Nine Months Old!

 Oh, Everly. Oh, Grant. Such double trouble these days. It is really hard to keep them still enough for a Pooh picture, even when they both have colds.  Poor Grant's eyes even look sick today but nothing is keeping these two down. They are into everything and it is a lot of fun to watch them. They know exactly where the Cheerios are in the pantry and go right towards them. They HATE the baby gate and are vocal about that. If it is silent, that means that Grant discovered an open gate, and is headed toward the basement or to the fire place. He also uses as raspy "Monster Voice" loudly when he is excited and loves to grab his daddy from his high chair for a little "table wrestling". Everly has a huge range of sounds (today I heard "mamamama" in there!) and the prettiest smile ever. She has little tolerance for her brother's wrestling with her, so she just grabs his binky from his mouth. Game over. Her happy place is in the Ergo on my back and she spends at least an hour in it a day, just hanging out while I take care of laundry, dishes, etc. She giggles and coos whenever I get it out of the closet.

They both are still nursing really well, eating solid foods with a vengeance, and sleep pretty well for babies. Their ideal bedtime is 6:00 pm (conveniently located at the start of dinner for the rest of us) but they have been troopers about managing to be awake during basketball games, evening church and other activities lately. When they do go down for naps or bedtime, they collapse into bed (he is still swaddled!) and are often immediately asleep. It is hard work to being such adorable, silly, busy babies. Love you Ever-Lou and Boojy-Two (nicknames courtesy of big sisters)

Everly really looks like Brinnly did at this age in this shot

Grant Laughing with Grandpa

This is an oldie but goodie...Grant laughing (probably for the first time ever!) with his Grandpa on Father's Day. Grant already looks so much bigger now than he does in this video.

A few family Thanksgiving shots

"All I have needed Thy hand hath provided"

	“Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!”   Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—     “Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me! Happy Thanksgiving from the Ward Family.  It is has been a whirlwind year for our family (when isn't for this crew?) but we have seen God's provision over and over again. We gratefully sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness" at church on Wednesday night and rejoiced for the blessings of new jobs, dear family, wonderful friends, caring church and school, and salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. We are pretty thankful for these two turkeys too.

Eight Months Old

Eight months old and a few days to be exact. Everly and Grant are growing by the minute these days. They crawl and climb absolutely everywhere. They join us at the table three meals a day and would eat even more often if it was offered. Apples, bagels, and eggs are the usual staples. No teeth yet and both nursing strong.
Everly has quite a range in her own "vocabulary" and talks directly to us and her sisters. She loves cuddling with her daddy early in the mornings.

Grant makes noises of his own and still loves to "bang bang" on any surface. But our favorite new thing of his is how he "wrestles" his daddy (or twin) while playing and loves to pin them down. Such a boy!

Jumpers!

Saturday Morning Snuggles

Closed!

 

Freshwater Plaza is CLOSED! After a year of hard work by my husband! Such an occasion called for a dinner out at the Chancery. Cheers! 

My Athletes

Look who is playing volleyball!  Go Elm Grove Wildcats! 

Carrigan and Brinnly are now on the school Running Club too and had a great showing at their one Cross-Country meet. I love seeing them run.

And this girl...her current sport is climbing stairs and dishwashers. Every minute of the day! Sometimes her brother joins her.

Park Day

Summer Babies

Eight

Happy (belated, belated, belated) birthday to our sweet Brinnly. We celebrated with backyard camping over Labor Day with both families (carmel rolls by her request for breakfast) and then had her two best girlfriends over for a lasagna dinner on her actual day. At her family party, I shared that when God created Brinnly, he must have taken the best parts of each of her grandmothers and combined them for our chocolate AND camping, piano AND sewing girl. It is such a blessing to see so many of those traits in our dear, one-of-a kind Brinnly Ruth.

This year was great for her. She did well with the move and was eager to join a classroom with a handful of girls (and one boy). Lots of giggling and reading and playground games happened. And big sister extraordinaire that she is, the twins' arrival was icing on the cake for her. She is a natural with them. She sits right in between both of them in the van and manages them with them patience and grace. She is loved and admired by all of her siblings.

Brinnly is still our fashionista with an eye on trends but plays hard too. She is currently loving the cross-country team and made great strides in piano too. She and Carrigan enjoy tea parties together (sans fruit!) and she has a special language of her own with "Laney-Poo". And does that girl read!  She is devouring Harry Potter as well as her new Liberty books too. It is so fun to watch.

Brinnly Ruth Ward, you are a wonderful gift from God who brings a smile to our faces every day. Your hugs and cuddles brighten our days. Our family is more joyful because of you. We cannot wait to see how God will bless you in your year ahead. He has certainly blessed us with you.  

Happy Fall!

Grant especially is excited that it is football season again. He and his daddy are pretty thrilled about the big Michigan win this weekend too.

Six month action shot

Six Months Old!

These two! Before the month totally escapes us I wanted to jot down that these two are "army crawling" everywhere. Everly has already mastered the step from the family room to the kitchen and is on the hubr to climb in the dishwasher. She is the most determined child I have ever seen. She is now in a crib but Grant still loves his Rock and Play. He loves to BANG LOUDLY on any surface and yet gives sweet sweet hugs and kisses.They live for meal times with the family and are still nursing strong. They fill our days with smiles and blessings!

First, Third, & Fourth Grades!

Five Months Old

Poor kiddos...late as ever for their monthly update. But what a month they had! We started them on rice cereal (actually Everly first helped herself to a Fazoli's breadstick) and they love being a part of the table. They quickly moved on to sampling anything we allow. Everly is very close to crawling and Grant goes to town on his exer-saucer. They still HATE car rides but overall are happier babes. We just love those two! (Their matching onesies read " Born Together, Best Friends Forever")

Serious faces

Don't worry, they're only slightly disappointed summer is coming to an end.  The big girls are truly excited for another school year and the babies are looking forward to a few more uninterrupted naps!

A Day at the Beach...with Pittsburgh friends!

Splish, splash

This guy loves his bath!

Preschool Prep

Delaney is hard at work preparing for her first day of preschool. She had her home visit from her teacher yesterday which included a homework assignment. She drew the twins walking (they don't even know how to crawl yet) and herself with three eyes so that she would look like an alien.  Also, she couldn't remember how to draw any of the rest of us, so she finished the page with a picture of her living with Aunt Kara and Uncle Josh.  And then she went off to pretend (again) that she was nineteen and off to college.

Playtime

Grant was nursing early this morning but stopped quickly and looked up at me and smiled as soon as he heard his twin wake up.  So sweet!  At naptime these two relished having the family room to themselves and Everly scooted over to him and they patted heads and cooed to each other. Love them both and love them together.