Welcome Connor Patrick Gray!

On April 24, my sister Mindy and her husband Cody welcomed their son, Connor Patrick.  Last week, I was honored to be able to fly to Kansas City (thanks to my wonderful hubby taking off work and watching my kids) to spend 5 days meeting little Connor and witnessing his Baptism as his Godmother.  What a cutie he is!  I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Connor, Mindy and Cody as well as all the family present.  Welcome Connor and congratulations on becoming a Child of God!

Proud Godparents

Oh so sweet!

Henry 15 Months Old

We took the kids to the circus for the first time and were too busy having fun to take many pictures, but we did capture this nice one of Henry with Daddy.

Well, our little man has been busy learning and exploring these past three months.  Here's what he has learned and is interested in right now. 

*  He's become a speed crawler, pulls to a stand on everything and cruises holding on to furniture or pushing push toys, but has no interest in walking on his own yet.

* He loves to climb.  We can't keep him away from the stairs.  He will get to the top in about 30 seconds!  He is also fond of climbing on top of tables, toilet lids, and anything else he can.

*  He is pretty attached to Mommy, with quite a bit of separation anxiety and gets jealous when I hold anyone else.  But he is still very social.  Loves to smile at anyone.

*  He is eating with a spoon quite well.  

*  He tries to sing and do the actions for Twinkle Little Star.  In general, he LOVES music!  He dances and even keeps a beat pretty well with the instruments at our music class.

*  He loves peak a boo and pat a cake games.  He has just recently started clapping regularly.

*  He likes to play with the train table, look at lift the flap books, and knock down anything he can (i.e. his brother and sister's block creations).  He works hard to keep up with Nicholas and Grace.  He also really likes to play outside.

*  He uses the sign for "more" anytime he would like anything, like more food or even a book.

*  The first body part he has learned is his tongue.

*  He loves to crawl up and give great big hugs, especially to Grace.

*  He says "Uh Oh" when he drops something and "yeh" for yes.  His other words are "Mommy," (said about 1000 times per day), "Daddy", "Bye Bye", and "Hi", "Everybody"....yes that last one is interesting....when it's time to clean up toys I always sing a song "clean up, clean up, everybody clean up," and so any time I say it's time to clean up something, he kind of sings "everybody."  It's so cute.

* He has been closing all the doors in our house (frequently closing himself in rooms), unrolling toilet paper, and flushing toilets a lot lately...!

*Finally...he is sleeping through the night!!!!! 

You keep us on our toes these days little man, but we wouldn't have it any other way!  We love you to pieces and are so thankful for you just the way you are!!

1 Year Old Photo Shoot

Shawn used our Cannon camera to take Henry's first year photos in our front yard.  I am thrilled with how they turned out!  Henry makes it so easy because he smiles so much.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Nicholas in Gymnastics

This year Nicholas has been taking a gymnastics class.  To end the year, they had a "Meet," a kind of noncompetitive showcase of what they have learned.  We were so proud watching him.  He really enjoys gymnastics and wants to do it again next year.

This is him with his awesome teacher, Ms. Dena, and Zach the helper for the meet.

Happy Easter!

We spent Easter in Georgia this year.  Shawn and I had the wonderful opportunity to attend several of the Holy Week services, including the Easter Vigil, where we witnessed our good friend Meghan enter the Catholic Church.  It had been many years since either of us had been to the Saturday evening Mass and we were overwhelmed by the joy and beauty it held!  The kids were able to enjoy an Easter egg hunt and a visit with the Easter bunny at our church on Holy Saturday.  Of course the Easter Bunny left some nice treats in our baskets on Easter morning, and he even changed the pinto beans, that the kids had been earning all Lent long for doing good deeds and sacrifices, into jelly beans!  We enjoyed a brunch and plenty of family time together at home on Easter Sunday.  While we certainly miss seeing extended family on such a big holiday, we enjoyed our time together very much!

This is a typical scenario in our home...Grace, a.k.a. Little Mommy,  giving very generous hugs  to Henry!

Nicholas loved the Bunny, Grace wasn't too sure about him but tolerated him, Henry wanted nothing to do with him!

A Shower for Baby Gray

Mommy arriving at the party

My sister Mindy and her husband Cody were expecting their first baby.  So my mom and I hosted a baby shower for her at my mom's house.  We had a great turn out and had a lot of fun.  We are so excited for Mindy and Cody!!!

Excited Mommy and Daddy

Will it be a cute little boy like Cody...?

Or a sweet little girl like Mindy....?

We are all so excited to find out!

Congratulations, we are so excited for  you!