Joshua's Buddy Andy

Here is a recent photo of Joshua and his buddy Andy.

Andy is 6 days younger than Joshua (born the same day as Philip) and the son of our good friends Dave and Krista Sagraves. They are expecting their second child in a little more than a month. So far, their second baby looks to be perfectly healthy - an answer to prayer. Andy is doing well, and we are all excited to see what the Lord has for him in the future. (Check out his story at www. sagraves.blogspot.com)
Last weekend, Dave and Krista spontaneously joined us for dinner and then helped us clean out our garage. We're very blessed to have such wonderful friends.

Breakfast Boy

Our little boy loves breakfast. He wakes up ready to eat and sits for a long period of time eating - or should I say storing up! He doesn't eat much the rest of the day, but he packs it away at the break of day. On the morning of these photos, Joshua ate a banana, a cereal bar, yogurt, and cheerios. What is funny is that I turned around to make breakfast for Karis and heard him laughing loudly. Joshua usually chuckles, but rarely laughs loudly. I turned to him to see what he was laughing at only to discover he was dropping handfuls of cheerios (with milk of course) onto Charlie's back as he (the fat beagle) was gobbling them up as fast as they were being dumped.

Fall Activity

Last weekend, Karis and I invited Rylee Ridner and Madie over for a girl's fall activity. We made gingerbread cookies and applesauce. The girls loved mixing the cookie dough. It was a fun and chaotic morning with 6 children 3 yrs old and under!

Joshua and Philip enjoy fruit of the girl's fun!

Fun Family Night

Sorry about the layout of these photos... I couldn't figure why it was doing this.

We had a fun family night tonight. Craig suprised the family with a night out begining at Chick-Fil-A and ending at the Family Bowl. Karis loves bowling, which I think is quite humorous. She picks up her 7lb ball, carries it to the line, leans over and rolls it down the alley. The she jumps up and down and cheers on her ball - "Go ball go! Knock em down!" (Her cheerleader Dad must have taught her that one!!) Then, three minutes later when her ball reaches the pins, a few topple over only to hear more cheers from our excited one.

Joshua had fun too, but couldn't understand why he couldn't pick up the balls. They were too heavy for his little muscles, but he loved being chased as he would try to run to the alley.

I am so grateful for such a wonderful husband who plans fun family activities like these. Karis will remember times like tonight.

Library Puppet Show

We went to a puppet show at the Library this week with Auntie, Madie, and Philip and our good friends Rebecca, Rylee and her baby brother Jacob. Karis loved it and is still talking about it. When we put Karis to bed, we often ask her what her favorite part of the day was. Today, Karis still said, "Going to the Library" - and it was several days ago!
(Karis in pink pants and white shirt, Madie in Purple sweater and pants)


Jacob Ridner

Rylee Ridner - she sat still through the whole show completely engaged!

Joshua enjoyed wandering around the aisles of the library - we gotta get rid of that pacifier!

Philip

Long Awaited Post

I have not posted in several weeks. I figured it was time to put a few photos of the kids on the blog. Most of you who read this blog would know that Craig's Dad is in the hospital in Brazil. He has been there several weeks suffering from many problems as a result of gastric bypass surgery. The whole family would love your prayers on his behalf.

Craig's brother Stuart is over there serving the family by helping his Mom and Dad with the doctors and hospital side of the tradgedy. Craig and Tyson (his older brother) are here in the states seeking to keep the family business going. Please pray for them as well.

A few days ago, we tried the first cousin sleep over. With Stuart in Brazil and Craig (at the time in Atlanta) Jenny and I decided to stay together for a night. Humorously, I say we tried. In retrospect, I smile as I think of the night!

The children had fun playing together in the evening. The boys went to sleep with relative ease. Madie did as well. My little girl... well let's just say she was very excited to have her cousin in the other twin bed in her room! We kept hearing her try to wake Madie up - thankfully, unsuccessfully!

Finally she fell asleep an hour and a half after Madie. Jenny and I enjoyed the rest of the evening together. For a moment, I felt like I did 8 years ago, and we were once again roommates. Unwisely, we stayed up late - what else would you expect?!

At 5:30 am we heard little feet walking down the hall. We both assumed it was Madie - who had gone to bed much earlier than Karis. Jenny jumped up and called for Madie. What we heard suprised us. KARIS replied, "I'm not Madie. Madie is still asleep!"

More than an hour later everyone but Philip had been awake - thanks to my little one! I was able to get Joshua and Karis back to sleep, but Jenny's children were permanently awake (from about 6 am on) All of this and a trip to Dunkin Donuts - and they were all very happy in the morning to have even more time to play together.

Jenny's children both napped that afternoon... my little girl who oddly survives on less sleep than most did not!

Here is a photo of the children all taking a bath ...

This week, we had a nice long visit from my sister and her little boy, Aaron. We filled the week with a lot of outdoor play as we experienced unseasonably warm days. We had a great time and were sad to see them leave. The cousins got along reasonably well - for three children 3yrs and younger!

Karis and Aaron were funny in their interactions. Aaron knew how to press Karis' buttons and make our little drama queen put on a show!

Here are a few photos of Karis and Aaron at the park, and one of Karis playing dress-up - a new favorite activity. This morning, Craig let me sleep a little later than normal He gave the children breakfast and played with them and when I came down, they were all in the playroom. Karis was sitting on top of Craig's back in her chinese outfit saying, "yee-ha, yippie I O - Texas here I come!"

A Few Cute Kiddo Photos

Just a few photos of the children!

Peek - A - Boo!

Karis and Joshua discovered that they thouroughly enjoy playing peek-a-boo in the cabinets under our book shelves! Karis used to do this when she was about his age, and had seeimingly forgotten about it all together. I think it is funny and sweet that they discovered this together yesterday. We have those cardboard blocks (you know, like the ones we played with when we were kids too!) stored there, so it is even more fun now for them because you have to dump out the ENTIRE cabinet before the game begins!

Go Vols!

Thanks to Cooper Staffing, we were able to go to the UT vs. FLA game a few weeks ago with Stuart and Jenny. It was a fun time cheering on our team together. Unfortunately, UT wasn't able to win the game, but we still had a wonderful time.

Puppy Love

Recently, good friends of ours had puppies. Twelve puppies! It was very exciting for me to bring the children to see the puppies over the few weeks that they had them. Here are a few shots of the children with the pups. Joshua wasn't the most excited about the squirming puppies, but Karis loved holding them!



So Cute!

A Few More Beach Photos

A few more photos of our week at the beach. I am late in getting to posting. Lightening hit near our house and destroyed our home PC, garage door opener, phone line, answering machine and the thermostat on the fridge! So, I am faced with waiting for a chance to use Craig's computer in the evenings until we can fix our home one. No problem, just slower in making posts

Isn't this boy cute? He loves his lion and blanket that we call the Blanket of Many Colors

Annual Family Photo at the Beach Top (L-R) my Sister Katie, nephew Aaron, brother-in-law Derek, our family. Bottom: Doris, my Mom and Grandfather

No matter what we used to try and blockade the stairs, Joshua found a way to climb on or over it!

More Non-Beach photos to come soon...

Fenwick Island 06

What a week! What a Beach! What a vacation! What a family!

I LOVE our family! That was one of my favorite phrases from our family's annual trip to Fenwick Island. Craig said that to me while walking to get ice cream one night. I actually find it hard to write a little about the week. I feel like I did in college trying to get the first paragraph written on a paper. I don't even know where to begin!

We arrived in Fenwick to beautiful weather. We had several wonderful beach days at the beginning of the week. Karis couldn't get enough of the waves. She loved jumping the waves! Joshua was fickle. He would love the beach and water for ten minutes, then he couldn't handle it any more!! He would be laughing while walking and playing in the sand, and then cry if he had to touch it any more! We couldn't figure it out.

We took many walks down to the local Dairy Queen - a family favorite. Or really, a Daddy favorite! We actually surprised Karis one night and after putting the children to bed, got just her back up and went down to Dairy Queen. She was so surprised and a little confused too. I was skeptical that she would go to bed for the second time (especially after Ice Cream!), but my husband's plan was wonderful and she went to bed without complaint.

We had a lot of fun times with the extended family. Karis and her cousin Aaron got along very well for small children. Joshua thought everything belonged to him and claimed ownership of Aaron's popper push toy for the week. Aaron shared the toy very willingly for a 20 month old! Aaron figured out the art of annoying little girls - and he is not even two yet! He walked around right behind Karis trying to touch her. This drove Karis CRAZY! And we would hear her squawk and shriek in annoyance. It was rather humorous for all the rest of the adults.

More photos to come soon...