24 weeks old

On Gracie's birthday, Henry is celebrating his 24th week.

Our six year old

Today Gracie turned six years old.  It is amazing to look back at the past year and see how much she has grown and matured in all areas of her life.  She is a wonderful part of our family and I thank God for blessing us with her as a daughter and sister.  We pray that God will continue to sanctify her and that she will follow Him well for all of her days. 

We love you, Grace!

23 weeks old

This past week I started feeding Henry solids--it's not been overly successful yet. But, we'll keep trying. (I also started potty training with Kate--that has been even less successful. Yep, I feel like a champion mom this week.)

(If this looks to you like last week's picture, I thought that at first, too.  I panicked when I first saw this picture and last week's picture next to each other in the computer photo album.  I thought I'd forgotten to take a 22 week picture.  Then I realized I just had the same 'creative inspiration' two weeks in a row.)

22 weeks old

Henry is 5 months old!

First day of school 2011

The first day of school has arrived (barely, since they were sent home by eleven o'clock due to the heavy rain and flooding.) Joost is starting 2nd grade and Gracie is starting Kindergarten.

Also, Henry is 21 weeks old today, so he needed to have his picture taken with the school kids on such a momentous day.

Off to school they go. May God bless this school year.

Rehoboth 2011

Good ol' Irene tried to ruin our vacation, but fortunately, she only delayed it. During the mandatory evacuation days at Rehoboth Beach, it was still very nice weather, so we enjoyed the start of our vacation doing things around Harrisburg that we never make the time to do in normal life--picnicing and boating at Little Buffalo, miniature golf on City Island, and we wrapped up each day with a big family dinner at Mom and Dad's.

When Monday rolled around and the hurricane had passed, we hit the road bright and early. Arriving in Rehoboth around 9, we found it to be in good shape after the storm.

We had lovely weather the rest of the week and had great times digging in the sand,

playing in the water,

building cities,

taking naps,

and enjoying time together as a family.