The Garges Family

Photo session

2011-01-28T22:40:00.000-05:00

The kids know that when we all start having cabin fever Mommy pulls the camera out...

2011 valentine card

2011-01-26T23:36:00.001-05:00

Pop Heart Valentine's Day 5x7 folded card

Modern greeting cards and party invitations by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Blue ticket day

2011-01-11T21:44:00.001-05:00

Today was very exciting as Autumn received TWO blue tickets. Blue tickets are a school-wide reward system for good behavior. There are 10 issued per day for the whole school so Autumn was so excited to get 2 of them in one day. She called me at work to tell me all about them (one was for helping a boy in her class go to the nurse and another was for using manners on the bus). I had to work late tonight but Daddy took the kids to Chick-Fil-A to celebrate. Big news in this first grader's house!

Holiday fun

2011-01-04T21:56:00.001-05:00

I've been bad about updating this blog and one of my goals for this year is to be more frequent about it. It looks like I only posted 10 updates last year so I don't know if anyone even bothers to check it anymore! But if so, here are some highlights from our holidays...

In early November Autumn lost both front teeth. It took a while...one was literally hanging by a string but they essentially "fell" out of her mouth. No pulling or any potential of pain for this kid! So of course we all began singing about 2 front teeth and Christmas for a while.

At Thanksgiving we celebrated with Chris' Dad and family and all the boys made Mommom's (Chris' grandmother's) famous candy cane cookies. MomMom has been gone for over 7 years so it was nice for them to remember what one of her treats tasted like.

We visited Santa at Christkindlmarkt for the 3rd year in the row. Apparently this is the real Santa and all the others that we might see are his helpers. Autumn pointed out that all of her wish list gifts began with the letter "S"...a suitcase, scoop ( a board game), and a surprise. Joshua's gifts began with "T"...Toy Story 3 movie, Toy Story 3 Toys and a tractor. Very convenient for Santa.

Hard to believe that our nephew Daniel is one already. His birthday party was fun. Look at that happy guy!

I helped out in Autumn's classroom a week before Christmas as they were making gingerbread houses. It was my first opportunity to spend an extended period of time in the classroom and see how they interact with their Spanish curriculum. You can see her here in the front of the room with the classroom rules next to her. Luckily she can understand most of what the teachers say and was able to translate for me. :-)

Her finished product!

On December 18th we went to see the Nutcracker with Carolyn and Brooke. We went out to lunch first and had a fun girls day.

Autumn received some baking tools from Aunt Michelle and Uncle Jeremy which she opened Christmas Eve morning. We had to head home and bake cookies that afternoon to leave them out for Santa.

After church Christmas Eve we had a lovely dinner and fun time at Chris' moms. Our outfits were provided by her too....don't we look festive?

The kids waited in the basement while Santa did his magic under MomMom's tree.

Santa brought Joshua a new bike at MomMom's - what fun!

Reading 'The Night Before Christmas'

Christmas Morning! Autumn was thrilled to receive some new board games.

Santa answered Joshua's wish with an RC Toy Story car.

The "surprise" for Autumn was in the basement...a cardboard playhouse she can color with markers. Joshua got a spaceship.

Joshua also got a little bag of coal in his stocking with a note from Santa asking him to listen a little better to Mommy and Daddy. It made quite the impression as he cried. Uncle Robbie reassured him that a little bag was nothing...he got a whole stocking full of coal one year.

We had Christmas dinner with the Landis clan this past Sunday. We had fun making gingerbread cookies together.

Autumn won the prize for the most candy.

All of our creations.

All in all, an excellent Christmas. We are happy for a new year to enjoy each other as a family!

Hershey Half Marathon

2010-10-04T22:24:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the inaugural Hershey Park Half Marathon. I decided to sign up when Chris and I went there for our anniversary in June and when I told Carolyn about it, she decided that she would like to train for a half and see how she did. After months of sticking with her training plan, and after a successful 10K race 2 weeks ago, she was ready to conquer this challenge! We drove out Saturday with the kids and went to the race expo, kids fun run and then to the park, where we were able to enjoy the rides for free from 6-9pm. We headed to the Hershey Lodge to rest our heads for the night and we all fell happily to sleep.

We awoke to a beautiful, slightly chilly morning on Sunday and Carolyn was a pro, getting dressed in the dark after having all of her race gear laid out the night before. (She did plenty of "reading up" on race day preparations ahead of time). We ate our Cliff Bars and headed to the race site. We arrived more than an hour early, got great parking and spent the time enjoying the pre-race excitement, warming up, and laughing at all of the Hershey Bar characters who were milling about. We lined up and literally bumped into 2 girls that I know from a nearby neighborhood. The gun went off and we were off and running!!

It was a great course, with amenities every 2 miles and plenty of volunteers. What a beautiful morning and the miles ticked away. Carolyn was chatty and breathing comfortably the whole time. We both had our GPS watches on and I was hoping we weren't going too quickly halfway through as we were averaging 8:05-8:10 miles. It got a little windy and hilly along the second half but Carolyn was a champ. Before we knew it, we were at mile 12 and heading back toward Hershey Park. The finish was in their large sports stadium and Chris and the kids were waiting for us inside. Here we are as we just got into the stadium. Carolyn is in green and I'm in yellow.

As we rounded the corner, Carolyn took off in a full sprint. If you look closely at this picture you will see that I am laughing hard because I literally couldn't keep up. I have never had as much energy as she did at the end of a race!!

And here we are crossing the finish!! The time on the clock is when the gun went off, but it took us about 30 seconds to cross the starting line, so our actual finish time is under 1 hr 48 minutes! Carolyn did fantastic!! I literally couldn't keep up with her and you can see she finished 2 places ahead of me.

Afterwards, we met up with the kids and Chris and enjoyed the great post-race spread and the high that comes with a race well run. We ran very consistent miles and I think Carolyn has potential to best her time if she would so choose. Especially after she peeled off her sock to reveal a large blister that she began to notice at mile 6. She didn't say a word about it until the race was over and I still have no idea how she ran so fast at the end. I am so proud of her and so glad that we could share this awesome experience together. We are blessed indeed!

Buh-Bye Summer!

2010-09-08T23:08:00.000-04:00

The summer is over, we are sad to say, but we enjoyed a beautiful Labor Day. We took out the slip-n-slide for the first (and only) time all summer. Should've thought of this one earlier...our grass could've used the watering!

Warming up in wrapped up in towels in the sun. It's great to be a kid!

We love corn on the cob and enjoying our patio for dinner.

Autumn's outfit was ready for the next day...the first day of first grade!!

Look closely at the note she put at the top. It says "Hola" and she planned to give it to her teacher. (She learned that from Dora the Explorer.)

Ready for her first day of school!

Autumn came home very excited about her first day of school. I was a little worried about how she was going to do. I have heard that first graders are often exhausted, especially if they only had 1/2 day kindergarten, which Autumn did. But more critical, was that fact that she began in a Spanish immersion program and I knew that her teacher was not going to speak a word in English. I wasn't sure what her reaction would be like on the first day. But she came home all smiles and said that it was a little "different" but that it was "pretty fun" and she likes lots of kids in her class. On the first day of school they learned the days of the week, numbers 1-10 and began colors. She said the teacher is very nice but that she doesn't understand much of what she says. Um, yeah! But they say it's amazing how quickly first graders will pick it up. Here she is at the first grade open house with her teacher, Senora Montes-Kelly, last week.

And here's her schoolwork that she brought home today. :-)

Where has summer gone?

2010-08-28T22:49:00.000-04:00

I just realized that I haven't updated this since May. Shame on me! We are leaving for the shore tomorrow morning for 3 fun days at Ocean City, NJ. But when we get back I will surely post updates on all our summer adventures!

Autumn's triathlon

2010-05-31T20:47:00.000-04:00

Autumn participated in her first triathlon yesterday. The event was purely for fun, no timing was performed, and every participant broke a finisher's tape at the end and got a blue ribbon. It was a blast. Here she is with her friends, Ashley and Ella and her cousin, Adilyn before the race.

Goggles, swimcap, and lifevest were donned before the 2 lap pool swim.

She did great during the swim, especially once she stopped trying to put her head underwater like she does during her swim lessons. It doesn't work with a lifevest on!

Daddy helped dry her off after her swim, get her sneakers on and then gave her instructions for the bike ride which was about a mile.

Next year Joshua can participate too.

She was smiling during the whole bike ride.

Making the turn into her run transition.

Great running form! :-)

Crossing the finish line!

One happy kid afterwards. What a fun, positive experience!

Big excitement

2010-05-12T14:59:00.001-04:00

So there was lots of excitement in the house last night as Autumn lost her first tooth. It was hanging by a string and basically popped out when I pulled it with a tissue. She was beyond excited, wiggling and squiggling when she went to bed, and ran into our room at 2:30am to tell us that there was $1 under her pillow. She couldn't wait to go to school today and I saw her showing her toothy grin to her friends on the bus as it drove away this afternoon - which totally cracked me up. She just spontaneously starts to giggle when she feels the empty space with her tongue. Joshua stares at her in awe and said "My teeth are going to fall out when I'm big." It's hilarious.

Speaking of the Bud, here is a picture of my child that could likely get us arrested if we do not clarify. Yes, he is 3. Yes, his shorts are size 12 months. Yes, they are safety pinned at the waist and still falling off. Yes, his ribs stick out. No, his belly is not normally that distended. I know he looks like he belongs in a 3rd world country and truly, we do feed the child. I think this is a great picture to show my future pregnant daughter-in-law!

Family pictures

2010-04-05T12:02:00.001-04:00

We had some family pictures taken a couple of weeks ago for Joshua's birthday and Easter.

Love this picture of our sweet 3 year old. I think this is one of my all time favorites.

Easter 2010

2010-04-05T11:58:00.000-04:00

What a gorgeous, fun weekend! On Friday the kids and Daddy went to Grandmom and Pop's house for the day. They had fun playing outside all day, riding on their bikes and taking tractor rides with Pops. The Easter bunny made the first of many visits.

Friday night Brooke and Arianna came to spend the night. Autumn and Brooke slept together in the big guest bed and were so cute together. Saturday morning we decorated Easter eggs and then had Easter dinner with my family on Saturday night.

Sunday morning the bunny came to our house and left some treats in the kids Easter baskets. They quickly found all of the eggs he had hidden. They are getting too quick and he might have to get trickier next year!

Autumn was so excited to give Daddy her gift - a musical card that plays "I Want Candy," an inside joke between them as he apparently blasts the song in his car on a "Hits of the 80s" CD.

After church on Sunday morning it was to Mommom and Poppop's house. We enjoyed a delicious brunch and of course, that bunny came to her house too. Talk about sugar overload!

The Garges grandkids (minus sleeping Daniel)

Daniel woke up and we were able to line the kids up by age...so cute!!

All in all, one of the best Easters we have ever had. The kids crashed into bed last night, happy and giggling about all of the fun adventures we had this weekend and giving thanks for all of our blessings.

March

2010-04-01T00:29:00.000-04:00

March 5th - Autumn had her first ever school dance. It was for Mommy's and Daddy's as well and she generally stuck to us like glue although she did giggle and dance with some of her school friends.

March 6th - Celebrating cousin, Adi's birthday at Boing gymnastics center.

March 17 - We enjoyed a visit from Mommy's cousins Dana and Devon and their sweet little girl, Kathryn (9 months old).

March 21 - Daniel's Baptism. He is so smiley and sweet at just over 3 months old!

March 27 - Joshua could not wait for his 3rd birthday this year. All he wanted were Matchbox cars - he wasn't disappointed. He even had one on his cake! It was highlighted with a new car bed from Mommom and Poppop.

He loved opening his cards. This one played "The Chicken Dance" song.

Continuing with the car theme, we went to a local car show on his actual birthday. Helpful since Mommy and Daddy are currently car shopping themselves.

And his birthday was topped off by a sundae at Red Robin. We can hardly believe our favorite guy is 3 years old. He just gets sweeter and sweeter!

January and February

2010-03-31T23:28:00.000-04:00

Finally...here's some catching up from the past few months....

January 16th - We visited the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. It was a fun day to see the traveling Body Worlds exhibit and lots of other things for the kids to do and learn.

January 24 - Brooke visited overnight with us. She and Joshua are good buddies.

February 2 - Getting up close and personal with Arianna at Bepa's house. Luckily she is very tolerant!

February 3 - The kids have been enjoying swimming lessons all winter. It's a great escape from the cold winter dulldrums.

February 11 - One of many huge winter storms. That is the top of our 6 foot fence behind the kids.

Pictures soon

2010-03-06T00:57:00.000-05:00

I've had no interest in posting over these past 2 months...sorry to anyone who may occassionally glance at this blog. A techno-rebellion of sorts. Check out Chris' blog at http://motiv-8.blogspot.com/
for some recent updates. I just got a new camera so I will post again soon - part of the reason for my lapse in updates. See you soon!

Christmas Joy

2009-12-28T22:31:00.002-05:00

We had a great Christmas this year. I love this picture that Chris caught. It is Joshua at Miss Beth's Christmas party as he stood at the back of the crowd with his hands in his pockets taking it all in. Miss Beth calls him an old man because he walks around like this all of the time.

Here are the cousins at Mom Mom's house on Christmas Eve. I was in charge of keeping the kids occupied in the basement while Santa put gifts under the tree so we had fun pretending it was a photo shoot.

Sweet Daniel at 2 1/2 weeks old

Christmas morning Autumn quietly climbed into bed with us while Chris and I pretended to be asleep. I asked if Santa had been to our house and she nodded excitedly. He ate all but 2 of the cookies and left a nice note for them. Here she is first thing in the morning:

When Joshua woke up, he immediately asked for his digger. We had a tree full of gifts to be opened, and he wanted his gift from Christmas Eve that Mom Mom gave him. So he played with it for a while before he even looked at any gifts from Santa.

Autumn was glad for the Wii Sports like Uncle Robbie has.

And she got an American Girl "Kit" doll, which looks a lot like her.

Joshua was in awe when he opened his Tonka dumptruck and backhoe.

Autumn and Brooke had fun on Christmas night at Aunt Carolyn's house.

We had a fun movie night watching "Up" cuddled up under a new blanket from Daddy. All in all a great holiday. Autumn said it was her favorite Christmas ever.

Look Alikes

2009-12-18T15:13:00.002-05:00

Carolyn commented how much Daniel looks like a Garges and how much spikey hair he has. Reminded me of this picture of Autumn - taken when she was 3 weeks old. Although she arrived 4 weeks early - so technically this is one week before her due date. :-) I can't see much of her current features in her baby face. Makes me wonder what Daniel will look like when he gets older... Fun to think about!

New Cousin!

2009-12-13T18:16:00.002-05:00

We welcomed Daniel Joseph Garges to our family on Tuesday, December 8! He weighed 7 lb 15 ounces and was 21 inches long. It's the first son for Chris' brother, Jeremy and his wife, Michelle. Their two older daughters are very excited and so are we!! There's just something extra special about a little baby boy born in December. We went to visit today and had a really special time. He's such a snuggle-bug!

Santa

2009-12-12T15:47:00.003-05:00

We had breakfast with Santa this morning with my 2 best friends and their kids. Autumn prepared a letter for him before we went...

Translation: Dear Santa, I would like a cookie set, Wii Sports and a Barbie Diamond dress. Joshua would like a dumptruck and a tractor. From, Autumn Joy (Santa's got a little more work to do.)

Mrs. Claus visited with the kids with her elf buddy.

(Kind of) Smiling for the camera

All the kids...Autumn, Aubree, Joshua, Morgan and Olivia

After everyone was done eating, Joshua noticed that Santa was sitting all alone. He decided to climb up on stage for another visit.

The big guy seemed happy for another chance to chat. All in all, a great day with good friends and wonderful memories!

Remembering Mom

2009-12-05T19:32:00.004-05:00

It's been 15 years today since Mom passed away. It is hard for me to even relate to that point in my life anymore. It was before I was married, before I was a mother, before I had a career, before I had anyone else to think about but myself. It makes me sad that she doesn't know the life that I have now. You never grow too old to need your Mom. But I am rich in many ways and I actually have Mom to thank for growing me closer to my loving God. When she passed away I was a bit lost in my soul and the only way I could survive was to pray. I thank God for His peace and love in leading my life from then on. I am blessed by Him and blessed to have had Mom in my life for 21 years.

As Mom was always busy, I kept myself busy today too. The kids and I went to Autumn's school for a Christmas bazaar in the morning, where she was able to "shop" for the family with her own money. From there we met Kerrie (Grandmom) and Michelle and cousins, Hope and Adi, at Red Robin for some lunch. Michelle is going to have her 3rd little bundle in 5 days and we are very excited. A new baby in the family! Hope took this picture of the 3 of us and did a pretty good job!

Adi (4), Autumn (6), Joshua (2) and Hope (7)

We then ventured to Kohls for some Christmas shopping. The store was mobbed although I think everyone cleared out of the picture for this shot!

As we drove home it was snowing and this was what we saw when we pulled up the driveway.

The kids were excited to get bundled up after Joshua's nap and head outside.

Making our first snowman of the year.

They did a great job with Daddy!

Christmas is coming...

2009-11-30T23:19:00.001-05:00

We have gotten into the Christmas spirit around here! This weekend we enjoyed a nice visit with Aunt Nancy and Uncle Tom. We traveled to Lancaster to see "The Miracle of Christmas" show at Sight and Sound Theater. A great way to remember the true meaning of the season!

Sunday we cut down our Christmas tree. It was almost 60 degrees out and by far the warmest day we've ever been to the tree farm. We got a Frazier fur and it's a beautiful tree.

We began decorating the tree tonight. Joshua and Autumn were a big help and we had Christmas music playing and a cozy fire in the stove. I'll post pictures when it's all done!

Halloween

2009-11-10T22:11:00.000-05:00

Finally posting some pictures from Halloween. Sorry about the un-seasonal background. Blogger is giving me a hard time changing it. The first shot is Autumn's parade at school. Too cute!! We spent Halloween night at MomMom's house...it rained but was a fun time anyway. And the next day we had fun with Brooke. The kids got lots of loot but luckily have forgotten all about it by now (although Mommy and Daddy haven't, much to our waistlines dismay!)

Catching up

2009-10-18T12:46:00.009-04:00

Fall is upon us which means time to celebrate Autumn's birthday! We have had a fun couple of weeks, stretching out the birthday celebrations between friends and family. On her actual birthday, we had some family photos taken as well as some feature shots of the birthday girl. When she got home from school we headed to Red Robin for a fun birthday dinner.

I love this picture. Autumn happily put on this crown that Aunt Carolyn made her (she made the adorable t-shirt too) before leaving for school on her birthday. I was sure that she'd have it in her backback when she came home but she came running off the bus with not only her crown but stickers on her sweater proclaiming her special day. I relish this age because soon enough she's going to be too "cool" to be different from her peers. But for now it's just pure innocence and happiness. How I wish I could bundle her up and keep her believing that she is a beautiful princess forever.

The day after her birthday we had family over for a cake and presents. Grandparents, great-grandparents, cousins and aunts and uncles...we have a houseful when everyone is here. She loved it!

Finally, last weekend was her "friend" party. It was a highlight of the day when Tootsee the clown arrived with balloons and played games and had treats for all of the kids.

She loved Autumn's "6" shirt, but since she was looking at her upside down in this picture she teased that she was 9. Lots of giggles.

Taking a swing at the pinata.

She made lots of fun balloon shapes.

Brooke wanted an elk balloon. She settled for some antlers. :-)

Tootsee did a great job of making Autumn's day special! We can hardly believe Autumn's 6 already!!!!

Big Day

2009-09-08T22:47:00.008-04:00

Today was Autumn's first day of kindergarten. We got ready last night with a bath, clothes set, bag packed and lots of excited anticipation. We read "The Night Before Kindergarten" and it was not unlike Christmas Eve given her excitement level.

Autumn and Joshua headed happily out the door at 12:20pm for the 12:32 bus. We took lots of pictures in front of the house and then headed to the end of the driveway to wait and look for the bus up the road.

Patience is not Joshua's strong suit.

Finally at 12:45 bus #17 arrived. Autumn happily hopped aboard and somehow I kept it together as I walked back up the driveway and into the house with Joshua. I think she and I were both ready for her to reach this milestone.

She came home full of smiles and stories and said "I can't WAIT to go back tomorrow!" The favorite part of the day was the bus ride. She was sitting in the front seat on the way home and later revealed that she talked to the bus driver almost the entire 25 minute. Chris and I both laughed and rolled our eyes at that conversation..."If you go down that road my friend Sydney lives there, and if you go straight on that road it takes you to my Daddy's work, and this is the way we go to the Promenade from my house...." But the driver was very sweet and waved and said "Bye Autumn!" when she got off the bus.

We celebrated her homecoming with cookies and milk and stories about Mrs. Oakes and her day. She is going to have a great year!

Down the shore

2009-09-03T19:39:00.005-04:00

We enjoyed one last summer hurrah in Ocean City, NJ over the weekend. We headed down Sunday morning and had a gorgeous day. The beach was mobbed as the second to last weekend before Labor Day but we found a primo spot to plant our umbrella.

The water was a warm 76 degrees and felt really nice.

We found some shade under the music pier.

We hit some rides on the boardwalk Sunday night. The kids didn't hesitate to go up on this humongous ferris wheel...meanwhile the 10 year old behind us panicked at the last minute and got out of line. It didn't phase them but we WERE up high.

High above Ocean City we could see for miles.

We woke up Monday morning to drastically cooler temps. But by late morning it was warm enough to head to the beach for some shell collecting. Well, that was the plan. Autumn ended up wading right back into the water, fully dressed, to jump in the waves. The pull of the ocean.

Joshua strutting his stuff on the beach.

We stopped for custard on the boardwalk for one last treat before heading home. We all had a great time and promised the kids we'll stay a bit longer next year.

We're so proud

2009-09-01T20:00:00.002-04:00

Giggleheads

2009-08-29T22:55:00.003-04:00

It has been a very giggly day as our nieces, Hope and Adi, came to visit and spend the night. We went to the Promenade tonight for some window shopping and dinner at Red Robin. Poor Joshua is the odd man out but the girls baby and love him anyway.

It's been a while...

2009-08-18T22:00:00.006-04:00

It's been quite a while since I've updated the blog....sorry! Autumn and Joshua are enjoying the summer as are we. Here are our two little blondies smiling for the camera. They get along like this most of the time...until one steals the other's toy, or throws something, or colors on someone else's book, or messes up a meticulously arranged dollhouse, or eats the other's snack, etc.

Joshua's tractor is an endless source of entertainment. If Daddy is in the garage or yard, Joshua is out too, taking some teddy bears or dolls for rides in the trailer.

Our cautious adventure girl has been practicing riding her two-wheel bike down the slope in the front lawn to avoid falling and scraping her precious knees. She's actually been doing pretty well. (And yes, ever-vigilant parents that we are...those are flip-flops she's wearing and her dress is untied and dangling very closely to her back wheels).

Mr. Mischievous

Lauren's cousins, Dana, Devon and their 10 week old bundle, Kathryn, visited over the weekend. It was great to see them and fun to have a tiny person in the house again.

So Sweet!

Autumn was thrilled to have some snuggle time with Kathryn in her bed.

Reminds me of when Joshua was just about the same age and she tucked him in with all of her animal friends and then sat in her glider to read him to sleep. (He's the one in blue).

Big boy undies

2009-07-24T08:23:00.004-04:00

Why are they so stinkin' cute in their first pair of undies?!?

Camp 2009

2009-07-21T21:34:00.006-04:00

Well, we got back last week from our vacation in Vermont. We were lucky to spend 10 days at camp this year and it was wonderful and relaxing. The first 5 days were with Dad and Carolyn and families and the second 5 days was just the four of us. We celebrated the 75th anniversary of the cottage on July 4th with the Landis and Mitiguy families all together. It was great to see everyone!

Our days were relaxed and unplanned, just like we like them to be. We took lots of walks to the general store, took motorboat and kayak rides, enjoyed the state park across the lake for swimming and the playground, fished off the dock, made s'mores in the fire at night, snuggled up on the bed on the porch to listen to the brook and watch the lake, ate LOTS of ice cream, and had lots of peaceful runs. Autumn and Joshua played with some kids from the cottage next door, as 4 generations of families have done before.

We took a couple of local day trips and enjoyed the Quechee gorge as we do every year, and ventured to Waterbury to see Ben and Jerry's ice cream being made fresh and enjoyed an apple cider factory - with yummy cider pops for the kids.

On the fourth of July, Chris did a sprint triathlon held a Killington. It was a small event but he did great and took first place overall. Notice the jeans and jackets - it was cold and rainy on top of that mountain!

We celebrated Brooke's 2nd birthday on July 6th. Her Mommy made her a crown and tutu to wear for the day. By the end of opening her presents she had added a few more accessories to the ensemble.

And this is what we came for. There is nothing in the world like sitting on the porch and watching this unfold before you. God is so good.

Lehigh Valley Zoo

2009-06-08T09:32:00.006-04:00

I took the kids to the Lehigh Valley Zoo over the weekend with my best friends, Ang and Val, and their kiddos too. We were a big crew but everyone had a good time. It's a small little zoo - perfect for their ages as you can get up close to all of the animals.

The kids all got a kick out of feeding nectar to the Lorakeets.

Even Joshua got a turn - that's his hand on the left and Autumn's on the right.

Have playground - will play. Isn't he a big boy?

We happened to be there for the big unveiling of the zoo's new penguin exhibit. This is shortly after the ribbon was cut and they waddled out of their little cave for their grand entrance. Cute!

Mud Bud

2009-06-05T23:58:00.002-04:00

We don't like the rain we've been having but Joshua thinks it's great. Especially when he can stomp around in all of our unplanted (read:very muddy)flowerbeds.

Sesame Place

2009-05-31T21:25:00.008-04:00

On Sunday we took the kids to Sesame place. It was a beautiful day.

These are climbing ropes that go higher and higher. Autumn surprised us by climbing straight up a 40 foot section which was suspended about 30 feet off the ground. There were grown men and teenagers who were not liking it but she was fearless.

Joshua even walked through a tunnel.

Autumn and Abby Caddaby (a new Sesame Street character since when we were kids. Luckily, all the old ones are still around too)

Elmo got a big High 5 from Joshua.

This climbing teepee was a hit. The kids scaled to the top like Spiderman...

...and slid the whole way down.

Joshua coming down a big slide by himself.

It was a great day. Needless to say, both kids crashed in the car on the way home, tired but happy.

Dinnertime Silliness

2009-05-10T22:42:00.003-04:00

Dinnertime is often silly and fun. Here's a typical night with our little ham. Brooke was with us this night and if you listen closely in the beginning you can hear her chime in with "cheese"!

Fun times

2009-05-06T22:23:00.005-04:00

It's been so dreary and rainy lately that I thought I would post some pictures from our first trip to the park 2 weeks ago. It was a beautiful day and I pulled the kids in the wagon to our favorite park which is only 1/2 mile away. Joshua is much braver climbing ladders and going down the slide than he was last year.

Even Walker got to enjoy the sunshine and a nice walk.

Our little social butterfly has no problem making friends no matter where she goes.

A beautiful day for a picnic!

Ice skating in the bathroom

2009-04-30T09:16:00.002-04:00

Easter

2009-04-17T15:02:00.006-04:00

We had a busy Easter weekend and between preschool and grandparents the kids had 4 Easter Egg hunts. It was definitely a fun time!

Here the kids are with cousins, Hope and Adi, at Pop's and Grandmom's house.

Joshua is all about the tractors, and being the only boy grandchild, gets them all to himself...

...while the girls have fun playing dress-up with Grandmom's stash of play clothes.

Autumn decorating her eggs

Joshua got a little help from Grandmom

Easter morning - checking out the loot from the bunny.

Autumn got a new Flip videorecorder and promptly recorded the cartoons on TV.

The pretty cousins at MomMom and PopPop's after church

The Easter Bunny visited MomMom's house too...

...and hid lots of eggs for the kids to find.

The girls didn't even go inside to check out the goodies even though it was chilly and windy outside.

Finally it was to Bepa and Bema's house for dinner Easter night. We had a nice visit and even saw the Easter bunny hopping in his lawn!

Autumn's duathlon

2009-04-10T14:37:00.005-04:00

Chris has been preparing for his first duathlon race of the season (run,bike,run) and the kids don't miss a trick. When he gets home after a workout Joshua asks "Daddy bike?" And Joshua will often say to me, "How's run Mommy?" (even if I just walked in the door in work clothes). We are glad that we are setting a positive example for the kids. So it was no surprise last night when I went into the basement to find Autumn riding her bike on our stationary bike trainer and then to follow it up with laps around the basement. The leaf doesn't fall too far...

Unfortunately, the weather hasn't been overly friendly lately and the kids are itching to get outside. So after Autumn finished her duathlon, she entertained Joshua with the riding John Deere tractor that he got for Christmas. They can't wait until they can drive all over the lawn with it!

Birthday Boy

2009-03-30T21:08:00.009-04:00

Carolyn put together a 5 minute birthday video of Joshua's 2nd birthday on Saturday. It's so fun to watch - thanks Carolyn! He had a great time. Hard to believe my baby is two already. :-(

Construction Zone

2009-03-27T00:09:00.004-04:00

On Saturday Chris' Dad brought his backhoe over so that he and Chris could prepare our backyard for a patio and some flowerbeds. The kids had their noses pressed against the glass windows for 2 hours before Mommy would let them outside to go for a ride (it was 25 degrees when they started!) They rode and watched and rode again on the "tractor" as Joshua called it.

The day turned out to be relatively mild and nice and Walker was enjoying a snooze in the sun until someone decided to climb on him.

Daddy hung the swings on the swingset again. Spring is here!

Autumn pushed the planer on the gravel once everything was dug and spread.

And Joshua supervised to make sure nothing went wrong. A fun day for all (well the kids anyway) and everyone slept very soundly that night. (I'll post pictures of the patio when it's completed).

Whine and Laughter

2009-03-20T19:48:00.002-04:00

St. Patty's Fun

2009-03-20T00:05:00.003-04:00

We had Lauren's family for dinner on Sunday and celebrated St.Patty's Day with corned beef and cabbage and some good Irish humor. Rob got in the spirit with an appropriate hat for the occassion (and the wearer).

Amma and Ampa were good sports!

We had pictures taken with the kids today and took a few belated luck o' the Irish shots.

Ketchup Love

2009-03-15T00:05:00.002-04:00

This is what happens when your 23 month old watches you put makeup on in the morning and then gets a plate with ketchup for his french fries.

Busy Week

2009-03-12T21:44:00.008-04:00

We have had a busy week. Chris and I ventured to Albany, Georgia Friday morning for a whirlwind 36 hour visit to do a marathon and then turn around to come home. We paced two different finish times in the race - Chris was 3 hours 20 minutes and I was 3 hours 40 minutes. It was fun to have a group to run with and very inspiring to cross the line with people we had gotten to know and encouraged the whole time. It was blessedly foggy and cool Saturday morning and the sun didn't burn off the fog until the last hour of the race. Then we had all day Saturday to bask in the gorgeous, high 70 degree weather. The taste of Spring was just what we needy to perk up our dreary spirits. It's been a long, cold, dark winter of outdoor training.

I surprised Chris and the kids Monday with a trip to Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos. We picked Chris up at work and didn't tell him where we were going. Great Wolf is an indoor water park resort and it is like a gigantic log cabin. It was really fun and the kids didn't want to leave on Tuesday. But it was back to work for us both on Wednesday for the remainder of the week. We are ready for the weekend to recover from all of the fun!

Autumn loved the water slides and would go down them all day.

The wave pool was Joshua's favorite.

Silly Autumn - that's Joshua's swim diaper.

Breakfast in bed was fun!

The arcade was a treat (and the only way we could entice the kids to leave the waterpark!)

The Three Amigos

2009-02-22T09:49:00.004-05:00

We had a fun weekend with Brooke visiting for 2 nights while Carolyn and Mike were away.
The video below can attest that there was lots of happy "screeching" and laughing, especially at mealtime.

Bathtime is a splash! They could be in the water for hours but I had to get a "hiney" shot first!

And they all got a little cabin fever so I bundled them up and we walked 1/2 mile to the park on Friday afternoon. They even climbed the ladders and went down the slides as the only other person in the park walking his dog looked at me like I was nuts with 3 kids. Sounded like a good idea at first...until we (I) had to walk home and the 20 mph winds that were at my back on the way there were now full blast head-on. But the kids were troopers and were snuggled under 7 different blankets so they were pretty toasty since it was a tropical 3o degrees (and that's not with wind chill). We all slept well that night!

Taste of Spring

2009-02-17T21:47:00.008-05:00

We enjoyed a nice trip to Longwood Gardens on Monday with my Aunt Nancy and cousin, Kristen, Amma and Ampa, and Carolyn and Brooke. It was so refreshing to be inside the conservatory among all of the colorful and fragrant flowers. Made us feel like Spring isn't too far away!

The splashing water fountains were fun for the kids.

Brooke would have jumped right in if she had been allowed.

Joshua snuggled in with Ampa when he got sleepy.

Amma and Ampa had a nice time (and kept their coats and gloves on indoors, ha ha)

Our whole caravan!

And of course, the flowers! They were spectacular! Who knew my cheap Kodak digital could take such great shots?

Crayons

2009-02-09T19:23:00.003-05:00

Crayons have been the newest craze in our house lately. Autumn has been obsessed with a couple of generic princess coloring books from the local dollar store and Joshua sees her coloring and wants to do the same thing. I love that they have fun doing such a simple pleasure. And I love the way Joshua holds the crayon and "scribbles" so intently.

Holiday Fun

2009-01-08T21:57:00.003-05:00

We had a great Christmas this year with lots of fun for everyone.

Typical

2008-11-23T22:22:00.003-05:00

The kids were so sweetly playing with some small wooden nativity figurines this afternoon as they were decorating the Christmas tree in the playroom. They were so quiet and sweet and cute that I ran for the camera...just in time to catch Autumn tackling Joshua because he touched something of hers. Welcome to our life.

Oh, and then they decided to hang small glass balls on the tree which Joshua discovered "pop," as in break, when you squeeze them between your fingers. He discovered this three times. In two hours. Much to the dismay of everyone in the family, including himself. We have never seen the pouty lip and tears before but they sure came out tonight when he was reprimanded. And that's not even the real tree. Luckily most of those ornaments are handmade and unbreakable (I think!)

Guess what my favorite word is?!?

2008-10-22T18:50:00.003-04:00

Taken tonight (Wednesday) after dinner....

Silly guy

2008-10-20T23:00:00.002-04:00

Our 5 Year Old!

2008-10-15T22:29:00.006-04:00

Autumn had a super fun 5th birthday week! She had about 7 friends over the weekend before her birthday. She wanted a castle cake, which was Mommy's first attempt at making a homemade cake. (There is a cake under all of those ice cream cones).

They all lined up to pull strings on the pinata (kids don't swing at them blindfolded anymore!)

Lots of candy and big lollipops were enjoyed by all. Then we sent everyone home!!

We also had a "family" party the weekend after her birthday.

She had yet another cake and more presents too.

Opening gifts with her cousins, Hope, Adi and Brooke.

(Joshua's wandering out of the picture).

All in all, she had a great time. When she went to bed after the last celebration she asked, "Mommy, how many days until my next birthday?"

Sorry so long!

2008-09-30T21:28:00.007-04:00

We've been fairly busy lately but somehow I haven't thought there's been too much to post about. We are happily busy - getting ready for fall with outdoor projects, Autumn started dance class a few weeks ago, we've enjoyed some cooler weather for running and Chris and I have been doing a number of races. The kids just keep us laughing CONSTANTLY and every night one of us is saying..."It was so cute today when Autumn did..." or "Joshua had me cracking up today when he...." Their personalities are very different yet they compliment each other and play so nicely together. He is definitely the clown and will be content to be on stage anywhere. And Autumn is his audience and is constantly laughing and egging him on. I am enjoying these times immensely and know that they go too quickly so we are holding on tight to every moment. Hard to believe that Autumn will be 5 tomorrow! She had a party with her friends this past weekend and we are having a cake and ice cream party with family this weekend so I will be posting more pictures soon!

We had some family pictures taken a few weeks ago. Autumn is "almost" 5 and Joshua is "almost" 1 1/2 in these pictures. I just had my birthday on Friday but never mind my age! :-)

Here is Autumn celebrating Uncle Robbie's birthday on September 11. She adores him and can't get enough of his silliness! (Something tells me Joshua is an Uncle Robbie clone. God help us! Just kidding Rob! (Sort of.)

And here's Mr. Disaster in the refrigerator. Yes, those are his pants hanging off like a rapper in the making. Hopefully most of the 12 month size clothing that I have from this summer will fit him next summer - never mind that he'll be over 24 months then!

Will send a post again soon with news about the 5 year old!!

Before and After

2008-08-28T21:08:00.007-04:00

Well, it was time to get rid of the mullet. Yes, Joshua had his first haircut today (at least, his first non-mommy haircut) and joined Autumn and me at the salon. He was such a good boy and sat still for most of the entire cut. I can't believe how different he looks! He is such a sweet, handsome boy (not that he wasn't before, but he was getting a big straggly). Here are the before and after shots:

Oh yes, and Autumn was the official photographer to chronical the big event. At first, she didn't quite get the hang of it and here's what we got:

But she soon became a pro and took some nice shots for his scrapbook.

And the most important thing of all to a 4 year-old:

A new walker in the house...and it's not the dog!

2008-08-08T22:25:00.003-04:00

Yep, we finally have taken a few steps!! It was last night (Thursday) after dinner when we put Joshua on the kitchen floor and he pushed up to standing and took 5 steps, then fell forward to his hands and pushed back up to take 7 more. He was so excited (because we were making quite a commotion) that he just laughed and giggled and crawled all over the place not quite sure what to do with himself. This video was taken this morning. My cousin, Colleen, arrived for a visit last night and we are glad she got to witness his first steps too! Very exciting times in the Garges house!

Trip to Vermont

2008-08-06T19:48:00.010-04:00

We returned early Tuesday morning from our visit to "camp"- Lauren's family's summer house in Vermont. This is one of the greatest places on earth and we don't know anyone who has been there who has not come home refreshed and peaceful. This was Joshua's first visit and although Autumn has been there before she was really too young. So they were both indoctrinated and we all had a fabulous time.

Here is bright blue eyes, taking in the view from the rocker on the porch.

The motor boat was a hit!

Joshua met one of his developmental "milestones" while at camp...standing unassisted for an extended period of time and walking while holding our hands. Yes, he is 16 months old...a little delayed but catching up fast!

We visited Billings Farm and Autumn had lots of fun. Here she is churning homemade ice cream...

...learning how to use a loom...

...and being shown how to knit.

We enjoyed lots of hugs and roasting marshmellows for smores.

Joshua can't wait to be a big boy and help with the boat.

The water was refreshing and fun!

Finally, a beautiful sunset before we left camp on Monday night. It's always hard to leave but we will keep this picture in our mind's eye all year until we return again.

Weekend Fun

2008-07-01T20:24:00.008-04:00

We had a great weekend celebrating Lauren's cousin's, Anna and Doug's, college and HS graduations in PA. Family came in from N.Carolina, Florida, Pittsburg, Ohio, New Jersey and New York.

Here is Joshua and BePa at the pool at Nockamixon state park. Joshua especially enjoyed the water mushrooms.

Joshua and Brooke love their Kix.

We call him Spiderman. He scaled this tunnel slide with no problem.

Autumn enjoying cake at the party.

Autumn, Brooke and Mommy's cousin, Kristen,
who everyone loves so much!

Amma and Ampa enjoying a raucous game of
bowling on Nintendo Wii. (Ampa bowled a 143 on
his first try).

Morning sunshine

2008-06-22T23:15:00.004-04:00

I never need an alarm on my days off. My little sunshine wakes me up with his giggling and babbling while he waits for me to greet him for the day. Joy of my heart. :-)

Downward facing dog

2008-06-03T18:32:00.002-04:00

I'm not so sure about this grass stuff...it feels kind of funny

Maybe I can get across like this!

Ewww, I can't believe my feet are in the grass

Then again, this concrete doesn't feel so great either

Actually, this is just my pose for the day....hahaha.

On Daddy's Shoulders

2008-06-01T12:43:00.003-04:00

Watch Me Go!

2008-05-30T10:01:00.002-04:00

I grabbed this video of Joshua and Autumn 2 days ago. Joshua isn't able to walk independently yet but if he has something to hold on to - watch out! He's quick!

Magical Disney

2008-05-13T22:22:00.004-04:00

We returned on Sunday from our Disney World vacation with Autumn and it was truly magical. We spent 4 days while Joshua stayed home with my sister and Chris' mom. This was an all princess trip and Disney was the perfect place for our 4 year old princess!

Here is our Safari breakfast with Mickey and Friends at the Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. Lots of fun singing and dancing and great food! None of us had ever been to Animal Kingdom - what a beautiful park.

We enjoyed a great dinner at the Askershus palace in Norway with all of Autumn's favorite princesses. She especially enjoyed Sleeping Beauty, who said they could be sisters!

Goofy was his usual Goofy self as he made Autumn laugh with some silly dancing at Toon Town in the Magic Kingdom!

Ready for the 3D muppets movie at Hollywood Studios!

We were lucky to get a hug with Minnie and Daisy at Hollywood Studios too!

Autumn sharing a laugh with her Mickey balloon. She is all slicked up in sunscreen because it was HOT!

And of course....how could you possibly go to Disney World and not visit the Little Mermaid at Ariel's Grotto?! We waited in line over an hour (our longest wait the whole trip) but Autumn was in complete AWE when we finally got to see her. Her tail was glittery and gorgeous and she was so sweet with Autumn. This was our first stop on our first day and Autumn was so thrilled. All in all, a wonderful vacation and we can't wait to go back! But next time, Joshua gets to go with us!!

Sunday Sneak

2008-05-04T11:34:00.004-04:00

So Saturday's and Sunday's are waffle breakfasts in our house for Autumn. She gets to sit in her playroom and have waffles with butter and syrup while she watches her allotment of morning cartoons. This morning while she went upstairs for a minute, Joshua decided to check out what she was eating at the table. He ate almost her entire plate! I was just cracking up laughing because she came downstairs and only had a few pieces left. Guess we now have one more thing we can serve up to him for breakfast - I would have never put syrup on his waffles which is probably why he loved them.

He ate almost her entire plate! I was just cracking up laughing because she came downstairs and only had a few pieces left. Guess we now have one more thing we can serve up to him for breakfast - I would have never put syrup on his waffles which is probably why he loved them.

BTW - the mess that you see in the playroom is now gone (it was really a MESS). I took these picture about 2 hours ago and Autumn has since straightened up the whole thing so that it looks great. I have discovered a bit of a compulsiveness in my daughter. I set the kitchen timer for X minutes and see if she can beat the buzzer. She runs around putting things away and humming or singing to herself the whole time. Wish I could say I have as much fun!

And couldn't resist a shot of our one-tooth wonder. Actually, this isn't true because he does have 2 bottom teeth but you can't really see them in this shot. And he just began cutting his upper left tooth this week. But right now we call him our jack-o-lantern because he looks so silly with one giant tooth hanging out of the top of his gums!

Daddy's Boy

2008-04-17T09:54:00.000-04:00

Aren't they handsome?!

Spring is coming!

2008-04-15T22:29:00.013-04:00

And Autumn is on her bike! We got her a little Trek bike last year (well, actually the Easter Bunny did) because Daddy thought it would be really cute. By she wanted nothing to do with it last year. While I was on the treadmill in the basement a couple of weeks ago she hopped onto it and began riding it around and loves it now. We went to the park last week on a warm day and had a fun time. Our first little bite of spring now has us itching for more. But it was 27 degrees during my run this morning so we are still being teased!

We went to a Build A Bear birthday party for Autumn's friends, Abby and Dan, on Saturday. She picked out a pink bunny, who she named "bunny"...originality is not her strongpoint...before any of the other kids even looked at the stuffed animals. She helped Joshua make his little dog, named "Scruffy." You can see her "washing" them with blasts of air after they have been full of fluff. It was a fun day!

Happy Birthday Joshua!!

2008-03-31T22:26:00.011-04:00

Well, we can hardly believe our little guy turned one-year-old on Friday! It seems so long ago since we were in the NICU with him for 15 days, but on the other hand, it seems unbelievable that he's been with us for a whole year already! He enjoyed cake at Bennigan's on his birthday as you can see here...he's very tactile and loved the feeling of the frosting in his fingers. We were surprised by how relatively clean he was!

We came home from dinner to open presents from Mommy, Daddy and relatives who had mailed gifts. Autumn was, of course, excited to show Joshua how to rip the paper. He was such a trooper!

We celebrated even more with party with family and friends on Saturday. Here he sits on MomMom's lap very excited to see what was in his gift bag.

He enjoyed his very own cake at his party and ended up with quite the sugar high! He didn't even think about going to sleep until well past 9pm, when he normally is out for the night at 7pm!

Our sweet baby boy. He'll always be my baby. :-)

Joshua says "Hi!" - Really!!

2008-03-26T22:37:00.000-04:00

Easter Fun!

2008-03-25T21:18:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone! We had a nice Easter day. We attended an early church service at 8am to accommodate Joshua's morning nap and were very happy to find that the Easter Bunny visited the house while we were gone. Autumn helped find all of the eggs that he hid around the house (it was too chilly outside) and both kids enjoyed their Easter baskets of goodies. We had a nice dinner at MomMom and PopPop's house where we got to visit with cousins, Hope and Adi. A fun day all around!!

Autumn's Meter

2008-03-21T22:44:00.001-04:00

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Joshua's meter

2008-03-21T22:38:00.001-04:00

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Our Little Leprechauns

2008-03-16T22:16:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone!

I took these pictures about 2 months ago but couldn't resist showing them here in honor of St. Paddy's Day. Joshua's middle name, Kieren, is from my (Lauren's) Irish heritage. Doesn't he look like a leprechaun? Autumn had a party last week and today she and BePa will be decorating cupcakes in celebration of the day. No corned beef and cabbage yet for Joshua though. His first tooth just broke through on Friday - finally - but he's not quite ready for the textured foods yet! Happy St. Patrick's Day to all!

Here Comes Trouble!

2008-03-07T22:37:00.000-05:00

Joshua has proven himself to be quite the little boy...curious about everything and fearless despite his tiny size. Yes, that is him tonight at the window sill playing with the drawstring to the blinds (note to Daddy: we forgot to babyproof this one). He loves to climb up on anything and check things out. Chris and I were in the kitchen on Wednesday night and we heard lots of encouragement from Autumn in the foyer as she kept saying, "Good boy Joshua. Come on up. UP THE STAIRS!" We ran to see what they were doing and he was already on the third step. I grabbed the camera as you can see and he went all the way up 8 stairs to the landing. Afterwards we said to Autumn, "Okay, now don't encourage him to do that again!" (Although she is pretty hilarious.) Now his favorite thing to do is crawl right to the steps. Last night Chris and Autumn were sitting at the dinner table and Joshua was playing. He began to crawl down the hallway and Chris said, "Joshua, no no." Joshua stopped, turned and looked at Daddy, smiled and then turned back to keep right on crawling. He is too cute at this age to do anything but laugh!

No Privacy for Autumn

2008-03-04T22:25:00.000-05:00

Well, Autumn has come to realize that her time as the lone kid on the block has come to an end. Joshua is thoroughly interested in all things related to bathrooms and that includes, obviously, potty time and baths. Luckily we have an open bathroom door policy in the house, so this is nothing unusual for her. My concern is more to reach Joshua in time before he starts swishing his hands around in the toilet water!

Tongue boy

2008-02-18T22:27:00.001-05:00

Joshua has CRACKED us up lately. We had a great visit with my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Tom this past weekend and Aunt Nan mentioned how he seems to be sticking out his tongue in pictures that she sees. Well, he does almost anytime he is intent on something, which at almost 11 months and being a boy (which is very different than our 11 month old Autumn was) he is focused and going after something almost every second of the day. He was playing with a mylar balloon today and just loving it and I got some really funny pictures. Hence his nickname, "Tongue boy." Am including a couple of other recent tongue boy pictures for your viewing pleasure. (Wish I took more of Aunt Nan and Uncle Tom with the babies, I hope you got some Aunt Nan!)

Happy Belated Valentine's Day From Autumn

2008-02-18T22:15:00.000-05:00

I wanted to post this picture of Autumn before her Valentine's Day party at school last week, but time got away from me. We made cute cards that looked like flower pots and attached flower seeds and lollipops along with sayings like "Our friendship has bloomed." Autumn had a great time and came home with tons of cute cards from her little school friends. It's so much fun celebrating all the different holidays with a pre-schooler. She gets so excited about everything.

Visit at Aunt Carolyn's

2008-02-12T22:02:00.000-05:00

We try to visit with my family every Sunday night for dinner and this past weekend we were at Carolyn and Mike's. It's so funny to get Joshua (10 1/2 months) and Brooke (7 months) together. Each week they are kind of like, "Hey, there's that other baby again!" We are just waiting for them to become kissing cousins. :-)

(And Yes, those are Brooke's toes that she is staring at so intently. Ahhh, to be seven months old with such flexibility!)

So, how are the kids?

2008-02-09T23:04:00.000-05:00

Autumn Joy is now 4 1/2 years old and most of the time a true sweetheart. She loves her brother immensely and is proud to be a big sister. She is tenderhearted with him and actually quite a help. She loves to help me bake in the kitchen and to make anything involving construction paper, glue and markers. She is a girly-girl and loves Disney princesses, her baby dolls, and anything involving Ariel. While she wants to be independent in many ways, we are still glad to have our little girl, who loves to jump into our bed in the morning or have us snuggle with her after prayers at night. She is so delighted in simple pleasures that it helps us to appreciate them too.

Joshua is our heart's joy. He is such a happy little guy that my heart literally feels like it's going to pop sometimes. He smiles and laughs from the moment we get him out of his crib in the morning, until he rubs his eyes at night for bed. At 10 1/2 months, he is a man on a mission and can crawl across the room like nobody's business. He knows what he wants and goes after it which can be frustrating for all of us since he can't communicate yet but we have been trying sign language and he signed "eat" for the first time today (at least that's how Mommy interpreted it)! He's a tiny baby, just barely over 16lb, but considering his early start in this world, the doctors are not concerned. He eats well and sleeps wonderfully, so we definitely have nothing to complain about.

Well, It's about time....

2008-02-09T22:34:00.001-05:00

Hi Everyone!
I have been meaning to create a blog for months now as a means to update family and friends about how we (read:the kids) are doing. We've friends literally around the world and I am not always the greatest at emailing pictures to people. I have enjoyed a number of other blogs from family members and it is a great way to feel like I know what's going on in their lives. So...bookmark this page and visit often as I plan to create posts frequently. We would love to hear from you and look forward to adding to our site!
Love, Lauren