Full of Hot Air

We went to the balloon glow down at Pellissippi on Saturday. Our friends chose a GREAT spot to sit and the boys played on the hill almost the whole time. They rolled down the hill, ran back up the hill, rolled down the hill, ran back up the hill...you get the idea. Oh, and they watched the balloons...some. :) It was fun just hanging out with each other and I got some fun pics. So here you go!

FINALLY!

Emilia laughed yesterday--a real, true laugh! YEA!

Soccer and Stuff

Josiah started playing soccer three weeks ago. He plays on Saturdays and LOVES it. He loves playing a sport, he loves having special soccer shoes and shin guards, he loves having a real uniform of his own, he loves having his own water bottle, he loves being part of a team and he LOVES scoring goals! Micah had a hard time the first week because he wanted to play, too, but he seems to have accepted that, for this year anyway, his role is to cheer his brother on. He does it quite well, now. Randomly throughout the game he'll yell out, "You're doing good, Josiah!" (it's really sweet) Micah does enjoy getting to "practice" before and after the games and feeling like he's part of it. Oh, and John's the assistant coach. So, here's some pics:





Emilia is six months old now, can you believe it?

She can sit on her own, is VERY interested in the food the rest of us eat, is starting to laugh, thinks she's part pirate sometimes, likes watching the cats and her brothers, smiles all the time, still has only two teeth, is always chewing on something, sleeps like a dream (most of the time), and loves, loves, loves her mommy.

She soooo badly wants the food we eat that I got her one of those "Fresh Food Feeders" (we call it "The Nom-er") so she can eat pear or banana or peach or whatever while we are eating our dinner. She LOVES it! She gets so excited when she sees it and starts flapping her arms around and mmmmm-ing. So cute! Here is what I'm talking about:

Micah has finally decided to get his hair trimmed. It's long enough that it's hanging in his eyes all the time and covers his ears. I think its annoying him. Anyway...he's agreed to a TRIM. "Not too much..." he always says.

The boys both went to the dentist this past week. Neither had been before and I was surprised at how well they did. I guess I was surprised because I detest the dentist. But they thought it was a fun place to go, in fact, they keep asking when we can go back! The only interesting discovery from the dentist was that somewhere along the way Micah cracked one of his front teeth. Not exactly surprising considering how many times he's fallen on his face, but still! The dentist said it's nothing to worry about, though.

And one random cute kid thing: When the boys have an idea, they say "I've got something in my head."

Oh--and Josiah has started learning to ride his bike without the training wheels. He's still perfecting his technique on that one, but he keeps getting better and better.

The Big Birthday Bash

This year for his party Josiah chose a knight party. I'm thinking next year he'll have a pirate party since last year it was between a water, knight or pirate party and this year he debated between a knight or pirate party. Pirate's all that's left now, so we'll see if it makes it to next year! Anyway...we had his party over Labor Day weekend and it was lots of fun! The kids made tunics with "knight names" (that were more entertainment for the parents because the kids didn't get most of them) and fought the dragons with their swords (inflatable ones). There was also some jousting and feasting and other knight type things. I decided the easiest thing was to put together a slide show of pics, so here you go!

P.S. I'll have more pics to add to this in a couple days, so check back!

Oh, and a little about the song that's first on the playlist now...it's the boys favorite right now. We listen to it all the time, they sing it all the time, they "play" it on the piano and on the guitar...We just love it! I've got some video of them playing it and dancing to it that I hope to get around to posting soon, but until then when you listen to it you'll know you're experiencing one of their favorite songs of the moment!

The Big Birthday Post

Seems crazy to me, but Josiah is FIVE YEARS OLD! On his birthday we had what has become the traditional birthday breakfast: Funny Face Pancakes. And the boys loved them, of course. They always take the cutest pics with these pancakes, too. Who knew the secret to good pics was Funny Face Pancakes??



After Emilia's morning nap, we headed to the park with water squirters. Playing in water is one of Josiah's favorite things, so it didn't surprise me when he said this is what he wanted to do on his birthday. The boys had a great time playing in the water and Emilia and I tried to stay cool in the shade. There was one small mishap when Micah tried to climb on the playground while wet...he slipped and busted his lip, but other than that, it was a fun way to spend the afternoon.


Here is Emilia hanging out and playing in the shade.

How ya like Micah's little spraying pose?

This is Josiah trying to spray me...unfortunately the sprayers wont spray toward the sidewalks.

Let's see...the other noteable thing about his birthday is the introduction of Blue Cold to our family. Josiah has been talking about getting a fish for about 9 months (I think it started when we went to a friends house after they had their baby and he saw their fish...that was nine months ago). Back then I told him that if he still wanted a fish when he turned 5 that we would get one. While we were in Iowa this summer he really liked his great grandpa's betta fish, "Hot Red," and decided he would get a blue one to name "Blue Cold." He hasn't stopped talking about it since Iowa, so on his birthday we trekked out to bring Blue Cold home. He is so excited about it! He called great grandpa to tell him about it and talked to him and great grandma for 20 minutes! We have Blue Cold in the shelves in the dining room to keep the cats away and every time Josiah walks by, he checks on him and gives me a progress report. "Blue Cold is just swimmin' around." "Blue Cold is hiding behind his plant." "Blue Cold is sleeping." "Blue Cold is just LOOKIN' at me!"

So, that's the birthday...the party post will be coming soon, as well as soccer adventures and more!

Lots to Say...

We've had a busy and fun weekend and I have lots to share with you, including lots of pictures. I can already tell you I wont get to Josiah's birthday party in this email, so I'll try to do that in the next couple days...maybe I'll couple it with his actual birthday report...

Moving on with the rest of the news. Emilia is sooooo close to being able to sit on her own. She can sit just fine, she just tips and can't catch herself. She's becoming more stable (in the last week or so) so I don't think it will be long before she's a sittin' pro. Here's a couple pics of her sittin' self, first in her big girl outfit:

And next with her little pucker:


One day last week Micah spent the afternoon in his room. When I went to get him for dinner, this is how I found him, just sitting there, not talking, just staring at the wall. He told me he and his "baby" were watching a movie! :)


Gramma made all the grandkids sweaters for the winter. She did a great job! We tried to get a group shot, but believe it or not, that is quite difficult with 6 little kids! Here's the best one:


Over the weekend, the boys made a trip to the football field to push the sled with their cousins. They couldn't budge it an inch, but they sure had fun trying! (Not to mention how many meals we encouraged them to finish by telling them they had to build up their strength to push the sled)



And then here they are stretching before playing t-ball:


That's all for now because Emilia is screaming for attention (literally). I just got my last 4 year old kisses from Josiah...next time I see him he'll be 5!!!!!

P.S.

As of her morning nap, Emilia is now a two toother.

GO TENNESSEE!!

In anticipation of UT's first football game this evening, our family dressed in our UT gear and have spent quite a bit of time today cheering for them. These are two of my favorite pictures I took this morning. GO UT!!!!



Then here are some pictures of Emilia's first card game. She helped me play UNO this afternoon. Check out the look she is giving John in the second picture!





More to come soon...