Beautiful Bridgette

From September with Ryan Gone

Ryan had two training courses to complete and traveled back to the states to take them.  Three weeks and two days without Daddy around is simply not very much fun (and extremely tiring!).  But he comes home tomorrow - hooray!  Rooke was convinced that the faster he went to sleep tonight, the faster Ryan's plane would fly.  It was his own logic and I chose not to argue!

Here's a peak through my phone at some of our days from September. . .   

She was up and dressed at 6am thanks to a leaky diaper.  Good thing she's so cute!

Hot chocolate treat on a rainy day at our local garden center cafe

I think they had more fun testing out these skate park ramps than they did on the playground toys!

My morning make-up routine typically lasts all of about two minutes.  On this particular morning, Gretchen joined me and, thanks to lots of laughing and curiosity, it took much longer!

Ryan usually walks to the corner store on Sunday morning to get us breakfast baked goods.  The kids and I went for an early morning walk to get our own while he was away.  

Gretchen's first stick-people drawing of our family.  We're learning to live without arms.

A shot at the back of Bridgette's party mullet from her six-month appointment.  I almost have the nerve worked up to give her her first hair cut!

A typical breakfast  

Our morning walk to school

A beautiful reminder of God's promises

Our Storyteller

Gretchen is our storyteller.  She loves making up stories to act out with whatever little toys or figures she has in front of her.  I read this book to her (the story of Jesus' birth) and then she asked to take a turn.  Some parts are hard to understand, but if you listen closely you'll hear a new version of Jesus' birth which includes references to his death, soldiers who "melt down" (knelt down) before they tried to kill the baby, and then Mary married the baby!  

Blackberries

The kids and I took advantage of a sunny Saturday morning to pick blackberries.  Rooke was territorial about his bucket and couldn't make up his mind about what we should do with the ones we pick.  Gretchen couldn't stop eating them long enough to actually bring any home in her bucket!  We put them on ice cream for dessert that night and over pancakes for breakfast the next morning - yum!   

She was a scavenger, not letting the thorns keep her for getting her fill of berries!

Pretty Gretch

Gretchen and I played beauty parlor last week.  She chose six different colors of nail polish, two yellow clips, and lip gloss!  Then she found a treat in Daddy's desk during our little photo shoot and enjoyed trying out gum for the first time!  

  

Bridgette at Six Months

"What did you say?  I'm already six months old?!"

It's true.  Our littlest Payne is an adorable six months old.

So far, Bridgette is a pretty laid back child.  She's our content, happy, easy-going, sweet little girl.  She loves her siblings (despite the excess of affection they offer) and smiles any time they give her even the slightest bit of attention.  She rolls around all over the floor, reaching for toys and talking about what she sees.  She doesn't laugh much yet, but she smiles all the time!  She usually takes two good naps and almost always wants at least one snack in the middle of the night.  In the past couple of weeks, she's tried out several new foods and is getting the hang of the rice cereal.  She's also learned to sit on her own!  

And the hair!!!

The McTaggarts Come to Town {part 2}

We spent a day in Cambridge with the McTaggarts!  As my sister so perfectly put it: it was crazy and wonderful all at the same time.  With kids at ages four, three, two, ten-months and six-months we looked and sounded like North America on parade.

We walked around, had a yummy lunch, rented out a large boat with guide to take us along the River Cam, cooled off with some ice cream, and just enjoyed the city on a bustling Saturday.

Beautiful.

This guy set up and started playing right next to where we were snacking.  Creative!

Sunday lunch at home

Maisy shared one of her teething crackers with Bridgette, who had fun trying to eat it.

Big Daddy and Kaye K were in grandkid heaven!  Konnor and Tana will add to the bunch soon with their first baby due in January!