Duck Adventure

Jonathan happened to be home early one day, and the boys were up a little early from naps, so I suggested we go on an adventure!

I'd taken Micah on a walk to this park earlier and discovered this fun boardwalk with tons of ducks and geese.

Feeding the ducks

Snuggly baby boy

Daddy explaining some cool things about nature

Mommy and Josiah wanted to get into the water. Mommy was also excited about getting her picture taken with the boys until she realized she left the house without a stitch of make-up on.

Splashing

Sandy toes

Sleepy Micah and Daddy

Micah in the Bumbo

Guess who started joining us at the dinner table?

He loves being part of the conversation and babbles and smiles at us.

It's tough to get those chunky thighs out of that seat though!

Yes, Yes, I know this is against safety protocol, but we are sitting within arm's reach of him.

Parker Reunion

After our stop in Wake Forest, we headed to east for the Parker Family Reunion. We stayed at Grandma's house with Mom, Dad, Uncle Ronnie, Aunt Gail, Jaclyn and Christian. My Granddad's side of the family gathers every Labor Day weekend. Our branch of the family had over 50 people present, and Micah was the youngest family member present. My Dad did a great memorial for my Grandma Louise, and we also remembered my Aunt Jean and Uncle Wallace. I didn't get any pictures though, sadly.

Dad grabbed this one of Josiah playing with a gigantic Frisbee at the reunion.

Josiah opened his birthday presents from Nana and Pop.

As I look at that picture, it reminds me of all the Christmases we ripped apart our presents on that floor.

Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Gail gave Josiah The Very Hungry Caterpillar. He's reading it to Christian. Josiah loved playing with Christian and giving him hugs.

Micah bonding with Nana.

Josiah got to play with lots of cousins. I think he's probably confused as to what exactly a cousin is! This is "Silly Sarah" as Josiah named her; he really took a shine to her.

Sarah is Josiah's second cousin, once removed.
Christian is his second cousin.
Caleb and Jacob are his first cousins.
In case you were wondering.

Four Boy Cousins

Last weekend, we stopped in Wake Forest to visit the Moseleys on our way to the Parker Family Reunion.

Caleb was napping when we arrived, but when he woke up, Josiah went up to him immediately and said "HI CALEB!" and was super excited to see him. They did a few laps through the house.

Getting a Big Brothers shot

The best attempt at trying to get a shot of all four.

And break downs: Josiah the tornado, Caleb still unstable after nap wake-up, Micah the chill-baby and Jacob the newborn (also woken up from a nap).

The Moseley dads and their boys

The grandparents and their boys

Doing a little carpentry between photo shoots

Uncle Jonathan spending some quality time with his newest nephew.

First Day of Preschool

Josiah had his first day of preschool last week. He'll be going two mornings a week at a local church. I would say it was weepy and emotional sending him off, but he just hopped right in his class room and started playing. I had hoped to get some pictures of him next to his cubby, but he was too busy to hardly even say goodbye!

I think it's going to be a good experience for both of us. Mommy gets lots of time to run errands or workout. I think he's going to learn a lot of important skills and have lots of new, fun experiences.

He's been able to tell us a lot about what he's learning. He's coming home dirty from the sandbox and snack, with a new piece of art and a smile every day. It makes him seem like such a big boy!

Laughs With Daddy

Daddy holding "both his boys."

Josiah's Third Birthday

Our little boy turned three yesterday! What a fun day we had!

We started off the morning opening some presents we'd saved up. This was from our neighbor in Birmingham.

Opening a card from Aunt Rachel and Uncle Parker

Then the Moseleys arrived for the festivities.

And our party guests! We were so blessed to have a few buddies in town to invite. Davis and Maddie Morgan and our neighbor Mattie on the right.

Mattie showed everyone how to slip n slide.

Matt showing Davis how it's done.

Josiah preferred to walk then plop on the end.

Maddie getting a push from her Dad.

Amy and sweet Callie. Have I explained how we know the Morgans? We were acquaintances with them in Raleigh at Providence 7-8 years ago; then we both moved different places, and both moving to Hickory at the same time. They're planting a church here, and we're excited to see what the Lord does with their ministry.

The Moseley clan

Micah's turn!

Attempting duck, duck, goose (or train, train, caboose in our case). Josiah had never played before, but he seemed to like it, probably because it required running, chasing, and pretending to be a train. We also did "Red Light, Green Light" for the same reasons.

The birthday boy.
He specifically requested party hats, along with banners, buntings, kites, flags, balloons, "sugar cupcakes" and party horns. I only obliged a few of the requests. I didn't think the kids would really be into the party hats, but they all really wanted to wear them. Fun!

New friends!

Micah took some good snoozes with his grandparents and aunt. And he took a bottle! Phew! I hadn't tried since he was about 2-3 weeks old, so I was concerned we'd have a repeat situation (Josiah never took a bottle after he left the hospital).

Hilarious. Still needs some help blowing.

Don't you love kids opening presents at birthdays? How it's normally a group affair? Josiah tried to bust into his a little early, but he finally got to indulge.

Hugging baby Callie.

Our rock band. By the way, Maddie and Mattie are just 24 days apart in age, and Josiah and Davis are 25 days. Crazy, right? They took a little while to warm up, but they were all having a blast together by the end of the party.

He asked all day to paint with the new paints the Morgans gave him. We finally got to do it on Saturday.

Singing to my three-year-old.