Well, the era of crawling is almost over at our house. This week, Kenian started walking, and he is pretty proud of himself. Here is a video….

Last Sunday was Kenian’s first birthday, and yesterday we threw a party for him. We invited all of our neighbors, and we had a really fun time. It is hard to believe that our little man has been part of our family for nearly six months now, and now our family could never be complete without him. We are so blessed to have been given three beautiful children, and yesterday was a fun day to celebrate our youngest. Marissa showed off her amazing hostess skills by doing a wonderful job of decorating, making favors, and preparing some delicious food. Here are some pictures…

Here is the man all dressed up and waiting for cupcakes!

Marissa made quite the spread… bruschetta, bean dip, fresh veggies, tomato/basil/mozzarella skewers and more.

She also made cute party hats and favors (I couldn’t get her to wear a hat though).

Analeigh loved her hat!

What is a birthday party without yummy cupcakes?

Kenian was happy to see the cupcakes…

…and even happier to eat them!

After cupcakes it was time to play with his friend Regina.

Kenian also thought a birthday kiss was in order.

At the end of the day, there are few things as fun as a balloon.

Analeigh continues to be the dancer of the family. At night, we play classical music for the girls at bedtime. Analeigh has decided that this makes for great dancing music. Check it out…

One of the worst parts of living overseas is spending holidays away from family. Marissa and I both remember Easter afternoons with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and we so wish we could have that for our kids. Nevertheless, we determined to make the best of it, and had a really fun day. After church and lunch, we colored Easter eggs, had an egg hunt, and went out for ice cream. Here are some pictures…


Kenian didn’t really understand the coloring part…he just figured it was snack time.


The end result.

Everybody loves ice cream…

Especially Avalyn!

In Mexico, addresses are often of little value. Roads rarely, if ever, have signs to tell you the name, and buildings do not often have numbers on them. GPS works sometimes, but frequently gets an address wrong or can’t find it at all. The other day we had a meeting in Atizapan, a crowded municipality not too far from where we live. The secretary had given me vague directions ahead of time, and I had looked up the address on Google Maps. Little did I know, there are four streets in Atizapan with the same name. The street that Google Maps had sent me to was not the correct one. After going to the Google Maps address, I found myself off the main road, and sitting in front of a small house, not the office building I was looking for. The secretary had told me that there was a women’s clinic, and they were the white office building next to it. I pulled back out to the main road, where I saw a clinic advertising “ultrasonidos” which I assumed to be the women’s clinic. No white office building. Across the street was a giant event hall that looked like a huge blue castle. Marissa called the office, and told them that we were next to the women’s clinic and across the street from a giant blue castle. “You are right by us,” the lady told her, “just look for the white office building on the right.” There was no white office building on the right. The time of our appointment was rapidly approaching, and I had done little more than fight traffic to drive in circles for 20 minutes. Another phone call to the office confirmed only that we were “right there.” I stared at the map, trying to figure out what was wrong. It was then that I discovered another road, not far away, with the EXACT SAME NAME. Ten minutes later I found myself in front of a white office building next to a women’s clinic. We made the appointment, and only five minutes late. As we left the appointment, I commented to Marissa how stupid it was that the lady had told us that we were “right there” when she had repeatedly mentioned the big blue castle. I pulled out of the parking lot, and less than a block away was another blue castle. How bizar.

It must be tough to be the youngest child. By the time you do something, everyone else has already done it. Kenian is a trooper, and is determined to not be the only one on the floor. Almost immediately after he started crawling, he was pulling up on furniture, and mimicking the moves that Analeigh used to get on her feet. Today he pulled up on the walker, and almost immediately began walking across the room. He just may accomplish what neither of our girls did, walking on his first birthday….

Today was a big day in the life of Avalyn Joyce. Not only did she turn a big five years old, but she lost her first tooth! We celebrated yesterday by going to the zoo (because Daddy didn’t want to fight the crowds on Saturday!)

Today she had a day full of fun…

Avalyn’s day started with an english muffin and her favorite blueberry hot tea

Next Avalyn and Marissa went to the salon to get Avalyn’s fingernails (pink) and toenails (purple) painted.

We gave Avalyn a choice on where to eat lunch, and she chose California Pizza Kitchen (which turned out to be free because it was her birthday!)

Next we stopped at the arcade to play some games. Then it was home to Skype with grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts and uncles. Then, around 7pm, it happened. Daddy lost patience with the tooth which was hanging by a thread and with one quick yank it was out.

Avalyn is now very proud of the hole in her smile.

On Saturday our little baby girl will turn five, and this week we signed her up for kindergarden, which starts August 22. She is super excited to start school, and we are very happy with the school that we found. Nevertheless, it seems incredible that the little baby we brought home from the hospital what seems like only days ago will soon be marching off into a big world to become (hopefully) an educated, productive member of society. Here she is posing with her new principal and the head of the kindergarden (while showing off her first loose tooth).

Yesterday morning it was almost nap time, and the babies were getting sleepy. I went into the kitchen to make Kenian a bottle, and when I returned, I found him sitting on the floor, unable to stay awake. It reminded me of watching my friend Justin try and stay awake in church after working all night on Saturday. Enjoy.

She has been flirting with it for two months or so, but today Analeigh finally decided that she knows how to walk. She is very proud of herself.