Just 2 years ago, Heidi and I started a tradition of taking our little ones to the pumpkin patch. Here's what that first visit looked like (Ezekiel at 8 weeks and Kate at 4 1/2 months):


Oh, they were so cute!!

And here's how we've changed in just two short years!

Kate (2), Everett (9 months), Bekah Jane (9 months), and Ezekiel (2)
Not a bad pictures of 4 little ones, don't you think? Except that my daughter lost her shoe!


We had a great day taking pictures, looking at the "neighs" (Ezekiel was ready to pass up the pumpkins and go straight to the horses!) and riding the train around Irvine park. I love this little tradition! Kate and Everett, you guys are so much fun to hang out with! Thanks for making "pumpkin day" extra special!

Everett and Bekah Jane.


This picture sort of represents my children versus Heidi's children on this particular day. Heidi's kids were sitting all contently looking at the pretty pumpkins while my daughter was pushing the pumpkins over, crawling everywhere, and using Everett's head to stand up... and my son was running around picking up every pumpkin, trying to escape under the fence to go see the horses, and using his cuteness factor to sneak into the bounce house without a ticket. Yeah, it was a busy day for me! It's starting to dawn on me that my son is officially a little BOY! (Someone said it best the other day: "Every time I see your son, he is always jumping!" Just as she said that, we looked over at him and - sure enough - he was jumping over some imaginary something and having the best time doing it!)


Little love birds




"Mom, can we be done with the pictures already?!"

Not to be outdone... Little Miss Rebekah Jane

Of course, we had to take some pictures of Bekah Jane when we did Ezekiel's. So here are some of my favorites of baby girl at 8 months old:

And, just to show you that she's not always happy:

We love you, beautiful girl!

Ezekiel's 2 Year Pictures!

To capture Ezekiel in all his 2-ness, we recently had our favorite photographer, Sarah, come out to the house to get some shots of him just being a boy. As always, Sarah did an amazing job and we will cherish these pics for years to come. Here are some of my favorites!

PS: It's probably pretty obvious, but if you're looking for a photographer we highly recommend Sarah. She can come to the house (makes picture day super easy!) or any location, and I always say she works miracles. Sometimes I think there's no way we got any good pictures and then I get my CD from her and I am blown away by what she manages to capture in the midst of chaos! Check out her website at sarahfrenzel.com.

Leaps and Bounds

Our little Bekah Jane is changing so fast I can hardly keep up with her! She started crawling over a month ago (right when she turned 8 months), and a couple weeks later started to stand! Now she is into everything and doing a pretty good job keeping up with her brother! Just the other day I left her in the nursery and the workers said to me "She seems so little and petite, but she can hold her own. She kept stealing the other babies' pacifiers! " Yeah, don't be deceived by her sweet face - she is an aggressive little thing! (They also told me that Ezekiel was very protective of his baby sister, which was sweet to hear).

In other developments...She is "talking" to herself and to us all the time, and she makes the sweetest little sounds. I love listening to her as she plays. And, about a week ago, she cut her first tooth (I was beginning to wonder where they were!). At her 9 month check up, she clocked in at a little over 17 lbs.... our little peanut.

I love seeing her personality come alive - a little feisty, a bit mischievous, super silly, assertive, and oh so loving. She's becoming more of a "daddy's girl" every day. When he gets home from work and picks her up, she lays her head and his shoulder and puts her arms around him. Crazy about her daddy. We are both falling more in love with our baby girl every day!

Some pics of our girl on the go!

All tuckered out. Night, night little one.

Baby Luke!

Here he is! Look at those kissable cheeks! What a cutie...

Luke Sharpe 8 lbs. 1oz. 21 inches

Proud daddy and his new son (I love seeing my brother with his babies. He is so cute with them!)

Morgan, Daniel, and Autumn admiring their new brother

So glad you are here, baby boy!

New Nephew!

YAY! Andrew and Melissa had their sweet baby boy tonight. Luke Sharpe Holbrook joined our family about 5:40 p.m. I love the name Luke... so glad they chose it! Sharpe is a family name on Lissa's side. So cute. We don't know stats yet because Andrew called us before they had even weighed him! So, I will post those along with a picture when I get one.

Can't wait to meet you, baby Luke! Welcome to our family!

Favorite Things Party!

For Ezekiel's 2nd birthday, we had a "Favorite Things" party. Rather than picking a theme, his party was full of all the things he loves. We had balloons, balls, swimming, horses ("neighs"), bubbles, hotdogs and a touch of Elmo! It was a huge amount of fun for Ezekiel (and me and Kevan too!). One of my favorite parts was watching E get up from his nap to find balloons everywhere, Elmo decorations, and bubbles floating around. He was ready to get that party started!

This pretty much captures how he felt about the day!

Some of the fun decorations:

The birthday boy with Aunt Alice and Uncle Matthew

And, now, for the main event - Neighs!! Ezekiel could not have loved this any more. He ran up to the horse yelling "neigh! neigh!" and when Grandma lifted him on he said "Yee-haw!" over and over! Such a crack up.

We got to play in the pool too!

Swinging with uncle Robert (Kevan's best buddy)

Kevan thanking God for Ezekiel before dinner

After dinner, it was round 2 with the horses. This time, all the guests wanted a ride too. It was so much fun to watch all the kids ride around the backyard with big grins on their faces (or looks of concentration!).

Ezekiel and his cousin, Cami, share the same birthday (they were born just over an hour apart!). Here they are sharing a horsey ride!

Cupcake time!!

The birthday twins (E kept stealing Cami's cupcake!)

Check out the frosting on the belly!

So, I know this post is long overdue but I couldn't help but put up these pictures. It was the perfect day and the perfect way to celebrate our little two year old!