Happy Birthday Moe!

My Mom turned 60 on the 21st! Since it was Father's Day, we chose to celebrate her early with a surprise party on the 14th. She has been such a huge blessing in my life and the lives of so many people that we (her kids) thought she deserved a special celebration for her big 6-0. My sister Kate did a bunch of the planning and organizing of the event, and the other siblings and their spouses helped a bunch with the execution that weekend and my family basically just showed up with the makings of a memory book for my Mom's friends and family to leave notes in.

the grand-kids made this banner (with Kate's help)

tea, water and sangria

Kate made this great display of pictures of Mom throughout her life

Morgan ordered and then decorated this awesome cake

The party turned out really nice and it was so nice to see Mom celebrated by several of the special people in her life. The weather ended up being great (after some stress inducing pre-party rain) and the grand-kids had a blast running around the park and playing together. All the guests seemed happy and relaxed and Mom seemed to have a really nice time! You could really tell how much all the people in attendance love and appreciate her. I hope when I am 60 I can say I've had a fraction of the positive impact on the world that my mom has had. I'm so proud to call her Momma and to have my kids call her Moe. God has used her in wonderful ways and I know he has even more planned for her in the next several years!

enjoying the yummy fajita dinner

Dad flew Molly and Ryan in for the occasion! Such a treat and mom was very surprised!

the hostess with the mostess and guest of honor!

My awesome and adorable parents :) I hope Philip and I look this good at 60!

Sweet Nate loves Moe

Mom's neighbor, walking buddy and friend, Linda (I used to baby sit her 3 kids often!)

Mom and Rebecca (met when I was in Kindergarten with her oldest, Amanda)

Mom's childhood best friend, Connie. I've always thought their relationship was so special

Friends and old neighbors, the Whitmores

All here because this special lady married a great guy and sacrificed so much to raise us 4 crazy kids

Happy 60th Birthday Mom! I pray you enjoy MANY more special birthdays and that in years to come we have the opportunity to celebrate you again and again :) I love you Momma!!!

Eight Months with Nate

Nathan turned 8 months old last week (I can't believe it!). He has really started to act like an older baby and has changed so much in the past month. When he smiles his sweet grin there are now 4 cute little teeth (2 on top, 2 on bottom). He is officially on the move and into everything. I have already pulled several things out of his mouth because I can't seem to keep up with all the tiny things his big brothers leave all over the house. It's a bit more of a challenge this time having a new mover in the house with all the big boy toys around. Sometimes, I call him my little monkey because he clings to me as he is toted around to all of his brothers activities and as I do housework, he loves bananas, and he communicates with grunts and squeaks. I also call him my lizard boy because he loves to stick out his tongue and the way he moves when he crawls reminds me of a lizard. He has also become more verbal and social, he is so cute and funny!

Favorite Things:
eating (and he will yell at you if you don't feed him fast enough or let him do it himself)
being in the water (baths or swimming)
exploring the house by scooting from room to room
watching Penny and his big brothers
being outside
making noise
his momma! (we have been going through a bit of a seperation anxiety phase, seems to be getting better)
cheerios, fruit, sweet potatoes, peas
being tickled
looking at himself in the mirror

 

 

New Skills:
crawls! He can get on his hands and knees, but still prefers to army crawl because he can go faster
pulls up on things that are the right height
can get from his tummy to sitting and back to his tummy again
we give him credit for saying: Mama, Dada, Bubu (brother), Dah (dog) and Bah (ball)
picks up small foods with a pincher grasp and mostly gets it in his mouth (usually with his left hand)
sometimes we think he is waving :)

I cannot believe how close we are getting to Nathan's first birthday! He is such a precious little guy and I feel like his babyhood is speeding buy way too quickly! I'm trying to soak up all his babyness and enjoy him every day.

Joel's Year of Preschool

Joel had a great year at Discovery School this year! I am just getting around to going through the disc full of pictures his teacher gave me at the end of the year. He LOVED anything with building, pretending or crafts, and the pictures are proof. We are so thankful for this school and everything our boys have learned there. Their teachers are wonderful and really seem to love our boys (Mrs. Nicole was great for Joel this year!). We are also so pleased with the curriculum they use and the bible time and chapel time they have each day.  There were a lot of pictures; here are my favorites.