Simon's Dedication/ Father's Day

We dedicated Simon at our church's Parent Commitment service on Father's Day.

The service was different from the ones we had for Henry and Margaret. It was at 4:30 and more of a "service" with singing, a devotional, and 8 babies- 4 of them from our small group.

We were very thankful for our family who could be there to witness this special occasion... and sit with Big Brother and Sister.  

Even though both of them "escaped" during the service:

ha :)

They called each one of us up to tell what this commitment meant to us. Tom noted that it was special for him to be there on Father's Day, with his own father in attendance who was an important role model of a Christ follower.



Very thankful for Tom.

Simon was pretty done by the end.  

I tried to quiet him by blowing in his face.... didn't work and he screamed through the closing prayer. :)

1 Samuel 1:28 says "So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord." We can easily say this, but its a totally differently story actually doing it. Giving up control of a child is so hard. But what peace consumes us when we do hand our children to the Lord. He knows better than we do. He loves more than we do.  His plans for them are perfect.

We are are humbled that God chose us to be Simon's parents. May we always look to Him for guidance and wisdom.

After the service we came back to our house for dinner to celebrate Father's Day.

MMMM.... brisket and cheese grits.

PawPaw was excited about his new Rangers jersey.

I found all the cards we have ever given Tom and consolidated them into a scrapbook. I look forward to adding to it for many years to come.

Also took these pics of the kids attempting to spell DAD.

 Silly me layed the kids on a blanket- not enough contrast, even though their "form" was much better than the latter.

Mamaw's 90th!

We celebrated my grandmother's 90th birthday last weekend.

Since my grandfather was still at the rehabilitation home, we had the party there.

Mamaw's memory hasn't been the greatest, so she was real surprised we all came to help her celebrate :)

All my family was there.

So was my aunt.

And my grandmother's niece (who was raised as her sister) and her husband and daughter. 

Great Grands

L-R

Simon, Henry, Margaret Gray, Liam, Emma, Madeline, Baby Larkin, and Sarah Grace 

my sibs

Josh, Elizabeth, Jack, and Sarah 



Our own real party crasher!!!

She just walked herself right on in and sat down.

She enjoyed the cake.

I guess we weren't that exciting since she fell asleep at one point, but made sure to thank us for inviting her when she left :)

Mamaw and Aunt Wanda

Growing up, my grandparents would often take us to go swimming at her house. 

 Madeline and Larkin- 2 weeks old!

Tom and Uncle Jack (Wanda's husband) 

He was telling Tom how he works at Macy's to stay out of Wanda's way :)

 Liam and H with Papa



Sweet

After I took this pic, Mamaw stuck her tongue out...

 ... so we got a crazy pic. No wonder my kids love the crazy pic- it's in their blood.

The kids were actually a lot better behaved than I thought they were going to be. They had fun running around the courtyard, hiding in the curtains (the only "toy" in the room), and took time to look at a book. 

 Henry loved seeing Uncle Josh.

Here he is showing my kids his motorcycle... Henry hung onto every word. 



Although Simon wasn't cranky the entire time, he was exhausted and finally gave in just as the party was starting to unwind.

Sarah and Leif under my super fancy banner Amy helped me make.

Such a special day celebrating such a special woman!!



What We're Reading

Sittin' Around

I took these pics a few weeks ago... he's gotten a lot better at sitting and loving it. Simon's not showing any signs of crawling- makes me happy- not ready for that!

Fell down.

Solids for Simon

We started Simon on rice cereal 2 weeks ago.

He liked it ok. At first he was real excited about grabbing the spoon and putting it in his mouth.

Then, wasn't so sure about it.

We've switched to oatmeal cereal, since that's what MG preferred. Simon seems to like it better, too.

"All done".

 

We started sweet potatoes on Monday. He seems to like them!