First soccer game

A couple weeks ago -- It was drizzly and chilly, but we sure had fun watching Timmy play in his first soccer game. It's really cute watching all those little guys. Tim is enjoying soccer, but like a lot of kids his age he lacks a little in focus. It's really humorous watching him spinning and dancing

More Joseph

He had his one-year appointment today. We switched doctors to Ben's practice. Much closer to home and discounted co-pays. Can't beat that. They figure he's measuring in the 25th percentile. Definitely my little shrimp.

We took these pictures at a little birthday party we had for him last Sunday. Joseph has a "thing" for crochet. My mom made him a couple of mini-blankets that he immediately latched on to.

Birthday boy!

Little Joseph's first birthday was today -- the year sure went by fast!

I felt like a slacker mom today because I didn't make a big enough deal about the day. We're going to have cake tomorrow with his grandma and tonight we went to Pizza Hut for dinner and presents. Believe it or not, I wanted to keep things simple on purpose. It's all about keeping my sanity. Anyway, he loves pizza.



The other day I wondered what life would be like if he was our first baby. I decided that life would be a little boring because he's just not very demanding. And I also told Ben that "we would think we were really good parents." He's that sweet.

Free chicken!

Anyone else take advantage of the free chicken on Labor Day? Chick-Fil-A offered free chicken if you came in with a team logo shirt on. I tracked down all of our little Redskin shirts and we had a good time eating our free chicken sandwiches. Each of the kids ate all their chicken. I told Carolina that if we cut up the chicken, it was just like chicken nuggets. You know what? It really is -- except a WHOLE LOT MORE PIECES!! We've determined that's what we're going to start doing. I wonder if they'll let us order one without a bun?

Also -- we live in serious Ravens country, so it was kind of funny when four out of five of us (Ben had a Maryland shirt on) had Redskins on. Despite the proximity, they are not really rivals, but it was still fun.

(sorry for the full mouths -- best I could do, they were really hungry!)

Vacation

Ben took last week off and we had friends drive 12 hours to come see us! We were so happy they could spend the week with us. Our first stop was the beach. We stayed at Fenwick Island overnight and everybody had a great time.

Soccer!

It just seems weird to me. Timmy had his first soccer practice this evening. Ben worked, so the kids and I watched Timmy kick the ball around. I got Tim ready and didn't realize he needed socks over his shin guards. Oops! He'll be better prepared next week.

Also, there are 11 boys on the team. 3 Zacharys and 3 Timmys. I would expect Zachary to be popular, but Timmy? I seriously had no idea.


(Tim is the one out front)

Little Joseph is 11 months old today. It's hard to believe how fast the time flies! He's really taken to walking this last week or so and it is terribly cute.

(pay no attention to our mess)

Fun with cousins!

All 12 grandchildren together for the first time. The twelfth, Zeke, was born just a week ago. We visited at Aunt Mary's house this morning and then went to the lake for swimming. Everyone had a blast!

Fast friends

Joseph found a friend at Target this morning! :)

Hill Cumorah (pics fixed)

I thought Ben was crazy when he suggested going up to Palmyra to see the pageant and camp one night with our three little kids, but I was very pleasantly surprised that everything turned out so nicely. The drive took us about 6 hours (with stops, detours, etc.) We set up camp, visited Hill Cumorah (Carolina and Timothy climbed the hill themselves) and then the Sacred Grove and Joseph Smith homes. Then back to the Pageant. Considering the ages and personalities, it all went really well.

KOA camping, part 2

Lots of firsts last week. First time for the two younger kids camping, first time for the older kids riding on any kind of boat and it was the first time playing miniature golf. Timothy has a list that we keep of things he would like to do and this knocked off two of those.

In case you're curious, here are some of the things on Tim's list: (we started this list last spring right before he turned three)

go on a boat July 2009
go on an airplane
ride a horse 5/24/2008
eat a doughnut June 2009
have a campfire 3/2/2008
roast marshmallows 3/2/2008
go camping May 2009
ride on a whale
ride in a pick-up truck
ride in a tow-truck
climb a tree
go to a movie theatre (7/2008)
ride in a submarine
ride a motorcycle
ride a train Aug 2008
ride in a horse-drawn carriage
play mini-golf July 2009
fly a kite

If it has a date next to it, it has been done. I think most of these are pretty reasonable. Well, maybe not the whale riding. This list was actually pretty helpful for awhile. He would say something like, "I wish I could ride a motorcycle." And I would say, "well, let's put that on your list." Somehow, that helped his longing.

Carolina had an interesting technique. She'd hit the ball a few times and then set it right next to the hole and tap it in. When she got to the last hole, she climbed up in the cage to make sure it went right in the hole.

KOA camping, part 1

I've been camping up near Palmyra, but not to the KOA. I was really impressed. We are going to try to make this an annual event. We're even looking for volunteers to join us next year for even more fun. I think we'll definitely try to do two nights.

Fourth of July

I love that my kids have cousins! We all get together about once a month and they have a blast. We had dinner at my brother's house and then went to the fireworks in their town. The kids hadn't ever really been to see fireworks and they loved it! It was also nice that one of my sister-in-law's family had some glow necklaces. (The pictures were taken with the cell phone because our poor phone has been sent to be repaired)

Good vacation and Joseph update

Timothy remembers and loves many things about his trips to North Carolina, but I think his favorite thing is taking a ride in the "hummer." We ended our trip with a bang on Wednesday morning as he drove his sister around the yard (she got her turn in the driver's seat too).


Little Joseph turned nine months old two weeks ago and he had his check-up a few days later. His current stats: 18 pounds (10th percentile), 28 1/2 inches (50th percentile) and 45 cm head. He had a fever the few days before his appointment with roseola, so I think he was a little under his usual weight, but he is definitely a little lighter than my first two. We're also fairly certain he has a peanut allergy. He snagged a teeny-tiny bit of his brother's peanut butter and ended up with swollen lips and hives on his hands and face. I won't post those unpretty pictures here. He's really a pretty healthy kid and still so super-sweet. Joseph crawls all over, pulls himself up on everything (especially me) and he climbed up one stair today. The little guy answers to Joe, Joey, Joah, and "you're so dang cute."

In the pool

After the beach and naps, we had fun in Ben's aunt's pool.

Fun at the beach

We are down in North Carolina visiting with some of Ben's extended family. This morning we went to the beach and really had a great time. The weather was exactly perfect, the water was calm and it was simply gorgeous.