2,4,6,8...

we have so much to celebrate! Our middle 4 have birthdays within 7 weeks of each other, and this year they were turning 2,4,6,and 8, so we decided to do one big party. On September 28 we had the joy of welcoming PawPaw, all four grandparents, many great- aunts and great-uncles, cousins, and friends for the birthday extravaganza! We are so thankful for these precious girls and boys and really can't believe how fast they are rolling through these birthdays! Here's a little update on the birthday kids: LL turned 8 on Oct. 16 and is having a good year doing 3rd grade at home. She loves reading Nancy Drew mysteries, watching LHOTP, playing imaginative games with her sisters and brothers, and jumping on the trampoline (the big birthday gift!). She is excelling at piano this year, has fun doing gymnastics, and is learning to enjoy public speaking through speech club! LL is quick to offer help with baby IS and SA and we are thankful for her compassion and energy. She is an entertainer around here and knows how to have fun! SJ turned 6 on August 29 and is a first grader this year! She is quick with math and can sit down and read a whole picture book or reader to anyone who'll sit still long enough, or often picks up a chapter book her sisters checked out and goes for it herself! She's enjoying gymnastics and, like her sisters, is a huge LHOTP fan. She continues to be a late riser and a night owl...like she was born with a teenager's internal clock! We are so thankful for her sweet smiles, good questions, and how she loves her family and friends. RL turned 4 on October 23 and has become a madman on a bike! He loves to build with Legos, color with markers, do workbooks, help in the kitchen, "play school" with his sisters, play outside, work with his Daddy on projects at home and give IS kisses while saying, "He's SO cute!" He goes all day long but often initiates his own bedtime, saying, "Will you put me down?" We are so thankful for this busy, bright, fun, sweet boy! SA turned 2 on September 29 and is always on the go with a big grin! Right around his birthday he moved into the toddler bed and now shares a room with RL, and he likes to present encores after bedtime these days, but we are working on that! :) His talking has totally taken off and he is putting together words now, to tell us things like "Watch me" or "Hold it" or "Stop it" (which I wish I could honor when he says it at diaper-change time!:) He's finally gotten a real haircut (though he didn't like it) and likes to climb onto the trampoline and run around. He is still very attached to his lovies and his thumb, and we are glad he's still a willing snuggler! We're so thankful for this bright, bubbly, fun boy and enjoy seeing him blossom every day!

Summer Retrospective, Part 3: Our "Vacation"!

By mid-July IS was over a month old and we were all ready for a change of scenery, so we spent 10 days with the grandparents. This was our only getaway all summer, and it was great! First stop was Gran and PopPop's house, where the kids had fun playing and reading, having breakfast on the balcony, exploring in the woods, going to the library, making an apple pie with apples from their tree, and getting to visit with Uncle David and my friend H, her mom, and two of her kids, A and L. And there was plenty of time to just hang out and snuggle with IS! It was a fun few days...see below! Then we went to Nana and Grandpa's for the rest of the week. The girls and RL went with Nana and Grandpa to VBS every morning, and I hung out at home with SA and IS. In the afternoons, the kids had fun swimming and playing in the "muddy muddy". T joined us toward the end of the week and he and Grandpa took RL to play golf. And of course, IS got cuddled plenty!

Summer Retrospective, Part 2

T and the kids went on lots of bike rides around the neighborhood this summer, with the girls riding their own bikes and RL and SA in the trailer. RL has recently gone on some rides with T on one of the girls' old bikes with training wheels on it, and don't tell him, but there's probably a new "boy bike" coming his way in the near future! On July 5 we went to a Children's Museum we'd never visited before...the kids had a great time! SA serving up a sundae in the "café" LL and SJ checking out at the "grocery store"...they all loved this. Our four little dentists took care of T's toothache! RL was a great vet! Afterward, we went to visit Mimi and PawPaw and introduced Isaac! We are so thankful he got to meet Mimi that day, as that turned out to be our last visit with her. We miss her and are so thankful for all the wonderful memories that we all have of our times with her! PawPaw, T, and the "big boys" Mimi and PawPaw with all their great-grandchildren and T Just a few days past the one month mark, IS is getting pretty good at smiling when he wants to! Reading in bed during our community group meeting one Wednesday night

Summer Retrospective, Part 1

Can it really be late September already? Thinking back on our summer and looking back through the photos, I see again what a gift it was to be able to slow down to summer-speed as we welcomed little IS. Here's the first wave of pics from late May and June: "Aunt Katie" came to visit one weekend and went on some fun outings with me and the kids! AG at her music program graduation on May 31. ISP joined us on June 6! We brought him home the following Saturday. Grandpa and RL were ready to lend a hand! Two days old and napping with his Daddy Bath time! 10 days old and showing us a sleepy smile So thankful for this easygoing little guy! It's been over two months since this pic was taken, and he's been an "angel" baby if we've ever had one! :) Gran and SA visiting with IS Sweet feet, 2 weeks old! The girls went to a VBS and I ventured to Target for the first time with just the boys! We barely had room in the cart for everything and everybody! RL has had fun dressing up this summer in an assortment of random things. I love that the hat says "Work zone"...obviously!