Happy First Birthday Sawyer & Tate...

"One little candle placed on the cake.  

 One first birthday wish to make."  -unknown

A whole year...365 days.  Tate and Sawyer are one year today.    Introducing: Master Sawyer...

Then comes Master Tate: 

So precious, cute, handsome, and lots of other adjectives.

From the very beginning, they seemed to be aware of each other.  See how their pose is the same.  Same leg, same angle on each boy.

I love this picture with them holding on to one another.  

So Happy First Birthday, Sawyer and Tate!  Pawpaw and Mimi love you bunches!

More photos...

"Look and think before opening the shutter.  The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera." -Yousuf Karsh

I so enjoyed our "official" photo shoot with Luke's boys.  Every one (and by everyone, I mean the adults.  The children are never cooperative) was pretty happy to go out to do photos...even Luke, in the beginning at least.   I had scouted out places a couple of days before, and picked clothing that was a nice contrast to the background.  Warren was happy to go along to hold the reflector for me, and the boys had a nice nap, so they could be in the best of moods. 

Sawyer and Dad...two handsome men...

Tate's not too sure he likes this.  

Now this is what I call fun, Dad!  More handsomeness!

Now Sawyer is not too sure.

Labor Day weekend...

"Grandchildren are the dots that connect the lines from generation to generation." -Lois Wyse

Luke  invited us to come for the annual Apple Festival held in downtown Hendersonville, and as a bonus, see Luke participate in a triathlon.    Did I mention that I love my family...each and every one.  So Warren and I headed to the airport to board American Airlines.  I am so thankful American Airlines fly in and out of Roswell.  The lady at the check in desk did not even ask to see ID, so I asked her if she needed to see it, and she said, "No, I have seen it lots of times."  Hmmm.  I guess that officially puts us in the frequent flyer category.  What other airport can you have such recognition?  That is the beauty of a small town.

Luke picked us up from the airport, and I must say I was shocked at how much the boys had changed as well as grown.   They are quite interactive now, but are still trying to get better control of their little bodies.  It was fun to see them try to do things.  You could see the wheels turning in their head, but their bodies did not want to cooperate.

The first morning the boys, and I went for a walk which was a real workout.  The hills there are more like mountains, and pushing a stroller is hard work.  From the look on the boys faces, I think they were trying to figure out who in the world was this crazy lady who was joining them.

Tate and Sawyer...who is that lady?

Sawyer loves his two fingers.

Isn't Tate cute...and I think he is still trying to figure me out.

Mr. Sawyer...wondering...

Tate enjoying the morning.

Here is a close up shot of the hornet's nest that is right by the mailbox.  Doesn't it look awful?

"Grandmas never run out of hugs or cookies." -author unknown

"A grandfather is someone with silver hair and gold in his heart." -author unknown

On Saturday morning, we all got up bright and early...in the dark... to drive to Luke's triathlon.  We are dedicated sports fans.

Can you believe it was still dark out when we left for the triathlon?

 The location for the triathlon was beautiful, but I bet that water was cold, cold.

"He touches the mountains, and they smoke."  Psalms 104: 32b

Now you can see the mountain since the clouds have cleared.  Is this not glorious?

The race is about to start.

There Luke goes.  He was 5th out of the water.

The rocks were so slippery, they had to have people help them get out.

Coming in on the bike.  Unfortunately, the course was poorly marked and there were no volunteers to help direct participants around the first fork in the road.  About 1/3 of the participants went an extra 6 miles out of their way.  Luke was in that bunch.  Had it not been for that mishap, Luke would have finished 2nd or 3rd in his division.  As it was, he finished 4th.  What a bummer.  There were a lot of unhappy people.

Coming into the finish.  

Here I am passing time taking self portraits of Sawyer and me using my iPhone.  

Tate...waiting for Dad to finish.

Sawyer waiting for Dad to finish.

Thank goodness for blankets and fingers.  I am so glad they like the blankets  I made them.  They liked rubbing the ribbons and the Minkie (the blue fabric of the blanket) around their faces.

And thank goodness for thumbs.  

Pawpaw waiting too!

Just for fun...a prediction...

"Good pitching will beat good hitting anytime, and vice versa." --Bob Veale, 1966


When Mark and Luke played baseball at NMMI, Luke was the pitcher, and Mark, the catcher.  One time I asked Luke, "What does Mark say to you when he comes out on the mound to talk to you when you get a little wild?"  Luke said, "He tells me I suck."  Hmmm.  Not the answer I expected, but it always seemed to work.

As I was editing some pictures,  I thought just for the fun of it, I would make a baseball prediction from a photo.
Here's the photo:

Based solely on this picture, I predict that Tate (on the left), will be a catcher.  He has that catcher's body, look, and legs.  Sawyer, on the right, will be the pitcher.  Notice how he has his hands in that "get ready" to throw position, and his leg is in the kick position ready to start his motion.  Maybe Tate will have equally "encouraging" advice for Sawyer as Mark did for Luke.  I cannot wait until I hear the old familiar "Play Ball" and see these boys in action.