our days & our ways: "To infinity and beyond!"

Astronaut August

Danielle and I found the cutest pictures on Pinterest of sleeping babies in fun/ funny poses. Actually taking the pictures isn't as easy as it looks! First of all you need a SLEEPING baby :). (I probably couldn't sleep either with my head on a paper plate).

Godzilla Golackson

"karate chop!"

I wonder what the people in the blue Mercedes are thinking :)

Ok, ok! I surrender!

An attempted family picture on Easter. The reason for the awesome expressions is mostly because of the crowd of on-lookers. "Smile if you are having fun!"

We are!

These pictures with Phil & Danielle make me lonesome! We dropped them off at the airport last Monday. Cade held it together and even told Uncle Phil he won't miss him... UNTIL we got into the car after they were gone... and he started balling :(...

I think this is the cutest picture of the bunch! Too bad it would make an odd birth announcement :).

An Easter picnic at a botanical garden! And no, we don't know the three random people on the right/ front. They just wanted to get in the picture!

What an Easter Egg hunt! We even found pens and stickers!

Now we're having fun :)

What a gorgeous park.

And two gorgeous girls!

Our Chinese friend commented afterwards that the whole time we were there she kept thinking, "August has got to be the youngest person ever to enter this park!" (Since Chinese babies generally don't leave their home until they are 100 days old).

Hadassah doesn't smile often, but when she does we know she means it!

peek-a-bo Obs

"I don't dare hold him!" is the most common phrase from our Chinese friends.

August was happy to be held by Uncle Spring :).

snuggly buggly bear

Vivi LOVES to hold August all throughout the day... for about 2 seconds at a time.

Hadassah is a "picker"... she picks at his face and hands and clothes etc... he doesn't seem to mind... yet

While dad took a few weeks off of work, our whole family studied the oceans and continents! (What else were we to do with all our time?? :) We projected a map on the wall and had Lil and Cade label them with paintbrushes dipped in water. If you think that sounds like fun... Later, Cade pulled out his nerf gun and shot at the locations Josh called out. I just thought of an even better one... dip the nerf gun into the water...

3 littles "painting" on the wall

boys

hard to separate

more awesome Easter pics

One of my favorite things at this age is to put my face as close as I can to August's and to feel his little panting breath, and to smell the sweetness.

"mom, that's embarassing"

These girls just LOVE memory. I find them playing all over the house at all times of day.

Why do I even think one picture with 6 kids 8 and under might turn out? :)

I love the way Cade looks so content and peaceful. Now to get him to change diapers...

"when's lunch?" -Cade

"I thought you said to frown"-Viv

"Those are all my siblings?!"

August at 1 month

Our favorite babysitter Laura. She is amazing. The kids ask when we are going on a date so she can come over.

Danielle and I got our final hike in about a week before she headed back to the states. We had quite a time (as usual)! (August came with too :)

We took a pretty random bus up to a pretty random mountain. We talked about not trusting in horses and chariots as we ~~drove~~ chugged up a pretty steep and windy hill...

We made it! As soon as we got off the bus, I found a stump to sit on to nurse August... after we were greeted by this sweet lady and her husband. August was a few days over one month. Since whenever I say that to anyone Chinese, their response is that we shouldn't be out of the house. So this time I had to think of something clever. "He's not 2 months yet" was my response to her. It worked! She was delighted :)

a bird on a broken ear

some knots in a cool tree

getting some burps and toots out before the big hike

The path was not as rustic as we would have liked (once again), but the surroundings were gorgeous.

We are pretty sure we found our self in the "Forrest Conservation and Protection" building area. Huh.

It was a warm day- great idea to bring along the sun umbrella

Just watering plants on a random patch of land on top of a random mountain

On the way down we found a restaurant/ fishing hole/ hotel "park"

...oh yeah, and a little peacock village

time for a snooze. again.

We enjoyed a picnic of light snacks this time- some nuts and dried fruit.

We found a fun place to relax.

At first I thought this might be the "youth" hostel, but then we ran into a few fisherman. Retired looking fisherman.

After a fun morning and a nice hike down, we were glad to spot a taxi.

Heading home again!

We got an awesome package in the mail last week from my sister's friends from church! Resurrection eggs (!!!) (It's never too late to tell that story!), CEREAL, some coloring books and some colored pictures from cousins! THANKS SO MUCH!!!

August's bed has turned into an orphanage without me knowing

stretch!

muscle man

Who needs pets when you can pull a box around the house with a string & a cat's head on it?

(V and H had a blast with these felines. I'm not so sure the cats had as much fun though since they kept getting dropped off at child care :)

School is overrated. Let's go play ball!

August's first airplane trip!

Phil & Danielle GRACIOUSLY watched the other kids while Josh, August and I spent 2 days in a near by city to get his passport and social security number.

We stayed at our friends' house who were wonderful hosts and offered us their roof top suite with a garden and trampoline included!

Peter's was one of our favorite restaurants where we previously lived. We found one in this city and enjoyed amazing salads.

It was so great to see old (young) friends! Kayleigh loved holding August, and Zion did a great job too.

"big sister" Jubilee

Josh waiting in the doctor's office at the hospital where August got circumcised.

(I could think of no better way of saying that :)

The Dr. who gave August the "surgery" is number one in the entire province and has had 20 years of experience. That was a relief to us :). (And why this picture?... This is the view from the office. Someone is hanging out their pantyhose to dry. reasonable.)

We were so glad to meet up with our Doula and her husband and grand baby. What a sweet bunch. They are each a blessing to so many.

Lily & Caedmon were so bummed they couldn't come with to see their friends (though they had a great time with Phil & Danielle!). And other way around- one of their friends said, "When I found out Lily and Caedmon weren't with you I was pretty sad." We took some pictures and brought home some treats. This is Lydia holding August. It was amazing to have all these little arms to help!