Hicks Family

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Labor Day and other random events...

With school starting and Dan and I back to work, we've slacked a little with our posts! Also, all of our time at home is now so precious with Courtney! She is doing good at the babysitter's, but also very smily and happy to see us when we pick her up! For Labor Day, Dan and I took Courtney to Burr Oak woods for a picnic and to walk on the trails. We also went to a picnic on Sunday with Grandma and Grandpa Hicks and the Allen family. Grandma Jody came over on Saturday for a Labor day barbeque (and I guess to play with Courtney, too). Amidst all the family we also tried to fit in a little landscaping. Dan loves to dig up sod, especially on a holiday weekend, so I decided it would be great to also wrap that into our 3 day break.

A stroll in the woods.

Picnicking at Burr Oak woods.

shhh...not now Uncle James.

This is Courtney's great, great, great, super awesome Uncle Al (yes that is 3 greats)!

Courtney was a HUGE help with the landscaping.

We made two triangle planters in the back corners of our yard.

It doesn't look like much, but it took a long time!!

Courtney had to earmuff it when this beast crawled out of the mulch - yikes!

It was a good 6 inches long!

A few weekends ago we went to Stewartsville for the fall festival. We didn't want to haul the bathtub so we used this tote...which I think Courtney liked better according to her "I'm just chillin' " pose.

At the parade!

Having fun with mom in our white hoodies!

Courtney is really starting to sit up well now. We sit the boppy around her "just in case"
but she doesn't fall back against it too often!

Meghan and Kaitlynn came to visit yesterday! They haven't played together in a long time!

Of the 20+ pictures I took that night, this is the only one where they are both facing the camera at the same time!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

5 months old!

Courtney is 5 months old tomorrow! I would say time has flown, but it hasn't. It has gone at a nice slow pace, which is great since I got to spend (almost) every minute of it with her. We get to spend her 5 month birthday with tons of girl time together before I make the dreaded step of going back to work on Tuesday. We have also had a full week of "us" time with dad at work, so that has really helped, too! She has had some trial days at the babysitter and liked it, takes full formula bottles and likes it and will be a happy little girl by midafternoon when I see her again and I will learn to like it!

Spending some time with mom!

Here is Courtney practicing sitting up. She has got a good "tripod" sit going,

but it will still be a little while before she can really be on her own!

I finally got our pool cards and went to our subdivision pool.
She loved to watch the other kids splash!

Lots of Visitors

Courtney has has seen almost every relative and friend she knows over the past week! Her aunt Deanna, uncle Patrick and Jared stopped by last weekend, Grandma Jody and Grandpa Terry came by a few times and brought some friends from California. Grandma Frances came on Thursday to babysit and Grandma and Grandpa Hicks and uncle James came this weekend to visit. We went to see Great-Grandma Dot at her new house in Liberty, we played with Lyda and Ashley and Lindsey came by for some girl time! Wow, girl you had a lot of love!

Now everyone can be involved with mealtimes!

Playing at Dot's new house!

Our smily girl!

Courtney and Ashley were almost having a conversation with cooing, yelling and babbling back and forth!

A girl after my own heart...I also love to eat remotes!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Zoo Trip

In the heat of July, we decided it would be a great time to head to the zoo. We picked a day that was the coolest of the week (not quite 90 degrees) but we had a great time anyway! We weren't sure if Courtney would really be able to take notice of the animals or even know she was at a zoo, but she really paid attention to the animals and loved strolling around in the "woods".

Courtney was so scared of the lion she was biting her nails...then she realized the glass was there! Whew!

Intently watching the birds and a tired old chimp (we think he was lonely...).

Video of Courtney watching the elephants.

Courtney watching some monkeys eat lunch.

This is how we felt after walking miles around the zoo.

And in other news...here is some cute stuff from Miss Courtney also from this week.

This is a great video of Courtney laughing. We finally had the video camera right there to capture those cute giggles!

We finally put together her high chair (although she has no need for it). It will probably just be another fun place to sit and play while mom and dad eat dinner.

Yikes! A ghost!

Monday, July 21, 2008

Reunion

Last week we took our first "vacation" to Stewartsville to Camp Farwesta for reunion. It took Courtney a few days to adjust to constantly being outside and surrounded by lots of people, but she did a great job! We had to learn to be a little flexible with her schedule - which isn't easy for me - but we are pretty sure she had a great time and wants to go back next year. Our entire family was able to be there for most of the week, too!

Hanging out by the cabin.

Playing with Jared (yes, we felt it necessary to take the giant exersaucer with us).

I love the outdoors, mom!

Enjoying the fishing derby with Laura!

This is how I made it through those hot nightly church services!

We call Courtney "goose"... which I think came from silly goose. So, when we saw real geese at camp, she really wanted her picture taken with them!

If dad would only scoot a little closer and if I could only reach that cake and if I only knew how to use a fork...

This was Courtney's first time in a big pool and she really liked it! We went every day for 10-15 minutes (there was zero shade), but she was a crazy kicker the whole time!