food!!

when kennedie was about 5 months old, we started her on oatmeal cereal. quade was no different! 

we knew he was ready for solids because he was grabbing for our plates and every time we put something in our mouths, he began drooling & opening his mouth :)

quade's first meal was on the 19th - we wanted to wait until we could all be here. at first he was a bit apprehensive - especially since kennedie got to feed him his first bite ;) but a taste was all he needed to know that he wanted more!

 check out kennedie's mouth in the second picture :)

 such a cutie...even covered in oatmeal :)

since beginning with oatmeal, quade has tried bananas, apples, sweet potatoes, carrots & butternut squash. i think his favorite so far is sweet potatoes - he can put some of those away for sure!! 

 

5 months

another pinterest inspiration.

 i've been taking monthly pictures of little mister with a white onsie & cute month stickers that i purchased from etsy. since i haven't posted any on my blog - i'll catch you up! 

poor kennedie was born before her mommy was introduced to pinterest, so she doesnt have these cute monthly picts ;) she's reaping the benefits now though w/crafts, projects & other fun activities

skiing & sledding

we rented ski equipment for kennedie in november. we took her up to monarch, the ski area just outside of salida & where i grew up skiing. it was less of her skiing & more of mommy carrying her dead weight down the hill ;) so we decided to try again at the end of our winter break. we stuck close to home & just headed over to the hill behind costco.

of course, once we got there & she saw all the kids sledding, she no longer wanted to ski; but we convinced her to give it a try just for a little bit. instead of trying to 'teach' her how to ski, we just had her try to stay up! she did great & had fun, but didn't forget about sledding.

p.s. i've decided that perhaps i am not the best person to try to teach my daughter how to ski - if anyone is interested in the job please let me know :)

  sledding was fun too! kennedie loved going down the hill with daddy. they went really fast & screamed & laughed the whole way down! when it was mommy's turn to go with kennedie, we ended up with snow in our faces & ended up rolling out of the sled. needless to say, mommy was not asked to go again. quade got in on the action too & went down with daddy & kennedie a couple times :)

20 weeks

so i'm addicted to pinterest. i pin lots & lots of things with the intentions of making something, taking a picture or creating something crafty or delicious. sometimes i am very successful & other times not so much. but here's one of the cute ideas i pinned - the ultra at 20 weeks and then a profile of him at 20 weeks old. they'll both go into one frame & hopefully look something like this :)

 

                                                          20 weeks

ice skating

happy new years resolution

happy 2014! so, my one and only new years resolution (apart from the standard exercise more, eat healthier, etc.) is to get back to blogging. i enjoy keeping everyone up to date and writing about the exciting life we lead. plus, believe it or not, i have some family that 

doesn't have facebook (i know - crazy!)

2013 was a big year for the dodge family...we expanded. quade was born in august and is almost 

4 1/2 months old already. he has an awesome personality, loves watching & playing with his big sister, and already has 2 teeth!

we rang in the new year with a fun idea i saw on pinterest (i'm still addicted & love it a little more every day i think!) i lined up balloons that were marked with the hour beginning at 8:00 - inside each balloon was a slip of paper with an activity on it. we began with noise makers at 8, at 9 kennedie got some glow bracelets, next at 10 was a questionnaire that i asked her (it will be fun to look at the answers next year & i plan on doing it each year!), at 11 we did milk shots with sprinkles around the rim (think margarita salt) & at midnight we got out the hats & party poppers! of course we didn't make it until midnight - we were aiming for 10pm (midnight on the east coast) but at about 9:30 kennedie called it....which was fine with me b/c that was the latest i'd been up in a long while!  

 

 new years morning we celebrated with 2014 pancakes topped with sprinkles!

first hike of the year

near the end of may we took our first hike of the year...a couple months late. we usually work hikes in from march on, but with the business of the end of the school year and my pregnancy exhaustion we ended up putting it off. 

we hiked up grizzly creek - it's one of our favorite trails - beautiful & easy enough for kennedie to do most of the hiking on her own - since she's getting a little big for the kelty now a days :) plus - she loves to hike & especially enjoys being the leader. 

it was a gorgeous day and we got out early enough that we didn't run into too many other hikers. we did, however, encounter a fish caught by a fisherman & put in a little hole to keep until he was finished. unfortunately some a couple of hikers who got there before we did (& were still there which is how i know it was them - i watched it) wanted to take a picture with the fish. the man gave the fish to the woman - who then proceeded to drop it right onto a large rock - pretty sure it died on impact - but they took the picture anyway.  kennedie liked looking at the fish thought - and didn't seem to notice that it wasn't moving (which actually made for a better picture probably).

 a little further up the trail, was a great place for a picture...tommy wanted kennedie to stand on the log - you can see who skeptical she was - with the water rushing behind her, she wasn't all the jazzed to be out on the log.

 a few more picts...kennedie leading the way & taking in the sights along the creek.

 and of course - the family shot :)