Joelle's Dedication

[ click on image for a higher resolution image ]

[click on image for a higher resolution image ]

[ click on image for a higher resolution image ]

[click on image for a higher resolution image ]

[ click on image for a higher resolution image ]

On Saturday we celebrated Nathaniel's 4th birthday and on Sunday we had Joelle dedicated at our church. It was a full weekend. Joelle has a beautiful dress and bonnet that really show well in our pictures. I played with the first image and softened the background a bit to add effect. She really looks beautiful. If you click on the image you will get a higher resolution version of the image. You can download it to your computer (right click on a PC or control click on the Mac) and print the image.

After church we went to the Olive Garden with all the family which included our good friends Glen and Renee (they were Nathaniel's and are currently Ben's Sunday school teachers ). Joelle lit up the room with her radiance and such a sweet smile. Nathaniel enjoyed the extension of his special day. The waiters came out chocolate cake in hand, loudly singing Happy Birthday. Nathaniel beamed. After blowing out the candle he made certain that everyone got some cake if they wanted some. It was a great time.

Aug 17 - Nathaniel's 4th Birthday!

On the day of Nathaniel's birthday we did our best to make it special. Breakfast was a candle laden chocolate covered "birthday donut". It was hot outside but playing in the sandbox is one his favorite things to do so he spent most of the morning in the sand box with Ben. Janice even built a canopy of bed sheets that kept out the sun.

When we first asked Nathaniel where he would like to go on his special day we were given a rather cryptic answer. Something about a roof and lights and toys always followed by "Remember dat!?". Unfortunately we did not - at first. Then after we discussed it realized he could be talking about a place like Chuck E. Cheese. We were not sure if this was in fact the location of choice but arrived 3 kids in tow to the other mouse's house. Chasing the kids around such a place is like being in a freshly shaken snow globe and trying to follow a specific plastic snow flake. Kids and games were every where and they were all moving and making noise. Nathaniel (and Ben) loved every minute of it.


On the following Saturday we had the big Superman birthday party which was another snow globe experience but with slightly fewer snow flakes. Adults, children and toys were scattered across the entire house. They were laughing, crawling, running and playing. In an effort to focus the children's energies we constructed some games in the Superman theme for the special day. There was a Superman "leap in through tall building windows with a single bound" bean bag toss and a Superman "the Tender Man of Tissue Paper" pinata.


Before we ate the cake Janice gave Nathaniel and all the children party hats to wear. After strapping on the hat Nathaniel noticed that none of the adults were given party hats. He quickly began passing out the hats to every bare head in the house and not until every hat was in place did he sit down to his cake to blow out the candles.

Janice makes really cool cakes!

Once the party was over and we could see the carpet again we had our family birthday. Grandma and Grandpa Battdorff , Uncle Jay , Aunt Sarah and baby Caleb were all on hand to celebrate. Apparently someone asked Superman to attend as well. Understanding the need for thematic consistency he came in through the window to replicate the bean bag game. Coincidentally Janice had just started loudly playing the Superman Returns movie sound track. Superman proceeded down the stair case head held high with confidence in is stride. Nathaniel nearly burst with excitement. He could not stop smiling. He kept repeating "Thank you Superman " over and over again. As a parent you really live for the moments when you have by plan or by luck inspired your child to absolute joy. This was one of those moments and Daddy really did feel like Superman.

It was a wonderful birthday. Thank you to everyone who made it such a great event. Nathaniel was so happy that so many people could be with him on his birthday.

Every Superman needs a stunningly beautiful Lois Lane!

Captivity inspires climbing

It was a long trip but we found an amazing park on the way down and long hours of carseat captivity always inspire climbing. We stopped and let the boys run, climb and slide for about two hours. What a great park. It is exit 14 of US-58 (if you are interested in making the stop). The pictures tell the story. We arrived home around 9:30 pm. As always it was nice to be home in our own beds.

Birthdayville in VA

Vacation - part 4: (after a brief dental intermission)
Our last stop before the long ride back to Georgia was in McLean, VA at Grandma and Grandpa Batdorff's home. It was a relatively smooth ride home until the end when the windshield filled up with another heavy rain storm. Fortunately it was one of those storms that cleaned up behind itself leaving a beautiful bright blue morning. Janice and Grandma took the boys to see their first real life waterfall. I would like to say the boy's amazement lead to an invigorating discussion about the Hudson River School, Thomas Cole and the depth of romantic artistry achieved by such natural wonders. But it was all about climbing on rocks. Apparently rock climbing is much more interesting than loud mouthed waterfalls. Even the pretty ones.

Later that evening Janice got a birthday motorcycle ride on the "world's fastest production bike" in a mid-length dress. Not really bike ridding attire. Nonetheless I watched the mother of our three children straddling a fast bike speed away in a dress. [Later I found out they stopped and bought a pair of pants at a near by TJ Maxx.] I have been assured that Jeff "would never put his little sister in harm's way" but I have yet to hear an exact accounting how fast the "world's fastest production bike with the mother of our three children" actually went.