Kate's 5th Birthday

It just doesn't seem possible that five years have passed since we welcomed Kate into the world...What a joy it has been (with it's fair share of challenges, too, of course!)

We began Kate's birthday with her special request for breakfast: chocolate chip pancakes and bacon!

Oh, does this girl ever love her daddy!! Josh told Kate they could go out on a daddy-date after breakfast wherever she wanted to go. She said she wanted to go look around at Target (she's a girl after my own heart!)

Came back from Target with the roses Josh bought for the birthday girl, and another dozen they brought back for me! Sweet surprise :)

Kate has gotten to go to the nail salon in Buford a few times now with Nen (Josh's mom) and thinks it is the best! So, as a special birthday treat we went to a local nail place, and Stephanie and Anna Kate Lyon joined us for some girly birthday fun getting fingers and toes done! Don't the girls look so grown-up and big in those chairs?!

Look at those beautiful feet :)

After the nail salon, we went to the Tea Room in downtown Wake Forest for lunch...

Searching for just the right hat to wear during our lunch

Fabulous, dah-ling

Mimi and Auntie Daria (my mom and sister) made a special trip up to be with Kate for her birthday! Truly the sweetest gift they could have given her. She LOVED having them here, as did the rest of us :)

Miss Priss ;)

The girls didn't want us mommies to miss out on the hat-wearing fun...Love you, Steph!!

After all that fun, we got home to see the Robinsons coming around the corner to love on our birthday girl!

Check out Kate's purple purse cake...that's what she told me she wanted!

After-effects of purple icing

Looks like she's having a great birthday...

Time for presents

New backpack for our kindergartener :)

Happy Birthday Sweet Kate...You are precious!

Daytona 2009

We got to go to Daytona this July to vacation with Josh's parents. We had a nice, long, relaxing time there. First time ever we were able to stay longer than one week...What an amazing gift!!

First day out on the beach, Hudson doing a taste-test of the sand. He liked it, and wound up eating a lot more over the course of the next few days. Eventually, and thankfully, the novelty of eating sand wore off after that.

Jumping waves was a big hit this year! We spent a lot of time doing this with the big kids :)

An incredible storm passed through one evening. A tornado touched down about a mile from where we were! I was wishing for one of those super-duper cameras about this time as a rainbow had come out while it was still storming. If you look closely, on the left side of the picture you can see part of the rainbow, and then the lightning striking just to the right of it. Awesome display of God's power, and neat for the kids to see a rainbow as they love the story of Noah!

The calm after the storm.

Lovin' the popsicles

Justin and Jackey Perry, with their daughter Abigail (plus one in utero), and Drew and Jessie Tucker are sweet friends of ours from our church here. They live in Tampa now and have planted a church down there. We took a day trip over to visit them and hang out. It was such a treat to spend the day together and see what life looks like for them!

Oh, I love this boy!! Doesn't he look so big with his cool shirt? (Another Caden Lee special!)

Carter got to play putt-putt for the first time this trip, and he LOVED it! Getting a little coaching from Daddy to start off with, but he caught on quickly and had a great time!

I can't believe how quickly the past five years have passed by...

Early birthday celebration with Nen and Pa :)

Picnic on the beach our last day there. Really loved using this cool shade tent that Mom had gotten us last year. First chance we've had to use it, and it worked really well! Hudson also used it for his nap...

Last night there, dinner out at Aunt Catfish's. Yummy!!

Doesn't this take your breath away? Sun rising over the ocean the morning we left...

"From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised." Psalm 113:3

4th of July

The 4th of July is always such a fun time of year! Wake Forest does fireworks on the 3rd. We went over to Rob and Emily Lourcey's house to watch them. Here's Team Reed waiting for it to get dark enough to start the show. It was Carter's and Hudson's first fireworks. Last 4th of July, Hudson was only three days old! Time flies.

This is how Carter stayed the entire time. And for a while after it was over, too! There were no tears, but he did say it was loud!

Rob and Emily's little Jane. Isn't she darling?

Wake Forest has a 4th of July parade every year down Main Street. Thankfully, we live right around the corner from where the route starts, so we loaded everybody up and walked down there. We waited for the parade to start in the shade in front of George and Catherine's house. A familiar stretch of sidewalk :)

Carter getting a better view of things with Daddy.

Kate rode her bike the whole way, which had to be at least a mile. She even pedaled up the hills! Go girl!

The parade ended in Holden Park, where they had sno-cones, sack races, arts and crafts for the kids, and of course, a firetruck. Carter checked the whole truck all out.

We ended the day by grilling out with the Doyles. Jeff and Sandrine lead the small group we are in, and we love every chance we can get to spend time with their family. Here are Kate and Carter swimming with their oldest boys, Caleb and Nate.

Hope everyone enjoyed their 4th!!

Happy Birthday Hudson!

Hudson turned one on July 1st!  Where did that year go?!  Our sweet boy had more than his share of birthday fun, as he got to celebrate THREE times!  The first two parties were early while we were still in Georgia in June.

Celebrating at Nen and Pa's in Buford.  Checking out his first piece of cookie cake.  He wasn't sure what to do with it...

...but he quickly figured it out, and I think it's clear that he enjoyed it!  What's not to like about cookie cake?!  Plus, he comes by it naturally, because his mommy and daddy LOVE cookie cake!

Party #2 at Mimi's in Norcross.  He looks like such a big boy.

What a fun daddy Josh is!  The kids thought this was HILARIOUS.

Post-cake grin.  Thanks Mimi!

We were back in Wake Forest by his actual birthday.  We had a pretty low-key day but fussed over Hudson all day too.  Here are Kate and Carter giving him special birthday treatment by sharing their lollipops with him.  At the same time :)  He's never had one before, much less two!!

Bring on the cake.  Chocolate this time.  Hudson dove right in with his pinchers.  He was going at it with both hands!

After a few tastes...he likes it!  This was about the only pause...the rest of the time he was locked in on pinching up bites of that cake.  Good stuff!

Can you believe he ate that whole piece of cake???

Hudson sporting his birthday outfit, courtesy of Stacia.  It's fun because I borrowed the same outfit from her for Carter to wear on his first birthday, and now it was Hudson's turn!

Sweet baby boy.  What a blessing he is to us!!

And, for the most exciting new development, the morning after his birthday, Hudson took his first steps!  We were about to leave for his doctor's appointment and he just took off walking in the kitchen!  How exciting!!  Here he is after a few days of practicing.  He is so proud of himself, and we're proud of him too!!

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