picture time, picture time, lots of fun with picture time...

Okay, here are the rest from our photo shoot a couple weeks ago. It's kind of a lot of pictures, so if you get tired of looking at my kids half way through and need to click on someone elses blog to look at that for a while, I understand. If you can endure the whole thing (and I've really narrowed it down), please vote for your favorites of the kids - trying to decide which to print for the wall).

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.