Birthday Party!

On Saturday we had Joey's birthday party. We went to a miniature golf course. It was perfect, and the kids loved it. (And there was really no clean up, so mommy was happy!) :)

It was quite hot out, but there was a breeze, so we survived. And there was a nice pavillion that we could hang out in with the little ones.

All the kiddos ready to go.

And they were so patiently waiting while the daddies had to warm up. :)

Team Grandpa. Jody took all the little girls with him. It was precious!

The four boys raced on through the course. It was chaos, but they were having a blast!

Kylah was quite the little stud. She even got a hole-in-one on the first hole! (I'm pretty sure she had no clue what she did, but everyone cheered really loud for her!)

They were so hot and thirsty when they got done golfing.

We had cake and ice cream, with lots of fun toppings for the ice cream. They were in heaven!

Norah was the cute little center piece on the middle table!

My friend Vanessa and I were reliving our childhoods and drinking Capri Suns!

Meredith and Christine were such a good help!

Karissa had fun playing with Norah. It was so great that Kena, Kyle and Karissa came.

Look at that messy face. She obviously loved her ice cream!

Joey got lots of fun presents from his friends.

What a sweet picture of Audrey and Joey.

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The next night our church rented out a local pool for family night. The Adair's joined us for a night of swimming.

Kylah and Audrey looking cute in their life jackets.

I promise she didn't cry the whole time, but this was just too cute not to share!

Joey has gotten so much braver and better at swimming this year compared to last year. Joe is loving swimming with both kiddos! Kylah is fearless as always!

Me and the two littles. Matty put those goggles on all by himself!

It was a fun night, and everyone was exhausted from a fun but busy weekend!

Now I am trying to do laundry and pack in preparation for our trip to Ohio on Wednesday. We're not sure how Norah is going to do riding in the car for 11+ hours (she's not a big fan of her carseat!) I have a feeling I'll be sitting in the back seat a lot trying to entertain her! :)

Joey's 5th Birthday

I know this is a few days late, but our Joey Bear turned 5 on Tuesday! He was so excited about this birthday. He's been counting down the days for a few weeks now.
I think that he thought he would have some new special talents now that he was five. He woke up that morning and ran into my bathroom where I was getting ready, and says, "look how much I grew mommy!" So sweet! He also thought he would magically be able to tie his own shoes, stay dry at night, and do some crazy gymnastics moves. Gotta love this little boy! :)

We told him he could pick anything he wanted to have for dinner, and I would make it. In true Manthe fashion, he chose biscuits and gravy. (note the big plate, big fork and big (butter) knife for our big five year-old.)

This could be the biggest smile I've seen Joey have. I made cookies for his birthday dessert since we'll be having cake this weekend for his party. I made him a double-decker!

I love how Joey opens gifts. He is always so excited about each gift.

Norah looked on from daddy's lap.

Enjoying his double-decker cookie.

This boy is just like his dad. Not a huge dessert guy, and will "save" things for later. He took one bit of his huge cookie and then was done.

And then there's our daughter who is just like me...ate her entire cookie and asked for another one (which she didn't get.) :)

Joey got to Skype with his cousin Michael on his birthday too, which was fun for him (and Kylah).

Tomorrow (Saturday) we're having a little birthday party for Joey at a miniature golf course, so I'll have some more fun pictures after that!

This will again be the birthday that never ends...he opened gifts from Nana and Grandpa a few weeks ago; he had our birthday celebration on his actual birthday; he has his party tomorrow; and then we'll celebrate with Papa and Gramma next weekend at their house in Ohio! We love birthdays! :)

prayer

Please pray for Joe's brother, Jason. He got hit in the face with a baseball a few days ago and fractured some facial bones. He will be having surgery soon to put some plates in to fix the broken bones. He seems to be doing ok, but prayers would be appreciated!

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Stay tuned for Joey's 5 year birthday post tonight!

Thoughts...by Norah

It's amazing how many different looks you can get by snapping quick pictures of Norah within just a few minutes.
It's like having an entire conversation with her.

Hey, what's up, mommy?

I really love these fingers. I'm not quite sure yet how to suck them like my sister does, but I'm learning. What? You don't want me to suck my fingers?

Fine, but I'm not happy about it. And I'm not going to look at you now.

I do like that necklace you're wearing, though, so I'll look at that.
Wait, is that a wrinkle I'm getting on my forehead?!

Do I have something on my face?? (Only she can make spit up look semi-cute!)

Is it gone? Oh, good. How embarrassing!

I mean, really, the horror! What if someone saw me with that on my chin?! I would be ruined!

Mommy, I really do like these fingers. Can I just chew on them a little bit?

Oh, you were wanting this smile all along? Why didn't you just say so! :)

And then I got her giggling. She's so ticklish. I don't remember Joey or Kylah being quite as ticklish as Norah is. I love it!


Such a sweet baby girl. I do love her!!

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This little boy may be turning 5 in just a few days, but he still loves to be sung to and to have his feet scratched. He used to always ask us to scratch his heels, and now he likes his whole foot scratched. What a funny thing to like...but actually, I like to have my feet scratched too, so he must get it from me! (Somehow he talked his daddy into singing him another song and scratching his feet again, because I was just doing this a minute before!)

Insider trading

When Joey's class has naptime at school, the kids are allowed to do a quiet activity on their mat instead of sleeping if they want to. Joey usually takes his Leapster to play during naptime. Lately, he and his little friends will trade Leapster games...permanently. Joey will come home with new games and minus his old ones. I'm fine with it, as long as he doesn't care and he is sharing.
The other day Joey came home with another game, a Cars game. He told me that Vinnie gave it to him. I asked him why he didn't give Vinnie one of his to trade, and he said that he tried, but Vinnie didn't want to. Ok, I guess.
Then I said, "Joey, didn't you used to have a Cars game that was yours? Is this your Cars game." Joey says, "No, I traded my Cars game with Garrett a while ago. This is Vinnie's Cars game that he gave to me."
Oh, my, so confusing! It sounds like they have a little business going on. :)

Norah's 4 month stats

In case any of you were waiting and waiting for Norah's stats from her doctor's visit, here they are...

Weight: 13 pounds, 3 ounces (50th percentile)
Length: 25 inches (80th percentile)

She's doing great and growing well! We are very blessed.

A really fun Saturday

We had a busy but fun Saturday. As Joey said, "that was a really fun Saturday!!"

The day started off with Joey's last t-ball game of the year. His coach put black stuff on all of their faces, so Joey felt like a professional baseball player (although he really didn't know why he was wearing it!) :)

Up to bat. Nice form!

On his last time around the bases, his coach told him to slide into home plate. Here is a video of it...


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After the game, we headed to the store to pick up stuff for a picnic lunch, because we were headed fishing! The small town that Dave and Mere live in were having a fun fishing day for kids. They had stocked a few little ponds with catfish. Each kid could take home 3 catfish. And it was FREE!

Joe got Joey all set up.

It took a while for the catfish to start biting, but once we figured out that we needed to take off the bobbers, the fish really started biting.

It looks like Joey is giving Kylah a lesson on fishing here.

Joey was the first one to catch a fish. The kids named this one the baby, because it was by far the smallest of the catfish that were to come.

Kylah even pulled in a couple of her own!

This huge catfish that Audrey is holding was the size of the rest of the catfish that were caught!

Sweet little girls just fishing (when we finally made them stop eating all the snacks!) :)

All of the kiddos gathered around the cooler of fish. We ended up with 12 catfish. The boys headed to Dave's house to try to clean the fish. They got a few done, but then Dave finished the rest later. We'll have to do a catfish fry soon!

Norah was a trooper out there in the heat. I tried to keep her cool by wetting down her head, keeping her out of the sun, but still letting the breeze get to her. Pretty tricky!

Meredith and I decided that now the kids are going to think regular fishing is pretty boring after pulling in catfish after catfish!!

Here's a fun video of Joey catching a fish. I love how excited all the kids get when the fish is pulled out of the water! You can hear Kylah calling this one the Gramma fish (since we had a baby, daddy and mommy already.) :)



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While Joe and Joey cleaned fish at Dave's house, I headed home with the girls for baths/showers and naps.

Then, we headed to the kids' school where they were having a Parent's Night Out. We got to leave all three of the kiddos, and Joe and I had a nice quiet dinner out. The kids had a blast eating dinner, playing games and watching a movie. Needless to say, everyone was exhausted when we finally got home that night. (Unfortunately, even though Norah may be exhausted, it didn't make her sleep any better at night!) :) Oh, well, someday...

The next day on the way to church, Joey all of a sudden says, "mommy, that was a really fun Saturday yesterday. When can we do that again?" :)

Norah is growing!

She looks so big here! And she's getting such a strong neck.

Yesterday morning I looked over at the kids, and this is what I saw. So cute!

I gave Norah a few bites of rice cereal yesterday just to see what she would do. She knew right what to do with it and didn't gag at all. I haven't really made it a permanent addition to her routine (more because it would require taking extra things when we go out!) :) It was fun to try, though. Joey was my photographer. He's doing pretty good with that camera!

She liked it!

This morning she had some time on the playmat.

We saw her starting to turn on to her side, so I'm sure rolling over will probably be soon!

She just still seems way too little to be 4 months already! Since she is (God-willing) our last, I am trying to soak up all of her baby-ness! I will probably be in denial forever as she grows up! :)
We go to the doctor on Tuesday for her 4 month check up, so I'll post her stats after that!

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Audrey hung out with us on Tuesday. This was a cute photo of the three big kids before we went to the sprinkler park. So cute!