Addicted

I'm completely addicted to this newfound photo effect. That might explain why I'm up so late. Tomorrow is going to hurt!

Last week we got a chance to see Ajai play soccer! He was so into the game (and so was Shannon ;)) Here are some pictures of him running hard and playing great!

Playing Hard.

Kicking Hard.

Running Hard.


He almost scored a goal at the game we were at! I bet next year we'll see him score several.

Here are two of Ajai's cousins. Aren't they adorable?


And how could I post an entire entry without a picture of at least one my adorable kids? Here is my little guy (who isn't so little.) He got so much attention at New Attitude! I think I could ignore him for a week and we still wouldn't be caught up! haha.. jk

we're back again!

This summer seems like its one thing after another! I don't mind it at all - its fun seeing people all the time... but its hard on the blogging!

Well this time we're back from New Attitude. It was awesome. We heard PHENOMENAL teaching, especially from Dr. John Piper. I came back freshly committed to being indebted to God's grace and allowing him to rid me of sin on a daily basis!

I would be remiss if I didn't thank our dear friend Adam for GRACIOUSLY serving us all weekend. While we were in the sessions he cared for John Michael faithfully, not complaining one time! Without him we could not have enjoyed it half as much. So THANKS ADAM (even though I don't think he reads our blog... hehe).

I ALSO came home envisioned to do some more creative things with my love of photography. So here's a sampling of what's to come!

my big girl

Well, this past week Adeline had two major milestones... She used the toilet for the first time and threw away all of her pacifiers! She's been without one now for a week and has only asked for one a handful of times... However, we've noticed that she is not sleeping as long. I'm hoping that changes soon! I'm used to her two hour naps!

As far as the potty training goes she went number two twice and number one once over the course of three days. However, the last couple of days she hasn't done anything noteworthy. As a matter of fact she is showing a strong aversion to anything potty related. I think we're going to try to "potty train" in a week or so. I'm pretty sure it isn't going to work but I thought it was worth a try!

My friends Thern & Trillia are here vacationing with their son, Weston. Its been fun spending time with them. So far we've gone to the Cubs Sox game #2 where Johnny & I saw the Cubs win for the first time (in person) EVER!! Thern & Trillia were so generous to take us with them! Thanks guys - it was a BLAST!

More pictures soon!

Crawling, Clapping, Waving, Spitting

Well, GaGa/John Michael/Buddy is all over the place. As soon as I leave the room he takes off after me. He isn't up on all fours and I'm not sure if he'll get there anytime soon. He's an amazingly fast army crawler and even though I see him rocking on his hands and knees at times he hasn't shown much interest in crawling that way.... unless we're outside! He isn't quite sure what to think of the grass so he tries to crawl on his hands and toes. I'll post pictures of that soon.

I'm still trying to play catch up with blogging so some of these pictures are a bit old... but I'd like to get them posted for posterity's sake.

John Michael has pulled up a couple of times but hasn't mastered it yet. I put him up one day and he was giggling he loved it so much - so of course I snapped a picture.




Which, not surprisingly, led to a small photo shoot. hehe..

"Mom, you're so silly!"






Army crawling



He's also waving like crazy and clapping more and more.... You'd think with all these new developments he'd quit spitting up. But, alas, he's still going strong in that area. I never did mess with my diet to see if there was something causing him to spit up. Does that make me a bad mom? I hope not. He never has seemed like he's in pain or uncomfortable. As a matter of fact he thinks spitting up is kind of funny.... how masculine of him. :)

Stay tuned: More Florida pictures coming up!

Disney

Disclaimer: I wrote this a while ago.

For those of you who don't know, we just got back from our vacation to Florida. We went to Disney one day and the pool two days. It was a blast! My mom was able to come with us which made it feel more like a vacation since she cared for the kids so much. I know we would have returned much more harried and exhausted had she not come. PLUS, we love her company and the kids adore her. So, thanks for coming Mom!

Addy was so excited to go to Mickey Mouse's house (she called it "M-Mouse house") When the day finally came for us to go she was ready. Equipped with an armload of souveniers from the front entrance we proceeded to Cinderella's castle to watch the character show (songs, dance, etc.) that they have to welcome you into the park. When Addy saw Mickey & Minnie Mouse for the first time she was grinning and giggling... and believe it or not I think it was more fun for us to watch her enjoying the "magic" of Disney more than it was for her!

In awe



Our family in front of the famous castle.







Immediately after the show (and our photo shoot) we ran into pluto and daisy duck. Because you had to wait in line for quite a while to say hi we only choose Pluto and held our breath to see how she would respond....

and she did great! She gave him a hug and a kiss and then posed for a picture in the bright sun.




Afterwards she inisted we go to Mickey's house. We stood in line for quite a while to see the little critter... but it was worth it to Adeline. She ran right up to him with a grin on her face and snuggled with him for quite a while.



Getting her to stand next to him for a picture was comical. She wanted to plop down and camp out right next to Mickey.



Next was Minnie's house! This line was much longer but Addy was a trooper and waited joyfully.

Here she is at Minnie's house.





Anxiously anticipating Minnie's meeting.




And finally, greeting Minnie with a sweet kiss!



And LONG snuggles. We actually had to pry her away.



More to come!