Emily's First Birthday

Emily got a fun ride-on toy for her birthday that also lets you bounce on the seat and make noises.

 Emily is not so sure about the whole cake, blowing out candles, etc.  She had a Sesame Street themed cake because she loves the characters.

 This picture is a little blurry but it is one of the only ones that shows her smiling.

 After a few tentative bites, she started to enjoy eating her cake.

 She got a "pee-wee" pillow pet shaped like a dog from her brothers and sisters.  Her first word was dog and she goes crazy every time she sees a real one or a stuffed one.

I think she is trying to figure out what is going on.  The following pictures are all showing her first few bites of cake and the progression from a clean face to a pretty messy one.  It could have been worse.  At least she didn't put it in her hair.

 These last couple of pictures are from Sunday dinner a few days after her birthday.  We gave her lasagna and she loved every bite.  It was a lot messier than her cake eating.

This last picture is my favorite because she is grinning underneath those hands.  You can tell by her smiling eyes.

Lindsay's 9th Birthday

Lindsay celebrated her 9th birthday with lots of fun activities including a pool party to celebrate finishing their summer reading program, delicious cake, and donuts for breakfast. A little less fun was looking for cars for part of the day.

Lindsay with all of her siblings except for Emily.
She blew out all of her candles with one big breath. She wished for a new car and the next day we got our Suburban!
Lindsay loves to do things herself, especially anything domestic. She would excel in a Home Economics class.
Jonathan loves to make presents for his siblings' birthday. They are always very colorful and super creative.
Lindsay got a new Mp3 player. The kids really enjoyed having music to listen to when we went to California the next week. Little Emily's head is in the bottom right corner of the picture.

First Day of School

One of these days I am going to get on top of things in my life...until then I will have to try and do a little catching up.

Jonathan started Kindergarten this year. Here he is outside of his classroom with little Emily. You can tell by the size difference that Emily will have to wait quite awhile until she goes to Kindergarten.
He is in Mrs. Clark's class and seems to be enjoying himself. He goes in the afternoon, which is a change for our family.
All dressed and ready to go. He was very anxious to start school because he had to wait a week and a half after the other kids to start.
Here are my big kids all ready for school. Laurel is in 5th grade this year. Evan is in 2nd grade and Lindsay is in 4th grade.
I was comparing the pictures of the kids from last year with this year. They have grown up a lot in the last 12 months. They are great kids and I am so grateful for each of them.