MOPS Steering Team Retreat

This year I am Co-Coordinating my MOPS Group and we got to go on an amazing Steering Team Retreat during the weekend of July 9-11 at one of our member's mother-in-law's home in San Ramone.  Below is a picture or our fabulous Steering Team, minus Kelly, Kristen and Lois who couldn't be with us that weekend.  We missed you guys!  Top row, left to right; Diana (it was her mother-in-law's home we stayed at), Kirsten, Erin, baby Ariel, Carly, Kristina.  Bottom row; baby Ryel, Pam, Emily, Katie, Kami, Traci, baby Brycen, me, and baby Evie.

Here I am with my fabulous Co-Coordinator, Carly.

We got lots of great fellowship, food, planning, praying, bonding, and ultimately huge spiritual growth during the retreat.  Here we are watching a video from MOPS International on the new theme this year MOMOLOGY, "The Art and Science of Mothering."  See Evie in the background just rolling about. :)

Here is a picture, courtesy of Erin, showing our brain food over the weekend. :) 

As you saw in the larger group picture, we also had four babies on this retreat.

Here they are on our night out on the town after dinner on Saturday.  They are in age order.  Adorable!

There are also three babies still in their mama's tummies who were at the retreat. :)  You can see we are a pretty fertile group. :)

This also was the first girls weekend that Evie and I have every had.  I look forward to many more.  She did amazing!  By, the way the boys had a fabulous weekend alone too according to Daddy. :)

Here she is just hanging out while we cleaned and packed up to go home.  I just love her to pieces!

Can't wait for this next semester of MOPS.  It is going to be amazing.  God is doing a great work at Creekside Church MOPS for sure this year.  Thank you Lord for this awesome ministry and these wonderful ladies in my life!

Fun with out of town friends!

We recently were able to see some of our wonderful friends from out of town who have made seeing our family part of their travel/vacation plans.  It has been fabulous!

Our first visit was with the Yui Family, Leo, Amber and the newest member little Aya, on June 24th.

We got together with the Wisner Family too and had an amazing evening out on the town at the Fountains, where we enjoyed some frozen yogurt and gelato.  Here are the Mommies with the kiddos. 

Here is the whole group.

Then one final one with the little girls, Evie with her Daddy and Aya with her Mommy.  So cute!

We also got to visit with our amazing friends, the Davidsons, Andrew, Jessica and Samuel, on their way to Oregon, on July 3.  Again, we went to The Fountains- we sure love this location can you tell?!? :) 

This visit we ate dinner at The Counter and then we all rode the TRAIN!  Evan was in heaven! :).  The boys had a great time together, so did the parents. :)  Here are a few cute pics of the boys together on the train.

Such cutie-pies!
Here is a picture of our whole family on the train too.  Good times were had by all, especially Evan riding this train. :)

Lastly, we got to see some wonderful friends from Southern California from our old Life Group, Kimberly and Corey on July 16.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures, I remembered as we were leaving, but nonetheless it was fabulous to see them and catch up.  Take my word on it that they looked amazing! :)

If anyone else is coming our way please let us know.  We would love to hang out and have some fun visiting.  Thanks again to the Yuis, Davidsons and Goforths for taking time out to see us.  Love you!

Six Months Old!!!

Evie Joy turned six months old on Friday, July 9. She continues to be such a little beauty.  Just look at that smile above.  You just gotta love it!

We had here six month check up on Monday, July 12.  Here she is with her pediatrician, Dr. Doan.  We couldn't get Evie to look at the camera for this picture she was to engrossed in trying to figure out how to get the paper on the table.  Silly girl! :)  Evie is a healthy little baby according to the doctor and is now weighing in at 17 lbs. and 3.3 oz. (74%).  It is so funny, to date she appears to be doing almost everything the same as Evan, he weighed 17 lbs. and 7 oz. at his 6 month checkup.  Our babies are built from a very similar mold. :)  Evie's length is 25 inches (23%) and her head is 16 1/4 (18%).  Dr. Doan thought Evie was advancing just perfectly and couldn't be happier with her accomplishments to date.   We did have to get her last set of shots at this visit before she turns one.  Like the appointments before where she got shots she was a trooper, but of course did not like the experience and cried.  She stopped crying once we got outside the building and then passed out.  Sleep is always a good thing after getting shots. :)   

Evie truly is a "joy" and adds so much to our family.  At six months she is full of energy and spirit.  Some of her recent milestones include:

Sitting up- this was just mastered this week!  She can hold herself up for a good amount of time, but does eventually topple over.  We try to provide her with some support or sit near her when she is sitting up.  I love the picture below, she looks so proud of herself.

Evie continues to love playing in her exersaucers.  This one is downstairs.  She has gotten pretty good at grabbing all the toys and pushing the buttons to make noise.

This exersaucer is upstairs.  She hasn't tried to walk around in this one yet, but likes when Evan plays at the table with her.

She continues to teeth and put everything in her mouth.  No sightings of teeth yet, but they are bound to break the surface soon.  She also is very grabby.  If you are at a table with anything in front of her she wants it.  Some of her favorite items to grab for are your plate, napkins, anything brightly colored, remote controls, really anything she isn't supposed to have is her favorite thing.  Also, if you are trying to rock her to sleep or feed her, the new thing she enjoys doing is grabbing your face.  Her big thrill is when she gets your nose. 

This picture shows off her newest teething toy, Sophie.  She is supposed to be great to help the gums with all the bumps on her giraffe head and feet, etc.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Thompson!

 

Evie is beginning to think about crawling.  Balls are a great motivator as she attempts to chase after them, but they keep rolling away.

 

Evie is able to really hold herself up with her arms too.  The picture below shows her more serious side. :)  At six months Evie travels all over the floor and can roll flawlessly.  Her favorite thing that we have noticed is doing this 360 type maneuver; she uses her hands and rotates herself around enabling her to get to a variety of toys in her path.  She truly gets to pretty much whatever she needs by rolling and rotating and hasn't had much need to crawl.  Another funny thing is she actually likes to be on the hardwood floor at times and enjoys how her hands and feet sound when she hits them on the ground.  Evie also can be found laying on her back and banging her feet on the floor.  Again, it makes a thud and I think she thinks the sound and feel is cool. :)

Mommy continues to love to dress her up with all sorts of fun bows and hats to match her outfits.  She doesn't seem to mind and hasn't started pulling them off yet.  Hopefully, she will always love them too!

Lately, Evan and Evie have really been having fun sharing toys.  Okay, well Evie enjoys sharing, Evan is still working on this, but the best part is that we have reached the stage where we can teach some sharing lessons with the two of them.  Especially with Evie being so much more interactive these days.  Evie really enjoys playing with her brother and Evan seems to love it too!  Some of the favorite things Evan loves to do with Evie are put his face near her face and have her touch his face/hair, he continues to give her hugs and kisses on a regular basis, and he gets a kick when she laughs at him.  This has been so much fun lately.  Evie will just burst out laughing because of Evan's antics.  She can be found doing this when he dances, does something silly (which is most of the things he does), and when he runs back and forth.

Evie loves to laugh and can really get giggling when you tickle her.

Bath time is a real hoot at our house.  Both kids usually bathe together at the same time now.  Evie can be found chewing on all the bath toys.

Here is Evie in her hooded towel...all clean!

Evie enjoys grabbing her feet and looking at her hands a lot too at six months.  She was doing it a little before, but it is really regular activity at this age from my observation.

This picture is just for fun.  I just love this look on her face.

Sleep is going well.  She sleeps almost all the way through the night.  She usually gets up at about 4:00 a.m. for a feeding and then sleeps until about 6:30 a.m. or so when her brother wakes everyone up.  Then she has an early morning nap, an afternoon nap, one around dinner and then off to bed about 9:30 p.m.  She sleeps in her crib most of the time, but also has a few naps in her swing still.

Feeding Evie is going great.  Still going strong with breastfeeding.  We will now be giving her solid food starting out with rice cereal this week.  Stay tuned for a posting on this. :)

Her legs are strengthening and she is enjoying standing up straight a lot more.  Here is a picture of her with Daddy showing off her skills.

Here are some additional pictures of Evie with a few of the wonderful people who love her.  

Evie and Grandpa Thompson.  Grandpa came over to help babysit the kids while Mommy had a doctor's appointment.

Grandma Shirley with Evie on Father's Day.  Look at those two beauties. :)

Grandma and Grandpa Thompson hanging out with Evie on our Thursday night dinner gathering with our family.

Daddy and his baby daughter!

 

We are so blessed by this baby girl of ours and love her too pieces.  Thank you for being the best daughter ever Evie!  We love you!  Happy six months darling!!!

Happy 4th of July Weekend love The Knight Family

Here is also a cute pic of our littlest Firecraker! :)

Wild and Wet at the local Water Play Area

To try to cool off during some of our 100+ days in Sacramento our family decided to go over to the Whitney Community Park in Rocklin and enjoy their Water Play Area on Monday, June 28.  We had the best time cooling off with the kidos.  Here are Jim and Evan running through the water.

Evan was having so much fun.  This picture cracks me up.  Here he got a little bit too much water.  We should mention the water was pretty chilly, however, it was super hot!  It gave you a nice refreshed feeling!

Here are Evie and me and Evan in the attraction.  Evan brought along his bucket and was enjoying emptying it and filling it up again.

Here is a great picture of our little munchkin in her new suit.  It fits, however, it could be one size bigger.  Evie is just growing so quickly.  Slow down little 5 1/2 month old!

And of course Evan in his new suit, we took this picture when the water was all turned off. It promptly turns off at 7:30 p.m.  It was kind of sad, we were still hot and wanting more, but accepted the time and will have to try to get there earlier next time.

And a nice family photo taken after all the fun had been had.

We are looking forward to more free family fun events like this over the summer.

Father's Day Fun (Thought I better post this before it is August! ) :)

We had a fabulous Father's Day weekend with both Jim, his dad, and my dad.  It began on Saturday, June 19 when we took Jim out to lunch at Aviator's Restaurant at the Sacramento Executive Airport. 
Here are Jim and Evan outside of the restaurant.  Look at them both in their camo shorts, so cute!

In the evening we had a BBQ with Jim's Dad and Deb.  Jim got to use some of his new grilling equipment he received from me and the kids for Father's Day.  The food was delicious; this picture was taken towards the end of the meal, thus, why the table looks kind of funny and Jim is pretending to pour dressing on the table.  Evan was also not pictured, he was too busy riding his tricycle.

On Sunday, we gave Jim his final gifts, a Summer Brew box from me and the kids got him this really neat coffee cup, that looks just like a paper one you might get a coffee house, but it is blue and says Dad in all different languages.  It looks similar to this cup below. 

That evening, we hung out with my family and got to celebrate with my Dad at Applebees and then back to my parents house for a few gifts.  You can see below that my dad got some good ones, Dad's Root Beer and Lego's (he loves Lego's) are some of the gifts pictured below! :)

The weekend was very special and it is always such a treat to be able to celebrate the men in my life who are simply amazing!  Love all of you very much!  Happy Belated Father's Day to all the Dads out there too...better late than never. :)