Thankful

It's hard for me to believe how grown up Joshua is now. It's like every day he's a little bigger and knows a little more. It's been so fun watching him for the last two months mastering his walking skills. He is a fast little guy. And just this week he's learned to stand up from sitting, so he's even more mobile and QUICK! Before he had to crawl over to pull himself up on something so that he could walk to wherever he was going. He also knows what more things are. Even though he may not be able to tell us what they are, he knows. We can ask him to go get something, and he goes and gets it and brings it back to us. It's been so fun to see him learn new things. I love the stage he is in right now, but sometimes I miss my little bitty baby who would let me hold him for hours. He lets me hold him for all of two seconds now before he's demanding to get down and GO! I am so thankful to God for blessing us with this sweet child. I'm thankful for a child who is healthy and developing right where he should be. I'm thankful for his sweet (and slobbery) kisses. I'm thankful for a husband who is a wonderful father and a great role model for our son. I guess you could say I'm thankful.

Party Animals II

Apparently we like to party.

Our friend Jay turned 30 last week, and on Saturday night Jared threw a pool party/cookout for him. We had loads of fun despite the clouds and light rain. Joshua couldn't stand it when we first got there and wouldn't let him in the pool yet. Every time we put him down he walked straight to the pool, bypassing us if we stood in his way. He is a strong-willed little guy! And he inherited his momma's temper.

We had a great time, and we did eventually let Joshua go swimming. Swimming is, after all, one of his very favorite things to do. He even got to eat an entire (mini) cupcake. Well, that one his daddy snuck in when mommy wasn't looking. We had a great time and got to see some neat people, like Jeff Knapp and our long lost friend Carly!

Happy Birthday Jay! Thanks for being a good friend!

Party Animals

More family time to update on! Last weekend we headed back to Albemarle to celebrate Hudson and Katy's birthdays. I can't tell you how good it was to actually get to celebrate a birthday with those kiddos! We had a grand time getting to spend some good quality time with them and their parents! That time include lots of outside play at Grandma and GaGa's with water, a Barbie Ken Jeep, a soccer ball, a basketball, a baseball, a big wheel, and a wagon! We ate some yummo homemade spaghetti and some oh so good chocolate cake and ice cream!! Hudson and Katy had two birthday parties last weekend, and their birthday (or is it days since they have the same one?) wasn't even until Friday (the 21st)! Those are some lucky and loved kids! I know we sure love them!!

(Has anyone noticed how many exclamation points I've used in this post?) (or parentheses?)

I guess you could say we had a great time! It is so awesome to see Joshua with his cousins! I hope they all grow up to be great friends!

Enjoy a few pictures from the birthday party! There are tons more on our flickr page.

Family Time!!

Man, I keep getting behind on updates. Life's been as busy as ever. Let's go back two weeks....

Two weekends ago we headed to Concord to officially sign over my dad's house to my mom! She's now finally a homeowner of the house she's been working so hard at remodeling!!! Yay Mom!!! We are so very happy for you and know that this is a new beginning! We can't wait to see the house when it is completely finished! After we signed the paperwork YaYa fixed us a YUMMY steak dinner that night! We are spoiled!

While on our trip we spent the night with Grandma and Gaga (Derek's parents) and got to visit with Ma and Poppy (Derek's grandparents). Joshua just loves all of the attention he gets from mine and Derek's families. He really enjoyed showing off his walking skills as that is his main mode of transportation and has been for several weeks.

We also got to meet baby Charlie!! He is a little cutie! I think he looks exactly like his daddy...already. I usually have trouble seeing that when a baby is so young (3 weeks), but there is just no denying who is daddy is...ha! It was so very good to see Meredith and Jonathan! We didn't have a whole lot of time with them, but we did get to do a little catching up and got some cuddle time with their baby boy.

Like always, we crammed a lot into one weekend. I don't think we know how to do it any other way. It was a fun weekend, though!!

Welcome Home!!!

We would like to say a big 'ol WELCOME HOME to our Thai family!!! David, Pamela, Hudson, and Katy arrived back in the US on July 31st! As soon as they got to their house in Fuquay Varina, where they will be living for about 6 months, from the airport Joshua and I headed out to see them. It was so very good to see them and FINALLY meet our precious niece Katy! I can't believe she is almost a year old and we are just now meeting her. They are about 10 minutes from our house, so needless to say we are really excited and plan lots of get-togethers in the near future! Joshua was happy to finally meet his uncle, aunt and cousin! Once Derek got home from work that day we headed back over to their house. Derek was super excited to see them again! Once they got settled in over the weekend we had them over for dinner on Sunday night. We had a great time catching up and reconnecting. Hudson was a blast to play with! Katy was so cute. She had never been on carpet before (their house in Thailand had tile floors and their house in Fuquay has hardwoods), so she kept lying down on our floor. As the night progressed and she got tired she laid down and went to sleep right there in the middle of the living room! It was so funny, but I guess she just got cozy. We had a great time with them that first weekend and can't wait for many more nights and weekends like it!

Joshua enjoyed meeting his Uncle David (even though he wouldn't look at the camera)

We were so slack at taking pictures, so we don't have many from the weekend. Hopefully the next time we're together we will get some good ones.....or get at least one of Hudson, Katy and Joshua all together. I think we were too interested in talking and catching up to bother with the camera.

Party Time with the Ladies

My friend Tricia (you know, the cake lady!) hosted a little get together for our friend Brooke's birthday. Brooke lives in Charlotte with her husband but was in Raleigh working for the week. It can't be a lot of fun to be away from home and your husband on your birthday, so hopefully we made it a little better for her. Tricia had some yummy treats for us, and we just enjoyed having some girl time. It was a great time of catching up with a lot of laughing. I don't get away to be with just girls very often, so it was a special treat for me!

Me, Abby, Brooke, Tricia, Kara & Baby Boy McLendon (too bad Dianna left before we got the camera out to take a picture....sorry Di!)

The birthday girl and the hostess

Aunt Johanna's Vacation

The weekend before last we had the opportunity to go spend a night at the beach with Johanna and her family! Danny and Johanna drove to Topsail Island all the way from Texas, with only one stop in Georgia! We got there Saturday afternoon and left Sunday night. Most of the day on Sunday was spent on the beach! Although we were only there for about 26 hours it was a great little trip! It was so so nice to see Johanna and get to catch up a little bit. Of course it wasn't nearly enough time, but I'm thankful for the time that we did have. Thanks for inviting us Lukhards and for being such great hosts!

Right after we got there we took Joshua out on the beach because that could be one of his favorite places ever!

Joshua enjoyed sitting with Johanna on the front porch and waving at every person that walked by and every car that drove by.

This is right before we got in the car to head home. Notice that Joshua has his pajamas on so that he could sleep on the way home and all we would have to do was put him in bed when we got there. Too bad he slept for all of 30 minutes in the car. I'm not sure what was going on with him because he is usually such a good sleeper in the car.

We miss you already Aunt Johanna (and the rest of the Lukhard clan)! Thanks again!