Oops, I did it again...I slacked on my blogging! We've got a lot of pictures to update here. First off, Jillian's 6 month birthday was June 30. Auntie Christy and I celebrate the half birthdays, and I am so glad that we do since that was the only time Josh had us sing "Happy Birthday" to him. When we do our half birthday celebrations, we make a half-cake. For Jillian Auntie Christy made a half cookie cake, and Jillian was trying to dig right in! Go figure! Later in the evening Jillian proved her big girl status sitting with the boys while they ate their popcorn. She put her arms around them and enjoyed a little Mickey Mouse.


Northlake Days was another fun night, but mostly for Joey. We visited Auntie Steph and Uncle Don's house before heading over to the carnival. Joey loved riding the cars, and was very serious and determined. He liked the blue car the best, and didn't want to get out or go into any other cars. He picked his car out watching the ride before, and when it was his turn to go in he picked his car out and didn't get out until we ran out of tickets! I was proud he picked the Blue Bug (just like Mommy's first car!) and when I tried putting him on the Dumbo ride with me he wasn't as excited and just looked over at the cars.
Earlier that week we visited Nathan, Uncle Mark, and Auntie Miya. Joey plays with Nathan's picture all the time and says his name, but started out a little shy when we got there. He loved all of Nathan's toys, and has been talking about Uncle Mark a lot! The other night at dinner out of nowhere Joey said he wanted to see Uncle Mark. Auntie Miya made a great lunch with lots of food, thank you!


Here are some of the pictures from Joey's birthday party. We didn't take pictures of it, but we had 4 blue balloons, and 1 white at the party to remember Josh. And earlier in the day Joey and Jillian signed a balloon that we had at Assumption for Josh. Joey had a blast with his Mickey bouncy and playing with everyone. It was a hot day, but it didn't stop him at all! Happy Birthday Joey!


The day after Joey's birthday was Abbey's birthday party. Abbey had an Elmo themed party...Joey's next favorite! It was a lot of fun. Abbey got some adorable girly gifts and you could tell Daddy can't wait until Jillian is old enough to get some of the baby dolls, tiaras, and dress up clothes! He couldn't hold himself back from putting Abbey's tiara on Jillian and taking a picture. Of course Ben was being a goof and put it on too!
The 4th of July was on a Sunday, and Grandma had mass said for Joshua at her church (also the church that Mommy and Daddy got married at, and said by Father Tony, the priest who baptized Josh). It was a beautiful mass with a very poignant first reading regarding an infant and his mother, and later a song was sung that was also at Joshua's funeral mass. Afterwards we went to Grandma's house for a little while before heading out to our yearly party of another aunt and uncle (sorry no pictures, and we forgot our suits!) from when we were kids playing softball. Before we left for the party Jillian and Emma were playing together on the mat and Auntie Christy had her arms full of kids.


Here are some random pictures of the kids playing outside, at the pool, and then last night at the Riverwalk with Auntie Pam. Joey had a blast eating al fresco, having gelato, going for a walk on the Riverwalk, feeding the ducks, playing at the park, and then Auntie Pam wetting his feet in the fountain! Joey keeps talking about the ducks and the fountain, and Jillian had a good lip smack with her first taste of ice cream/gelato!


And finally, the dog days of summer...poor Java has been beat with the parties, fireworks, and kids crawling over her.