Gregory turns 7!!!!

As soon as it turned July we start celebrating. The forth of July is one of our families favorite holidays. Espically our next birthday boy Gregory!

Yes it is true our crazy, toothless, wild boy is now 7 years old.



Hard to believe.

Gregory always gets an extended birthday. Days of picnics, parties, parades and lucky him fireworks.

Gregory's birthday is actually the second. So we start celebrating then. He had been counting down for days. In fact his count down is on for next years birthday. Birthdays are so special for the boys. They love the personal attention and parties with their friends. Not to mention the cake and presents. When they argue with each other their biggest threat they come at their brother with is "YOU AREN'T INVITED TO MY BIRTHDAY PARTY!" My Cuties.

Gregory excitedly woke up on the second screaming it's my birthday! I am seven! I want to open my presents!

What a good boy he is. He loves to cuddle and loves to play wii. Gregory also loves to go to Chinese for lunch. What a nice break from the normal fast food chains, I really appreciate this. So for his birthday lunch we had a great time at our favorite Chinese buffet.

We questioned him about what would he like to do for the rest of the day. He was set on going to the water park. Well this unfortunately was not going to happen. We do have a water park trip planed for him for the following week but we want to wait till then so the rest of our family can join us. He kept prompting him to go fishing without any luck. He was certain he wanted to go to the water park at it was his birthday, his choice.

We compromised with our 7 year old and went to the city pool.



There are many water splashy things there so it was not to bad. He had a great time playing with his family. Smiley thought is was a lot of fun also.



This is the first time he had ever been in a public pool. It was hard chasing after him all afternoon. Luckily we always knew which baby he was. The one with his little swimmer in the air.





We actually did not stay there to long. The water was a touch cold for the boys. After a little bit they rathered to sit in the sun. What ever you want birthday boy. You goofy kid in the cool shades!



We woke up early the next morning for a parade. It was great!



It is the same parade we have been going to every holiday for many years and it barely ever changes. It is everything you would expect from a small town parade. Local business handing out candy, the high school marching band, the great shriners in their little cars, just to cute and Smiley got a kick out of them. We had friends and neighbors in it. Here is Toby ridding his unicycle. It was fun to cheer him on.




A new float this time was this darling train. As it was coming toward us Evan happily was questioning how are they driving a train on the road?



Mema and Pepa could not make it up in time for the parade but they made it up in time for cake and ice cream. This birthday it was all rolled into one. Gregory got an oreo ice cream cake. He was in heaven. And so were his little brothers. They all dove into the quickly melting goodness...yummy!



Every 4th Waynesboro holds its summer jubilee. It is a great event for the kids and we love to go. It starts off in the morning with a firecracker 5k. Which we slept through. Next year the Huse Clifton will run it. Then comes the parade, check, and after that events. We skipped the pie eating contest, again something I want to do accomplish next year. We made it to the petting. As always the had an assortment of farm animals. The children pet them and I took pictures.



They big boys went on to test their strong man skills.




They whacked it pretty far up that friendly looking giraffe. But whacking a giraffe can't compare to whacking your brother and strangers.

In one corner we have Evan. Standing strong and tall.



In the next corner we have Gregory. Full of confidence now that he is 7.



This was so much fun for them to play but I think even more fun for us to watch. They along with two other like size kids stood on air filled pillars. They would push a hanging ball at each other trying to knock their opponents off. Last kid standing won.



40 pound little kids were flying everywhere! What a hoot!

Besides a bunch of inflatables they had barn games. We played them all. Over and over and over again. But the kids did well. Most importantly they had fun and they were free, another bonus.



Nothing in the world can beat having little boys.



It was a great 4th. Well 3rd. Waynesboro has an old city ordinance that they can not have parades or fireworks on Sundays so this year the activites took place on the 3rd. That was okay with us. We had a great day!

Exhausted and tired the only thing left to do was sit back relax and watch some fireworks.



Happy 4th of July everyone! Happy Birthday Gregory!

Smiley's 1st Birthday

Another birthday, another date with the mouse. Why do they always want to go to Chucky Cheese? We let the kids choose what they want to do for their birthday and it seems more than not we go to Chucky Cheese. Brendan with the assistance of his big brothers choose Chucky Cheese too. Actually more than assistance, the big boys spoke for him on this instance. But he was all smiles.



It was Brendans first time there and just like every other kid he thought it was great. He was not big enough to play all the games like his brothers but he tried. He does think he is as big as they are. He tries to do everything they do, eat everything they eat.




However, Smiley still enjoyed the baby rides.



Hanging on for dear life.

He even took a shot at the ponies. My little jockey.



Smiley is the brightest joy. I am so happy to have spent this year with him. A precious baby that has turned into a fun, loving, happy little boy. As he is almost walking the next year will be fun. My Smiley I love you! Happy Birthday.

During June

I have not been writing much lately but not because nothing has been going on. More along the lines of I just don't know how to put it in to words. June has been a tremendous month of ups and downs,life changes and big events.




The first and most joyful Smiley turned 1!!!




He is so awesome! He is so happy and smiles at you always. He glows when he sees his big brothers and they quickly run to him. Gregory picks him up and drags him around the house. Evan will lay with him and roll around.



What is he doing at one? Getting into everything. He thinks he is as big as his brothers and tries to copy them. He says a few words but will talk with you all day. He has begun to walk. He can take a few steps, he will be running soon.



Danica came to visit the boys, which is always a treat. She holds all their hearts and got to see the big boys play T-ball and Smiley open his presents.

The big boys finished their T-ball season. They did great! Gregory hit the ball nearly every pitch. Evan's first year was great as well. He hit the ball off the T and very much enjoyed being part of the team.




Everything was going pretty normal then our world changed. My husband of 10 years and I split. It was ugly and the hardest time of my life. The kids and I left, we went to spend time with grandma.



Summer was still a fun time for the boys. No matter where they are they still got to play in the water. They enjoyed hours of sprinkler time. Baby tried to enjoy it but was more hesitant than the big boys.



It's nice to be out in the country because the boys got to be little boys. There we have no cable, no wii, no internet. They were left with nothing to entertain them but themselves. It took a little time to unplug them but then they started being little boys. They played with each other and played outside.



By the end of June we came home. We are taking it one day at a time and going to counciling. What will happen in the future is unclear. The only thing I know for sure is Jay loves me with all his heart, mind and soul... It can only get better from here.

Jay snuck onto the computer when I was out of the room to do a quick read and add that last sentence. But I will leave it. He is very optimistic and glad we came home. In the counciling we are learning to work towards God, and set our goals towards him. So Jay is right with our refound direction God is with and everything will get better.

Romans 8:31 "If God is for us, who can be against us?"

Easter Candy

Being that Brendan was 9 months old he could not have the traditional Easter Basket his big brothers got. There was a chocolate bunny but it got confiscated by one of the boys, probably Evan. His basket consisted of mostly large hard candy like ring pops. Ring pops with there high amount of sugar should probably not be gave to a child let alone a baby but he holed it! And it turned him blue.



He had peeps in there too. He loved them. He stuck them in his mouth with such a serious determination to eat them. Soft, sugary, marshmallow delicious. Yummy. In all the pictures he he was focused, intent and loving peeps. My boy for sure.



But at 9 months old you don't really need an Easter Basket. You just need love and big brother who like to be with you even if they put you basket on you head.

What fun is silly string

A week back I had the privilege to spend the day with my boys. It was a fabulously warm spring day. The sun was out early and the weather perfect. It was one of those days that just leads its self to an impromptu silly string fight.



Gregory shook up the can and fired away.



He felt the need to include his baby too. Brendan was covered by the end.



But I helped them both defend my youngest while I ambushed my oldest.

A third taker for our cozy coupe

If you had to guess what is Americas best selling car what would you think? An Accord, Taurus, Outback? Who do you think is the maker? Would you believe it is Little tike's with the Cozy Coupe. Yup that's true for 31 years the cozy coupe. And now we have our 3rd son taking his places as a cozy coupe driver too.



Yes that's right Smiley is crazy about being able to hit the green road. He fits in so well to his little automobile.

No worries about the high prices of gas for him. Or the fact that he can not reach the ground to make his car go, he has help. A few push and this environmentally friendly duo work together.



As far as his big brothers. They are not sad they can no longer call the coupe their main source of transportation. They have moved on to bigger and better.

2010 Pinewood Derby Race

A few weeks back Gregory competed in the first AWANAS pinewood derby race. What a day. He had been looking forward to this race for so long. Ever since they started handing out wooden block car kits at church the pinewood derby race was an exciting topic at our house.

The date was March 13th. We grabbed the car that Gregory had painted, Dad had cut out, and Pepa had instructed them both on how to build. We hurried along to the church. We arrived to a full gymnasium of clubbers, brothers, sisters, parents all waiting to cheer on there loved one.



Gregory checked in and registered his car. It was not a fancy design but it is green. Green like Zelda just what he wanted. We were hopping this design would lead to victory for our little one. He ran his car in the test weeks and it was doing great. It was the right size, right weight, and keep winning. We were hoping this would hold up for today as well.

The children had the chance to take their cars and modify them after the test runs. We did not do anything but keep it out of the kids reach sitting on the shelf waiting for today. When they ran the test runs Gregory was doing real well but he was only racing against the children his age. Today he would race against ALL the clubbers.

The trophies sat there and he noticed them right away. My boys are so into trophies. He saw them and told me he will put it on the fireplace and then in his room.



The trophies were going to be gave out for best of show boy and girl, and fastest boy and girl. There was no division in age for the fastest boy and girl and longer just 1st, 2nd, 3rd. He was ready.

It seemed like forever before they called his name to race. There were 4 tracks so each kid raced four different times once on each track and it seemed pretty random who they were going up against. They placed each time they raced. Then took those scores dropped the lowest ad averaged out the remaining three. So it did not matter at all who they were going up against. They were all competing against each other.



Gregory's green car ran and the smile on his face could only be topped by the the cheering and jumping that we all emitted when his car took first in that race and a new track record!



I was so proud. His dad was beaming too. Gregory and Evan continued to cheer and jump. And it continued. Every time every race Gregory was placing first. He did not loose once. Our only question was are there any other clubbers that were doing the same. Well as it turned out...no.

Gregory took first place! He was the fastest boy. It turned out he was even the fastest racer there.



He gladly accepted his trophy. Still cheering, we all cheered for him and all the other winner. They did a great job.



Nearly a month later a big red car trophy still proudly sits on the fireplace.