Happy Birthday to my baby

What a wonderful year with this sweet boy! He's happy, bright and oh so snuggly; I get a little teary thinking of the joy he has brought into our home (as everyone pulls together to meet his every whim). Yes, this is my second posting about Jeremiah in the last couple weeks, but I wanted to share him a little more on his birthday since so many family and friends are too far away to celebrate with us. These photos and those to follow of the rest of us were taken by a friend of mine, Bedie Price. This first one is my favorite.

"you go that way and take a right at the stop sign, it'll be on your left..." Did I mention the pointing skills?

Jeremiah has a great laugh to go with his sense of humor.

The year of Jeremiah comes to a close

I don't want to jump the gun, but Jeremiah's 1st birthday is just around the corner and since it's been months, literally months - to the point that no one is even checking my blog anymore - I thought I should share some recent pics of my precious little guy.

Pointing happens to be one of Jeremiah's greatest skills. He is very observant (like his daddy) and doesn't know about it being impolite and all.

He's also very good at jumping. It all started in the womb - I thought the kicking would never stop, and it hasn't. Jeremiah's still not showing signs of walking any time soon. He's cruising, but content to crawl, and I'm good with that as well.

Here's his hair before I cut it all off in a whim last week.

Jeremiah snuggling with Rob's Mom.

As a side note, Rob took Audrey and Bennett to Yuma today to see his folks and do some work on their alarm system. It's been a quiet day here with just Jeremiah. We had a great time playing and talking and running errands though. Not to mention all I got done during nap time! We are putting in our backyard finally and sprucing up the front. I'll be sure to post some pics of that soon.

New hair for me too! It's an A-line cut and I'm loving having it off my neck!

FHE a couple weeks ago. We had such a blast at the rollar rink with the kids. Yes, same place as Audrey's B-day party. This was the only shot that turned out - hey, it's not easy to skate while pushing a stroller AND snapping a photo... ahh, the multi-taskings of a mother.

Here is proof that having children is worth it. Slave labor anyone?

Audrey is getting so grown up. Sometimes she makes her own lunch in the midst of our morning choas.

Perhaps you noticed her from teeth in that last one - or lack thereof. Here was Rob's attempt to yank them out. I believe it was the next day her teacher actually succeeded in removing those forever loose front teeth.

3 hours of fun in the hot hot sun

This is the third swim meet in which we've had the privilege of participating. I should add that it was also the last since we head off for our road trip to Washington next week. One lady who was attending with her sister-in-law's four small children described it as "the worst thing she'd ever had to endure"... rough life.

Here's Audrey and her friend Brinley as they prepare to swim the butterfly. I admit that I had my doubts that a six year old could be taught to do anything similar to the butterfly stroke, but Audrey has amazed us with her learning curve.

I caught these two looking longingly at the kiddie pool that was fenced off for the meet.

The following photos are evidence that Audrey and Bennett filled every moment with either a snack break or a climbing adventure or a rest in the stroller with Jeremiah. Fortunately, the overcast, muggy afternoon lent itself to nicely to great lighting for photos.

Oh, and some swimming! Audrey led her team medley relay with her killer backstroke. They took 2nd of 6 teams.

Audrey's week-long 6th birthday

With Audrey's friend party scheduled for this weekend, we just did a family lunch at Peter Piper Pizza on the big day. It was very low key, unlike the skating party this morning (I will post pics of that funess later... I mean soon!). This is Audrey learning to hold her birthday quarters in her eye sockets, another important lesson by Dad.

My parents sent a Fashion Designer toy. I think we all had one of these as a child - where you can switch up the skirt, top, shoes and hair of the model, then slide a crayon of the paper and make a rubbing... so fun! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!

My parents also sent this great bead kit - Audrey is a natural at designing beautiful necklaces!

Jeremiah also enjoyed himself at Audrey's party - he loves those pizza crusts. I can't believe he's already 8 months. He's not crawling yet and we're really okay with that.

Bennett before we gave him any pizza.

Audrey showing off the Tinkerbell watch we gave her.

We came home for cake and ice cream and the rest of the presents which was way easier than hauling it all with us.

Audrey has been so great to have at home for the last few weeks. She seems so much more grown up than when we sent her off to Kindergarten last fall. She's happy and usually finds something to read or a journal entry to write when she has some time to herself. She's also been extreemly helpful to me as Jeremiah's biggest fan! She's learning to change diapers (at her request) and is great at entertaining him. Audrey's on the YMCA swim team which practices every day and competes about once a week. So far it's been a great experience for her (more pics of that to come too!). Happy Birthday Audrey!!!

All we do is play at the zoo

Some may think we spend each and every day at the zoo. This is not the case, but the zoo is where we often remember to bring our camera. We caught about an hour of this zoo member appreciation night a couple weeks ago. There was a lot of waiting in lines and mud puddle jumping from all the water slide run off, but we had a great time - the kids had the chance to get dirty, which Audrey tells me is "there job" and Rob & I were happy to enjoy some free entertainment! Below are Audrey, her friend Emma and Bennett, waiting patiently to climb the steep steps up to one of the water slides.

Waiting again, after a couple runs. Imagine that, shivering in Phoenix.

Playing on the splash park near the live band pavillion... happy times.