Grayson at about four months (June)

Hooray!
Learning to sit up!
Now he can play a little easier with the big boys, his favorite thing to do (besides hanging out with mommy, that is!)

Another favorite:
Bathtime!

Canoe!

Also in May, Steve went and bought the canoe he'd been thinking about for some time. He did some other errands and when he got home, he stepped out of the car and walked in, forgetting temporarily the huge excitement potential he had strapped to the roof of his car. Misha, who had gone with him came in and found his brothers and spread the word instead.

A stir of disbelief and a rustle of kids moving out the door to check the veracity of Misha's report and then whoops of joy from the driveway followed! Vitali, who had recently mentioned to me that when he was big he wanted a speed boat, came bouncing back into the house, and while practically climbing up me with excitement he asked, "MOMMY! Did you KNOW my dream would come TRUE?!!" Apparently the 'speed' part of his 'speed boat' wish was optional! haha!
We went in two cars to the lake. Since the canoe only holds 4 passengers, Steve took the first wave of riders while I went and got pizza to eat by the water. When we arrived at the lake, the first crew was pulling the boat onto shore, ready to eat!
Grayson played on a blanket, practicing his rolling and gumming his toys. He also never lacked for a brother or sister to pounce on him with kisses.The boys showed my camera their muscles. Here is Max:I was trying to get Misha to show me his muscles but he wasn't really flexing. All of a sudden, Vitali hopped into my view and shouted, "LIKE THIS, MISHA!"
Silly kid!
But Misha got the idea:
All the kids had a good time. Mom and Dad, too!

In the end we enjoyed this beautiful sunset as we drove away:

This and that from May...

In May, Grayson "enjoyed" his first haircut. He had all kinds of hair on top of his head, nothing around the top of the sides or the center in the back and then a fringe of long, dark hair around the bottom. He was starting to look like Mr T. Haha! I gave the sides a proper cutting but the top was only lightly trimmed because Steve couldn't bear to see all that 'personality' trimmed away. (In the end, I admit it, Steve was right! It has been kind of Gray's signature 'look'. LOL!)

June.

It's been a while! I thought I'd begin catching you up with a few pictures of Gray from this past June having fun hangin' out with his Family --something he truly loves to do! He's 4 months old in these photos.

Since we've been to the beach he has learned to sit up by himself although he's still wobbly enough that we keep a steadying hand nearby. Or, we just squoosh him into the lineup of kiddos for some siblings-on-the-couch-with-books time like this:
I'm lovin' those little feet!

Snugglin' with Mama.

Hangin' out with Great Grandpa. Gray likes to watch TV with Grandpa. Most babies seem to get on Grandpa's lap and fall straight to sleep (It's Grandpa's special baby-holding secret talent!). Not Gray. He can sit there and enjoy an entire episode of The Virginian, smiling along with Grandpa and looking very proud of himself.

Look at the hands. Precious.