Our Little Buddy is a whole FIVE MONTHS OLD!!

     When I was growing up I thought time stood still, and then I FINALLY found my best friend and we were married in the temple and then I thought time started to move quickly, but honestly it wasn't until we started having children that time has started to move at lightening speed!! Seriously, this adorable little man turned FIVE MONTHS OLD on June 12th, and I can hardly make sense of it!! It truly does just seem like yesterday that we were heading to the hospital to have this adorable little baby and he has become such an amazing integral part of all of our lives in the last 5 months that it is just incredible!! 

       Needless to say, we ALL adore our Little Buddy!! And he is learning (and definitely growing) so quickly!! So quickly in fact, that we wanted to make sure to write this entry in our blog to record his latest accomplishments as a FIVE MONTH OLD:

     ~ He has started EATING SOLID FOODS!! And he loves all that he has tried with the exception of Squash! And I can't really say that I blame him:) He has tried, bananas, apples, prunes, carrots, green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, and his ALL TIME FAVORITE for now would have to be Watermelon!!!

     ~ He continues to be a really Happy Baby!! And he Smiles and Laughs A LOT!! And it brings everybody so much joy and happiness!! 

     ~ He has also begun reaching for things and putting his hands, fists and fingers in his mouth pretty much non-stop!! He is our drooliest (if that is a word) baby yet and so that could be the cause:)

     ~ Another one of Ethan's big loves are his TOES!! When you lay him down on his back 99% of the time, the first thing he will do is go for his toes!!

     ~ And the last accomplishment for Ethan's 5th month that we should mention is that he has started to sleep through the night on a more regular basis! Which we are all really enjoying:) After his four month check-up I decided to stop nursing him in the middle of the night (unless he is sick, of course) and with Micah's help, Ethan is doing really well with it now!!

     Overall, Ethan is growing and progressing in wonderful ways and we are so happy to have him in our family!! He has such a sweet and fun spirit about himself and he is still quite the Mommy's Boy ~ which I am LOVING!!!  Looking forward to celebrating your 1/2 year mark with you Little Buddy!

LL Cool E!

Our Little 5 Month Old Chillin in the Papasan with his turtle!!

LOVE this smile!

Our 3 Musketeers!

This Shot Cracks Me UP!!

Kisses for Our Little Buddy!!

From Haley!

Cheese!

Right On, People, Right on!

This princess is sure in love with her Little Buddy!

This Mommy LOVES to snuggle!

Me and My Little Buddy!

Kisses from Mommy!

Another Month, Another Twin Shot!

And by the time he got around to Kisses from Daddy, he was pretty much Done with Kisses:)

And Last, but certainly not least, Family Photo Time!!

And Another

And the Final Pose for the Month!

Our Handsome Little Buddy!

     When I sat down this afternoon to download the pictures from the week off of our camera, to my surprise, this was the ONLY one on there:) Wow!! That means a busy week for us at the Gray House and a slow week for our camera!! Here's to a Happy Weekend for Everyone, filled with memories and good pictures!!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE this little Buddy!

Playing Catch up from Last Week!

     Last week started off GREAT!! With Memorial Day....which meant good times with Family and Friends as well has having Micah off for a THREE DAY WEEKEND!! Which I ALWAYS love:)   On Friday night we were fortunate enough to be able to Make a trip to Martha Jefferson Hospital and visit with 3 people we knew who recently had babies (one of Micah's co-workers from a previous assignment, a great friend and my brother and sister-in-law)!! It was A LOT of fun for me! Micah had Ethan out in the waiting area while I bounce from room to room, but once the nurses found out that he had Ethan they ran to his side to ooohh and ahhhh over him (which is always fun when you are the mommy or the daddy!). 

     On Sunday of that weekend, Emily gave her FIRST talk in Primary!!! She is the youngest sunbeam in her class, since she only turned 3 at the end of December, but when I asked her if she wanted to give a talk in Primary she very readily said yes!! So over the next couple of days Emily, Daddy and I came up with her talk together!! And she memorized the whole thing and when Sunday came she was ready and excited to give her talk (and to be in the lime light!!). I was so blessed to be there to watch! This was her talk:

Jesus Christ was Baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.

And when I am Eight My Daddy will Baptize me because he holds the priesthood.

We should all be baptized so that we can return to Heavenly Father Some Day!

     On Monday, it was Memorial Day, and we wanted to do something together as a family, since Daddy is rarely off with us on Mondays!! So, we thought it would be fun to head up to Yoders in Madison. They have tons of fun stuff in their little Mennonite store, plus a great small farm outside of the store which we also thought the kids would enjoy! But when we got there we saw the sign CLOSED FOR THE HOLIDAY! At first Micah and I were sad, but then we realized it was even better this way because now we didn't need to go and spend money unnecessarily and the kids could look at the animals all they wanted because there were no other kids around to compete with! The weather was a little on the hot side, but overall we all enjoyed ourselves!!

     And the heat of the afternoon also got us all excited to come home and fill our kiddie pool with water for the first time of the season and the kiddos got swim suits on and had a blast!! And we ended our Memorial Day with a Cookout and our special guests were Mimmi, Dooders and 2 of the missionaries from our ward!! It was a Good Day!!!

Emily Excited to Give her Talk in Primary!

Snuggling with My Newest Nephew, Landon. He was Born on Sunday May 27, 2012!!

 

Mark and Danielle with their newest Little Boy!

 

My 2 Boys at the farm at Yoders!

 

Me and My Girls with the Chickens at Yoders!

 

Mommy is feeding the goats!! Can you believe it?!?!? Ahh, the things Mothers will do for their children!!

 

My Cute Boys!!

It's Swim Time!!! I guess Haley thought it was also "Kiss Dooders" Time!

Pool Time Together!

Our Adorable Hyper Princess!

Don't Mess with this Face! 

And now he's Happy!

Emily enjoyed the sprinkler toy Mimmi brought over!

Our Twin Patriotic Shirts!

Later in the week, Pop and Bamie came over for dinner and the girls thought it was so fun being princesses for them!! They had a BLAST!

And of couse we couldn't leave Ethan out of the mix!

When Ethan was first born, one of Emily's favorite hobbies became holding him!! And then the newness wore off, but I guess now that he is bigger and more sturdy it's new and exciting all over again!

He's so chill in her arms!

 

And Haley she still LOVES her baby dolls!

One More For Good Measure!! And our week is complete!

Micah Ran His in the "For the Wounded" 5K for the 2nd Year in a Row!

     Yesterday morning we all got up Super Early (for a Saturday) so that we could leave the house by 7AM (or there about) and get Micah to his race! He found out about a 5K race last year through his work and trained for it and was able to run and this year he was excited to be able to do it again! 

      The kids and I were happy to be able to be there and cheer and support Micah!! And as a double (surprise) bonus Mimmi and Dooders surprised us and showed up at our house just as we were gathering up and scurrying out the door!! The girls were super excited because they got to ride with Mimmi and Dooders and I was excited because at the race I was able to be there for Micah at the finish line without having to keep an eye out for my 3 little people too!! Plus, Micah said one of his favorite parts of the race was hearing me cheer for him as he came across the finish line!! Don't know if he truly heard me or not, but it sure was sweet of him to say and it made me feel special too:)

Before the Race Began, Our Runner by the Fire Truck!

Another shot, so that I could get the flag in too!

Getting some Good Luck Hugs from Haley, just before he lined up!

And Emily too!! 

The Proud Cheerleader with Her Handsome Runner!

Another Part of the Cheering Squad!!

More Cheerleaders ready to Cheer!

The full Crew, Minus Myself....but I was snapping the picture:)

And he's Off!! 

Here He Comes Across the Finish Line!! Whooohoooo!!

Emily Showing Off 2 of her favorite food groups of the morning.....Grapes and Cotton Candy!!

Take One....Family Group Shot AFTER the race!

Take TWO....with a family this cute, can't take just one:)

Micah and his Friend, Co-Worker, and Fellow Runner Charles!