Family Gathering in San Diego

Love and Family

Nephews

All of our nephews--along with my parents, three of my brothers, and two of my sisters-in-law--got together in San Diego this past week. Here are some pictures of the cuteness. When J and I looked at them this morning we really really wished we could have been there, too.

This is G (almost 2.5) meeting Li'l Tyke (9 months) for the first time.

Is this not the cutest ringbearer (and family) ever? A&M travelled out to San Diego for a wedding, and G was the ringbearer. I can't get over how adorable he is in his tux!

In this picture of Li'l Tyke (who is getting so big!), J and I think he really looks a lot like Cali's dad.

Love this huge smile!!

Here's 4-month-old Trucker chatting it up with Li'l Tyke.

Trucker always has the cutest little baby expressions. I just love this photo!

M's face in this picture is classic.

Looks like the water was cold!

I love my sisters-in-law!!

And, not to be outdone, here's one of my brothers--Geg, Surf, and A:

Name Paintings

So we've ordered a painting for each of our nephews-- G, Li'l Tyke, and now Trucker. Here's a link to a picture of the painting we had done for Trucker. It's totally cute and we just heard from A&M that they really love it. I can't wait to get to see it in person! Check it out here.

p.s. We've now ordered three paintings, plus I won one in a contest, and these paintings are so cute and really reasonably-priced for custom-made artwork, so if you're interested, check out Penny Pickles Art (there's also a link to her blog on the side of this blog).

Nephew updates!

G got a new hair cut, courtesy of M-- who did an amazing job. It's sad to see his curls go. Boy, doesn't he look all grown up all of a sudden?
Li'l Tyke is 5 months old and doing all kinds of acrobatics now, we hear. Check out that push up in the first picture!and Trucker is now a week old. Here's a tiny little baby picture. Isn't he adorable? (and how many of us can remember when our babies were that tiny? I swear, every time I say, "I'll never forget..." a few months later, I'm like, "ooh, I've already forgotten what it was like when...")

Favorite Holiday Photos: Ohio (Part 2)

Here are more of my favorite holiday photos--this time taken from Surf & Cali's camera.

I love this shot of me and Li'l Tyke. Reminds you of how little they are--and how quickly they aren't so little anymore!
My family has a weakness for smokies from the market--and it looks like Li'l Tyke has caught the bug, too!
It wasn't always easy to get both cousins together-- R would sometimes get very angry if J or I was holding Li'l Tyke (even if the other one was holding her!), but other times, all she would do is demand to be held too. Here are some photos of a few times that happened. Isn't the cuteness just unbearable?
I think R liked her presents, don't you?

Favorite Holiday Photos: Ohio

In no particular order, here are some favorite family pictures from our Ohio trip.

My mom, Cali, Li'l Tyke, R, and my dad--just a nice picture of them all.
I absolutely love this picture of Surf and my father making Li'l Tyke laugh. The entire time we were there, we kept trying to come up with things that would get him to just laugh and laugh. What usually worked was finding some phrase that you could say repeatedly, and loudly, right to his face. "Merry Christmas!" worked very well, as did "Yes, sir!" and "There you are!" and "Calm down!" among others.
In this picture, R is "smiling". She squints her eyes shut like this when she's trying to really smile. (Kind of like our other nephew G used to smile with what I sometimes call the "Beast" smile.)
This next picture was taken the night Surf and Cali arrived. Surf was checking out my parents' tree and laughing at all the old ornaments. A lot of them are actually ornaments we kids made at school. The one he's holding has a picture of Geg on it in these too-short blue sweatpants and a teenage mutant ninja turtles long-sleeve t-shirt, on a paper cup covered in tin foil and hung with a pipe cleaner. Remember those elementary school arts and crafts? My parents still have them and hang them on their tree every year, when most parents probably threw those things out the minute they came home from school. Note, too, the angel at the top of the tree. She is wearing a knitted hat that used to be a christmas ornament in the colors of a high school my dad used to coach at. It got put on the angel's head when the last strands of her hair finally fell off.
Ok, in terms of picture quality this one isn't the best, but I love that my dad looks like he is really talking on a plastic green phone.

AND MORE TO COME...

H!

So my friend M sent a sweet Thanksgiving greeting, including a link to an online album with pictures of her daughter, H. It was amazing to see how H had changed since the last time we'd seen her, back in June.
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Anyway, we showed R the photos, and she kept saying "H! H! H!" when looking at the pictures.

We cheered her on-- "Yeah! That's right! You remember H, don't you?"

Today we showed R Thanksgiving photos that Surf and Cali sent from their Thanksgiving in Florida. There were three babies in the pictures-- Li'l Tyke and his two cousins, C & K--and at each one, R kept saying,"H! H!"

Suffice to say, we worked on saying "Li'l Tyke" and "C" and "K" although the only thing she did was to say "bay-bee" a few times and point at the screen a lot.

I think she misses H, don't you?

Because I Can't Resist

Here's another photo of Li'l Tyke. I just can't get enough of this tiny baby sweetness!

Li'l Tyke

We got to talk to Cali earlier today and everything is going smoothly. We're just so tickled to have a new nephew!

Isn't he a cuuuuuutie???

We have a new NEPHEW!!!

Li'l Tyke, as we're calling him on this blog, was born this morning, 9ish Pacific Time. 7 lbs 4 oz, 19 inches. I am absolutely dying for pictures!!

Congratulations, Surf and Cali! We are super-super excited and can't wait to meet Li'l Tyke in person.

Love, S, J, & R