Thomas 6 month pictures

So the first year my babies are born I take them into get a professional picture shoot every 3 months. After that it is just once a year. So we have three kids and Stan thinks this is a huge waste of money (especially since there have been episodes of getting the pictures taken, paying a sitting fee and then not purchasing any pictures because they were SO BAD). Stan decided to solve this problem by buying me a camera with some lenses and telling me to have a go at photography.

So Thomas is 6 months (and due for his 6 month pictures) and I have my camera so how hard can it be right? To make a long story short. I just spent 2 hours trying to get Thomas to smile for me....and HE wouldn't do it! I had the perfect backgrounds...first the dock (which he almost crawled off of), then the grass (which he ate...and never once looked at me) then the beach, (I should have known he would (1) eat the sand (2) spit it out (3) and then crawl into the water...which would ruin his outfit thereby preventing any further picture taking.

These are the best of 2 hours so enjoy...because there are only 5...

After this picture he went straight for the water!

Yummy sand!

This is a funny smile for Thomas, usually he has dimples, I later found a bunch of paper in his cheeks...

Maybe this last one will have to be it! But I am so sad I didn't get his dimples!!!

Australia Day!

So, the 26th was Australia day! It is celebrated like the 4th of July in the US. We did the typical day: A morning at the beach (this time we went to manly), followed by a BBQ hosted by our friends from our neighborhood. They gave us all the "stuff" you are supposed to eat...although I can't remember what all the different kinds of food are. After the BBQ there were fireworks in Sydney by the harbor. Aussie day is the same day as Chinese New Year so the Asian culture do their fire works too so it is quite a celebration. We actually skipped the fireworks because it started to rain a little bit.

Mary is now a WATER LOVER, she is no longer afraid of the ocean! Every time we would come in to sit on our towels mary would grab either my or Stan's hand and say "lets go to the ocean k?" when we got home she said "thank you for taking me to the beach!!" It was so cute.

Olivia running in from jumping in and out of the waves

Olivia and some patriotic teenagers!

Thomas eating sand...he ate so much I had to put him in the bath after it came through in his diapers!

Beautiful birds flying in the open

So today this bird landed on the balcony of our apartment!

Crazy hu?Earlier, while I was taking a walk by the water I saw 6 rainbow lorekeets (much smaller) birds similar to this one! It was amazing! I am constantly taken back by what I see here in Australia.

Australian Petting Zoo

So this weekend we went to an Australian petting Zoo. It was all the local animals. Most were free to walk around (kangaroos, wallaby's, walaroo's, emu's, Koala's etc...)and the people could pet and feed them. Obviously a few were locked up (the salt water crocodiles, dingo's (looks like a little wolf), flying foxes, all the venomous snakes etc...) It was pretty cool, check out the pictures!

Salt water crocodile (these are the really big ones), there was one on the news riding the surf in over the holiday.

Pretty bird!

Oooo I forgot what this was called but it is eating a termite mound.

A Tasmanian devil

Flying foxes...they look like bats but they are HUGE, about the size of my arm.

A Wombat

A baby Kangaroo & Olivia

Mary feeding a baby Kangaroo (they are the same height)

Stan feeding an Emu

Me feeding a Kangaroo

Mary feeding a Kangaroo

Mary & Stan petting the Koala

Olivia feeding the Koala Bear

Mary petting the Wallabies

Olivia petting more Wallabies

Thomas is crawling!

So, this is crazy!! At the end of 4 months Thomas started the army crawl. He could get around but slow so I wasn't too worried although I did think it was a bit early. Then we went to Montana for Christmas and he figured out how to rock back and fourth on his hands and knees, a couple days later he was doing the push up position. A few days after that, it was him moving his hands but not his feet so he would land on his tummy. Well today, a month later and near the end of 5 months (he turns 6 months on the 8th) he has crawled. He is fast, he is good and he can get anywhere. It is the full on both hands and knees. He has not learned to sit up yet (I guess we skipped that). So when he gets to whatever it is that he wants, he lays on his tummy and eats it...instead of sitting up and playing with it. Secretly I was hoping to unpack my stuff and baby proof the house before he was mobile, but here I am with an empty house and a really early learner :-) Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh

Add on--two weeks after crawling he learned to sit up and stand on the same day :-)

San Fransisco

So, on our way back to Australia from Montana we stayed over night in California with my Cousin (Taylor) who lives just 20 minutes from the San Fransisco airport. We had morning and afternoon to kill (since all planes going to Sydney leave at 11:00pm) and so we decided to see what we could see. Taylor and Nate were great tour guides. There was the boys' car and the girls' car and we were able to see mostly everything without having to get lost because we were with the locals!

We saw the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf (where we had clam chowder in a sourdough bowl - delicious!), Pier 39 with all the sea lions, China Town, drove down Lombard Street, waved at Alcatraz (we didn't have time for the tour) and got back in time for a great dinner, baths, PJ's and then back to the airport for the rest of the trip! What a great time and Thanks Taylor and Nate & especially Sophia for sharing your toys!

Christmas in Montana

After a few days in California with my Tengelsen Grandparents, my Dad flew down and did the rest of the trip with me to Montana. He was at the mayo clinic the few days prior and just found out he has cancer :-( He was a great help, as going from California to Denver to Bozeman was a bit tricky with all our layovers and stuff to carry and tired kids etc...

When we got to Montana it was FREEZING (-20 F) and there was plenty of snow. When Olivia walked into my house and saw all the Christmas decorations she announced that it was Christmas here and Santa Claus was about to come. We spent the first two weeks, adjusting to the new time zone and acclimating ourselves to the change in temperature. Thanks everyone for letting us borrow winter clothes :-)

The whole family was together for the first time in two years, to welcome Ben home from his mission for the LDS Church from Edmonton Canada and to send Jacob off to his mission in the Philippines. It was great to see everyone :-) My favorite traditions were the annual Christmas caroling, building snow men, family skiing (especially with Olivia for her first time, she took a lesson and it was soooo cute seeing her ski under the little hoop), doing our New Years Eve 2 mile fun run to the big clock on main street, and of course all the food and music and festivities! It was great to do our annual family pictures, get matching Christmas (moose) pj's and do our Seafood Christmas dinner traditions. What a great holiday!

Great Grandma & Grandpa Tengelsen

On my way to Montana for Christmas I got to stay a few days with my Grandma and Grandpa in California. Honestly, after flying alone with three kids from Australia it was the best stop ever!! I crashed and my grandparents (Harry and Sue Tengelsen) helped take care of my girls (who didn't want to fall asleep until 1:00am). My girls LOVED Molly (their dog) and now Mary asks when we are going to see her again. The park, right down the street, was also amazing--I am so glad we had it all to ourselves. It was so fun to see Great Grandma Sue pushing Thomas in the swing--it was so gentle he even fell asleep!

















It was also great for once to be able to open the Christmas presents they had for the kids with them instead of just receiving them by mail.

My favorite part of this wonderful side trip was when the girls put cotton balls on Grandma's willow branches to give them more fuzziness. It looked like they were in bloom!