Fall Update

Jude is 4 months old and such a little cutie.  I had to put this picture up so everyone could see those soft, fat, chubby cheeks of his.  He is laughing, cooing, and even tries to "sing" along with Maddox.  He is turning over from his back to his tummy and then gets very angry because his neck is not very strong so his face stays squished into the blanket.  We all watch him and laugh and then turn him over on his back again so that he can repeat the process. He has also discovered his feet and spends a good bit of time yelling at them because he can't get them to go in his mouth. He is a good baby and has such a sweet, content disposition. 

Maddox is known around our house as "Curious Maddox."  One, because he loves Curious George and two, because we believe Maddox IS Curious George but just in a human form.  He still keeps us laughing with his funny faces and his silly ways.  He is very loving and friendly and is determined to do whatever the big boys are doing. The other day we were outside and I made Preston run 2 laps around the house because he was being mean to Maddox.  Maddox looked at me, furrowed his eyebrows and said, "Mommy I mean."  He then took off running around the house with Preston.

Preston  is doing well in first grade. I love his big sparkling eyes, innocence, and unbridled enthusiasm.  He is starting to enjoy going places that have crowds as opposed to the previous 5 years of his life when he would scream anyplace that had more than 10 people together at one time. He now enjoys the football games & even went to his first DCI Band Competition at the Georgia Dome. The Air Show we went to in Warner Robins in May was an exception, though.  I just have to include the picture. (at right)

Some new Prestonisms:

• "Mommy, what keeps scratching you? What keeps making you itch?" -Preston (asked while I was making he & Bryce take turns scratching my back)
• "Daddy I have a big poopie from the good waffle at the waffle house!" (loudly in the bathroom at Lowes)
• "When is Jude's hair going to grow? Does it grow when he cries?"
• " My friend Luis from Mexico went to 'Help A Child Smile' at school but I don't know why cause he's ALWAYS smiling!"
• "Dear Lord, thank you for Pluto being a planet. Even though they said it wasn't a planet in 2006, I know that it still is." (Preston's nightly prayer for a few weeks)
• "I pulled Jude's fingers out of his mouth so he wouldn't get the H1N1 virus"
• "I know how you can get Maddox's eyedrops in his eyes without him crying.  You can put him in a deep sleep like God did to Adam when he tok his rib."
• "Maddox said he came from England but I told him that he came from Heaven up with God- his real Father."

Bryce is in third grade this year. He is in the chorus at school and is the student conductor for one song at their concert in December.  He began taking piano lessons in September and his piano teacher calls him "Speedy" because she says he picks up on things so quickly. In September he played the drums for a fund-raising concert for the Henry Medical Center Foundation in McDonough, Georgia. He is still such a little adult.  Here are a few of his latest comments:

• "Mommy if you are still on a diet then why are you eating mashed potatoes?" (who needs an acountability partner when you have him?)
• "There are always interesting facts on the gas pump."
• "Mommy, why do you need your black purse?  Are you trying to look hot or something?"
• "Mommy, why did you and Daddy kiss behind the car? Don't you know we're in public?"

A few new quotes that have inspired me lately:
"It's not about the water. It's abut trusting the One who calls us out on the water! "-Dan Garrett

"A ship in harbor is safe -- but that is not what ships are built for." - John A Shedd

My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys." ~Harmon Killebrew

Love to all!!

Amy