A Happy Mother's Day

The beautiful Sunday began with our 5:30 rooster. Good morning to YOU, sweet Zeke!

Tantrums took over our morning, so we skipped out on church, put Luke down for a nap, and waited around for the troops to arrive. We counted on Sam to bring her camera and photography skills; she gets the credit for nearly every photo here!


First item of business: Musical babies. Poppy with his grandgirl.


Siena has yet to learn the art of puckering. AAAAAAAAA.


And Grammy got Zeke, who lights up when he sees her.


Back to the natural brow.


The two oldest Sorbello kids waiting around for their food!


The feasters, minus Sam the photographer, Richie the putting-boy-down-for-a-nap man, and Luke the hope-you-get-happy-soon napper.


The Esses.




Dad gives Bethany a look of approval (?) for the salad.


Lukeless.


Grammy feeds Siena something tasty.


Angela was a most welcome crash of the party.


Bethany shows Angela her new little man.


Angela, meet Zeke!




This was Sam's first Mother's Day with a visible baby. And ooooh, she got a cute one.




Happy First Mother's Day, Sam! You're a wonderful, wonderful mama.


What's a picnic without bocce? Bethany asked for the guys to turn around for a photo, so Sarah sprinted over to get in the shot, too. She can't keep away from those men...


Sarah gets ready for a good toss.


Beware of The Stronglady!


Grammy celebrated her 32nd Mother's Day! Wonderful mama, wonderful grammy...




More bocce... Shiloh seems to have the gift of keeping Richie in fits of laughter.


Speaking of laughter, Grammy is the queen of making Zeke laugh. He laughs even when she starts a little tickle rhyme. The very sight of her and sound of her voice means "Time to chuckle..."


Zeke's modeling pose.


Siena practices her serious modeling face, too. (Flanked by Bethany and Angela before Angela had to leave :-(


Luke at 4 months getting a kick out of Grammy!


2 years later, she's still at it...


"Nee ner nee ner neeeee ner, I got my Uncle Riiiiiichie!"


Bethany shows off her arm defect (a skin crater full of gunk, wow!) while Dad shows he's really impressed.


Lest we wonder where Zeke gets his brow...


It would be nice to say both Bethany and Siena are happy in this picture. But look more carefully. I think Siena is actually crying.


"No, no, NO! You are not allowed to be fussy! Ever!"


Well, well: Look who woke up! While Luke was asleep, everyone definitely missed the little entertainer. He's the life of the party these days. But when he wakes up, he is quite out of it and grumpy. Poppy fetched him from his room and gave him some mellow cuddle time to make him happy again.


Handsome dudes!


All these serious men... Zeke fits right in.


Daddy adores him...


Time for some family portraits! Just LOOK at Siena. Too much.


The Armstrongs.


Richie with his boys.




Bethany with her boys. Not feasible to hold both at the same time without squashing the littlest one to death. Sorry, little man!


Daddy comforts Zeke before trying a mama photo again...


Try 1: Nobody looking at camera.


Another try: Now if only Zeke would look up and grin...


Back to bocce! Ta-da!




See, he's the entertainer.


Though Siena is holding her own in terms of drawing attention... If Luke was getting too much attention she'd start making loud sounds for people to look at her! Hee hee!


Luke starts begging for someone to play baseball with him.


Poppy's busy holding his littlest girl!


So Daddy gets to pitch. Luke is so patient. He tries and tries and tries and tries to hit that ball. Here are some action shots!












Getting tired...


...Grammy has the magic touch!


Back inside for dessert: piping-hot lava cakes! Beth recently sent Bethany an amazing binder full of her favorite recipes, including the one for lava cakes. Lava cakes are the first dessert we ever had with Nick and Beth (long before Timothy and Luke came on the scene!); they aren't just yummy, they're special, too! Here Richie entertains the rest of us while we eat our dessert.


Too-tired Zeke and Uncle Shi. Shi tries to feel his budding lower teeth!


Oh, it's okay, buddy!


"See, it's just me!"


Nothing a little cuddle wouldn't fix.


Awww.


Enough cuddling: Attack of the Bubbles! (Fun, fun bubble gun courtesy of Shi and Sam.)


Bethany's third Mother's Day ended with a photo shoot with her newest little man.


Fun to compare photos! Here's Luke on Mother's Day, same age!


Hee hee.


Lukey gets a kiss...


Zeke's turn.

And with that smacker, Mother's Day came to a close.