week of no school and playing in the snow! Supposedly because the Governor declared a state of emergency for two of the days we won't have to make up those two snow days. It is a good thing because the last day of school is June 22nd!

Cool Cole in the snow.

This was about as much snow play as Ethan got. It is hard to play in the snow when you won't wear a coat, gloves, or boots.....

Tess didn't really care about the snow, but she sure looked good in her snow outfit!

Cole played for HOURS! He would come inside soaked to the bone but didn't ever complain.

He was sledding with his friend Jack!

I tried to capture a picture to show how much snow we got but these photos don't seem to do it justice. It was about a foot at its highest level.

Tess at 8 months

Tess turned 8 months on December 30th. She weighed in at 16 lbs and 12 oz.

 She learned how to wave!

 She thinks it is hilarious that she has a sign on her tummy!

 And she started to crawl at about 7.5 months!

 It is a nice wounded soldier maneuver, but she is getting faster!

Sick!

After Christmas the entire family got SICK! Tess started it and then the boys got it and then I got it. Matt had the sniffles for about an hour but that is pretty much all he ever gets! So, the week after Christmas this is how we spent our time.....

Hanging out in our jammies watching movies and playing video games! (I think this was the first time Tess was dressed in a week!) It is a good thing we got Mario Bros for Christmas. All of us play that game! The boys were impressed with my skills.

The cold was bad enough it perforated my ear drum. That wasn't fun and still isn't fun as I can't hear very well.