October 4th, 2008

We have been in need of some updated pics of our precious Rebekah Noel, so her mommy brought her over Friday for a mini shoot. What a fun challenge it is to photograph infants! Jerome was the ticket to the biggest smiles on her face that I have seen! She just kept cooing and smiling at him and we got some great photos. Thanks for making the effort to come over, Noel! Love you, girls!

 Sweet Bekah baby! Look at that smile! Cousin Jerome! I’d love to know what she was saying! and thinking :-) adored There’s not much more precious than a sleeping baby! baby feet! she slept for a few minutes… :-) Then she got her mommy again. Love you girls!

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October 4th, 2008

I don’t take my boys to other people’s houses very often, not because they don’t play well, it’s just that they know their boundaries here and there is plenty of room to play!

I’m so blessed to have friends who are willing to come to us and spend an afternoon visiting and getting dirty. 🙂 Laura brought Sienna on Thursday with a change of clothes and she played with the boys literally all afternoon and absolutely made our day! It was so nice to have some time catching up with my friend! Thank you, Laura and Sienna, for spending your day with us!

Laura has a sweet blog post about her afternoon with pictures here. 

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October 4th, 2008

It was Tuesday morning and we were at Jerome’s first Taekwondo lesson with his homeschooling buddies when my phone rang and I saw it was my Katy friend calling me. I was very excited because I knew this wasn’t a phone call to chat, she was in California for a few short days, and I was going to get to see her!!! But I had to wait to call her because I had to hold Ian through the whole lesson, otherwise there would have been a one year old baby playing on the sacred mat and putting hand prints all over the crystal clear mirrors. Ugh, my shoulders still hurt! And keeping him quiet is almost impossible. So I called her as soon as we got home and could hardly contain myself for excitement because she was on her way to see us! She stayed the whole day and it seriously felt like she had never moved away to Washington. She’s so good about calling me and keeping in touch that we had no catch up to do, just a day to spend together!

Thank you so much, Katy, for your friendship, your love, and for driving down to see us!

 Love you, Katy! Thank you for the visit! Thanks, Jerome! I love this one, so random.

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October 3rd, 2008

 Since we took Gigi to the airport (we miss you, Gigi!) on Sunday morning, we decided to stop in and visit Grandma Guy while we were in town. Boy, am I so glad we did! She’s in such a beautiful place! She walked with us all the way from the patio where she was lunching to the pond beyond the chapel, and back again! The ice cream social was planned for later in the day, but they served it up early just for us. And the piano in the parlor was played for us by all the boys, of course, and a lovely 99 year old woman played some ragtime tunes while we visited with Grandma and Mary.

Thank you to Mary for entertaining us, serving us and caring for Grandma! We had a lovely afternoon with you both and love you very much!

 Mary read a poem to the boys. She made their afternoon so fun! Chapel door. Beautiful corridor! Built in 1890, I think? Peter walking with a patio umbrella to shade Grandma! Koi and lilly pond, there were beautiful pink blooms! And a waterfall! Love you, Grandma! So glad we got to see you!

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October 1st, 2008

Saturday the family piled in two cars and drove up to Santa Barbara for the day. We visited an old family friend and stopped at the beach. It was an incredibly beautiful day filled with the closeness of family, the sweetness of friendships, and the bittersweet sorrow of goodbyes…surrounded and enveloped in God’s creation which shouts “Glory!” when we have no words.

 The boys enjoying the collection of stuffed animals and the stairs! Sweet loves! Mommy caught him up for a hug. Ha! What a grin! What a face! Jerome’s set up with ALL of the toys! He wanted to SEE the picture! He’s so affectionate. Under the avocado trees that his Daddy used to harvest from. Daddy IN the avocado tree playing hide-and-go-seek with Jerome. Ta-Da! candids are fun ;-) He asked me to take his picture and posed like this. Anna being a good Auntie :-) Swinging! He’s learning to tie his new size ONE shoes! The beach! Even though he had Daddy, that was too close for Ian’s comfort. Jerome was happy at the edge of the waves. Seth seems to be sizing up the waves, and Jerome is diggin in! pelicans This is when I handed Peter the camera while he went with the big boys by the ocean and I stayed with Ian further back. He was trying to capture the foggy haze, but this looks clearer than it was. candid capture. The sun was dazzeling. He’s digging in spite of the waves washing through. Seth in the ocean and bathed in sunlight. There you can see the fog rolling in, and Seth RUNNING back and forth along the beach. He would run along the edge of a wave as it receded and then another one would chase him back toward shore. He was absolutely careless and free! Seth plopped down in a wave for a rest, and to feel the water more without going deeper. Seth’s comments when he saw this picture, “I was sitting backwards!” “There’s bubbles around my arms!” and “The ocean was moving in that picture!” Anna drove for us so Peter could study in the car. Thank you, precious Anna!

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