Birthday Boy!

Happy 1st Birthday Titus!

The Birthday Boy.



Titus' personal cake.

note: Mom and dad were surprised by the size of this cake. For Titus' own health concerns, we decided to give him only a small piece. The last of the remnants are now digesting in my stomach.




The Cake Makers
Thanks Samantha, Allison, and Arden!




The 'other' cake... since we had our party after our church's Wednesday night worship, I got this one for all who joined in on the party.



Looking around to make sure that he is really allowed to be doing what he is doing.




Notice the icing begins to resemble paint. It is not by coincidence that the chair cover is removed from his high-chair.




Birthday Balloons!

The after-bath! Thankfully someone gave us a cute outfit for his birthday, the green outfit is in the cake rehab center (laundry room).

Grandma was able to celebrate with us.

Happy Birthday Little Boy Titus!

Teeth!

Growing Baby Teeth



Full Set of Baby Teeth





Lost 4 Baby Teeth, Growing 4 Permanent Teeth.



Eclectic Teeth. (Sweet Tooth, Grease Tooth, Salt Tooth, Wisdom Tooth, Cavity Tooth, False Tooth)

Perfect Teeth.

Another Haircut..

"It's time for a trim," I told Elise, holding my breath to what I thought would be an instant battle.
Yet, as she usually does, she surprised me with, "OK, mom. I want it short like Megan's."

Megan's....Megan's? No way am I cutting it that short, you are my baby girl! I can't cut it that short, I will cry all night if I do!

"Let's just cut it a little shorter, and we can always go shorter another time if we want to," I reply with vagueness.



Lo and behold, here is the result. Very cute, I must say.



And speaking of cute, I found one of these in my basket today!

The 3rd of July!

We are blessed to know so many people with so many gifts and abilities. I think that is one of my favorite parts of being involved in the church, the diversity of members. One of our good friends happens to be the PT for the Railhawks professional soccer team. Lizzy invited us to a game, and boy were we glad to take her up on that invitation! The game was on Friday night, under stadium lights. It reminded me of high school games! Thank you so much for a memorable night!

Here is our favorite Railhawk star of the night, Lizzy!

Front row seats with good friends Rev. Pat and Paul, Lizzy's father and husband.

Elise liked "Swoops" the team mascot.

Titus was thrilled with the first firework show he has seen!

The five of us, after one great night. (thank you Evan for the photo)

Mary Jo's Box

Nothing brings more excitement to my children's faces than a special package from a loved one. They definately get this from me, as I have almost a ritual of things to be done before opening such a prized possession. Well, this week we received one from Elise's godmother Mary Jo. She was so thrilled that all of her ensembles this week have contained something from the box. These are just the ones that she specifically asked me to take pictures of as a thank you.

One of my favorite items in my closet is my goucho pants, they are the comfort of sweats but with a bit more beauty and flair. Elise now has a pair, and asked me to match her for church.

She also wore this dress for confirmation Sunday. She wanted to wear it out for a field trip, but I did ask her to wait for a more dressy occasion. She literally counted down the days for this one, and then danced down the stairs when the day finally came. (Notice that she is en pointe or on her tippy toes - a recently aquired skill)

She and Ziah smile for their mamma.

Funny thing, I had made this tutu for her in October. Cute, right? She thought it was way too itchy and did not want to wear it. So, I sent it to Mia - Mary Jo's daughter, and thought she may get some use out of it. This week it arrived in the clothes box and Elise thought it was sensational. She wore it to dance, even though it was June and had not decreased in the itch factor!

Final Days of School

We have had a fun filled few weeks, getting into all sorts of events around town and creating some of our own. We participated in the LEGO store opening at our local mall. Here the children built a lego brick to be added to other bricks culminating in an 8 ft tall LEGO Yoda! It was a busy place, but we enjoyed it greatly. I never even knew the complexities involved in the art bricklaying!

Here the "Master Bricklayer" sits by the "Master Yoda" prototype.

For a fun day on street safety, we created box cars and a chalk highway. The children had a car show and then got to follow a map around the streets to pick up items on their list.

Elise's car was a 'toy car' and Josiah's was an ambulance / tow truck.

Micah and Even created 'Lightening McQueen' and 'Doc'.

Janey's was 'just pink and sparkly'.

Here are the kids cruiz'n around.

Micah stops to gas up!

On our last day of school, we had a lemonade stand. Since we first moved here, he has requested to do a lemonade stand and so I said it would be fine if he was the one to do all the planning. He and Elise did a fantastic job deciding what they would need, buying their items, making posters, and serving their customers.

Titus observed in the background with me, and he enjoyed standing with the help of this fence, and eating the moss that was growing on it. Mmmm.

Not only did they sell lemonade ('And it's strawberry, so it doesn't taste bad,' as Josiah said a few times as a selling point.) but they also sold the golf balls that they had dredged up from the surrounding golf course ponds.

Aren't they ambitious? Would you have stopped?

A moment to brag...

Some of our summer evenings we have enjoyed cheering Michael on at the ball park. He has been playing softball on the church's team. He has had many homeruns out of the park! Stud.

Photos by Elise.