Brotherly love!

My little boy and my littlest boy certainly have a special bond!  Wyatt was thrilled when Owen was born and looked so much like him!  We were too!  Wyatt is always sad that he is the only person in the family that has yellow hair and he thinks he looks "different" than everybody else.  So to have a mini-me is something he needed!  They even have the same hair growth pattern at the front of their heads.  I have always loved how Wyatt's hair grows to the side up from and Owen's is growing in the same exact way.  It's adorable!

Wyatt is always there to help me with this little guy.  He is the best at holding him during times when he's crying to be held and I'm trying to get stuff ready to get out the door on time.  How on earth could I manage this without the older boys to help me? 

Big and Tiny!

Noah is absolutely head over heels for his littlest brother!  He adores spending time with him on the floor when he's awake.  He lays there and has tons of conversations with him and Owen just soaks it up!  Noah J has been such a tremendous help to me these last few weeks - fetching stuff, helping with the other kids, doing housework, and keeping this little guy calm when I can't tend to him right away.  So, so thankful for both my precious boys!

Sleepless nights!

I think these pics pretty much sum up our first week home!  I'm so thankful Owen really loves some Daddy snuggle time in the evenings!  And even more thankful Joshua is the type to soak it up, no matter how exhausted he is.  Little boy sleeps like this for hours every night!  He's a top notch snuggle bug!

A Tea Party!

We began celebrating Annie's birthday today with a tea party at the American Girl Bistro!  With Owen coming so soon she has really gotten into playing with her babies again lately.  And her love of tea parties has never waned so a visit to the American Girl store for tea time seemed like the perfect fit.  She planned what she and her baby were going to wear for a week! :)  Even down to the matching hair flowers!

She was tickled with the baby high chair and was even more tickled with the teensy little tea cup and saucer they brought for her.   Trying to keep the affair small we allowed her to bring one of her favorite people in the world, her cousin Rebecca, and also pick one friend to bring.  She was so thrilled that Landrie and Tatem came to join her in the fun!

The girls were all so cute with their little dolls!  They each got to pick their own drink for their teapot and then they brought out trays full of delectable delights just right for a tea party.

Annie of course chose hot chocolate for her teapot!  And she was an expert at pouring it from all the practice parties at Grandma's house!  Some of the girls ate actual food - cucumber sandwiches, teensy hamburgers, pigs in blanket, fruit kabobs, etc.  But my dear girl ate sweets, sweets, and more sweets!

How could you say no to all this cuteness?   And to top it all off they brought out some little iced heart-shaped brownies with candles to help her celebrate.  We all sang and they got to enjoy a final dose of sugar before exploring the store.

Not surprisingly she says this was her favorite part - looking at all the doll stuff!  I think she made a list a mile long!

We had so much fun starting the birthday celebration today!  Hard to imagine this little muffin is going to be 4 this weekend!  She had a hayday running through the store with her friends saying "come look at this!"  Can't wait to finish up the celebration with gifts and dinner with the family this weekend!

Math boys!

"Mom, come take a picture of how cute we are!!"  How can I say no to that?  Of course they are cute!  Evidently Wyatt thought it was photo worthy so here they are making an appearance on the blog now!  In our prep for Owen we moved a ton of furniture around and created a little game/puzzle nook behind the couch.  Today the boys decided to do math here together.  They were pretty tickled with it and then had the brilliant idea to share a blanket.  Cause you know, when it is pushing 100 degrees you really need a blanket. :) Although this baby is making me so hot I've got the air cranked pretty low!

I made them take another pic looking like they were actually doing work.  I love how Wyatt put his hand on his head like he was super duper concentrating.  These guys crack me up!  They were actually pretty cute helping each other on their stuff.  Trying to get as much school accomplished as we can in these last weeks before Owen joins us!

My secret obsession!

So I'm pretty sure there's something wrong with me.  I don't know why I do this.  I don't know why it makes me happier than almost anything.  But it does!  It is very rare for a kid to get to sleep in our bed.  If you are sick and Josh is at work then it is allowed.  OR if you catch me in a super sleepy state in the middle of the night when Josh is at work I might tell you to climb on in.  BUT there is a catch.  They have to let me photograph them!!  You can see that I started with just Wyatt cause I knew he wouldn't freak out about the flash, but I've gotten braver about angering the others!  Ha!  Feast your eyes on these little nuggets of hilarity from the past year!