Apple Picking

Because Justin's birthday is in September, one of his favorite birthday activities is apple picking. This year, we invited two other families to go with us for Justin's birthday. These are a few of the pictures from our apple picking trip.

Rebekah was completely cozy during the whole experience. She was comfortable and I was even able to pick some apples while holding her.

Caleb loved the first apple picking trip that he can remember! He ate an entire apple - seriously, I had to stop him before he ate the stem and core! Because the ground was wet from rain, we didn't let him out of the stroller, but he enjoyed watching the bigger boys pick apples.

Aaron proudly displayed one of the Granny Smith's he had picked - right before he ate it! I was beginning to wonder if he would eat his weight in apples!

Zachary bravely jumped into apple picking and even climbed a tree or two. He ate his fair share of apples as well.

We are trying hard to pair all of our children up with future mates by the time they are ten! Not really, but Justin's and Aaron's best friends happen to be sisters. They are never far apart from each other when our two families get together.

New to the apple-picking scene this year is Uncle David. He came up to spend Justin's birthday weekend with us and we enjoyed having him join the celebrations.

Dear Sara Kate! She and Justin are inseparable! We enjoyed spending the day with her family, and I know it made Justin's birthday extra special to have her there.

Nancy

Happy Birthday, Justin!

Today is Justin's sixth birthday! If you read the post on Rebekah's blog, you already realized that we are having technical issues with our hard drive and I cannot access my pictures. So for now this is a picture-less birthday post, but I will add the pictures as soon as the drive is back up.

Justin is 42" tall and weighs 36 pounds. His favorite activities are riding his bike, reading, learning his doctrines and Bible verses for Kids4Truth club, and playing with his brothers. I am homeschooling Justin for kindergarten this year, and we are very much enjoying it. Recently, there were two activities in which Justin dictated sentences to me, and I thought they would be appropriate to share on his birthday.

I like to play...

....baseball on the Game Cube.

....Runescape and Ice Age (computer games).

....on the swingset.

....riding my bike.

....with my guns and bullets (caps for the cap guns) and all my cowboy stuff.

When I am big...

....I am going to play paintball. (???!!)

....I will have a bigger mouth.

....I am going to drive a jeep.

....I am going to take Sara Kate on a date.

"There might be other things I can do when I am big, but I can't think of them now." - Justin

Oh, to be a six-year old! We love you, Justin!! Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday....

.....to my Dad!! I love you!!!!

Nancy

A Belated Birthday Post

I know, it has been forever, but here are the pictures and updates from Caleb's first birthday (finally!).  At Caleb's first birthday, he weighed 20.2 pounds and was 29 and 3/4 inches tall.  You can't really see it in these pictures, but he has the most adorable curls on the back of his head! I hope he keeps his curly hair! :)

I love my new sandals from Uncle Scott and Aunt Aimee!

What is in this bag??!! Can it be what I think it is?

It is! It is! It is a twin of Aaron's favorite bear, Slumbers.

Caleb now has his own favorite bear - Cuddles!

Look! I can tear paper and no one tells me "no!"

Because of Caleb's food allergies, his cake was kind of boring,

but he had fun "blowing" out the candle with Daddy.

Caleb promptly flipped his plate of cake onto the table and had

as much fun playing with the plate as he did eating cake. :)

By far the favorite present was a toy

lawnmower from Papa and Nana. 

Our living room grass carpet has never been so manicured!

The other favorite was Caleb's very own 

camp chair from Grampy and Grammy.

Caleb is so very proud when he sits in it like his big brothers.

Look at the big boy!

At a year old, Caleb can say mama, dada, gac (Zac), something resembling Justin (ju-di?), ah-duh (all done), bye-bye, nigh-nigh (night-night) and a ferocious grunt while simultaneously standing on his tiptoes which means pick me up!

We still have some eating issues that we are working on with the help of our occupational therapist, Becci. We are hoping to see some good progress in the coming weeks! Because of Caleb's allergies, his menu is quite limited, but he still loves to eat! Some of his favorite foods include cantaloupe, strawberries, apples, bananas, mango, carrots, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, cheerios, graham crackers and Club crackers. Caleb is still eating all of his vegetables and meats (when he will eat meat!) in a pureed form, but we are working to transition him to more solid textures. He has made great progress with his fruits! Our other big goal is for Caleb to start drinking his milk (He can only have hemp milk due to allergies.) from a sippy cup rather than a bottle. We have struggled with the transition from bottle to cup with the formula and milk.

Caleb's favorite playthings are still his brothers! :) He loves to follow them around and try to copy what he sees them do. Caleb also loves to "read" books, play with cars and trucks, swing and slide, play peek-a-boo and recently has become fascinated with the Leap Frog Learning Town Farm which Aaron got for Christmas last year. We have had so much fun dropping the blocks in and watching them slide down to the bottom! :)

We are so thankful for Caleb and his happy personality in our house. He is truly our little ray of sunshine! :)

Zachary's Birthday (Part One)

I know it's been a week since Zac's birthday, but at least I'm finally getting around to putting some pictures on here! =)

Zachary wanted a basketball cake for his birthday. Why? We have NO idea! He has never played basketball that we know of, but it appealed to him all the same!  It was carrot cake with orange cream cheese frosting. And, believe it or not, Drew even had a couple of pieces (but left most of the frosting on the plate!). =)

I wasn't thinking when I nicely spaced seven candles around the outside edge of the cake. It took Zac two tries and then Justin helped finish blowing the candles out on the third try. Next year I will have to remember to put them closer together!

Zachary got a new Lego set from his brothers. It is a set that makes three different race cars. He has had lots of fun building different cars with it.

Due to outgrowing his old helmet, Zac's gift from Mommy and Daddy was a new bike helmet. It is more adjustable than his old helmet and has more air vents so (hopefully) he won't get as sweaty this summer.

Thanks Uncle Scott, Aunt Aimee, Tyler, Riley and Peyton for the Imaginext Batman set. All of the boys have enjoyed playing with it, and Zachary especially has had fun playing. The kids have combined their Imaginext knights and Batman for some very bizarre encounters! =)

 

Zachary absolutely loves getting dressed up for church and was thrilled with a new shirt and tie from Grampy and Grammy. He also got a boxed set of Cul-de-sac Kids mysteries from Grampy and Grammy.  Thank you!!

Overall, Zachary had a great birthday. I think by far, the family favorite gift is a Where's Waldo? book from Mommy and Daddy. We have spent several hours looking for Waldo, Wenda, Woof, Odlaw (Od-waw according to Aaron) and the assortment of items that they have lost. It has been lots of fun!

Although Zachary doesn't realize it yet, Part Two of his birthday is still to come! He will have his birthday with Papa and Nana in a week and a half when we go to visit them. He's going to be so excited!! :)

Nancy

Happy Birthday, Zachary!

Zachary at one week old.

At a year old, you were already the boss! :)

You have always loved everything outdoors, even at two!!

Our happy, helpful, smiling three year old.

The star (and only!) four-year-old on the t-ball team. At times, we wondered if the batting helmet would run away with you!

After almost a year of preschool, you were a very confident, outgoing five year old.

As always, you have a love of sports. You are sporting your Georgia Tech football uniform on your sixth birthday.

Seven years....wow!  It seems so impossible that seven years ago today we first looked at a squirming little bundle of sweetness and fell completely in love with you.  Happy Birthday, Zachary! Daddy and Mommy are so proud of you!!!! We love you bunches and bunches!

The Long-Awaited Birthday Pictures!

Here they are....after a couple of weeks of waiting...Aaron's third birthday pictures!

This little three year old was waiting for one thing and one thing only - CAKE!!!!

Aaron's birthday cake (that he helped with, I might add).  :)

Aaron blew out the first candle.....

Looks like he tried to eat the second one (rest assured, it only looks that way!).....

Aimed a little low on the third attempt, so.....

We got a little help from Daddy, and......

Nailed his final attempt!!

A new tool set from Grampy and Grammy.

Another part to our Thomas the Tank Engine railway from Daddy and Mommy and "the brothers."

A new "picture-looker" (translate: ViewMaster) from Papa and Nana!

Aaron really did have a terrific third birthday.  Thanks to all of you who helped make it special!

Nancy

Happy Birthday, Aaron!

Three years ago, we were sitting in the waiting room for the NICU at the hospital where Aaron was transfered just hours after his birth.  After 6 weeks of bedrest, Aaron finally made an appearance three weeks early weighing in at a whopping 5 lbs. and 2 ounces.  The doctors discovered a small birth defect that needed surgical correction, so less than 24 hours after his birth, Aaron had surgery to correct it.  We've come a long way in the last three years!!!  Aaron is the most energetic, imaginative and creative little guy I know!

Happy Birthday to a fantastic three-year-old!!!!!  Aaron wanted to celebrate his birthday with his friend Megan, so he will be having cake and presents on Friday evening.  Pictures to come this weekend!!!

Nancy

Sandbox

The kids were thrilled to help Drew build a sandbox today!  The sandbox was a birthday gift to Justin from Papa and Nana, and today we were able to put it together.  As you can see from the pictures, Justin (and Zachary and Aaron) was thrilled with the results!  Aaron was so disappointed when we had to clean up the toys and come in.  Through many tears, he finally told us that the sand had to go "night-night."

By the way, Aaron and Caleb both have colds this weekend.  Aaron kept telling us today, "My nose keeps running out."  :)  

Nancy

Happy Birthday, Justin!

Well, we now have another boy that has reached the five-year-old mark!  Happy Birthday to Justin!!  He is so excited to be five now.  Justin helped me make his birthday cake, and he thought it looked like yellow dirt!! On his birthday, Saturday, we went with a group of friends from church to Sky Top Apple Orchard to pick apples.  That is one of the boys' favorite things to do in the fall, and this year the weather was beautiful!  Grampy and Grammy also came with us and we left with bushels (!) of apples.

On Thursday night we met at the park with the Gazaways and Florences (Sara Kate's family) to have cookie cake and ice cream for Justin's birthday.  The kids all had a terrific time playing, and we all enjoyed the beautiful fall weather.  The rain held off so we were able to spend an enjoyable two hours playing.

We have seen Justin grow and change so much in the last year.  Not only has he been growing (finally!) but he has matured so much that sometimes it surprises us.  Justin is becoming a very loving and giving little boy.  He is so protective of his brothers, especially of his younger brothers.  Justin also loves to share and works hard to include his friends at school in what he is doing.  One of his best friends is Sara Kate, and it has been fun to watch their friendship grow in the last year.  We are very proud of the big boy Justin is becoming, and we are looking forward to watching him grow even more this year.