More Pics

These days are so precious, I hope I never forget these special trips with little ones! More pics from vacation, some thanks to Mom and Sally:

Pajama Time with Aunt Sally

The Ackers

Us!

Sweet Hannie

All of Charis' pics were in the water.  She was quite the little fishy!

Best Buddies

Happy Birthday party for Figgy & Uncle Petey

Mikey & his girls!

Than and Uncle Pete had some man time watching football

Pop helped Nathanael stay content in the sand.  He liked the water until he realized that this kind of water chases you up the beach - yikes!

Susannah smoochin' her Daddy!

We saw an albino deer - it looked like a cow!

Cousin boys snugglin'

Forget baby dolls - Charis loves holding all her real babies.

Baby John got some sun too!

Fig & Pop with some of the "grand-yummies"!

Sus, Sal, & Han

More sweetness on the couch

Acker Family Vacation 2015 :)

Beach Babies!

Another fun sunny day today. We played at the beach in the morning, went for boat rides (and the girls didn't scream and wail this time!), played at the playground, and ate Pop and Pete's fresh fish for dinner!

Bubs fell on the sidewalk yesterday and scraped his little nose.

Uncle Mike is now in Susannah's circle of trust...

Baby John Boy!

Eastern Shore

We arrived at Kiptopeke yesterday, and it's already so much fun that it'll take several installments of pictures to document! The weather's perfect, and there are no crowds. The bay is nice and calm for the kids to play.  Here's the first batch of pics!

Cozying up in the lodge

Beach babies

First time at the beach!

Boat ride thanks to Pop and Uncle Pete

Goodbye Summer

We're happy to say good riddance to this steamy Richmond summer. Today was our first fall-ish day, with low humidity and reasonable temps, and we loved it!  As soon school was finished, we went outside to play for as long as we could.  Now we're trying to stay disciplined with the girls' academics while gearing up for Acker Family Vacation next week!!

We had a caterpillar, Rosa, (the huge creepy green thing in the tank).  We waited for her to turn into a chrysalis, but she (he?) never did, and she got extremely stinky, so we released her into the wild. What are sisters for if not to hold each others' noses through the stinky times in life?

Hailey, or Laura, or Rachel (the alias changes from day to day), playing babies.

I seriously can't stand the cuteness of this picture.  I can't look at it for too long without squealing.  Mike said he looks like a business man. "Bubby J. Gilbert, LLC"

Playing Indians with our sweet neighbor.  We get to have her with us in the afternoons when she gets off the bus!

Labor Day in Northern VA with the Newlen and DelSignore families!  The girls loved playing with their Aunt Lindsay and Aunt Katie.  I wish I'd taken more pics.

Aunt Becky lounging poolside with 'Than.

Our living room is a danger zone full of toys and these wild monkeys.  Nathanael loved his free ride in the doll stroller.

18 Months

Our little man will soon be 18 months old. It's hard to believe. He's added so much joy to our lives! The girls adore their baby Bubber. I often have to remind them to stop smothering him with hugs, kisses and attention when he makes it clear that he wants some space. But he's such an affectionate, cuddly guy. He says lots of words now, repeats everything and toddles all over the place.  He loves to go outside, eat cookies, give kisses, climb trees and play with toys. 

This week he learned to grunt and flex his muscles when I ask, "are you strong?" Haha! On the softer side, he also loves to push babies in the doll stroller.