It was in the 40s here on Sunday, which is practically a heat wave. So we took advantage of that and let the kids burn off some energy outside.

Luke’s favorite thing was shoveling snow on to the driveway. We need to work on reversing that.

Maggie had her 9 month check up today. The doctor said she looked great. She’s still a little peanut – 7th percentile for height and 8th for weight (she’s very well proportioned apparently). I checked to see what the boys weighed at her age and they were both around 19 pounds.

The boys painted their Valentine’s Day shirts yesterday. I let Adam pick out the designs. He decided that Luke would get a train (no suprise there) and he would have an airplane. While we were looking for a plane to use, we came across a helicopter he really liked, and so we went with that instead. We added some hearts to each design and then I traced them to the freezer paper and cut them out.

I’m really happy with how the shirts turned out and can’t wait for the boys to wear them tomorrow. Luke went off the edge of the paper and Adam did a bit too. So next time I need to remember to cover more of the exposed fabric with freezer paper. They both love doing this though and it’s fun for me too. When we were done, I moved the shirts in to the other room to dry. Then I just bundled the table cloth around the leftover mess and tossed it all out.

Adam is already asking if they can make “Patrick’s Day” shirts (the answer is yes, I already have the shirts waiting).

I took Maggie to get her 9 month photos taken last night. She slept all the way there (about half an hour) and was not interested in waking up. Thankfully there were no other appointments and the photographer played peek-a-boo and made silly noises until Maggie was comfortable enough for me to put her down. She even managed to capture a few smiles.

My friend, Rachel, knit the beautiful red sweater that Maggie is wearing. I am blessed to have some very talented and generous people as friends.

On Friday night, Adam counted to 100, all by himself, for the first time. It’s something he’s been wanting to do for a while now and he finally mastered it. He’d been stuck at thirty for months now, even though he was able to count by tens to get to 100.

Finally it just clicked for him and he was so proud of himself. I was super proud too. Adam couldn’t wait to show my parents when they came to visit on Saturday. He made me promise not to tell them ahead of time or put it on the website.

Adam asked if he could have some M&M cookies as a treat because he did such a good job. I told him yes, and we picked some up at the store.

They were horrible.

Thankfully Mabel saved the day and helped Adam make a batch of homemade ones using Gramma E’s cookie recipe.

They were delicious.

And desperately in need of a haircut.

Here’s our little nine month old.

I’m working on swapping out her 6 month clothes for the nine month ones this week. All three of our kids have been pretty much right on schedule when it comes to their ages and their sizes.

Also, I have no idea what was going on with her hair in that picture – but I sort of wish it was like that all the time. The longer her hair gets, the less we see her Maghawk.

I miss it.

This pretty little princess is going to be nine months old this weekend. No teeth yet, which surprises me. Adam and Luke both got their first tooth at six months old. I’m not rushing it, now that Luke is done I’m in no hurry for another teething baby.

She’s not crawling yet, but she can scoot around on the floor. When she’s sitting she’ll bend over parallel to the floor and then sit back up, each time she moves a couple of inches. It’s not the most efficient way to get around, but it does have us eyeing the ground for small toys other things we don’t want her putting in her mouth.

She mastered the art of pulling herself into a standing position earlier this week. It makes Dave laugh because she doesn’t bend her knees when she does it.

She’s pretty fantastic.