This has been, by far, the fastest year of my life! Where does time go? My baby has been with us for a year now. We have enjoyed every moment of this year with him!
Blake makes being a Mom an easy job. He keeps me on my toes, but he is really good. He is generally happy and easy going.
We just adore this sweet little spirit that has been sent to us!
We had a fun birthday party with Blake. He enjoyed his cake, presents and balloon. Jamie, Madison and Tyler really enjoyed helping with the cake and presents. (And the balloon didn't even last 24 hours...they enjoyed beating it to death. Oh well.)
He thought that digging into his own cake was just hilarious! I think he ate the most out of any of our other kids. He really thought he was something!
Happy Birthday Sweet Blake!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Look Who's One!!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Jamie has been taking piano lessons for over 3 years now. This is a video of her playing "Jamie's Song" written for her when she was a baby by her daddy. And then she plays some of her songs she is working on for piano lessons. She has a great piano teacher and she does a very nice recital each Spring. The first year Jamie took lessons she received a trophy for her amazing work for a first year student. I really hope she continues to enjoy it and sticks with it. I would love for her to be able to play for church. We need piano players so bad! You know we are hard pressed for players when anyone looks at me and asks if I will play the piano. This is one of the many things I wished I would have learned when I was a child. My mom tried (because she plays so well) but I resisted. Sometimes there are tears because Jamie has to practice the piano instead of going outside to play but I hope she will thank me one day! Go Jamie!
Mum Fest
We thought we would go downtown and enjoy the Mum Fest this past weekend. We started our adventure by parking at the mall and taking the trolley to downtown. We had no problem getting right on at the mall. It took us down to the Farmer's Market where we met our friends, the Millers.
There were a lot of things for the kids to look at but this one was the most amazing for the kids....Coastie the Boat robot. They really couldn't get enough of him. They were so amazed that Coastie could talk and move around. They knew he was real too because he knew what color shirt Jamie was wearing and that she had on a blue "Statue of Liberty" hat. Just amazing....
Coastie told them it was okay to give him a pat on the head. Nobody wanted to touch him though. As we were walking away, Madison stuck her hand out and poked him in the eye to see what he would do. It must have not bothered him because he didn't yell!!! ha ha
Checking out the race cars. And oh, by the way, did I mention it was pouring down rain at this point? Well, it was. The race cars had a nice big tent over them so we hung out here for a while. Then we decided it was time to get out of the rain for the day.......
We got in line for the trolley and of course it took A LOT longer this time to get where we wanted to go (to a nice DRY place)....40 minutes actually. We had to lighten the mood while standing in the rain waiting so we played with Blake and Josh's hair. 
Can someone, ANYONE, give us a ride to our van??? Please? Can you believe we didn't get any offers??? Oh well. The trolley did eventually show up and all 11 of us hopped on board. What a day to remember!!!
Goodies at the Mum Fest
We went to the Fudge shop downtown when we were at the Mum Fest this weekend. This is Madison with her friends Anna and Madison.
If you don't like the marshmallows, you can try a fudge covered rice krispy treat. That's what Josh and Jamie had.... Yum!
After a few bites, Madison handed me her goody and said, "I just can't take it anymore!" I guess you can have too much of a good thing.
Even Blake got in on the good stuff. Plum Tuckered Out
Okay...the other night the girls and I were out for a little while for piano lessons. Josh, Tyler and Blake were at home. When we got home, Tyler was still on the couch (he was sick that day) and Josh immediately called us over to the boys' room. While Josh was taking a shower, Blake and Tyler were hanging out in the living room. When Josh came back out, Tyler was asleep on the couch and he started looking for Blake. Where was he? Josh went to their room and right there on the floor, in the middle of the doorway, Blake had crawled there and just fell asleep. He immediately checked for breathing because it is so RARE that our kids fall asleep anywhere but their beds. Right after that the girls and I came home. After a slight heart attack and asking, "Are you sure he isn't dead?", I grabbed the camera. Poor little guy! He must have been really tired!!!! (Notice the way cute PJs! Josh loves the guitars!!)
Like Father, Like Son
Josh is a great pianist. He plays by ear and a little by reading music (he really could do it if he wanted, he is a natural unlike myself!).
We are learning that Blake is taking to the piano as well. He LOVES to sit with you on the piano and just play and play. If you won't sit with him (after yelling at you), he'll stand up on his own and reach for the keys. It is quite humerous watching his little fingers reach for the keys way above his head. I hope he gets his Daddy's talent of playing instruments!!!
It's the little things...
Blake loves to entertain his family!
When he thinks he may have a captive audience, he snatches the closest dish towel and throws it on his head. He then crawls around as fast as his chubby little legs will carry him and laughs hysterically. Of course, we all laugh along with him and this just encourages him all the more! He really is a funny little guy!
