learning the basics....

Our little Gwen, being in the first years of life, is having to learn so much that we big people take for granted. Her latest endeavor of independence has been to use utensils.
You can see her concentration....
Brother Gabriel wanted in on the picture taking...
Then she resorted to her hands...
Or why not just eat straight from the bowl? :)And in case pictures just aren't enough here is some video!

Birthday Girl...

Warning, there are a lot of pictures in this post!


Yesterday we celebrated the first year of Gwendolyn Marrin's sweet and precious life!
Here are some recent pictures i've taken of her over the last week...
As for her birthday party,
we started with present opening...


She enjoyed looking at her card and her new bible themed flash cards
And her new "baby" since we lost the old one,
this time it's a small pink elephant!
she wasn't so sure about this one though...

Ah, clothes!

Gabriel made himself useful
she liked the clothing tags

And then, the cake!
which is topped with my own first birthday cake topper!
"ooooh!"

she was excited and liked us singing....actually i was the only one who sang but whatever!
the tentative touch
still not completely sure
hmmm...
maybe a bigger bite?
"yummy!"
then the sugar began to set in....

Over all it was a good first birthday cake i think! :)

We love you Gwenny Girl!
We are so thankful and blessed that God has gifted us with your life!

day with the cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma and papa!

We got to spend a day at Hume with my parents, siblings, niece and nephew.
We took the kids to play at the lake

Avery enjoyed building with her papa,Gabriel found some goggles,
Now he's ready for and adventure!Then we lost a boat, :(

"OH NO!"

But uncle Nole rescued it! "My hero!"

North was amazed!

Gwen stayed dry this time and thankfully didn't eat any grass!

catching up with life...

Well, summer has been busy and fun,
We have been enjoying the pool,

Gwen enjoys the water as well but is pictured here taking a beverage break...

Otherwise it's just been lots of playing in diapers due to hot days and no air conditioning!

Early morning breakfasts....

new summer shoes,

All that good stuff!