Our monkey named Joy

Joy has been working on getting the 'hang' of the monkey bars since she started school in September.  She has been begging to show us and we finally were able to make it out to the school to see her do it today.  (Side note, ironically, we ran into her teacher who was out walking her dogs)  She has had blisters that have popped and has callouses to prove how hard she has been working.  Now, if she could just muster the same amount of determination in other areas of her life, she would be unstoppable.  Let's pray for that!

Annabelle chatting with Joy

Annabelle has been having more and more to say around here lately.  There are times she goes on and on and on, which we adore.  In the video below, she is responding to Joy trying to get her to 'coo'.  It's so fun to watch Annie touch Joy's heart.  As you will see, Joy loves her baby sister! 

Family Pictures

 We had our first professional family pictures taken.  Not without a little drama of course.  We had them scheduled for 5:00 on Wednesday evening, not the easiest time of day to have all 3 kids ready with full tummies and happy moods.  It took me all afternoon to get everything in place for this picture.  Danny had some things come up at work and didn't arrive until 5:45.  We were very close to rescheduling, which would have been a major disappointment for me after all the time spent prepping for these pictures.  Thankfully, we were quick and got all these done in 20 minutes, with lots of bribing the older kids and bouncing the baby in between shots.  Overall, I am pleased.
 

 

Bench (above)

 

                                                                        Standing

                                                                   casual 1

                                                                   casual 2

 

casual 3

                                                                    floor 1

                                                                    floor 2

                                                                        floor 3

                                                                        sitting 1

                                                                        sitting 2