OH the SMILES!!!

Look at that smile. The last couple of days E' has mastered the knack. She's smiling in response to our smiles and our laughter. I LOVE it!!! Here are a few I actually managed to catch before her curious blank stare took over (which she gets whenever she sees the camera instead of my face).

kicking and smiling

with big brother N' in the church's red website footage chair

smiling after a diaper change -- she likes the cloth diapers -- now if she'll just get a little more thigh chunkiness so leg-hole leaks are less likely :0)

here's my best attempt at capturing her dark gray eyes with the camera

birthday boy

B' turned two the last week of April! Nope, we still didn't have a big party - we just celebrated with us and Nana (my mom) after church the day before his bday. We'll save inviting friends for when he's 5 and mature enough to appreciate it for more than a half hour :0).


He's such a big boy! He's talking more and more everyday; impressing us with new phrases we didn't think he understood yet. He's already wearing 3T size clothes!!! He's tall for his 2 years and stocky too. He's not chubby though -- he's solid muscle with the strength to match. If only he knew how strong. When he runs to hug my leg, I have to brace for impact! And B' continues to be all heart. He lays on your lap, pats you (more like a smack) to make you feel better, and asks "wha's madder?" if you stop smiling. He has a serious throwing arm and can't wait for daddy to walk in the door after work so that he can grab the nearest ball and yell "daddy catch!" Apparently this game is no fun with mommy who only catches the ball 50% of the time. B' prefers a good catcher on the other end of his throws ;0) He'll say, "mommy missed. Sokay mommy," while looking oh so sad for me. (He says "sokay" instead of "it's okay.") Hee hee!

He's really gifted in the area of hand-eye coordination. He has a great arm for throwing the softball, kicks the soccer ball hard and straight, and is working on mastering a nice football toss. So far basketballs and golf balls (they have some wiffle balls to play with) are mostly used for playing catch. He naturally keeps his elbow up and uses his whole arm to throw; follow-through and all. Not bad for what comes naturally - we haven't taught him.

basketball goal bday gift from nana-- a great alternative to playing catch 24/7 AND he's learning how to dunk and how to shoot :0)

B' is wonderful. It doesn't seem like two years have passed already! In honor of his love for sports balls, I made him a sport ball cake :0) Fun! It was super easy. I skipped being artistic with frosting this time and just printed some clip art onto white cardstock on the printer, taped toothpicks to them like signs, and stuck them in the 8" round layer cake which was small enough to fit on a regular plate. YAY! Benjamin named them all for us: "soccuh ball," "football," "bay ball," "badket ball." I love what they come up with when they're still acquiring language!

Thank you Lord for blessing us with this soft hearted, strong handed, amazing little boy!

one month old

tiny toes!!! long, skinny feet!

I've been having so much fun watching E' change and grow, that I've neglected to stop and post some pics so you could share the JOY!

She's almost 5 weeks old as I post these pics. What's new:

• E' weighs about 9 lbs now! Wow!
  
• She can hold her head up and look around
• She has started to smile (yes, social smiling, not gas)
  
• She started cooing last week. She concentrates really hard and gets her lips pursed into an "oo" shape, then she'll finally get a tiny "ooh" or "aaah" out. So CUTE!!!

E' on her first stroller walk

meeting my Uncle Joey!

Uncle Joey was "stuck" in town when his connecting flight to a business meeting was delayed. E' thought Uncle Joey was the BEST! She smiled and cooed and stared and finally... fell sweetly asleep in his arms :0) What a fun, unexpected, wonderful time. The kids all thought Uncle Joey was fabulous. I love him too! Thanks Lord for such a great blessing!

Booties my sister Wendy crocheted for E'.

Wendy crochets a lot: blankets, granny squares, bun covers (she has girls in ballet), doilies, scarves, purses, grocery bags (as if I'd ever put groceries in it 'cause it's gorgeous). Anyway, she said she just thought she'd try a pair of booties! Talk about a FABULOUS first try! They are sooo adorable and they don't fall off either! I wish you could see the tiny green crocheted rosettes that button the straps on. I couldn't get a good in-focus pic of that detail. TOOOOOO CUTE! She also made a lemon-yellow pair for her.

wide eyed (with some baby acne)

I can't seem to capture it in a picture, but E's eyes are still dark gray, with lighter gray edges on the borders of her irises. All our kiddos have had some unique eye color for the first few weeks of life and then at some point their eyes have shifted to brown. N's eyes were the most fabulous dark, forest green color for the first few weeks of his life. J's were light brown. B's were gray. And in all three cases, we woke one morning to find their eyes were suddenly plain old brown ;0). I'm hoping E's eyes stay gray -- just for fun. But, if they turn brown she'll be just as beautiful!

pretty in pink

I love all the ruffly edges on this outfit! Pink is not my favorite color, but E' looks super sweet in pink, so I'm thankful for the zillion pink things that we have in the baby buckets from when J' was a baby. Of course, if you let me tell it, she looks good in EVERY color :0) What can I say, it's momma love!