Joshy turns 7!

Here are a "few" pics from Josh's two birthday parties-the first was a family party and the second included several friends and neighbors. He has been big into Indiana Jones since kindergarten when he and his buddies would take turns at recess battling the N*zis (a strange word to hear out of a 6 year olds mouth, I must say...) and so hence the party theme. As usual, we ran with the theme (went overboard with it, actually)...But I think that out of the many birthday parties that we have thrown over the years, this was the one that I was able to enjoy the most. We had a GREAT group of kids and they really got into the games, especially the "search for the crystal skull" obstacle course (with the theme song and tiki torches going in the background), and "make-a-mummy". It was SO much fun to see everyone enjoying themselves so much!

First was his family party and look who came-Henry Jones, Sr.!





Grace Jones? :)


Even Bama came, and seemed to really enjoy herself!


Who gave the kid a whip?!


Ben returning the "crystal skull"

And then, 2 weekends later (due to my 20th high school reunion in between)...the friend party...


Love this one-swinging over the snake pit...


And escaping the giant boulder...The three-legged "race to the skull"...
And (my personal favorite) making mummies... (Josh is in the green shirt)
Here they are digging for treasure through the creepy crawlies...
And here's Gracie-girl enjoying her first spaghetti (or "monkey brains and worms" as we called it- a la Indy) We couldn't believe how much she was "putting away" until we saw her lap a little while later...and note the noodle on her head ;)

Josh designed his own cake this year. He wanted a Lego Indiana Jones cake, so all I had to do was make a rectangle and he constructed the lego scene to put on top-that's my kinda cake! ;p
I'm not sure how this started, but it sure made for great pictures!

Then it was pinata time!
What a fun group!
And the party continued with a sleepover that night. Josh's good buddy and his older brother spent the night for an Indy movie marathon. Then in the morning, the big brothers made the younger brothers breakfast in "bed"! Next time it's Mom's turn....:)
Happy 7th Birthday Josh! Thanks for always making our lives an adventure! We love you, your sparkling personality and your fun-loving spirit!

9 Months Old! (and Still Waiting for Hair... ;)

Well, we're a bit late getting this post up (story of my life!), but wanted to post some favorite pics, hopefully a video or two and Gracie's latest stats...
(By the way, does anyone know how to get rid of this underlining?!)

Here is my happy girl who now LOVES to pull up on EVERYTHING, and likes to let go with one or both hands....

Here she is in one of her many hats, now a wardrobe staple due to her seemingly non-existent hair growth. It IS filling in a a bit, slowly but surely, but is SO light, so it's pretty hard to tell....
She loves to rock in her chair..........
As soon as she lays eyes on her taggie blanket, her thumb goes right in her mouth...



Love these shots of her at the window...she was so proud of herself when she realized she could stand up and look out on her own...



She loves her babies and her teddies so much, literally diving on them to snuggle with them.... She's in perpetual motion these days, but is still a snuggler, nuzzling into our shoulder when she's sleepy....Oh, and diaper and clothing changes require at least 6 hands lately, with both the "dresser" and "dressee" expending about 1000 cal. each before the job's done (or at least it seems that way...) Wheww!

She had her 9 month well visit this week and her latest stats are as follows: she weighs 18 lbs, 6 oz and...oh she IS the third child because I can't remember her height and head circ measurements...I do remember the %iles though...20th for weight, 75th for head and 97th for height! I have to wonder how accurate the last measurement was-she does seem long though-guess she shot up recently!

And in other fun news, she is starting to clap (soo cute!), says "mama and nana" (I am going to officially call Mama her first word-Ben's was "Dada" and Josh's was "Bub-bub" for Bubby/Ben....so now it's MY turn-yayy!) She waves bye-bye and hi, though not always on command, and she signals what she wants with a hearty "Uh, uh!" and fixes her eyes on the coveted item...She also gets SO excited whenever she sees pictures of babies, which happen to be all over the house...Oh, and I got my first kiss from her today-a nice, wide-mouthed drooly one-sooo sweet!

Happy 9 months, Gracie! Just when we think you can't possibly get any sweeter, you continue to amaze us! We love you more than words!!

Wanted to add the fact that I am writing this post on the tenth anniversary of my mom/"Grammie Pammy"'s passing...It seems like yesterday and it seems like a lifetime ago...I thank God that I can still hear her voice and that although she was never able to hold these three babies, I know she is holding William in her arms right now. When we lit a candle for her today, Ben said, "Aww, Mom, I only missed her by 2 years..." It was actually only 15 months....
These shots are from this summer, when we visited Walton and her Memorial tree, which is thriving on the beautiful mountainside...

I love you and miss you SO much, Mom!

First Day of School!

Here are the boys on their first day of school, looking slightly sleepy...
Things went pretty smoothly, considering our mornings had been quite slow and leisurely for most of the summer. Ben was getting a bit worried about being late though, as evidenced by his body language in the shot below.

Once I got a shot of the 3 boys in their backpacks, it was off to school...by bike for the first time! We don't bike very often, since the boys usually ride the bus home, but we do "scooter " to school if the weather cooperates. Gracie enjoys the stroller ride and the fresh air helps us all wake up. It's great living only a few blocks away from the school...





Here is Ben with his third grade teacher. It is apparently a tradition for her students to have their picture taken with her at the beginning AND the end of the year to see who has grown taller than her...looks like he has a ways to go...







And here is Josh and his first grade teacher, who had Ben 2 years ago...She is so excited to have him in her class, however I feel the need to remind her how VERY opposite they are. We'll see how this year goes...
This picture of them wasn't actually the first day of school, but was at the end of the month, when he was chosen for the character trait award of the month, which was "responsibility". Great job, Josh!




And this is a tradition that we started a couple years ago-the blackboard cake. A little something sweet to look forward to when their first day is done....