The great grandparents

Since Joe has recently added his great grandparents to his nightly prayer, I thought I would take the opportunity to post some of these wonderful pictures from when Joe was a baby. Pictured here is Scott's paternal grandmother, Rita. She's an old pro at babies. She had seven of her own!

This is Scott's maternal grandfather and Joseph's middle name namesake, Carrol. He's a fun-loving, active and social man, and we all admire him a lot.

The four generations of men! Clockwise from the bottom: Baby Joseph, Scott, Marvin and Norbert. We're very lucky to have so much extended family (on Scott's side) in Kansas City. It makes it so much easier to keep in touch and will probably be the gentle tug that brings us home eventually.

This is my dad's father, Elvin. He lives in southern Kansas now since my grandmother died a few months before Scott and I were engaged.

Another four generations. From left: Suzanne, Lois, baby Joseph and Judy. Lois lives in Texas near my mother's brother and his family.

Last Sunday, we enjoyed a trip to the park. I love the picture above because it shows the pure joy on Joe's little face. He LOVES going to the park and especially going down the slide.

Patrick loved rolling around in the grass. Something about it feels so good. Maybe it's the fresh air or how it is just a little tickly on the skin. Both of the boys were delighted to be out.

Joe just discovered the monkey bars. When we told him what they were, he immediately started making monkey noises (what he is doing in this picture - "hoo hoo hoo")