9 and 10 Months

Oh, my gosh!  This year is flying by!  Watching Kacie grow and change is so bittersweet.  I love her so much and love that she's so big and interactive, but I miss when she was just a tiny little nugget.  At 10 months, she is full of smiles and giggles and couldn't love her brother and sisters any more than she does!  She entertains us all with her noises and head bobs!  She's got her bottom two teeth, her top two teeth (which we call her "Mater teeth" because they are huge), and has another top one coming in.  She loves to eat lentils, beans, watermelon and eggs, and she really prefers to feed herself over being spoon fed.  Kacie loves to be outside and watch the trees move and the birds flying around.  She loves her bath, but isn't so sure about the ocean water.  She knows how to wave, high five and pull herself up to standing, but can't figure out to crawl!

Quick Camping Trip

At the end of our last camping trip we threw away our tent as it had ripped and torn in too many places to be worth trying to fix.  As soon as I saw 10 person, instant up tents at Costco this year, I bought one.  So, with the new tent sitting in the garage, I've been itching to go camping. 

I googled a bit to find something that's not too far away and that wouldn't be too cold at night and found Casini Family Ranch on the Russian River.  It turned out to be a great find.  The drive up there turned out to be longer than expected, due to some navigational problems, but we made it without any kid meltdowns!!! 

We had such a great time.  Our campsite was right on the river, and everyone loved running around down there (especially Banjo)!  The campground had a playground, a duck pond, and a darling general store.  One of the highlights of the trip was the sluice box.  The store sells bags of sand mixed with fossils and gemstones and has a sluice box where you can pan for gems!  The kids had a blast and we loved watching them find their gems.  The best part was that after they were done panning we were back at our campsite and I sat in the sun and read my book while Carey and Kacie napped and the big kids examined their treasures!  We also loved having uncle Noah and aunt Kellie come visit us for dinner the second night.

Overall the trip was a blast and we can't wait to go back!

Camping dinner:)

Early morning at the river

This kid was SO happy to be camping!

Feeding the ducks (and hissing at the geese)

Learning how to use the sluice box

panning for gems

Identifying the treasures!

Kacie loved hanging out by the river

Haley, Abby and Seth loved playing on this "island"

Hanging out with aunt Kellie and uncle Noah

This girl LOVED camping!

Happy campers

7 and 8 Months

I figured I had better write about Kacie being 7 and 8 months before she hits the 9 month mark!!  By the way, I just want to clarify that it's home schooling and not having a fourth child that is the reason for the lack of blogging.  Everyone says that the first year of home schooling is the hardest, and while I have dabbled in it a little, with one kid for a half of a year and then another kid for another half a year, this is our first full time, two kid year!  I am clinging to the hope that everyone is right; that it's going to be easier after this year!  Right now, in the evenings, when I might blog, I'm online searching for lesson ideas and looking at standards and printing out worksheets.  It's been a really hard year for me, mostly because of the constant fear that we're not doing enough.  I'm not teaching enough.  They're not learning what I'm trying to teach.  I don't know what I'm doing.  It's all just scary.  I have to keep coming back to the the truth that I feel like home schooling my sweet daughters was God's idea, and he's not going to give me a bad idea!

Okay, on to miss Kacie Grace.  Miss Grace.  Kacie Lou Lou, Lou Lou Bear, Baby Bear...she's got a lot of nicknames!  She continues to be such a delight!  We all love her more and more all the time, and I can tell the kids are feeling the bittersweetness of her growing up and changing so much so fast.  They'll say that they wish she would stay small, and they miss when she was so tiny, but they love seeing what she can do, now that she's big.

As I type, she's sitting on the floor next to me, happily emptying a basket of toys!  She's got her two bottom teeth (cutest thing ever) and has found her loud voice.  She doesn't really scream, but she will yell if she wants some attention.  Or if I'm not feeding her fast enough!  It's really hard to wait 3 seconds for another bite of peas or sweet potatoes!  She's learning to be gentle when she pets Banjo, and she's so pleased with herself when she does it.  She loves taking a bath, but seems afraid of any other water (at the beach she is constantly clinging to me, looking toward the ocean and then away, kind of fussing about it's existence).  The other day our friends set up their big, bounce house water slide and every time one of the kids went down and splashed into the water, she freaked out!  I thought it was pretty funny.

She LOVES the swings:)

Big girl at the table!

Supporting the Seahawks for Uncle Judah's birthday.

Pig-tails!

6 Months!

Oh my goodness!  My sweet, baby girl is already 6 months old!  The past half a year has flown by, and I'm sure it'll feel like tomorrow that she's turning 1 year old!  She continues to be a joy, freely giving out smiles.  She thinks that Abby, Haley and Seth are hilarious, and is very interested in Banjo (who is not thrilled with her loving to pull on his ears).  She might be a thrill seeker, as she loves to be swung around wildly, tossed in the air, and have the kids be super loud and wild in her face! 

A couple new things for Kacie are that she can sit up now (hooray) and she eats some solid food.  So far she has had sweet potatoes and avocado; both of which she's enjoyed.  Also, she got dedicated at our church, and she moved from our room into Seth's room.

Somehow she got a candy cane when we were building gingerbread houses!  I thought she was sucking on her hand!!

She loves her sweet potatoes:)

The Webber girls!

Getting dedicated to Jesus