Wanted: One Brave Dog

Wanted: One doggy to snuggle, lick and play with two little boys and two little girls. We can promise lots of hugs and squeezes, pulled tails, and food under the table.

And this is why we need a dog:



If we had a dog, the five-second rule would be non-existent at our house. Oh, who am I kidding? It doesn't exist now!

Unfortunately, the quality of this picture is not so good because he wouldn't stop inhaling the cheerios long enough for me to get a good picture. He's like a human vaccum cleaner, that boy!

Do you see this, Hubby? Are you convinced yet?

The Many Faces of Ju-Ju

In our family, we four children who we have discovered are all hams.

To the core.

We are genuinely amused by this. We laugh and then give each other the look that says, "That's your child."

The amazing thing is that they come out this way. There's no training here, no teaching about how to behave when you have a captive audience.

I swear it's in their DNA. The paternal side.

Here's one of the hams in action.



Scene One: Ju-Ju is eating like a horse, as usual. We're celebrating Gi-Gi's ninth birthday and so everyone is there. Yet no one is paying attention to him. Cue the tears.




Scene Two: He's got our attention, but he's still mad. Notice the evil eye being used on his Nonnie (my mom).




Scene Three: Immediate cessation of the tears because everyone is laughing at him. He's looking pretty pleased.




Scene Four: What you don't see is that in between shots, he's screaming. As soon as he here's my camera focus (it chimes when it focuses), he immediately stops and smiles. In fact, I was trying to get more of the mad faces, but he kept smiling when he heard it.



Scene Five: Repeat of scene four. Screams until the chime and then smile for the camera. How did he learn this?




Scene Six: Repeat yet again. By now we are all laughing hysterically.

Yup, we've got a comedian in the family.

This is going to be interesting.

More Yumminess

This is what happens when your big brother and sister don't obey and put the crayons away.



He seems to like it, though.


Aye-yi-yi-yi-yi

Just glad it wasn't lipstick...

Happy 85th, Shirshee!

This is my grandma:

She's pretty great! Today is her 85th birthday. Holy cow! 85. The things this woman has seen in her lifetime are momentous. She's one of those Greatest Generation people. She was born into a seemingly different world. It was gentler, harder, simpler. You know what I mean?
She remembers the years of the Depression when homeless people stayed in an empty lot across the street from her house. These people were making soup out of dandelions. Weeds for dinner? That's gonna impact you in some way.
She remembers meeting the love of her life during a dancing school lesson when she was in junior high. They were paired together because they were the tallest in their respective classes. She ended up being 5'2" and he was 6'2". Go figure.
This woman in incredible! After raising four children, she went to work full time. After becoming a widow, she has supported herself for 28 years. She still is a substitute teacher in special ed classes, as well as working for a homeless shelter, making countless pies for church functions, and blessing her family members with quilts, jammies and slippers.
Such a godly, blessed woman! She has been an example of godly love and womanhood. I'm doing my best to emulate her in so many ways.
She's the one who taught me how to make jam, sew a button, and wash dishes properly.
She has celebrated the birth of each new great-grandchild with joy and love.
She has encouraged, supported and loved me every day of my life.
Thanks, Grandma! I love you so much!
Happy Birthday! May the Lord bless you through out this next year in countless ways.

PS We are celebrating Ju-Ju's 6-month birthday, as well as Shirshee's 85th today! I can't resist bragging just a little more. He's now decided he can crawl, much to every one's delight - except mine. Things just got a little harder around here. ~sigh~ But ~ I am still the beneficiary of the majority of his snuggles. I guess I can handle the crawling if he's still snuggly.

Ju-Ju at Five Months

Isn't he muy delicioso? Oh, my goodness! Wait, is that drool on his jammies? That's embarrassing.

Anyways...

My boy is such a heart-stealer. Just like his - wait, I'm not sure who he's like! Well, I guess I'd just have to say me; if I was being honest, which I'm not. Because if I were totally honest, I would say he's in the the deep end of his Daddy's gene pool. But I'm not bitter or anything. *ha!*

He's now five months old and a ton of fun. And he's so advanced. He's now sitting up. He beat the previously held family record of earliest sitting up, held by Gi-Gi. She's only a little miffed about that. Okay, not really miffed. The competitive streak runs deeply in our family, though.

This has been my favorite stage with all of my little duckies. I can still put him down and he doesn't go anywhere - for the most part. He laughs and smiles, coos and generally entertains us all.

Oh, and he also eats. A lot. He's like off the growth chart. Yeah, that's the way we make 'em out here in the West. Big and beautiful. I mean, handsome.

God is so good!

Holy and Dearly Loved

You know, at our house we strive to teach our children how to have a meaningful relationship with our Heavenly Father at a young age.

We must be doing something right:



Here's four-month-old Ju-Ju having some prayer time.

Maybe he's praying for Mama to finish ironing so he can have some lunch.

Proud Mama Pictures

So, I've gotten numerous (well, two, actually) requests for updated pictures of our little J-Man. Poor child. So many nicknames, so little time.

Anyhoo, I'm not sure that you people know what you're asking for.

Maybe you think I've been lazy and not taken enough pictures of Baby #4. HA! Not exactly. I've actually been mercifully holding myself back from posting new pictures every day! Come to think of it, you people should be thanking me! You see, this child is one of the most beautiful children of all time. There are only three more in the entire world. Funny, they all belong to the same family. Hmmm. Go figure.

Well, you people asked for it. Prepare to be inundated with pictures of...

JU-JU!!


Awwww! I could just look at him for hours.


Looking Pensive.


As Ya-Ya and Bubba say, "There he goes again!"


Ain't it the truth?


He smiles with his entire body.

So, there you go. You know, now that I think about it...

No one was clamoring for a picture update of me. Hmmm.