Samson

This afternoon, we had to make the very difficult decision to put one of our cats, Samson, to sleep. He had been ill with kidney failure for awhile, and started to really go downhill in the last couple of days.

He was the cat that we never intended to have. He moved in under our house when we lived in Madison, and ended up moving in with us, to make a long story short. Samson was one of those truly great cats, though--a great lap cat, but also could act like an overgrown kitten. He had his cat moments, of course--he was notorious for being underfoot at all times. He was great with the girls and is the only cat that Katherine refers to by name..."Tam Tam."

He will be missed around here.

One Month Old!

On Thursday, the 21st, Malcom turned one month old. He is still such a good baby, even if his days and nights are still somewhat confused. He is really growing. On Friday, he weighed in at 8 pounds, 9 ounces, and he is now over 22 inches long. (Speculation is that the original 19 inch measurement was not accurate, as he measured almost 21 inches when he was 3 days old.) He is a good eater, and has started to track us with his eyes. He even gave his first little smile last night--to Katherine. :-) We really are blessed!

Here are a few pictures from the past week, starting with the church picnic last Saturday (first picture) and ending with a few I made last night. By the last one, he had had enough of the whole picture thing.

We Like Sheep

At the Sunday evening service on Mother's Day, the children at church presented the musical, "We Like Sheep." This was Mary Joyce's first real musical. Of course, she is three and extremely active, and she was the youngest on the platform, but all things considered, she did a great job. We thought she made a very cute little sheep.

Malcom's Baby Dedication

On Mother's Day, Malcom was dedicated to the Lord. This was a very special day. Chet held Malcom as he conducted the service, and the girls were able to stand with me as their brother was dedicated. Our prayer is that we can raise Malcom and his sisters to love the Lord, and that when the time is right, each of them will accept Christ as Lord and Savior.

Here are some pictures from the day. We have the service on video, and will try to get that edited so that we can post at least part of it.

Malcom on his Special Day


Katherine playing in the church nursery:


Katherine


Mary Joyce (playing with my Mother's Day carnation--this was as still as I could get her...)


Our Family of Five

A Saturday Morning at the Beach

On Saturday last week, we made our first family trip to the beach for the spring. It was a beautiful day, and we were able to get some great pictures. It was a fairly short trip, as Malcom is so young that we can't use sunscreen on him yet, so he wore his hat and long pants and stayed in his stroller in the shade. You can tell from the pictures, he was very excited by the whole experience. :-) Mary Joyce and Katherine had fun playing in the sand, and Mary Joyce really enjoyed the water, too. Katherine...not so thrilled about the whole ocean part of things. It was a fun morning. Enjoy the pictures!

Random Photo Thread

The other day, Mary Joyce was cleaning up toys before bedtiime, and she used this unique technique to put away her and Katherine's Abby Cadabby dolls. Not exactly what I meant by cleaning up, but it was hilarious, and of course, I motioned to Chet to get the camera. We had to preserve that one for posterity.


Both of our girls love books. Here they are with their Alpha-Kidz books, having a great time. (To put in a plug, these books are written by the older sister of a couple of girls I went to high-school with. My parents send the books to the kids from Louisiana, but you can also order online, I believe.):



Our friend Kim sent a package for the kids, and the girls immediately claimed the box as a drum:


Malcom's First Time on the Baby Gym--He really enjoys it, but you see who immediately came over to join him. Now, we have started putting him down on the baby gym after the girls are in bed for the night.


Daddy's Rookie


Our Sweet Baby Boy--He is having a lot more awake time now, but still sleeps a lot. At least I'm starting to get some pictures with his eyes open. :-)



The girls both love to ride on their Daddy's shoulders. Here is Mary Joyce taking a turn.


We went to the mall the other day, and the girls got new sunglasses at Children's Place. Here are our little movie stars:


Here are the girls early one morning. They were hanging out with their daddy in the home office before I got up that morning. I thought these pictures were adorable.

Look Who is Sleeping in a Big Girl Bed!

Recently we decided to go on and try Katherine out with the toddler bed since I'm not supposed to lift her until my 6 weeks time frame (after the baby was born) is over, and Chet isn't always around when she needs to go into the crib (naptime, for instance). Anyway, we started her in the toddler bed last week, and she has been doing a great job with it! Here is a picture made before bedtime on the first night:

Bubbles, Sidewalk Chalk, and More Outside Fun!

The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous lately. We need rain in the worst way, but it doesn't keep us from enjoying the pretty sunny days. Here are a few pictures from when we took the girls out to play in the yard last week. Bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and tricycles made for a lot of fun! Malcom hung out with Mama in the shade, of course.