The Kents

Half Birthday!

This month MiaJolie turned 6 months old! She had her Dr.'s appointment yesterday, here are her stats:
Length: 25.98 Inches (48th%)
Weight: 14lbs.5oz (9th%)
Head: 42.5cm (43rd%)
Dr. Strasser was thrilled with her progress and even amazed when Mia started nodding 'yes' to her from the exam table. (It also made the Dr. a little self-conscious about how much she must nod to patients/families :) Mia had her first baby food this morning- bananas. Here is what she thought:

yeah no big deal...not as good as pancakes!

Here she is sitting up- her face is blurry because she's still pretty wobbly.

She can get all the rings off- she is not concerned with putting them back yet- she'd rather chew them.

Ta-da!

Mia doesn't care much for rolling over (the Dr. said that was fine since she has pretty much mastered sitting up) but she does scoot around a bit while on her tummy or back. She loves to reach for EVERYTHING in sight in an attempt to get it into her mouth...she is at that teething stage where she drools a ton and is even a little fussy sometimes but no swelling/teeth just yet. She adores her brothers- they always make her smile and laugh. She is constantly pulling on them for attention (and they give it to her- too much sometimes!) She has been swimming quite a bit and loves to splash and play with toys in her floatie boat. She is mostly easy going as long as she gets food and attention when she wants (aren't we all!?) She is finally being a little less clingy- now that dad can give her a bottle she likes him too :) We are still nursing when at home but she LOVES having a bottle now too when we're out and about being busy.
Whew, this is a long post but a half birthday is kind of a big deal!

First Food

Ok this post came a little sooner than I had anticipated, but Mia is just raring to go for some solid food! It started with staring, then drooling, then reaching, then grabbing...finally today I just gave in and handed her a mini-pancake (green). I'm not sure if she should eat pancakes yet since she hasn't even started any jar food but I just couldn't resist any more- she looks so longingly at our food day in and day out.

Amazingness

I've been playing around with Photoshop for the first time today and it's pretty amazing! I am reading a book on how to do everything but I know I'm not using one one-millionth of the features it has...it is SO cool. I am afraid there's no going back and I won't ever be satisfied with unedited photos again. So since I have no idea what I'm doing I used a couple of tutorials from dooce.com and kevinandamanda.com (who referred me to some PioneerWoman tutorials/actions) and this is what I got: (Don't make fun- it was my first try! and PS i LOVE actions- so convenient and awesome!)

Here is the unedited photo I took on my POS 5 year old Canon point and shoot.

Here it is edited- still kind of warm for my taste, but over all improved.

Here is one using Pioneer Woman's B&W action- I LOVE the antique effect of it.

Here is Pioneer Woman's 70's action- WAY cool. I love it-sooo sweet.

Ahh it's kind of overwhelming how much I have to learn still, but I'm excited! Do any of you have favorite tutorials/books you can point me towards? Thanks!

Reverse Photo Update Extravaganza!

We had a great day yesterday celebrating Independence Day.I was sure to take lots of pics for Nana/Papa since I haven't posted in a while, and yes they're all posted in the wrong order because blogger is dumb that way and I dont feel like fixing it...so here it is, less talk and more action!

Proof that I need a nicer camera: runny fireworks.

We waited 2 hrs on our blanket. This is how we entertained ourselves:

Mia played sitting up by herself!

Scoping out girls

Oh yeah before fireworks we swam/BBQ'd with Kents!

Today is another BBQ and at home fireworks...stay tuned!

Cool Giveaway

Ok I don't usually do this- but how cool is this new cutter? It's a Silhouette and it's like a Cricut but you DON'T need to buy expensive cartridges! I'm blogging about this for a giveaway here at Tater Tots and Jello. I probably won't win- I never do- but it is still worth a try :) You can do vinyl, paper, and heat transfers too! And if YOU win instead of me you have to share...!

RaGnAr

Last week Tyler was able to join a Ragnar Relay team at the last minute (literally). He wanted to sign up with his work's team but it cost a lot of money so we decided to wait until next year. Well this team (Flash Hazard) lost a runner at the last minute and really needed a sub so Tyler was able to run! He had soooo much fun, I was glad he could go after-all.

Here are their stats:

They ran 188.2 miles in
29hrs 7minutes 21seconds

They placed
200th out of 984 teams (not too shabby!)

If you don't know about Ragnar, it's a relay race from Logan to Park City along the Wasatch Back that benefits the American Cancer Society. They have 2 vans with 6 runners each- someone on the team is running all the time starting Friday morning and ending Saturday morning! (There are some psychos on "ultra" teams who have only 6 runners but run the same race.) They sleep in vans/outside/at schools...it's pretty nuts. We went to Park City to see them finish and the boys got to run the last little bit with them across the finish line- it was pretty neat!

Mia patiently waiting...