One Last Hoorah!

Our SeaWorld passes expired with the new year, so we wanted to make use of them one last time.  We loaded up our little newborn and our older rugrats and off we went.  Other than blow out diapers, I kind of enjoy doing this kind of thing with tiny babies, but as I look back at pictures, I realize we must have had our hands full because this is all I have:

 

I think we’ll take a year break and then consider Busch Gardens.

Christmas Festivities

Our Christmas festivities started out at Gram’s house on Christmas Eve where we enjoyed family and good food, as usual.  It seems I was busy with kids and babies again as I only took pictures of opening presents.

An instrument set!

 

Then we had our little family Christmas at home on Christmas morning.  We spent the afternoon at Mom’s (after a nap!), but there are no pictures to prove it.

A piggy bank!

Noticing Elijah’s interest in music, we focused on getting him instruments to encourage that this year.

Joshua with the one and only gift we bought him…a stuffed dog.

 

The next day we headed south for Jacob’s family get together, but we made a pit stop at Dad’s house for a visit.  The boys had a blast on his tire swing (as did Jacob!).  There aren’t many pictures of Josiah since he was mostly done swinging by the time I got my camera.  Sorry, I couldn’t narrow down these smiling faces!

 

Then we went for a Christmas celebration at Granny and Papa’s.

 

And then on to Uncle Allen and Aunt Amy’s house.

Will has this swing that hangs from way up high in a huge tree.  The boys had a great time swinging high!

And then we made our way home…exhausted.  Yet another year of laughs, love, and ridiculous white elephant gifts.

Newborn Preciousness

My talented and generous uncle and aunt, Tommy and Margie, came for a little pre-Thanksgiving visit and newborn photo shoot when Joshua was nine days old.  They always do an awesome job taking pictures of our little family and I so appreciate having them.

I think these may be my favorites, mostly for sentimental reasons.  In case you don’t know, that is a bee hive.  It was originally my grandfather’s, hence the “Roberts” brand, but Jacob inherited it when he started beekeeping himself and he added his “JA” brand.  Joshua is my first baby that Deda didn’t get to meet, but I’m convinced he walked around heaven with his chest puffed out as proud as could be the day Joshua was born.

I love this cowboy’s puckered lips!

Pure sweetness.

Gas smiles :)

Love this!

I love it when they hold hands.  I think it was Margie’s idea, but they do it on their own, too.

Look at the cooperation!  Lollipops were promised.

Jacob was trying hard to look like he was enjoying himself bearing all the weight and wiggles.  Before you think I subjected Joshua to great trauma, you should know I’m on the backside keeping him safe.

I had in mind to do this picture because I knew how much Josiah adored his new brother and how gentle he is in holding him, but after doing it and moving on to the next thing, Elijah got pouty and sad when he realized we weren’t doing the same thing with him, so…Poor Joshua wasn’t as happy about this arrangement as Elijah was.

Check us out.  We’re a family of five.  I can’t hardly believe we have three kids!

We’ve taken a similar picture with all of the boys.  Tommy always liked Jacob’s work worn hands next to their sweet baby skin.

Josiah

Elijah

I think Joshua looks like a mix between Josiah and Elijah.  Maybe he’ll make the differences in hair color between them make more sense and we won’t get so many questions from strangers :)

 

Thank you , Tommy and Margie, for such great pictures!  We love them and we love the sweetness that they capture.