Blue Dawg

Blue Dawg was a gift from Nani, and Joseph just loves the little guy! Since we probably won't get a real dog for a long time (Rich says never but I am thinking one of these years Joseph will have to ask him and then he'll cave :), Blue Dawg will have to do for now. Blue Dawg sings the ABCs and Joseph loves to "sing" along with him. If you watch the video you may agree with me that if we continuously play Blue Dawg's song, Rich may cave in to get a real dog a little sooner! Here are a few pictures and video of their bond :)

Rich tells me all brothers and good friends wrestle together!

1/2 way there!

I can't believe a 1/2 of a year has gone by already. Before we know it, it will be December and we'll be celebrating Joseph's 1st year birthday! Today marks 6 months of "baby Joseph" and although the celebration isn't quite as fun as last month with our surprise visitors, he is still all smiles!

At his doctor's appointment this morning he weighed in at 19 pounds, 2 ozs and is 28.75 inches long. Definitely a healthy baby! No teeth yet and he is now rocking a mullet on top of his head instead of the back. When it isn't "styled" Rich calls it his "high and tight"-he is ready for West Point already!

Pretty soon he isn't going to be able to fit in the carrier anymore but we'll enjoy it while we can still. He was a hit at the Italian festival this weekend with his hat and sunglasses-plenty of Hangover comments!

We just love our little guy and can't wait to see what the next 6 months bring!

Happy 6 months Joseph!

Twins!

Everyone says Joseph looks just like Rich (but with more hair-we hear that ALL the time!) They even have similar birthmarks on the back of their heads! Here they are hanging out in the park with their similar outfits, and as Rich told me, "We're twins!"

No comment needed...

Camping with Alligators!?!

On Saturday we ventured about 30 minutes south of Houston to Brazos State Park. It was a beautiful day so we packed a picnic lunch and went on a short hike in the park. One of the reasons why we went down was to also check out the camping sites that the park offers for a future get away; however, once we arrived in the park we saw these signs all over the park.

We pretty much ruled out a future camping trip here once we saw these signs and found out that you can't swim in the lakes due to the alligators...that just doesn't sound like that much fun to me!

On the hike we did see an alligator in the water and thankfully it stayed there. Of course Rich had to stop and take a picture but I kept walking (quickly) with Joseph as it was only about 15 feet from us and I was having visions of it emerging from the water and chasing after us. Rich had just finished telling me that alligators can run about 20 mph-I know I'm a runner but didn't really want to spend my Saturday being chased by an alligator!

Can you see him there? I think he was looking at Rich!

We'll stick to just visiting the state park for picnic lunches and short hikes and bike rides!

Had to put the bottom picture of J in...I think he was telling me he had enough pictures!

Kickoff to summer

What says summer better than lemonade stands and a day at the park? The weather was beautiful in Atlanta-almost too beautiful, close to 90 most of the days, so we spent a good amount of time outside working off all of the energy that the boys had to bottle up for the graduation festivities.

Michael and Nona made lemonade one day and Michael set up shop at the end of the driveway. Brought back memories but prices have definitely gone up since we were kids!

I love how J is looking at Rich, maybe thinking "So, this is how you do it, Dad?"

"Lemonade, $1.00, please!"

Michael and all of his thirsty customers!

Cousins!!

When we were in Atlanta last weekend Joseph met his cousins, Michael and John, for the first time! It was so fun to see the boys together. Michael, who will be 4 this October, LOVED Joseph. It was so cute to see-he was always kissing "baby Joseph", or hugging "little Joseph" or asking about "cousin Joseph". It is going to be so much fun watching these boys grow up together.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any great pictures of the 3 boys together but I guess that is to be expected with 3 boys under the age of 4!

"Baby Joseph" doesn't look so much like a baby with Michael holding him!!

The End of an Era

This past weekend we flew to Atlanta for Katelyn's highschool graduation. Katelyn's graduation marks the end of an era-all 9 of the Ducotes have now graduated from Marist High School. At the graduation the president acknowledged Rich's parents and gave his mom flowers-they set the record of 9 children graduating from the school! Katelyn will attend the University of Georgia in the fall, following in Greg and Brent's footsteps. The weekend flew by but it was so fun to see most of the family and to celebrate Katelyn.

Chillin' in Nona's fruitbowl-sitting on his own now!

On our way to graduation-had to wake him from a nap so he was kind of out of it!

Congratulations Katelyn!

Joseph hanging out with Dad during graduation

Love this picture!