Emmeline's Birthday

I just wanted to quickly post a few pictures of Emmeline's birthday celebration last night! Quickly: Benjamin found his belly button. Emmeline relished in all the princess gifts. And I am the next Martha Stewart...I know my cousin Melissa wishes she could make a cake like me!

Update!

Oh my! It's been a while since we posted. I figured I'd better take a minute and get on here today before I start getting calls and emails requesting blog updates. It's funny, periodically during the day I think of things or things happen that I should include in a post, however, when I finally get a chance to write it all leaves my brain.

So, let's just do a quick overview.

Emmeline is getting ready for her 5th birthday. I can't believe she is almost five years old. Wow! We are celebrating on Monday, with a picnic in the park, per her request. Then, on Friday, she is having a small party with ONLY GIRLS ALLOWED--also by request. We're ready, with the princess napkins and the whole shebang.

Willie went to a birthday party today. Actually, we all went, but it was for Joshua's friend. He was chomping at the bit to give his gift. (SUPRISE! A MONSTER JAM!) He was totally excited when his friend opened it and said, "Cool!," then totally crushed when he went on to the next gift without actually opening and playing with Willie's toy. I think Willie just wanted to play with it. It was sad, but cute anyway!

Benjamin is walking all over the place now. He requests that his shoes be put on every morning, first thing. He thinks that if he has his shoes on he can go outside, and then sits by the door sobbing because we won't let him out. Seriously, that kid would be content all day if we'd just let him be outdoors. He wouldn't need to eat, sleep, or anything. He loves to go out with a ball and play fetch with himself. He's very low maintenance, which provides me a lot of sunny-outdoor-reading time!

Luke and I pulled out our mitts and played catch yesterday afternoon. The weather has been fabulous and we've been taking advantage of the slowness at work. We also went swimming a couple times last week, and cleaned out the garage! (I know, I'm the only person in the world who finds cleaning fun!) I played my first church volleyball game (and won!!) and enjoyed a girls' night out. Luke celebrated the release of Rocky Balboa on DVD by watching it 700 times this week, while I sat and scrapbooked and pretended to watch. I'm almost caught up on the scrapbook--YAY--as well as all the baby books, finally! I've also worked through almost all my usable scraps--just in time for me to restock my supplies (Happy Birthday to me!)

First Swim!

Ah, here they are...pictures from our first pool day on 2007! Yes, I am aware that in another month I'll be complaining about the awful heat and about how much I hate being hot, but right now I'm enjoying being outside and sleeping with the windows open!

I love the picture of the boys decked out with their sandals. I can't believe how big Benjamin is...literally and figuratively!

EmJ, catching some rays before getting into the pool. I was so proud of her...she got right in this year. She can "touch" now in the shallow end, and thinks that is pretty cool.

Joshua hasn't changed a bit! If you remember, last year for his birthday he received that lovely life jacket, put it on, and took a flying leap into the deep end. I thought that this year his brains would have caught up and that he might be a little bit scared. NOPE! He sat on the steps for a minute and splashed, and then I put the camera away and threw him in. He thought it was fabulous.

Benjamin was content to just sit on my lap and watch the kids play. He splashed his feet a little, but wasn't interested in swimming. He can try again when it's warmer.

It was a wonderful day!

Benjamin Walking!

At long last...an official TODDLER!!

The Gimp!

As many of you know, Joshua had surgery on Monday. Everything went well. I had to document this "moment of stillness" for posterity. He spent Monday laying on the couch, surrounded by his monster trucks and monster truck coloring books. Suprisingly, he was pretty low-key on Tuesday as well, but by Wednesday I had to strap him into the car/stroller/cart/etc to keep him immobile...and that was sometimes even difficult! So much for three weeks of limited activity!

Pictures!

At long last, here are some photos from Benjamin's birthday. Here he his eating his special birthday breakfast, enjoying his new hammer, eating candy, and about to stab himself with scissors--which he found much more interesting than any of the gifts, incidentally! He refused to smile for any pictures that day!

The last picture--sorry it's sideways--is of Willie with his monster trucks. He is wearing his monster truck shirt. He lives in that blue t-shirt!