Birthday party preview- Georgie.

We rushed back to SC so we could be back in time for Henry's 6th birthday.

Mama devoted her extra time to making Henry a pop art image of Henry. He didn't get it.

We discovered that the oven stopped working (the touch screen failed) and it's going to take a MONTH to rebuild the control panel on our very expensive built in double oven. (Note to self: always rent.) So mama had to come up with a last minute replacement for Henry's birthday school snack and party cake. So she melted rolos on pretzels in the microwave and made pretzel sandwiches. And she poured melted frosting over Little Debbies to make lego cakes.

Mama went to Henry's school to eat lunch with Henry's class. When you have someone come visit, you get to sit at a special table and pick one friend to eat with you. Henry chose his buddie Alex, who he says is "pretty much his best older friend in his class right now." That's quite a complement.

Meanwhile, I haven't had much to say in the way of actual words. Until we were out walking with Grams and I started singing what sounded an awful like "Happy birthday to you." See if you hear any of it.

After many more futile attempts to capture it on camera, mama and papa thought maybe my clothes were inhibiting my speech. Wait a second....

They tried by I just got goofy.

Success!

Then papa had a trick of his own to show off.

Uncle Jim, I smell and Christmas contest brewing.

Country Music Higway- June.

There are two ways we can drive between Ohio and South Carolina. We can drive west through Kentucky and Tennessee or east through North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. We found that we can also go straight south down 23. In short, there's no good way to get home. So we headed straight south down Country Music Highway 23.

The highlight of the trip was a Taco Bell that looked like a castle!

And was decorated for Christmas!

And was full of country music memorabilia! This dress belonged to Minnie Pearl! Best. Taco Bell. EVER!

Still in Ohio-Georgie.

We're back to being behind after a few weeks of passing around illnesses.

Back and Grandma and Grandpa's house, it rained all week. Here's the view of the Seibert lakefront property. Mind you, you shouldn't be able to see the creek over the hill. When we left, mama thinks we may have been one of the last ones to drive down 15 before they closed it. The water was getting pretty close to the road.

Grandpa picked up Tessa one night after work. We barely saw Tessa and June for the rest of the visits. June talks about her best friend Tessa all the time. They had so much fun that Tessa actually brought her bedtime stuff out and asked to be put to bed. June the night owl was sad that Tessa didn't want to have a sleepover with her, but mama was happy to have a little girl to cuddle with in her bed.

I wanted to play too, but those big girls move too fast for me.

Here's somone more my speed. I'm Georgie the Giant compared to this shrimp!

Could Cecelia look more like Oliver?

What a great shot of everyone with their babies!

I LOVE Dora the Explorer. If I get mad, mama can calm me down by singing the Dora theme song. I sing along "D-D-Do. D-D-Do."

Uncle Kevin handed over CeCe to mama with the explicit instructions "Don't let her fall asleep." Oops.

I don't think Cecelia minded.

Sweet baby Cecelia- mama.

On Sunday, we sent the boys home and I took the girls up to Archbold. The Tallers were driving through on their way home from Cleveland, but I only had one reason for going.

To squeeze on sweet little Cecelia.

At 9 weeks, she's still only about 10 pounds. And totally cuddly.

Aunt Jenni and Great Grandma inspected her skinny legs.

Not much meat.

I eventually put some clothes on CeCe and cuddled her down for a long nap.

Early birthday party- June.

Per Thanksgiving tradition, Black Friday was marked with a birthday party for Henry and Sadie. Let's just say I didn't take it very well when I found out I'd be the only big kid not receiving presents.

Mama scored some awesome ice cream cakes on sale at the Meijer, but neglected to get candles. We scrounged up a 2 and a 3, so it became a multiplication cake.

Notice that Henry not only spit on his cake, but also stuck his face in it.

Mama got all of our families to pool together to get Henry the granddaddy of all presents- a Lego train set with a ton of track.

I think he likes it.

Meanwhile, George found out PawPaw can do a few tricks with 20 pound babies.

And I held a dance party. Check out how many admiring looks Georgie throws my way.

After the tree was up, mama wanted a shot of all of us kids in front of it.

This was as good as it got.

Thanksgiving in Ohio-JoJo.

We made the trip up to Ohio for Thanksgiving this year.

It was a quiet and enjoyable holiday as the big kids were sent to the basement.

And once Henry learned how to set up the DVD player, they climbed on to the top bunk and had a great afternoon watching movies.

Upstairs, the little kids had the run of the joint. Mama gave me a wipe and I spent a long time cleaning things.

Then I snuggled up with PawPaw for a little nap.

It took some major promises from the big kids, but finally the adults let them sleep together. It worked out pretty well, though at one point June and Sadie were jumping on Henry's head. Henry slept through the whole thing.

Next morning, straight back to the basement.

We all helped Grams put up the Christmas tree. This awesome shot by Aunt Katie really captured how fun and crazy it was.

Where was Dasher? Busy admiring his boy hero. Dash LOVES Henry. So much that he spent a good portion of the day chasing Henry and giving him hugs.

My girls- Mama.

We were so excited that june's hair is long enough for a pony tail.

Well, almost long enough. With the aid of some hair barrettes, we managed to get it back.

It shouldn't take long to have it properly long enough. June's hair grows fast. I chopped it short in May and it's already longer than mine. And I've been growing mine out for 2 years.

It was sunny, muggy and 75 degrees today when we picked Junie up from school. She came out with her backpack "mailman style."

We hit our favorite pipe installations.

And tried to capture a good 15 month shot of JoJo.

Jo had a check up this morning. She was 30.25 inches tall (50th percentile) and weighed a back-breaking, bone-crushing....

... 20 pounds and 5 ounces. (That's the 12th percentile). And her head was 18 inches, for those of you charting her progress (45th percentile).

This may looked posed, but actually, Georgie is trying to get me to lift her up so she can walk on the brick ledge just like the big kids.

This isn't a great shot of Jo, but isn't South Carolina beautiful? This is the view we get every day just driving to preschool. Not bad.