Tom's Birthday

Thomas had two birthdays again this year - lucky boy! He is going to expect this every year at the rate we are going. On his actual birthday, we celebrated with cupcakes and presents.

Here was the much enjoyed cupcake portion of the evening....











And for the presents...

All of these bags actually house one present. For his birthday, he got a set of Geotrax. John and I had spent quite a bit of time this summer canvasing EBay (a.k.a. the virtual garage sale) for a Geotrax set and I am not sure who was more excited about it - John or Thomas.

Speechless...

All smiles!

Birthday time, take 2

We combined Tom's birthday party with Henry's baby blessing this year. So the party with the official birthday cake didn't happen until a couple days after Tom's birthday. But I would say he enjoyed this second birthday just as much as the first (even though there weren't any additional Geotrax.) His cousins Michael and Stephen were visiting then (which actually ranks above Geotrax on Tom's scale - and there isn't much that can attain that lofty position!) And he had Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents galore to sing Happy Birthday to him.









Here is our sad birthday cake. It started out as a fire engine...

(The temperature in the kitchen was just a bit too much for the icing. )


Thomas and his cousins Michael and Stephen getting ready to blow out the candles.









Mary Alice and Stephen playing drums on the table. (Although not pictured, Grandpa Bradshaw is actually the one leading this drumbeat.)


And finally, here are a few scenes of the battle that took place following the present opening... We would like to thank Aunt Nicci and Uncle Ean for providing the weaponry.

More of Henry

Here are some more recent pictures of Henry.

And my talented photographer-cousin Cindy took some amazing pictures of our little guy. You can see them on her website www.cindylynnphotography.com/ or her blog: Cindy Lynn Photography: Baby Henry

He's 5!

Happy birthday to our oldest and wisest
(since he knows "everything" now that he is in preschool).

We sure have enjoyed the years with you!

4 years old


3 years old

2 years old



1 year old


3 months old

The "Dirt"box

This is our sandbox... of sorts.

We started out digging a hole in the yard to put in a sandbox for the kids and ended up getting distracted by all the other home improvement projects this summer. Basically, we marked out a rectangle but never dug anything deep enough to fill with sand. But the kids don't seem to mind. In fact, they don't seem to notice the difference at all. They just dig and play in the "dirt"box as if it had sand.

Which leads us to think - maybe we should just let the kids dig out their own sandbox - since they already have the shovels and dump truck.


You know, teach a man to fish and all...

Snuggle time

He's a snuggler! (The baby, of course...)

More bath time

Just a few more pictures of Henry in the bath - cause he's so darn cute and all. This time it was his Grandma Christine giving him the deluxe treatment.

Henry's first bath

Henry's first bath (well, more like first sponge bath at home) was a fun experience for all. Since we were visiting my Mom right after Henry was born, Grandma did the honors.

It was not Henry's favorite thing...


... but Grandma didn't raise seven kids for nothing...


She knew how to sweet talk him...

And pretty soon, he didn't think it was such a bad deal.

They kind of like him...

Here is our little Henry just a day after we brought him home from the hospital.

Now, anyone who knows our Tom will recognize the Green Blanket that Henry is wrapped in. Green Blanket is Tom's most prized possession - and he never, I repeat NEVER shares it with anyone.

So, when Tom offered to wrap his little brother in Green Blanket, jaws dropped, wigs twirled, and time suddenly stood still for a moment.


So, we have determined that Thomas just kind of likes having a little brother (even if he can't sword fight just yet...)


And Mary Alice has decided that the new little brother has come with some fun new toys that he ought to share with her. So, its a win-win-win situation.