Chocolate Cake

Thanks to SB and this post, I made this cake. She wasn't lying. And neither was the back of the Hershey's box of cocoa. I'm in love with this cake. It speaks to me if I go anywhere near the kitchen. I'm not pregnant or anything...

Every year on January 11th

We celebrate Andrew's birthday. And even though we've been celebrating for the last 18 years (wow!) it always sneaks up on me. I'm sure not for Andrew. This year was the big 18. My how the years have flown by. Andrew is a senior in high school and applying to colleges and everything. I seriously am in shock. Is he really old enough to go to college??? It is so amazing to see where he is right now and the man of God that he is becoming right before our eyes. I have no doubt that God has wonderful plans for him and can't wait to see where the next year takes him. I'm rooting for Auburn. We celebrated as a family last week with dinner at Andrew's request. It was fun spending the evening together. If you're around teenage boys often, you can understand how coordinating all work and social schedules to allow everyone to be free at the same time is a true birthday miracle.

Can you believe these are my little brothers? They're all taller than me.

And these two little guys made sure they got plenty of attention too...

(Caleb on the left, Thomson on the right)

Then Caleb got sad. Maybe because Thomson was in "his" space.

Thomson all by his lonesome. He stole Caleb's paci though to taunt him.

G was showing everyone how big he is.

Joint tummy time. They were making some serious eyes at that toy...you'll crawl one day guys.

Laura, Caleb, and the birthday boy.

We love you Andrew! Happy birthday!

musician in training

Uncle B brought over one of his old harmonicas for Graham to play with. He couldn't quite figure out the whole "just blow into it" thing and spent the first few time just humming with it in front of his mouth. Then one day he got it. It's so cute to see him concentrating so hard while blowing in and out in quick breaths. He's so pleased with his "music".

After the above picture, he walked over to the chair all by himself, crawled in and turned around to play. It's like he knew it would be a cute picture.

Monkey antics

First, show off crazy balancing skills and flap arms rapidly.

Assume the climbing position.

Pause for some daddy-noggin.

Tuck and roll.

Exit and repeat.

Like 50 million times.....

Bath time = Fun time

Where's G's belly? He loves to show us. Then is sad if we don't go in for a tickle.

Also loves to show us his nose. Like this every time.

He recently discovered that he could lay on his belly and splash around in the tub. Now his favorite thing to do in the bath. He puts his face in and everything. Such a fish.

He's going to love this one someday...

A sample of Christmas

First of all, an apology for the serious lack of pictures from Christmas. My mom and I have matching cameras (I know) and I think many of the pictures I thought I was taking on my camera were actually with hers. Anyway, here are a few from our St. Louis staycation at the parents'.

We went to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at Twin Oaks and then spent the night at my parents house. It was fun to watch Elf together in between taking care of all the babies and then set up "Christmas" for everyone. I remember when we were little and our parents would rush us to bed so that we could lay awake and hear them bang and crash around for a few hours setting stuff up. My how things have changed. Everyone stayed up until like 2 am or something crazy like that helping my mom locate all of the wrapped presents stashed all over the house and to make the traditional Christmas morning breakfast casserole. Everyone slept in until like 8:30 and then had to gather on the stairs for the usual picture. Seems like every year we add one (or two) new faces.

G could have cared less about his own presents. He was way more interested in trying to carry as many boxes as he could at once. He's an ant.

All the activity wore poor little Thomson out. This was of course smack in the middle of the entire family Christmas celebration. Love it how babers can sleep through anthing!

Dad and Coco sharing a nap.

Moving on over to the Steel's.

They gave G a v-tech big truck that you could load little trucks inside.

BIG hit.

Even bigger hit? Uncle B and his guitar. These guys couldn't get close enough. They were crawling all over him with their curious little hands covering every square inch of the guitar.

Will was just overcome with love and went in for a hug.

We celebrated the life out of those two days with delicious food, great conversation, lots of travels down memory lane... I love holidays. We had a special Christmas present for little G, though he doesn't really care, yet. He is going to be a big brother in August! The parents were shocked. And excited of course. I'm pretty sure I saw a couple of tears start to form. We found out in early December and had to practically sew our mouths shut to keep from telling everyone. Actually, I told several friends just so that I wouldn't tell the family. Matt and I are super excited about what this next year holds for our little family. May the Lord continually be working on us and our lives reflect His Glory!

Mable loves it.