Birthday Boy

A few weeks have passed since Josiah's 5th birthday.  All my other kids had their first 'big kid' party at age 5.  Some of them went well, some were a little CRAZY.  I decided to skip it this year for Jojo, he has no clue.  And... his closest friends are his siblings.  When I asked him who he wanted to have over for his birthday, he named all of Aaron's friends.  So sweet.  I think that speaks to what a good big brother Aaron is.

So we had Aaron's buddies and some family over for his birthday.  It was a fun night!!

Sleepy and happy birthday boy!!

For his birthday dinner he wanted hot dogs, mac and cheese and clementines.

Flashback: Swim Lessons

Going through my pictures I realized that I never posted these from this summer.  Aaron and Greta loved their swim lessons!  I am so, so grateful to now have 4 strong swimmers.  One more to go!

It was fun to be able to hang with our friends the Planks during lessons!!

Fall beauty

I always forget how much I love fall until I have a sunny day and the leaves are screaming colors.  It's such a short window of unique beauty and I really do enjoy it.  I just wish it would last longer!!

All my photos here are from our yard.

Out of the Mouths...

Josiah: "Michael Jordon played basketball, right?"

Aaron: "Yes."

Josiah: "And then he got tired out?"

Aaron: "You mean retired?"

Jo: "How did he get old like grandpa?"

New friends

It has been fun to see my girls go to school and see what kind of interesting people they meet.  Claudia has 2 new friends that have interesting ties to our family. Claudia didn't know these things before she met these girls, it came out as their friendships grew. Her first friend Veronica grew up in my grandparents old brick house!!  Her parents also used to go to our church and know a lot of our current friends.

Her other friend Hannah is Claudia's 3rd cousin on the Thomas side.  Such a small world...and I'm very grateful for these sweet girls!!

Family Hike

We recently took a family trip down to the Pinnacle for a hike.  Such a beautiful and fun place to be!!

Claudia snapped this of me.  I'm like a turtle that sits on the rocks in the sun...

Fall Football