6th of 6

Just for fun, here's the 6th photo from the 6th file on my computer.

Thanks for the chance to wax nostalgic.Letting the birthday boy (or girl) all to themselves with their first birthday cake is one of my favorite family traditions. I'm so glad I have pictures that have survived to remember Jeff's first birthday. I don't have pictures of all the others, but reminiscing Jeff's birthday helped me remember some of those other precious firsts. One of my favorites was when Taylor turned 1. I made a cookie monster cake....it took hours to make and minutes to demolish. It was awesome! We were celebrating at my mom's house on Lemon Street. Instead of taking pictures, we made a video. I haven't been able to find the video, so for posterity's sake: I remember Taylor, true to his personality, took one careful taste of frosting with his finger and then dove in mouth first right into the center of the cake.

It was such a mess. We become wiser with age, and so you can see in these pictures several years after Taylor's day-Jeff's shirt came off before all the frosting went on. It's much easier to clean skin than cotton!

Here are some more great memories from that day-I can't believe how all the kids have changed! And to think, this year my baby (Jeffrey) will be getting baptized and my other baby (Taylor) will be driving! How can two brothers be so much alike and so opposite at the same time?

Now I'm supposed to challenge 6 people to take their own stroll down memory lane. I don't even know if there are 6 of you out there to take up the challenge-but if you are, post a comment so I can 'remember' with you. In other words, if you're out there lurking: Tag. It's your turn...

ps....it's worth the trip

Now those are some COOL boots!

They belong to my nephew, Hayden, one of the craziest and happiest little guys I know. Taylor's holding his brother Jacob. Don't you just want to kiss those cheeks?
Yes, you just saw some pictures of a little boy picking grapefruit off the tree last week-but what can I say? It's time pick the fruit! Look closely and you'll notice that this little guy is palming a grapefruit almost as big as his head-and it's a big head! Hayden is 18 months old, and I can't believe how strong and big he is....and judging from his arms and hands....how big he's going to be! I'm glad he's on our side.I had to put this picture in.... I have a one of Jessica trying to cut an orange with a cheese slicer almost identical to this one! No posing, I promise! (besides, it's a better shot of the boots-and yes, I cleaned the counter afterwards.)

Like I said, Hayden's a happy little guy, but to Lucky, he looked dangerous. Even though he was gentle and soft, Lucky tried hard to keep his distance. I could tell Lucky was getting stressed out from all the unwanted attention until we finally got the two of them outside chasing each other. Barking, hand shaking and spinning around in circles. Fun while it lasted-but after 20 minutes or so-Lucky was spent. (He has a bit of a weight issue.) Too many little people in to short a time. Lucky needs to learn how to hide.

More play time

This is Jay & Diane Christionason's son, Andy. he would chase the bubbles and say, "Poke."

Too cute.

I Scream; You Scream. We all scream for...

ICE CREAM!!!

Pigeon Plucking

One of our favorite park past times....
...chasing pigeons.


I don't know if the kids were chasing the pigeons in circles or if the pigeons were leading the kids in circles, but it was making my head hurt.

It started out calmly.

But then they decided they wanted to touch one. The pigeons were too fiesty today, so the kids ended up chasing them all over. (Fortunately no one caught one. Aren't pigeons just rats with wings?)

This was how Joey entered the fray. Smart kid.

Jeffrey finally started trying to sneak up on them.

Still didn't work.

Gratefully, there were other things to do.

Falling with style.

Joey decided to feed himself instead of the birds.

It's a guy thing

Take down Taylor

This is one of my boys favorite sports, but it usually ends in a tear or two, so it's not one I encourage. But-as you can see from the pictures,
...the kids were all smiles. I think they could have gone on all night. They wrestle in such a small space, I was sure someone was going to eat a wall or a piano bench. I was wrong. Not one injury. The worst of the pain was when Joey went in for the sneak attack. You can see him cuddling up to Jeffrey (and later Brandon)...then boom! Up he'd come and smash back down on their stomach, face or neck. He's crazy.

Little People

Look at that face! I just love little guys like Joey. Joey is my brother's (John & Julie) son, and while he doesn't love me so much (he was a month old when we left and has no clue who I am), he seems to love my house.

It's the perfect place for little people. Everyone in our family is height challenged and can't easily stand under the citrus canopy to pick fruit-not Joey. He walked right under to pluck all the fruit....


(but his little arms weren't quite strong enough to pull it off the branches without a little help from his mom.)

Here's another plus our house has to offer little people....

ROCKS

He entertained himself for quite awhile bringing fist sized rocks to his mom and saying, "Hot." Like Jeffrey, he wasn't pleased when his mom said his collection had to go back to the rock pile. So then he started bringing handfuls of the small rocks to John. (Fortunately, we were able to convince him that throwing rocks into the grass wasn't as much fun as he thought it was.)



Joey seems to love all his cousins, but he wasn't too sure about the 'big' people. No worries-we have another lure for little people-a candy machine. Mark kept offering him m&m's coaxing him a little closer and a little closer all the time.

Can you see how fast he's shoveling them into his mouth? If you blow up the picture, you can see an orange m&m in his mouth as he's reaching out for the yellow and that was followed in quick succession by several more. But he would only get as close as arms length.

Lucky snuck in and tried to get part of the action, but Lucky forgets that though he's little, he's not a 'person'-so no chocolate for him (are you proud Matt?). Lucky was another plus for Joey. Toddlers love Lucky! He's just the right size for them, but Lucky doesn't quite love them back. He tried to stay about as far away from Joey as Joey stayed from us.

Mark tried one more time at dinner trying to get Joey to share his pistachios. Joey would start to share and then zoom the pistachio into his own mouth. That's OK, we still have another day to wear him down. Wish us luck!