Box

Oh, the joys of a big box. Better than a big box of toys for sure.

Play that funky music, white boy . . .

This is becoming epidemic!

Okay, so this time it was because I didn't put him down for a nap before church, but this is getting ridiculous. I guess he must be growing. Once he got some food in him after church, he was out like a light.

Dad finally thought we could stop taking pictures and get the poor child up. It was too early to put him to bed for the night (like 6:00), so he wanted to keep him up a little longer.

Dad took him to the living room where we were watching AFV. Liam promptly grabbed his lovey, and you can see the result.

Dad took pity on the child and carried him up to bed -- for the night, yes. And he didn't wake up until the next morning. Poor kid. All I can say is he's going to be one gigantic kid with all this sleeping!

You're not going to believe this . . .

Yes, it happened again. The kids came and got me to tell me Liam had fallen asleep in his high chair again. Good grief!

We had been out at our friends' house till 10:00 the night before -- WAAAYYYY past his bedtime. We had a blast (Liam too), but the poor kid had a rough time of it the next day. He woke up while I was taking his picture and wasn't too happy at first.

Just so you know he's not always sleeping -- here are my boys doing one of their favorite activities. Reading? No, pulling everything off the bookshelf (or out of a bin will do fine for them too).

Just kidding. They do like to read the books too. I think they're going to fit right in here.

Birthdays

This is the youngest digital pic I have of Finn (no scanner here) taken from my friend's camera phone when he was 2 1/2. It's crazy how you forget.

At the zoo when he was 4.

Now 8, and so grown up. He is turning into such a helpful young man. He is a good worker and likes to take care of his younger brothers. He is still all about the fun, though. If there's a party, Finn is there. Kids love to play with him because he's so fun. He is so filled with imagination too. I've never seen a kid able to make believe so well. He is an excellent student and very, very sweet. All his teachers just love him. I love you too, buddy!


Since their birthdays are three days apart, I did one cake and celebration for Finn and Liam. Here's Liam blowing out the candles -- age two. Such a big boy -- runs everywhere, always wants to laugh. He has such a sweet smile. He loves to play trucks and jump on the trampoline. He loves babies, and he talks a blue streak. We just had a cute conversation about how the pizza was all gone. (We had it like four days ago.)

Here he is three weeks old.

And two days old.

Oh, they grow so fast.

Joining the ranks . . .

We often watch AFV together as a family, and I am often surprised by the inordinate amount of children on there that are falling asleep on the potty or in their high chairs. I don't understand it. I am very consistent about naptime and bedtime, so my children are very well-rested. They never fall asleep in odd places like that. Until now.

I made the kids' lunch and then got on the computer to see if I could get onto my boss's new ftp site, since it wasn't working for me. Of course, I expect the older kids to look after the younger ones, but if I don't explicitly say it, it doesn't get done. We had gone to the pool today and got back late, ate lunch late -- but only half an hour.

I guess the swimming wore him out. Of course, all the kids had scattered or were watching TV and didn't notice my poor little guy. He's fast asleep in his bed now with his "monkey" (which is what he calls his lovey -- which is our word for the security blankets around here).

So now I'm just like all the other moms.

Laughter

This kid just loves to laugh. I was taking some pictures of some of my quilting projects, and he came and sat down by me and just started laughing and smiling. He actually wanted me to take his picture. He doesn't talk that much, so he didn't say it, but I could see it in the way he held his head and in his eyes. Non-verbal communication is quite effective at times.

What a love! He would have let me keep taking pictures of him for a long time, but I had to go back to my quilting projects. And yes, that gun is almost as big as he is.

Carjacked!

Well, what do we have here? Michael was cleaning out his car and was at the back cleaning out the trunk. When he came out from behind the car, he discovered people in his car.

The driver.

The navigator.

Uh-oh. Busted!

Photographs by Brandon.