Birthday pics

Well, here are the promised cake eating pics:

Here's the first taste of sugar/chocolate in his little life!

He didn't act very excited. It was more of a hushed reverence. He looked like "Sweet manna! Where have you been?" And then he went to town on the cake.

I love this pic because I think he's in sugar shock. He just paused in the middle of eating and stared into space for a good while. He drooled. Then he went diligently back to work.

Had to share this one! The next week I let the boys watch a movie together - the first time Blake has been even remotely interested in Baby Einstein, I might add. I love this stage because Blake finally can interact with his big brother and it is his favorite thing to do, even at the high cost of occasional attacks and frequent mishaps that result in bodily harm.

Happy Birthday, Blake!

It is hard to believe that Blake turns one today! This year has flown by. I don't feel like I really got to savor his first year like I did with Seth. I cannot imagine life without our Scooter. He is snuggly, playful, and easygoing. It is so fun to see the boys finally play together now that Blake is old enough. He adores Seth and is usually a participant in whatever weirdness Seth concocts. I love watching them and knowing that they will always be best friends and I was around to watch the beginning of it. Anyway, here's a nice montage of the first year:

Two days before!

Two days after!

Two and a half weeks old. My friend Stefanie tooks tons of beautiful pics. If you are in the Dallas area, you should use her. She rocks.

Angry Troll

Lion head, courtesy of Friggs

His usual expression - a big smile

A toothy little grin!

His one year pics are awesome and were taken by Wes Yoakum while they were down for a visit. There are many good ones, you can check out the rest here.

Sooner

Every year, the third week of July, I drive up to Ardmore, Oklahoma to be a camp counselor at Sooner Youth Camp. It is hot, muggy, buggy, and there is no A/C. I wouldn't miss it for the world. Really. I even tried to go last year when I was 34 weeks pregnant, but they wouldn't let me. I started going there as a camper when I was in high school and I have been going back as a counselor for six years. Hopefully next year Kyle will be able to join me. Apparently they require week long proof of a husband before doing away with "Hey, Bennett!" Really, they do know my name, I think they just like teasing me and are avoiding change - two strong themes of camp, I think. Anyway, this year I also got to teach 14 and 15 year old girls' forum - which I love doing. They were great this year, lots of questions. Much better than staring in silence. These were my girls this year. Five thirteen year olds. Yikes. They were actually very sweet.

Some of my Fave girl campers - all Twilight fans, of course. If you haven't read it yet, you need to.

Two fellow counselors, Tiffany and Talan. Everybody dresses up a little in the evening, in case your wondering why we're wearing dresses. In a random side note, I think Talan is one of the prettiest girls I've ever seen. She is just always so cute and sweet, too.

Okay, this makes me feel supremely old. These are the Sharps. Bryan, the dad, was my youth minister growing up and he is director of camp. I used to babysit his three kids. One of which has graduated from college and the youngest is headed there. Jonathon, Jared, and Jennalee, from left to right. It has been a delight to watch them transition in adulthood and count them among my friends.

I love Sooner. It is always the best singing I hear all year and such a spiritual lift. I love circle devo at night under the stars. I fully expect "My God and I" to be sung at my funeral!

For the Record

For the record (Sarah!) I know I said I would post every day until I was caught up, but I have misplaced my camera and therefore all the new pics. And who wants a new post without pics? Like this one. It's so boring you can hardly stand to read it.

A Week at Grammy's

Well, the kids got to go to my mom's for a whole week while I was a counselor at camp (more on that in the next post). They love it there. Well, Seth does, I'm not sure Scooter really cares where he is, although he does adore Grammy and Papa. Kyle took them on Saturday and arrived all ready for work, Seth too. I love how Seth imitates everything his daddy does, work gloves and all. They spent the day clearing out brush.

Kyle left on Sunday and Friggs had a whole week of learning to read and write, fishing, playing outside, feeding all the animals, and generally being in grandkid heaven. Here's a cute pic of him and Papa after fishing. He wanted to eat them, so more than once, Papa cleaned and cooked little bitty fish! Now that's love.

This is Friggs and Scooter driving the golf cart. Scary thought

Here are some bonus pics of Blake, because, hey, he's cute.

Posted by: Kim

Back, by popular demand...

Okay, okay. So it's been awhile since my last post. We have had a lot going on, but really I was just waiting for Kyle to post since he's funnier than I am. But, he is still procrastinating (Hi pot, I'm kettle...) so, there will be a new post every day until I get caught up. For the 4th of July we went down to Corpus and spent the weekend at Andy and Katie's. We had tons of fun. On Friday we went and picked wild grapes because I am down to my last jar of homemade jelly.

This is a picture of Kyle, who had scaled the grapevine up into the trees so he could reach more grapes and pull down some vines for us.

Maddie, Claire, and Seth taking a break from picking. They have the best time together, I am soooo thankful we are close enough to see them more often now. Blake and Gavin just chilled and talked to each other from strollers. We also picked some prickly pears so I can make a batch of that jelly, too. That afternoon we did one of my favorite things: crabbing. We cooned for rock crab with Roger and Beth, Mark and Tamra Blankinship, Andy and Katie, and all the kids. It was a zoo. The men were more successful in the crabbing department, as the women mostly herded children. I attempted to crab, and got only one, with Blake in a baby float attached to me by a rope. He looked like baby Moses floating in the reeds. He seemed to like it, though. Just for the record, I am aware that crabbing + baby = stupid. But, a girl's gotta try. Saturday we went to the lake with friends and just relaxed. It was an awesome weekend.

We are constantly both dumbfounded and tickled at the directives and proclamations that pop out of our mouths concerning Seth. Here are a few recent ones:
- Do not rub your steak on your leg.
- Do not throw your brother.
- Do not shove rods through rackets.
- Do not ride your brother like a horse.
I know, I know, I steal all his fun.

Posted by Kim