.sixth month

Alice is a 1/2 year old already! This little bunny has been busy this month with lots of new things to experience and new tricks to show off. I realized that she is a pretty quiet baby compared to Ames at her age. She mostly just babbles when she is crying or beginning to cry. And although she’s almost always a sweet and smiley little angel, she knows how to turn up the volume when she needs something from you.

Her favorite thing to do these days is just sit and play with a little bucket of toys. When someone sits with her and talks to her she becomes overjoyed and can’t stop staring and smiling at them. Alice looooooves attention!

  

Here is a list of fun facts about Alice at 6 months:

She’s a beautiful dreamer

 

Best niece in the Gusa family

She loves working hard in her office

She sits up!

 

She has two bottom teeth!

Aaaaaand she’s started eating solids (and hates every minute of it so far)

Here’s a video of her very first try:

Baby Alice, we love tickling your tiny toes and holding your tiny hands and making you giggle by munching on your chubby belly and thighs.  We love hearing you laugh and even cry. We love seeing you learn and marking your growth. We love seeing you try to pick things up with your feet since you don’t know yet that they aren’t just more hands. We love showing you new things and seeing you happy and excited. We love you so much Alice and are so happy to have you in our family for eternity.

.Easter 2015

So, Easter happened over three weeks ago. Boy we’ve been busy this month I haven’t had time to blog. We did have a really wonderful Easter time this year. I’m seriously so happy that it’s finally spring up here. Nothing better than saying goodbye to the snow and hello to warmth and sunshine! I’ve really been enjoying showing Alice her first outings without being all wrapped up in heavy layers.

On the Sunday before Easter weekend I dressed the babies in their cute Easter outfits from Grandma G for church. They looked so awesome, we took some photos on the porch after church.

I told Ames to hold Alice’s hand and he was more than happy to hold it and never let go.

 

We, of course, had our annual egg coloring party with the family too.

 

These are some seriously talented and creative people.

Next day was our egg hunt at Grandma’s after General Conference. That bunny hid sooo many eggs, he must really love this boy. Ames remembered doing this last year too and knew exactly what to do. When we were done Ames made a valiant effort at devouring all of the treats at once. We were all very impressed.

  

On Easter Sunday Ames woke up from his nap to find a trail of eggs to pick up…

They led him to this!!

Easter baskets full of awesome toys and surprises.

Pure joy right here.

  

airplanes

cars

dolls

books

sunglasses

blocks

silly putty

slinkys

animals

clothes

candy

deviled eggs

All are wonderful gifts to receive at Easter time, but to be honest, they all pale in comparison to the ultimate gift that was given on that first Easter at the time of Christ. He gave his life for us. Because of Christ we can return to live with God again. We can repent and improve and become more like Christ… and even though we will never be perfectly worthy, his mercy will cover us too.

We can’t wait to teach Ames and Alice about this gift someday.

Lastly, the best thing about Easter weekend this year was that it landed on the same weekend as General Conference. We absolutely loved listening to each and every talk that was given from the leaders of our church. We are still learning and growing and have a long way to go, but these are the kinds of things that push us along and remind us why we should go on. I am so thankful for this gift.

...and a video of the action:

.fifth month

Every now and then I’ll look at Alice's chubby little face and just get filled with giddy excitement over the fact that she is mine. Forever. I can’t help it, I'm so happy to have a little girl. I’m so blessed that I get to help raise these amazing little people. I used to pray for these blessings and here they are. They've arrived.

Alice found her feet this month—one of my favorite milestones. She also can roll from her tummy to back. She's getting better at sitting alone, but falls forward most of the time. Today Alice's bottom left front tooth broke through. Oh boy!

I finally painted her toenails pink like mine this month. Most fun thing ever.

Alice is such a good little angel baby. She really just happily plays with her toys like this for long periods of time when I’m busy running around the house. It's pretty much amazing.

Best of all, Alice loves to sing!

We love you, baby. Thank you for gracing us with your presence. (not sarcastic )