if you give a boy a haircut...

these are the only photos you'll get of him.  =)

helping Daddy

we've started a few little house projects lately.  Josh took the laundry room door off, sanded it down and stained it.  And he did it all with 4 little helpers.  =)  I helped a tiny bit but Josh did the real work.  So thankful that the stain we found seems to match so far.  This is exciting as there are window sills and bathroom cabinets that need to be refinished and if it matches then we don't have to redo EVERYTHING. There is a lot of stained woodwork in this house and we don't want to deal with more than we have to. 

his favourite movie

Every day I hear "Mama? Cars 2?  please?"  at least 5 times!  He loves this movie.  He loves cars and trucks and tractors, any and all of them.  such a boy!  love him!

p.s. I moved him away from the tv after taking the photo.  =)

Emma

This girl...

• likes to squeal in an unbelievably high tone.  Like earsplitting high
• likes to sing along with the piano and singing at church.  but does it by squealing.  this isn't very conducive to the quiet atmosphere of communion.
• has been chewing on her lower lip a lot the last few weeks.  teeth soon??
• realized that she can make kissy noises by smacking her lips while chewing on the bottom one.  It's pretty cute really.
• is wearing mostly 9 month size clothes.  She keeps getting longer and longer.  
• still has very little hair.  and I think it's getting darker like she'll have brown hair instead of blonde.
• will stand up while people are holding her most of the time.  like in the second picture up above.
• she is so so close to sitting up properly
• and as of last weekend she has started getting up on all fours.  
• And on Wednesday afternoon while I was chatting with Mom on the computer she started throwing herself forward while on all fours effectively propelling herself along.  ugghhh...I'm so not ready for a crawler.  
• will probably walk early too. Beka walked at 9 months (well, just a couple days shy of 10 months really) any bets on whether Naomi will walk earlier??

Name frames

I finished Naomi's name frame.  I got it mostly done at the Ladies Craft Fellowship and then finished it the next day.  I finally got a picture of it but it was at night and hanging on the wall.  Kinda forgot that I could've brought it out into the main room and even possible take it out of the frame to photograph it.  haha.  Anyway, all that's left is her name meaning plaque by Papa.  Mom said he finished it so we'll await it's arrival and hang it up. 

I've always loved the poem on her frame and when I found out the title of it is Song for a 5th Child I knew it was perfect for her frame.

Song For a Fifth Child

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

Emma's Birthday

 LEGO stickers

 LEGO book with pieces

 ummm...yes...that would be more LEGO =)

 a picture frame/snowglobe

On Emma's actual birthday she opened a few presents.  I had gone into our room to feed the baby and Josh was still in bed so she opened presents there.  Can't wait to open presents!!  =)  We went to the beach for a few hours after as you can see by their swimmers.  Bible study was at our house that evening so we invited the S's to come over early for her birthday dinner.  Emma chose hot dogs and macaroni and cheese~a choice inspired by Uncle Steve. 

After thinking we'd had our first experience in 11 years with losing a package in the mail it showed up 3 weeks later than the package it was sent with but only a day late for her birthday.  She got more LEGO from Grammy and Papa.  (I think one more birthday present might be in order~a big plastic container to hold all the LEGO)

Putting together the LEGO from Grammy and Papa that evening with Nathan watching carefully.  It's a  car afterall so it must be his, right?? 

Josh's Birthday

Josh's birthday was the Friday after Emma's party.  I love that the kids were possibly more excited about Daddy's gifts than he was.  haha.  And did you spot the baby?  She stayed on Josh's lap while he opened all his gifts.  I also found it amusing that between us and his parents most of his gifts were toys and/or novelty items i.e. Bucky Balls, a newton's cradle, freeze dried ice cream, a puzzle roll, a flying monkey.  Doesn't his cake look yummy?  We got a half price coupon from The Cheesecake Shop around Valentine's Day that expired at the end of March so I had been saving it.  Came to his birthday and I grabbed the coupon only to realize that it expired the 27th!  I laughingly said something about it to the lady at the Cheesecake Shop (I had decided to buy something from there anyway because I was busy and the girls were really looking forward to it.)  and she let me use the coupon anyway.  Yay!!

Emma's Party

 Emma's new beanie made by Vivienne

 LEGO cake 

 Chantelle & Naomi

 Loretta

 Emma with her new Mama-made skirt

 My new favourite photo of Emma

 Leah

 Andy

 Josh, Steve and Mark

I love that I accidentally caught Catie with feet off the ground, skipping

Waiting for cake

We held Emma's birthday celebration on Sunday the 25th.  It was a nice afternoon catching up with friends.  These are just a few of the photos as Josh made sure he got at least one photo of everyone.  =)  I need to upload a photo from Emma's second birthday party as it is very similar to my favourite one up there.  There's just something about them that I love.