Update

We went out to a balloon festival Friday night and had a really nice time.

such a pretty sight

This was definitely the highlight for the kids - sitting on top of the minivan.
Anna wasn't there instead we have Abby's friend, Paige.

This picture makes me so happy

Saturday we stuck close to home and watched some college football. Brennan kind of can't contain his excitement. For much of the day he was banished into our bedroom to watch so that I could watch something I wanted to watch when I was confined to the rocking chair holding Joshua. We all heard clapping, fake spitting, yelling and jumping up and down coming from the bedroom. Our kids thought it was hilarious to watch their relatively sane dad carrying on in such a way all by himself to the tv. We love Brennan.

Anna has been begging to go horseback riding for a long time now. One of her best friends has a horse that they keep at her Grandma's. Sadie's grandma was kind enough to let Anna tag a long with Sadie and let her ride. Anna was in heaven. I think she kind of belongs on a farm or ranch. Her dislike of germs doesn't seem to bother her when it has to do with animals. She also got to go to a play with my parents for her birthday date. She loved the play and loved having her grandparents all to herself. We love Anna.

The kids were discussing the movie "Jumanji" and Abigail could not for the life of her get that name down and kept calling it "Geometry". Now that would be an exciting movie. As evidence of Abby's sensitive and dramatic side I submit the following: the kids and I were discussing something Anna's friend had told her about a boy they know seeing his Grandpa's spirit. The kids all agreed that would be extremely creepy and I was trying to convince them that if it was someone you loved and had been close too it would be really neat. Suddenly Abby exclaimed with tears in her eyes, "Great!, now you've got me thinking about all the people we love who have died!" We love Abigail.

Nate seems very happy when he leaves for and comes home from school; however, whenever I ask how school was his reply is "Terrible!" I guess he feels it's not cool to like school. I'll take what I can get :) Last night we were all gathered round the tv watching a very important college football game. It was an extremely close and exciting game so Brennan was even more animated than usual. When a certain kicker kicked the ball out of bounds Brennan was irate with this poor young man and kept telling us what a stupid idiot this kicker was. Sweet Nate listened quietly and then said, "Dad, I'm sure he tried his very best." We love Nathan.

Ben took a nap with Brennan last weekend and when he woke up he turned to Brennan and said, "I'm going to go see Nate, he's WEELLY (really) funny." I love how much he loves his siblings and especially his big brother. Tonight we measured each of the kids and put their mark on the wall. They were all so excited and decided they also wanted to be weighed. I said, "Benny, go see how much you weigh" to which he replied, "I already did -- furty-six cents!" I've had such a renewed affection for this little boy since the big kids have been at school all day. He is truly just a delightful little companion.

Joshua is two months old today. Happy Birthday, baby love! There are days he's fussy and I do little other than rock him and sometimes I feel like I would give anything to just get something productive done. It's funny though because whenever I do have extended periods without holding him I miss him terribly. He's completely won me over and I just wish I could bottle his smiles and cooing so I could keep them forever.