More Joanna!!

These first few are from throughout her birthday week.

I found some pretty light coming in my bedroom window one afternoon.

It’s really too bad she isn’t photogenic AT ALL.  :)

These are from her birthday, which thankfully was a Saturday!  We had a busy day though, so it was present opening time right away!

Her gifts to open were slightly on the boring side, but she still loved ‘em.  She got a nightgown and a cute T-shirt.  In addition, her new bike was technically a birthday present, and I preordered Frozen for her, but it won’t arrive until later this month.

Joanna had a rehearsal at the church in the morning, and afterward we got together with some friends for lunch.  This is the only picture I took though.  It’s Thomas asleep on me.

After that, we went to Mamma and Pop’s house to celebrate Joanna and Pop’s birthdays.

They love playing on the stairs!

Look how tall this girl is getting!

Matt took a bunch of pictures of the fun playing outside.

Action shot!

Uncle Steve is NO FUN at all.  :)

That girl can run!

I was on the couch with a baby (asleep maybe?) whenit was Happy Birthday time, but I love how sweet these pictures look, framed in between Aunt Mindy and Aunt Missy.

Joanna LOVES celebrating her birthday with Pop!!

Joanna got some more loot, rotten spoiled child.  :)

Reading her new book:

And thinking about flying her new kite!

She also got a grown up big girl Bible from her Mamma and Pop.

I’ll leave you with a sweet shot of Thomas.

The boys did so well being away from home and normalcy those couple of days.  It sure wore me out though!  I love being at home and able to take care of them in our regular routine.  Joanna sure loved getting to spend time with all kinds of her favorite people on the birthday weekend.

The babies are sleeping.  I’m procrastinating going to the grocery store, and it’s Sunday.  I just might be able to crank out another post or two this afternoon.  Here’s hoping!

Friday the 21st

I’m nothing if not punctual posting here on ye olde blogge.  I just haven’t been able to sit down and get anything posted this week!  Last weekend (the weekend of Joanna’s birthday), Matt took Friday and Monday off from work.  He hasn’t had a day off since we brought the babies home, so this was pretty awesome!

We’re not super vacationers or anything, but we decided to go over to The Woodlands for the day.  Our first stop was Sweet Tomatoes, a favorite restaurant, for lunch.

I actually fed both babies using my super awesome pillow in the booth at the restaurant.  Matt took a picture of that event (because, frankly, it was pretty cool), but it’s not quite internet appropriate.  :)

Later, I nursed just this one to sleep.  It’s Thomas.

Natalie fell in the mud outside the restaurant and was rather soaked, so I put her in the only change of clothes I had – James’ 3T pajama bottoms and 24month top.  The bottoms fit her like leggings and the top like a belly shirt.  :)  Since Joanna needed a green shirt anyway for her musical on Sunday, I had Matt drop me at Target while he drove around to put the babes to sleep.  I found a cute shirt in the boys department and put it on Natalie with her James leggings.  She’s so cute she can rock anything.

Then we went over to the Waterway area to walk around and enjoy the GORGEOUS day.  Seriously, I could not have special ordered a more beautiful day for the family.

I walked with them some, but of course I had to do a little of my favorite activity as well: photo stalking.

I tried for a little while to get it to look like Joanna was holding the fountain.  But she wasn’t that into it, so this was the best I got.  :)

This was one of the few pictures of me for the day.  I was there too!

Even though James had been to the restroom about FOUR times already, he needed to go on our walk.  Unfortunately we were in the business district or something and didn’t see a place.  I would have had him go in the bushes if we hadn’t soon emerged from the Waterway walk area near the Barnes and Noble.  I brought him in to go to the bathroom then sat on a bench in the shade outside to nurse the babies one at a time. (My pillow was in the car!)

Matt and the girls took turns for a potty break as well, and the middles enjoyed dancing to the music that was playing.  It was so lovely!!

A group of nice olderish ladies came up commenting on my big ol’ beautiful family.  It was sweet; I liked it.  I guess they’d kind of been watching us because they walked up and said “Where’s the other one?” when I just had one baby on my lap.  Matt had just walked inside with the other baby to get a cup of coffee. :)

Before the babies, we probably would have done another thing or two before heading home, but that was it for us!  The kids did so well on the car rides that day.  They loved noticing all the construction and heavy equipment on either side of the road that seemed to be everywhere.  We don’t go many places in the car, but when we do they’re very good about watching the world go by and pointing out interesting things.

It was enchilada Friday, so we called Grandma to see if we could come by a little early, rather than going home and turning right around to come back.  That, and James needed to go to the bathroom… again.  :)

I got Matt set up with the babies inside and took Joanna outside for a few more pictures.  I know I wasn’t making the best of the light and structures and everything, but I got a few sweet ones of her.

Back inside, Kathryn and Tawna had arrived, as well as Uncle Mark and Aunt Ida, so there were many hands for the babies.  I think Uncle Mark has Thomas below.  He was so sad, but calmed right down when Mark walked him around the room.

I think Michael is with Mark and Thomas is with Kathryn in the next pic, but it’s awfully hard to tell with iPod picture quality.

Natalie got to chat with Uncle Andy.

Tawna got Thomas to sleep later – yay!

And Kathryn put Michael to sleep.  Yay for other arms to snuggle the babies!

Just above, you can see the baby bump that is my nephew Drew!

It was a lovely day with the fam, but it definitely reaffirmed that AT HOME is the best place for little babies.  :)  They just do so much better in their regular routine with their own beds close by.  And going to a restaurant with little babies?  No fun.

But it was worth it, and the bug kids sure had fun.  It was just the first day of our busy weekend though!  I’m struggling to find time to blog lately, so even though I’d like to say there’s more up next, I’m just not sure that’s the truth. :)

Joanna is SEVEN!!

And she has been for almost a week now.  :)  I took all of these pictures last week, during her birthday week.  With Natalie last month, I managed to take at least one picture each day.  Somehow, that just didn’t quite happen with Joanna, but I had a few great “shoots” with her through the week.  I’m still posting seven pictures, even though they weren’t taken on the seven different days.

Oh Joanna… where do I even begin to tell about her seven year old self?  I catch myself looking at her, just studying her sweet face.  She is leaving early childhood behind, and I’m both sad and excited.

She’s the one who made me a momma, and she did it with a bang.  Earlier this week I pulled out a little pair of green pants that I actually bought for her that are in the boys’ drawers.  I showed them to her, and neither of us could believe she’d been so tiny.  She’s the oldest one and the very best big sister any of the sibs could ask for, I’m sure.

Her mind is always going, and she is so smart about things.  She is also so beautiful and she has such a kind heart.

She’s the boss of all the kids at our house, but mostly she does it in such a way that nobody minds her bossing them.  She thinks about what everyone would like and figures out a way to make it happen.  She usually so giving and honest, but she can be sneaky and mean.  I guess it would get boring if she was just so good all the time.  :)

I am LOVING having her around during the day.  We would just miss her so much if she was going to school.  She is the little momma, and she loves that role.  I try not to pile too much on her little shoulders, but she just enjoys being my helper so much.  Sure, sometimes she’s too big for her britches, but she sure knows how to run around and act like a hooligan as well.

If any one of her brothers or sister is crying, she’s the first to run over and try to solve the problem.  She truly wants to make them better, and most of the time, she can.

She loves to read anything she can get her hands on and remembers where to look to find information in her books.  That girl can run so smoothly barefoot or with shoes on, and it looks so effortless.  I love to hear her sing, which she does often, so sweetly.

She is loved and adored by her parents and siblings.  She makes our lives sweeter and more meaningful just by being in it.  We love her so much!!  Happy seventh birthday, my sweet Joanna Rose.  I am so lucky and proud to be your momma everyday.