One Month to Go

My baby boy is 11 months old today. Officially one month away from turning the big ONE! I have no idea how time went this quickly but I digress. My dear Jimmy is now walking. Not all the time but a good portion of the day. Gives high 5s, claps, waves & is one of the happiest babies I have ever seen. He has a beautiful smile & when he's really happy he smiles with his entire face, especially his eyes. He is super playful. And we discovered this month that he thoroughly loves balloons. May have to invest in some of those for his birthday party. He understands commands like "Sit Down", "No" & "give me that please" but he only does what he wants. For example I have been trying to teach him how to sign "All Done" instead of throwing his food off the tray but I just get exasperated looks & very happy bangs on the tray. After months of reading to him he finally likes to pick up the books himself & look at the pictures. He is really good with a sippy cup now & even drinking out of that makes him smile. I feel very lucky to have 3 wonderful boys & as you can see Jimmy is one of our happier boys. Could just be that he doesn't understand all the chaos around him & he hasn't gotten tired of my picture taking yet.

Ten on Thursday

1. I really wanted to post on Tuesday but my children basically trading colds & different levels of whining consumed all my time.

2. When our boys are sick they just like to be held, especially by daddy. On this particular evening Johnnie didn't feel well but Joey just wanted to join in too.3. When Grandpa was over for dinner last week Johnnie asked him to help him build a castle using his magna tiles. Grandpa's reply. "Where's the picture?" Oh Grandpa Johnnie just likes to use his imagination. Looks like you had fun though. 4. After living in our house for 5 years we have finally hung up our photos & therefore now live in a home. This collage of photos is on the wall behind my desk. I find myself turning around to look at it instead of working pretty often. All of the pictures are are either canvas wraps or wall standouts which are great because there is no framing necessary. And this is now the view I have as I walk down my stairs. Helps me to start off the day with a smile! 5. Johnnie is my little daredevil at the park. He likes to climb up everything & jump off. And now Joey has decided that he too wants to be a little daredevil. He has to concentrate really hard with his tongue out & everything. It makes for a very tiring day because I have to follow him all over the park making sure he doesn't jump off of stuff & hurt himself.6. Like father like son. Crazy faces all around.7. Joey enjoying his coupe in the backyard. His attempt at saying Cheese when he saw my camera. And then Jimmy had some fun inside of it too. His face may not look like it but he does love it. But in the last photo he was screaming because he wanted to get out.8. When Jimmy stayed home sick last week I took his 46 week photo. I think it is actually one of the only ones I have of him where he's not smiling. He was just whiny & so sad. All day. Luckily it was only one day & by the next morning he was back to his smily self. 9. Johnnie & Joey love to wrestle. And now it seems that Jimmy does too. He doesn't quite know what to do so he just kind of throws himself in the middle of it all. But they quickly showed him how it's done with tickles coming from every direction. But it didn't bother him. He just laughed & rolled around. I think this is going to be one crazy house. Even more than now.10. And last but not least...this past Sunday was my sister Kim's birthday. Happy Birthday to a beautiful sister & friend!

Happy Birthday Grandpa

Today was my dad's birthday! Better know as Grandpa in this house. We had dinner (after poor Jimmy went to bed feeling sick), then presents & of course candles had to get blown out. Johnnie helped at first but it didn't go out at first so grandpa had to try again while Johnnie eagerly looked at the cake. And then we had a lot of smiles. while we discussed who wanted a piece. Thanks for being such a great dad & grandpa. We love you!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday to my hubby! I am thankful for each day we spend together & for every moment I get to watch you with our boys. Our weekend started off with a wonderful dinner at Orange Hill Restaurant for just the two of us.Thanks Kimberly for watching the boys. Then this morning we shared a loud crazy breakfast with our boys & opened gifts. Looney Tunes DVDs, clothes, a CD & a game for Wii. Then tonight we had dinner with my dad & Kimberly. I'm glad to see that another year wiser didn't change your willingness to be a little silly (Sorry I didn't have enough candles so you had to blow out a 3 & 7 candles in the shape of a 7). Blowing out the candles on your banana cream pie & hugs from your babies & your birthday was officially over. We all love you babe! Hope you had a great day.

Rocking the New Year

Ever since we had children we have spent New Year's alone toasting at midnight. Well this year we decided to have friends over who have basically been doing the same thing. Well to tell the truth my dear friend Kristy coming in to town to visit convinced us to get together. It gave us 4 girlfriends a chance to get together. I feel so blessed to still be so close with friends that I have had since I was 12 years old. All our children had the chance to get together as well. Playing with the beloved ball popper, having dinner together, racing cars on Wii & celebrating this boy's birthday. I think Jimmy's face says it all. All the kids felt so cool to be able to stay up so late. 10:30 to be exact which is 3 hours past their bedtimes. Our night started off with a potluck dinner & pictures of course. Me & Johnnie. Larisa & Robert. Kimi & John. Then once all the children went to bed it was time to pull out Rock Band. It was a fun time for all. Check out Larisa's hair in this photo of her dancing with her 8 month pregnant belly. And it makes adults do some crazy dancing (if you can call it that) but hey it was fun. So fun in fact & LOUD that it woke up Jimmy who wanted to join the party & have his 1st sip of beer. After toasting the new year we stayed up rocking it out until 2:30am which is crazy late for us. From our house to yours Happy New Year!