Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday Judah!

Judah is TWO today!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy.

We love you SO much and are thankful beyond words
that God has given us
Two Years
With You!





Wasn't it just yesterday that you were BORN??

(Sissy remembers that!)

Didn't you just turn ONE?!

How can it be that you are running around now with your older siblings,
TALKING up a storm,
Cuddling your little sister who is now the baby!

You aren't a baby anymore...

And we are loving each day with you,
discovering the wonderful, special boy
God made you to be.

Happy Birthday, Judah Michael!

More of the Kids

Grace is going to be a wonderful mama someday.

She loves her baby so much and has "the touch" with Clementine - Grace has actually been known to get Clementine to stop crying successfully when no one else can! Bouncing on the birth ball (I guess now it's just an exercise ball) is a pretty sure-fire way to calm the baby angst, but on this occasion Grace unknowingly put Clementine right to sleep!

It was so cute, I had to get a picture.
Then Moses wanted in.

And here comes Judah, too!

My little hams.
Is Clementine going to have a perfect, beautiful smile like Grace
or will she be a ham like her brothers???

I don't know if you can tell in this picture, but on the chair behind Judah is one of my home made baby carriers... in the same print as my blog background! Love that fabric...

Mr. Judah, Dodah, Googah, Googs, Judah-Buddy.
Our sweet, stubborn, serious, single-minded, silly almost 2-year old!

Judah Speaks!

For those of you who don't know, Judah has been what you might call a late talker. Yes, he crawled before he was 5 months old and walked at 8 1/2 months, but the talking thing just didn't happen. Up until a few weeks ago, he seriously spoke less than 5 words. Oh he communicated pretty well, but not with actual spoken words. There were some baby signs, animal sounds, and a lot of various grunts that he used to get his point across, but with two older sibling who chatter all day long, I think he just wasn't motivated to talk.


The funny thing about it was that he refused to even try to say words. It was like he was storing up all his words for just the right time, until he felt like gracing us with verbal communication. And just like we thought, when he finally decided to start talking (a few weeks ago!), the words just started tumbling out and haven't stopped!


It is so fun to hear him talk. It started with me asking the kids one day, "Who wants a snack?" Moses and Grace promptly shouted, "I do!!" and then Judah just blurted out, "I DO!" too. I looked at him and said, "What did you say?!"

"I do I do I do I do!" was his response.

And since then he's said new words every day! He'll attempt to say pretty much any word we prompt him with. His words so far:

me
mine
you
Papa
Mama
Mo-mo (i.e. Moses)
Yee-yee (i.e. Sissy/Grace)
Baby (i.e. Clementine)
Judah
bad
mean
feet
floor
heater (the kids love to sit be the vent in the kitchen when the heater comes on. It's a big deal.)
burrito
nana (banana, not Grandma)
bird
water
tree
book
read
I do
love you
all done
stop
go
up
down
yes
no
hi
bye
nigh-nigh
avocado
work truck
orange juice
pee
poop (He's a boy, what can I say.)
...and some more I'm sure I'm forgetting!

For a child who hasn't spoken more than two or three words in his life, this is pretty amazing! We kept saying for months how funny it would be to hear Judah actually talking... and now he is! (He'll be 2 in a couple weeks, in case you were wondering.)

I love this boy! He is soooo adorable. And now he talks, too!

Wordless Wednesday

Little Miss Clementine

Miss Clementine
3.5 months old!

She's a chunker like her brother Moses

DIY Valentines!

Grace has a homeschool Valentine's Day party coming up....

...and I can't stand store-bought Valentines....

...and my creative juices have pretty much stopped flowing these days....

...and Grace wanted my help making 20-some Valentines...

...so I found some adorable, zany, fun, hip, colorful, printable Valentines HERE!

Aren't these cute??

There are more!







If you're feeling a little more... energetic.... crafty.... creative.... fun... [none of which I am right now...]

you could make THESE colorful Valentine cards and use up your old crayon stubs at the same time!







For some really fun and crafty sorts of Valentine's Day Thingies, check out...

Heart Garlands and Stained Glass Hearts at Skip to My Lou

Shortbread Buttons and Repurposed Instant Film Valentines at Creature Comforts (a favorite of mine!!)

Origami Heart Bookmarks and Heart-Shaped Paper Clips at How About Orange (another fave!)

Four Children

I finally have some pictures of all 4 of our [earthly] children together! It's actually quite difficult to get them all together at the same time, make sure they're all dressed, none of them are crying or crabby, etc.

I have a million pictures of Moses and Grace together, and even quite a few of Grace, Moses and Judah. But four... that's not an easy task. But here they are, all together:

Grace Ann(10.5 years), Moses Paul Matthias (3.5 years), Judah Michael (almost 2 years), and Clementine Grace (3 months).

Siblings

Clementine, 3 months

Moses, 4 months

Moses, 4 months

Clementine, 3 months

Anyone else see a resemblance??

Another Clementine Grace

Okay, first of all I want to say that I do not follow celebrity news and this information came to me from my brother-in-law. Also, I do not care one whit about celebrity fashions or fads or their lives or anything. I am only posting this because...well, I think it deserves noting.

Actress Rachel Griffiths, who I don't know at all but apparently has a role in the show Brothers and Sisters, has recently had a baby named... you guessed it!...Clementine Grace!!

Here's the scoop and a picture of her husband carrying little Clementine around in a beautiful sling.

At first when I heard this I thought it was really cool that someone else would find the name Clementine Grace beautiful enough to use for their baby. But then I realized that celebrities often name their children crazy names and it might not really mean much...

This hunch was confirmed when I read that one of Rachel Griffith's other children is named Banjo. Oh well.