Luke's first shoot

My friend came over this morning and took a ton of pictures of Luke. It was way fun. She's thinking of going into business, either on her own or with another gal friend of ours. They are both awesome photographers - and have great software to update too! :)

The pictures turned out great. These are some of my favorites. Thanks a million for this memory CG!

PS. Sorry for so many slide.com slideshows - it just the easiest way to display lots of pictures at once!

Grace's Dance Recital

The weekend before Luke was born, we attended Grace's first dance recital. Now when I say "dance recital" you all think gym stage, 20-30 minute presentation of little girls, lots of crying and waving at parents. Not so for Attitudes Dance by Aimee.

Gracie's dance recital was a full blown, 3 Act, 2 hour performance at the local grand theatre. The Tiny Tots (3 & 4 year old ballet class) were Mermaids. And Grace had a blast. She has enjoyed dance this last year and really had a great time doing her dance show. Audrey also really enjoyed it. She asks regularly if we can go watch Grace's show again - so I think she'll be excited when we get the DVD from it.

We got the costume the week of the show and Grace was very excited to be a Mermaid but a little concerned that the top and bottom didn't meet, but like most little girls, got over that quickly and didn't mind showing off her little belly. Aunt Susie helped do her make-up, as when Susie gets ready while we are around, they always have fun putting make-up on Grace. I did her hair, after practicing for several Sundays before. We finally got the right combination of hairspray, gel, and heat to keep the curls around for a couple of hours instead of minutes. It was a lot of fun and I know Grace really enjoyed it all!

Thanks to the Grands for coming!

Lucas James

Our beautiful baby boy was born last week on Father's Day at 5:02 a.m. He weighted in at 7 lb. 3 oz. and was 19 3/4" long with a little bit of blond hair. We had names picked out but shortly before he was born, Michael said, "I think we really should use James in his name." So back to the drawing board we went! We needed something that went with James. I've always liked the name Lucas & Luke and Michael liked them too. After much discussion, it was finally decided he should be a Lucas "Luke" James Jolley.

His sisters have been loving him and are very careful around him. They want to hold him often and get a little frustrated when the only times (it seems) that his eyes are open is when he is nursing - and then Mommy makes them climb down from off of her. They get very concerned when he starts crying although they are learning the difference between his crying and his "talking". :-) They are fabulous.

Here's the slide show from his first days here with us and a little video I took of him early the next morning. Enjoy!!