The grandchildren (and Nick and Rachel too) came over to play this morning ... and I realized yesterday that I had not YET held tiny Liam ... not once! So first thing, I made sure to take this sweet baby in my arms and hold him for as long as he would let me!
I'm not real confident with newborns ~ especially teensy tiny ones ... but Liam and I did OK! He is a very warm, snuggly, cozy little fellow! I loved every minute I held him ... what a little miracle he is! 
Lottie came into the house kind of grumpy this morning, but you would never know that based on this picture, would you? She just lights up when she sees a camera. She's a natural! Such a smile she has! 
Rachel, calm and collected (and isn't her new "do" so pretty?), sipping her Starbuck's ... ah, the life of ease for a mother of FOUR! (joke)
And couldn't you just kiss this chubby little face forever? Nia is so adorable.Our man, Nathan, however, is all finished with that baby stuff. He and his dad engaged in an all-out WAR in the playroom. We had opened up the game closet and Nathan spied these really old and essentially broken light sabers and ... you should have heard the combat! 
It was like the Clash of the Titans! Nathan was just a bit outsized and overpowered by his daddy ... but he has a good strong swing and I had to duck and swerve a couple of times to avoid being knocked out!
The girls had a quieter time of it upstairs. Nia found the lacing cards and she and Rachel sewed for awhile. 
And where was Grandpa Jones? There is nothing quite like a newborn baby and Grandpa Jones. He is just a little short of heaven when he is holding one, and he took full advantage today.
It's been pretty soggy in W. Michigan the last few days. All last week it was gorgeous here with temperatures in the upper 60's and low 70's, clear sunny skies, etc. I had really hoped we would be able to walk up the road and meet Mr. Lyle's horses and feed them some carrots. We did finally play in the kind of wet back yard for awhile this afternoon. 
Lottie and I played game of roll-the-ball. Every time Lottie rolled the ball in my direction, she would clap her little hands together with joy. Can't show you that picture, though ... because I didn't take one!
Nia kept losing her soccer ball down the edge of the deck ... she kept Nicolas busy retrieving the soccer ball from all sorts of places. 
And Nathan is a regular monkey outdoors. He climbs and jumps and is absolutely fearless of heights. He has very good balance (whew!) and a lot of confidence. His game was to throw his ball as far as possible and then call out for Nicolas to find it and throw it back. 
Between chasing down balls for Nia and Nathan, Nicolas had himself a pretty good workout this afternoon!
It was good to be outside, even if for just awhile today. The air was so fresh and clean. Our back yard is a wreck right now ... we have so much work to do back there ... but it's only April and we'll get busy on it next week!
Our time with Nick's busy and beautiful family has gone by really quickly. We are so glad we got to see them this week. It's one thing to travel down to Bandera and visit them at their house, but it's extra nice as a grandparent to have everyone over to OUR house too! Tomorrow, they are heading back to Texas ...
It was especially wonderful to see this littlest of grandsons, hold him for a little while and give him kisses. God is very good to give us so many little folk to love, isn't He?
We had so much fun yesterday at our house! I tumbled into bed last night at about 10:30, after Grandpa Jones and I somewhat cleaned up the place, and slept like a rock ... until almost 9:00 this morning, a very rare thing for me! Which is why I am so tardy about posting these pictures ...
Look at Rachel! Doesn't she look great?
She had an emergency C-section LESS than 2 weeks ago!
Little Lottie-girl is just as cute as a bug ... that smile of hers could melt the hardest heart, don't you think? She is 16 months now and just ... beautiful!
Nathan is 4-1/2, the oldest of this band of Joneses. He seems very unphased by all of the hustle and bustle that goes with having three younger siblings. He likes to play with all of our trains upstairs as well as the cars and trucks in the basement playroom. He's not at all shy. He walked right up to Aunt Emily and introduced himself ~ "Hi, I'm Nathan Paul!"
This is not a great picture of Nia, but she is such a darling. She decided to "hang out" with me yesterday and designated my place at the table ... right next to hers! And now and then she would take me by the hand and pull me where she wanted to go. I remember another little granddaughter who used to do that with me ... so many years ago now.
We served dinner at 6:00, but most everyone arrived at about 2:00 in the afternoon. We just played and "snacked" while dinner was cooking.
Look at those darling dimples! With her beautiful smile, I think Lottie could be the poster-child of happiness.
And here is "Aunt" Emily holding pint-sized (literally) baby Liam, who is having a yawn.
Ah ... here's a better picture of Nia. I could look at her little face forever. She stole my heart yesterday with her sweet little ways of talking and cuddling ... we even enjoyed a nice dance together later in the evening ... very sweet.
Baby Jeremiah was there, completely outnumbered by his cousins. He took it all in stride. I think he was totally entertained watching the craziness of our day.
This is a not good picture of Kelly and Dylan ... but they were here for dinner and I snapped this picture right when they had taken big bites of food ... bad timing on my part. It was so nice to have them here! Kelly made us a delicious and healthy and beautiful salad (no picture, sorry). It was great to introduce Kelly to more of the family!
Our ham was succulent and yummy. The meat balls were delicious! We had cheesy potato casserole, broccoli and cauliflower in cheese sauce, salads, vegetable pizza, garlic bread ...
And remember? It was Emily's birthday! She opened her presents, we sang "Happy Birthday" to her, and then we ate a bunch of desserts ... Emily shared some fabulous cakes from her family celebration the prior day ...
Our long-time family friends, Tom and Judy, were here to meet some new family members. This is Nathan showing Tom the beautiful book that was especially made for him ... 
There is nothing deeper than the joy of having family here, sharing a meal, hearing about what's going on in each others lives, laughing together, watching the babies, playing with the grandchildren ... I woke up this morning absolutely contented! Emily and Jeremiah stopped by for awhile this afternoon. I'll show you some pictures very soon!
It's Matthew's fifth birthday today! We celebrated it EARLY when we were in El Paso a few weeks ago. Look at him pretending to be a ferocious lion at the zoo ~ we were there visiting the brand new lion exhibit, and Matthew liked it very much.
This is Matthew painting a beautiful picture about some of the fishermen who followed Jesus. He is a very good artist!
And for as long as I can remember ... Matthew has LOVED slides!
I love this picture of his beautiful smile. Matthew is a very happy boy, and I love to spend time with him whenever I can ... which is far TOO seldom.
This is a picture of Matthew and his mom at another exhibit at the El Paso Zoo ... they got to crawl around and pop up through little tunnels and pretend they were prairie dogs!
Turning five is a big deal birthday and we wish Matthew the very happiest day!
