Better Late Than Never

I've been meaning to put up this video of Afton for quite a while, but just never got around to it. She's 8 months old here and has only been walking for 3 or 4 days.

Fireworks

We weren't sure what we were going to do about fireworks this year since the 4th of July was on a Sunday, but Ben found out about a show at the lake near us that was happening on the 2nd. We decided to go and it was great! We went early and the kids had so much fun playing on the nice sandy beach and exploring up and down the shore. The fireworks were pretty impressive, but by the time they started, Cambria and Magnus were pretty tired so they didn't enjoy them as much as I had thought they would. Afton had a nice long nap later in the day than usual though so she was wide awake and loved it so much. She kept pointing and looking up at Ben and I with the cutest surprised expression. Ben and Magnus were able to have a great talk about what the 4th of July means and why we celebrate it.

We have a walker!

Afton is walking! She's not just taking steps, she's walking! She started just a few days after she turned 8 months. Cambria and Magnus started at 9 months and I thought that was early. So far, Afton has been doing everything earlier than usual; she's an amazing baby.

Spring is here!

The kids couldn't be happier about the warm weather we've had lately. The snow is completely gone and we've been spending lots of time outside. We've got lots of outside projects lined up and first on the list is raking up the leaves that didn't fall until after the snow came last year.

Does Every Little Girl Do This?

Does every little girl sneak away with scissors and give herself a haircut at some point? I did, and Cambria just did. I was so upset at first; all those beautiful curls, gone. She loves it though and it's so much easier to wash and keep tangle free. Unfortunately, she's got so many cowlicks that it's always going in several directions at once now that it's so much lighter.

Six Months

I can't believe Afton is six months old already! I also can't believe all the things she's capable of already. So far she can:

• Crawl on her hands and knees; she can get anywhere she wants to go (she's actually been doing this since 4 1/4 months!)


• Go from lying down to sitting up without help


• Pull herself up to standing on furniture, toys or whatever else she can reach (she started this at 5 months, I couldn't believe it the first time I looked over and saw her standing up like that)


• Stand completely unsupported for several seconds

She's loving solids and I've had to get used to making baby foods again. Her favorites are banana and avocado. Cambria and Magnus still absolutely adore her and it's such a blessing to have two such great little helpers. We're so happy to have this sweet, amazing little girl in our family. We can't wait to see what she'll start doing next

Afton Whitney

So after 3 months of trying to call our new little girl Cerys, I decided that the name just wasn't right. So I spent another month asking Ben almost every day to help me come up with new name options. It was a long process, but we finally found just the right name. Now instead of Cerys Cate, she's Afton Whitney

Not So Scary Halloween Party

Last year Ben had some work training to do in Florida at the end of October so we decided to take advantage of the timing and take the kids to the Not So Scary Halloween party at Disney World. They had so much fun that we decided to go back this year. Of course Cambria had to be Sleeping Beauty, her current favorite princess and Magnus chose to be a pirate. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and had a fantastic time.

Checking out the animals from our balcony

This Eland slept under our balcony every night

The Hotel

The kids loved running across this bridge that ran over the lobby

The lobby; our room was through the cave

The "towel monkey" that the cleaning lady made especially for Mangus. She said he reminded her of her grandson

Searching for Donald Duck with some high tech equipment

We got to watch the animals at night with night vision scopes

Cambria was dancing so exuberantly that the top of her dress wouldn't stay up

She loved the mad hatter

Sleepy little ballerina