Emma Lea 7 Months

On November 6th Emma turned 7 months old. Stupid camera is broken still so these are Auntie Jenni's photos.

Here is Emma all dressed up for Halloween. She went as Pebbles from the Flintstones. She was adorable in the costume that Grammy Tammi made for her.

Emma is sitting up on her own, and is really close to crawling. She can get up on all fours and lunge forward with her legs, however her arms don't move yet, so she plants her face into the floor and repeats the whole process. She will get it soon I am sure.

Emma wants to be in the middle of everything that Madi and Aiden are doing. She gets so mad when they leave the room and she can't follow. She is really strong, and will try and climb out of your arms if she sees something that she wants to get to.

Emma still doesn't have any teeth, although she is working on getting the bottom set. She drools and chews on everything.

I just love this next picture...so much so that I included it in two posts. :) Nice job Auntie Jenni!

Emma no longer wants to be fed...she wants to feed herself. I am having to dice everything we are eating into very fine chucks so that she can feed herself like the older two.

Emma Ruth is the sweetest baby. She is so happy. I describe her as having two moods. Happy and not. She sure reminds everyone of her late Great Grandma Ruth Hitt. She would have loved her littlest Great Granddaughter.

Emma loves to smile and giggle and laugh. It is my favorite sound in the world, hearing my babies laugh. She loves to be tickled.

It is definitely apparent that these three are related. They sure have some of the same family resemblance. I am so excited for them to get to grow up together.

Emma is growing up fast. It is hard to believe that she is 7 months old already. Life is just flying by right now, I am glad that school is going fast, but I really want to just freeze time when I am with my kids...Christmas break will be well deserved and cherished when it arrives in a month. Two full weeks with my babies.

All pictures are property of Jenni Hitt.

Aiden Daniel is One Year Old!

On November 5th, Aiden turned 1! We had a great birthday party for him. Amber decorated the entire house with a jungle theme, and "Monkey" had an awesome Monkey themed party. Again, my camera is broken, so I am relying on photos from Jenni and Amber...Ladies if you have more to add let me know...

For Halloween we dressed up as the Flintstones. Aiden went as Bam Bam, and he was adorable...scratch that...handsome as a cave man baby.

We gave him a cardboard club, and it didn't take him long to figure out how to bang it on everything.

Aiden is officially walking everywhere. He is getting better every day. Madison loves to have him up and walking with her and they are having a blast together.

Aiden is such a sweetheart, he loves to give hugs and kisses...although beware: he likes to give open mouth kisses...with tongue.

Aiden still only has two teeth, but has been working on the upper teeth for a month now...hopefully they will break through soon!

Aiden and the girls love to play together, and they spend most of the day together either at Grammy and Granddad Cone's house, or at our house.

We love you Aiden Daniel, and our glad you are in our lives.

All pictures are property of Jenni Hitt

Madison: 19 Months

Okay...so much for being caught up with blogs...my new excuse is...our camera broke...imagine a household with 3 babies, two dogs, a cat and a very playful kitten...no one knows how the camera's lens managed to be jammed at an odd angle...but it is...so until it gets fixed, I am relying on Aunties Jenni and Amber to take pictures for us...which is great, but then I don't have the pictures to upload myself...so...anyways...I am including links to Auntie Jenni's blogs so that pictures can be added later...maybe...if I find time...

On October 12, Madison turned 19 months old. She is starting to try and communicate more and more, although the words we hear only happen once and then never again. She loves to run through the living room to her dad, or uncle brad, or granddad and be thrown into the air. This child has no fear.



Madison is still a ham...She loves to make people laugh and be silly. She has started to spin herself in circles until she is dizzy and then tries to run down the hall. She loves to wrestle and play with her daddy.

For Halloween this year, we went as the Flintstones. Madison was Dino. Here is her costume...the hat never stayed on long enough to get a picture of, but the tail was down right adorable as she waddled her way around everywhere.

The kids went and visited Grammy Tammi at her office's Treat Street. It was fun, although we didn't quite get there early enough to miss out on the scary parts of treat street. Madi did great. We also completed our first official trick or treating...we went to one house and decided that was enough, so we hung out at Grammy and Granddad Cone's house and watched the trick or treaters come to the door. I think Madi sampled every kind of candy in the house...

We have had a beautiful fall. The weather was in the 50-70 range up until the middle of November. It has been nice enough that the kids could still go play outside in short sleeves and they have enjoyed it. Grampa Hitt built a new patio in his back yard, and during the process, built a temporary sand pile in the back yard. The kids had a ball playing in the sand.


Our newspaper box is across the street in front of Grammy and Grampa Hitt's house. Madison loves to go get the newspaper. She wants to carry it home. She loves to help out.

The Aunties watched the kids one day this fall, and decided it was a good day to take some fall pictures of the kids. Here are a few of my favorites that Jenni took. Check out her personal blog for more pictures of the kids, and her photography blog for more of her work.


All pictures are property of Jenni Hitt

Emma 6 Months

I am finally getting caught up with posts...or at least getting closer. :)

On October 6th, Emma Lea Ruth turned 6 months old. It is amazing how very fast she is growing and changing. Her 6 month appointment isn't until November 1st so I will post her stats after her appointment.

I have said since day one that Emma could win the happiest baby in the world contest, and that continues to be true. She loves to giggle and laugh. She squeals with joy when you tickle her chest or under her chin. Peek a boo is quickly becoming a favorite game...and even Madison can play that game with her now.

Emma is desperate to learn how to crawl. She so wants be able to follow her sister and cousin around as they move from room to room. Just today, she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees for a moment or two. It won't be long before she figures it all out and is able to keep up with Madi and Aiden.

She is starting to use more syllables. She will say mamama and dadada. I have also heard her use yeah appropriately. She babbles more than Madi and Aiden did combined.

Emma Lea is starting to want to put herself to sleep. It seems so early for her to want to just lay down to go to sleep. I will miss the days of rocking a baby to sleep when my babies decide they are too big for that anymore.

Emma is working on sitting up. She can balance for a few minutes before falling over. When she falls over, she gets quite upset. Hopefully she will learn to sit up longer so she is not quite so frustrated.

This little angel can now hold her own bottle. As any mother knows, this is a huge accomplishment and gives me more freedom to chase the other babies in our home.

Of all of the kids, Emma plays with her feet the most. She seems to be the most flexible of the three and can put her heels by her eyes. Perhaps she will be our gymnast.

When I pick the three kids up from Grammy Cone's every day after school, I have to give them all a hug, or else. Emma is especially glad to see me and she throws the biggest fit if I don't pick her up when I get there. It is nice to feel wanted and missed by the kids. Since Brad and Amber now are both fully employed and work until at least 5 I have agreed to watch Aiden from 3:30 until they get home so that poor Grammy doesn't have babies for 11 hours a day...I am enjoying getting to have our special time together after school.

Cousin Aiden turns one on November 5. For his birthday, Brad and Amber bought him an inflatable ball pit/trampoline. It is set up in our basement and the kids love it.

This has got to be my favorite picture of any of the kids so far. After our photo shoot with Auntie Amber, I gave Emma her bottle on the blanket and went to go make my shopping list. I noticed that it became really quiet, and when I checked on Emma she was fast asleep. She stayed like this for quite some time. I couldn't resist capturing this moment. She looks so peaceful.

Whew...I think I am getting there. Life has sure been busy since school started. And now our camera is broken...so hopefully I can continue to update everyone in a timely manner. Until next time, Jami

Much Needed Update

The Cone household has been very busy since school started this fall. Between crowd control duties, parent meetings, and commitee responsibilities, Brandon and I have also started a custom woodworking business. Check out Cone's Custom Creations website here. Brandon really does most of the work, and he does a really nice job too. I am just helping by making the felt bags for the custom cribbage boards he makes.

Our days are very full. We leave the house by 7am every week day, drop the kids off and are in our classrooms from 7:15-3:30 (at least). Pick up the kids, come home, cook dinner, bath time, bed time, and if we are lucky, we might have an hour to unwind before bed. I can't imagine how parents who work till 5 do it. I have a hard enough time leaving my kiddos for my day knowing that I will be with them again before 4.

Sundays are football days at our house. Brandon and Brad are in the same fantasy football league and are glued to the TV and their laptops all day. The kids hang out, usually together, while I try and keep caught up with chores. It is adorable when the a team scores a touchdown. Both Aiden and Madi raise their hands up high signaling "Touchdown".

Madison still likes to "help out" around the house. She will often carry around the broom pretending to sweep, or insist on carrying a diaper to the trash. One day Madison was playing in our bedroom and I didn't really think anything of it. After the kids were in bed, I went into our bathroom to take a shower, nearly tripping on a pile of my shoes. Madison had thrown every pair of my shoes from the rack over the gate into our bathroom. It was a pretty funny surprise, and gave me a chance to reorganize my shoe rack.

Labor Day weekend, our friends Tony and Elizabeth got married at Sylvan Lake in the Black Hills of South Dakota (right by Custer). Grammy and Grampa Hitt and the four of us loaded up into their RV for the weekend. We left Gillette around 5 pm on Friday and headed straight for the campground. After getting just a little turned around, (which is interesting in a RV on the curvy roads) we found our campsite and unpacked our suitcases. It was at this point when I asked Brandon where he put our suitcase that we realized it was still in our room in Gillette...3 hours away.

Luckily, the girls had there own suitcase so we had diapers, clothes, and pj's for them. So Saturday, Mom and I loaded up the girls and drove to Rapid City to buy clothes for Brandon and I to wear for the rest of the weekend. When we got to Custer, we had two choices for the route to Rapid. Mom told me to go left, so we did.

Two hours later...we were still not even to Mount Rushmore. The speed limit on this section of highway is 35 mph and I was lucky if I could go that fast. Switchbacks, complete corkscrews and one-lane bridges marked the "scenic route" to Rapid. Finally we made it to Rapid, ran through Target and Sonic, and headed back to Custer to pick up the guys from their golfing trip. (They weren't expecting us to take all day...so they ended up playing 27 holes...they were pretty sore the next day!)

Just a note...it took us less than an hour to make it back to Custer. We took the other route back. For future reference...turn right!

It was a beautiful day for a wedding and the kids were awesome. It was on the shore of the lake. The bridesmaids and bride arrived via horse and carriage. The lake made an awesome backdrop for the ceremony, which was very nicely done. Instead of lighting a unity candle, the couple poured colored sand into a common jar. I really liked the symbolism of the sand.

This is my favorite picture of the ceremony that Brandon took. We really enjoy spending time with Tony and Elizabeth, and it was great to see them begin their lives together. Congratulations, you two.

Other than that, our lives have been filled with school, working on the pole barn, which is now finished on the outside, building Brandon's business, and playing with our beautiful little girls. Brad and Amber are still living with us, which is wonderful. It is so nice to have another set of parents for our three kids. (We all consider ourselves to have three kids, there are just four parents :) )

I hope to be better about posting. Hopefully, life will start to have a routine again. I can't believe we are only three weeks away from parent-teacher conferences. Every year seems to go by faster and faster...only 26 more years till I can retire...

Madison 18 Months

Madison Marie turned 18 months old on September 12. She is in the 75% for both her height and weight at 26lbs, 4oz and 32.25 inches tall.

She is quite the character. She loves to scream and run around with her cousin Aiden. The two of them will chase each other through the house and then will sit down amidst a pile of books and read to each other.

This is Madi's "Cheeser" grin...it is how she always poses for the camera now. Between cheeser and her buckets of energy it is pretty hard to get her to sit still for pictures, so these are the best I was able to get... :)

This is the rocking chair that Grammy Hitt made for Madi. The chair was Grammy's when she was a little girl. Grammy took it apart, refinished the wood and covered it with beautiful plaid cushions. Madison likes sitting in her own chair. She is getting more and more independant every day. Her biggest goal lately has been to learn how to get dressed. She will play with clothes and shoes for hours trying to get them on properly. She was able to get her pants on this past weekend, although her pajama bottoms were on underneath.

Madi is still working on learning to talk. She uses several signs consistently, but the words she uses often are still very few. My guess is that she will just jump to using full sentences when she finally decides to talk. She babbles and gabbers constantly, it would just be wonderful to understand her world.

Her favorite word of the month is "ice". She goes to the cupboard in the kitchen, brings out a dixie cup and runs to the freezer where she says "ice". It is pretty darn cute...especially since it takes her whole body to say the word, and it now has three syllables. "iieeccee"

Madison loves to help take care of her baby sister. She will bring Emma diapers, bottles, pacifiers, and toys. Madison is good about entertaining Emma and is adored by her little sister. My hope for them is that they always love each other as much as they do now. I am sure there will be days that they don't get along...every set of sisters has those, but I sure hope the times they get along outnumber by far the fights.

Madison, You are turning into such a big little girl. I can hardly see the baby in you anymore. I love watching you learn about this world, and figure out how to climb and run and talk. You are truly my little angel. I love you, Mommy.

Emma 5 Months Old

On September 6th Emma Lea Ruth turned 5 months old. She really is the happiest baby in the world. She loves to giggle and laugh at everyone!

She is ticklish under her chin and around her rib cage. She will giggle and squeal when you tickle her there. She is fascinated with her older sister and cousin. As long as she can see the two of them, she is happy...for hours. She loves to jump in the jumperoo, stand in the walker, and roll all over the place.

If you can't read her shirt, it says "This is my little black dress". Auntie Amber bought it for Emma and I think it is adorable on her. :)

She is working on sitting up unassisted, but still needs support to do it well.

We are working on finding the right nickname for our little angel...Madi is bugger, Aiden is monkey, and Emma is all of the following...itty bitty...butterball...bean...ladybug...nothing has stuck so far as the pet name to last. (I love itty bitty...but according to the growth charts, she might end up being the tallest of them all...irony could be funny)

I love this last picture. She is absolutely adorable in it!

Emma Lea...you are my precious baby girl and I love every inch of you!