Scenes of Summer, Part 2

Five months after I posted Scenes of Summer, Part 1, and now well into winter, here are the rest of my favorite previously-unposted Summer 2009 photos! This is a long post, so I'm posting small versions of the photos, but you should be able to click on the photos to see larger versions.

July 2009

Professional Photos
We had professional photographer Liz Hough take these photos in July and have used them as Christmas presents, for the giant portrait in our living room, as inserts in our Christmas cards, and as Joshua's baptism photo.

Our little aviator:

Our best friends Dave, Sara, and Daniel welcomed baby Selah into the world on July 15. We were privileged to meet and be able to hold Baby Selah that very evening.

Joshua came to a baby shower with me:

Katie and I went to music class:

Joshua mugged for the camera:

My friend Katie S. started her own Pampered Chef business and invited me to her first show:

John's parents (JPa and Oma) took us to a nearby butterfly exhibit. Butterlies landed on Oma's leg, my shoulder (next to where Joshua was passed out), and JPa's head.

Katie and her friend Sofia blew bubbles at Sofia's 2nd birthday party -- a princess party! -- just moments before I fell down a hill chasing Katie and sprained my foot. I have photos of my foot but I'll spare you. :-)

My lifelong friend Sarah C. came to visit with her youngest son, another Joshua. The two Joshuas enjoyed meeting each other. Sarah and I have photos of us together as babies, lined up on a couch with my brother Mike and another friend Christine, so we took this opportunity to line up our own babies with another close friend, Kai, so that our children will have a similar photo to show their children.

August

Our friends Stephanie and Rafael came to visit from California, and while we enjoyed our time with them, we also enjoyed spending time with Emily and David's newborn Liana and Joshua enjoyed getting his first kiss from Abbie's daughter Meghan.

We enjoyed a day with our friends Michelle, Dave, and Allison at a nearby club we belong to.

The kids and I spent a week with John's parents while John was away on a business trip. Highlights included visiting a pet store and playing piano with JPa.



The second week of John's trip, my brother Daniel moved in with us to help me with the kids and Bella.

Daddy brought Katie a funny hat that he picked up on his trip:


Joshua fell asleep holding a ball:


Joshua posed with a Mexican flag to wish my friend Meredith (a missionary in Zacatecas, Mexico) a virtual happy birthday.



Joshua tries out the Johnny Jump-Up for the first time:


We brought our friends Eric and Mary a meal when they had their fourth child. Katie enjoyed playing dress-up with the two daughters.

Our friend Krista visits from Colorado

Our friend Krista visited from Colorado, prompting a get-together with many friends we hadn't seen in a long time. Many of these photos were taken by our friend Katie McMurry, who has just started doing some freelance photography on the side. I like her photos better than I do the professional ones above. Her website is http://katiemcmurry.smugmug.com/ if you need some nice family photos or headshots taken!




Roberts Family Vacation, Aug. 21-30

My family made its annual pilgrimage to John's parents' beach house in August. It's one of the few times our entire 13-person family was together this year. We're so thankful that John's parents let us use their beautiful house. I'm actually sitting in the beach house as I write this blog post!

Front row, left to right: Ally, Jason, Andrew, Daniel, Lindsey, me, Joshua

Back row, left to right: John, Katie, Mike, Stephen, Dad, and Mom

If you look closely at the 2nd-to-top row of windows, you can see a frog that managed to affix itself to a window twenty feet from the ground.

My parents, Katie, and Katie's cousin (Jason's daughter) Ally enjoy getting to know Joshua:

Katie shows off her tan line -- even after using 50 SPF all week, she had more of a tan than I've ever had in my life. She obviously has her father's skin tone.

A few miscellaneous beach photos:

Another Roberts family tradition: Enjoying steamed, spiced crabs at the beach. The "Honorary Roberts" in the picture is Lindsey's brother Garrett, who joined us for a few days.

Videos

Wow, you made it through all of our July and August photos! As a reward, here are my favorite summer videos.

JPa and Katie play piano together during our stay with John's parents in early August:



In August, Joshua still required swaddling in order to sleep. Here's what he looked like when he first woke up and was unswaddled:

In late July, Joshua cooed and laughed for the camera.

Katie delights in having a fan blown in her face:

Katie enjoys her first parade during the Independence Day celebration at the beach:

Katie and her cousins enjoy bubbles while visiting my grandma:

Katie enjoys bubbles by herself:



In early July, Katie learns new ways to be affectionate with her 3 1/2 month old brother:

2009: A Year in Review

Happy New Year! This is from our Christmas letter, with links inserted:


As you know, 2009 held a special blessing for the Biddison family: the birth of Joshua Roger on March 24. Now sitting and babbling, Joshua especially loves being held and playing with his dog Bella and big sister Katie.

Katie is now 2 ½ and constantly cracks us up with her new phrases and songs. Our favorite current KatieWords are “moocus” (music) and “pockisool” (popsicle). She loves music and has especially taken to Sesame Street, Veggie Tales, the Muppets, and the movie “Annie”. Forever her mother’s daughter, she enjoys belting out “Tomorrow” at the top of her lungs.

John ... is a wonderful, hands-on father. He is teaching Katie to cheer for the Ravens (“caw caw!”), the Orioles, Hopkins lacrosse (“popkins”), and Maryland.

Jen still enjoys being a stay-at-home mom, and hasn’t been as overwhelmed by two kids as she had expected to be. She continues to be a part of Community Bible Study, maintain the family blog at http://ittybiddi.blogspot.com, and work a few hours a week as part of her web consulting business.

Other notable happenings of 2009 included a trip to Seattle in May to celebrate the wedding of Jen’s brother Stephen to the lovely Lindsey Rowe; the sad loss of Jen’s Grandma Roberts in early November; and several visits to John’s parents’ beach house in Bethany Beach, DE.

We pray the Lord blesses you and your family with a wonderful Christmas and 2010.

Merry Christmas!

Silent night, Holy night

Son of God, love's pure Light

Radiant beams from Thy holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace

Jesus, Lord at Thy birth! Jesus, Lord at Thy birth!

Christ the Savior is Born! Christ the Savior is Born!

Happy Nine-Month Birthday, Joshua!

Joshua's nine-month birthday coincides with today, Christmas Eve, so we won't have our 9-month appointment (with measurements) until January. It's safe to say, however, that Joshua is a BIG BOY. He was 20 lbs. a month ago and seems to be bigger every day. Many of us have complained about our backs after holding him -- that includes Joshua's mommy, daddy, and strapping Uncle Daniel. Katie still weighs a little bit more, but since she's taller, she seems lighter, while Joshua is DENSE -- more pounds per square inch. :-)

Joshua is cutting his sixth tooth, which will give him all four front teeth as well as an extra one on both the top and bottom of the right side of his mouth. Sometimes he audibly grinds his teeth, and I joke to myself: "What kind of mom must I be that my nine-month-old baby is already grinding his teeth?" He also loves to chew on things. He enjoys gnawing on chins, particularly mine and my mom's. Favorite foods right now are diced veggies and fruit, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, meatballs (thanks for the tip, Sarah!), bread... well, basically any grown-up food he can get his hands on.

Joshua continues to practice his "da da da"-ing, and started headbanging this week. John and I each had a headbanging phase, so watching Joshua shake his head up and down sent me into hysterics. Other favorite activities include playing with balls, clapping, rolling around, and watching Elmo when he comes on (poor second child -- he didn't stand a chance of avoiding TV with a big sister who loves it so much).

Joshua is also THISCLOSE to crawling. He will lunge from a sitting position and get one knee under him and try to lunge further, but can't quite get that second knee facing the correct direction. I expect he'll figure it out by the end of the week.

Happy nine-month birthday, Joshua! And merry Christmas to all of you!

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

We got a record December snowfall this week, and have enjoyed being snowed in as a family. What could be better than being snowed in with the three people you love most in the world? We've also been enjoying the snow. Highlights included watching Bella "snowplow" through the backyard to make paths for us to walk in, marvelling at snow that came up to Katie's waist and my knees, and Daddy teaching Katie how to make a snowman.

Joshua the Christmas Model

Sing along with me, to the tune of "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer"...

Joshua the Christmas Model
Had a very runny nose.
Good thing we've got a blog up
To show off all his festive clothes...

Yep, the kids have been sick more than they've been well for the last month, so I haven't had many opportunities to show off the collection of Christmas outfits we have for Joshua this year. When Katie was a baby, we had one Christmas outfit -- just one -- given to her by my grandma. Joshua has FIVE Christmas outfits this year.


First, from the pajama collection, a Santa-themed piece handed down to us from my friend Marce:
Continuing in the pajama theme, here's a reindeer-themed sleeper that says "Baby's First Christmas," given to Joshua by his Oma.


I bought this onesie, which reads "good things come in small packages," at the Old Navy outlet when I was looking for a long-sleeved red T-shirt for Joshua to wear under another shirt in colder weather.

Our friend Heather lent us this preppy little outfit since her sons are older. What a handsome little man!

And my personal favorite, the Santa suit. Thank you to Sharon for sending us Cousin Andrew's old Santa suit! I picked up a little hat at Michael's to complete the outfit. This photo was taken at the end of an evening when Joshua and I went out party-hopping. Needless to say, he got a lot of attention!
Merry Christmas from the Santa Baby!

It's Suspiciously Quiet...

I wasn't sure Katie had napped this afternoon, but got her up after hearing her move around upstairs for more than an hour. We played for awhile and then I let her watch Sesame Street while Joshua napped and I got some stuff done. After awhile I realized she was VERY quiet. Sure enough, still on the couch in front of the TV...