Valeria's four men

As 2012 is coming to an end, I am feeling a lot of unworthiness to where God has placed me in life. I am thrilled to be the "daddy" to three little boys.

I love being a Father to three boys who will one day soon (faster than I can really grasp- JJ turns 4 in 3 days) be men. I pray that God would use them to do great big brave strong things to tell the world of His Glory in Jesus.

I don't really know how to raise them so that they "turn out" that way. But I do know that Valeria and I pray for them a lot. We love them a lot. We spend a lot of quality time with them. And all 3 of those things are visibly centered around Jesus, His cross, and His word.

And up until this point, I am enjoying it and the three boys are enjoying it. (they seem to be very happy.)

Here is a recent picture of the four of us at the Lousiville Zoo. We climb up on this rock every time we pass it. JJ and Eli can both climb up on it by themselves now. Noah cannot yet. JJ can jump off. Eli and Noah cannot yet. All 3 of them are progressing well.

Valeria loves us all so much.

sometimes we call him... "No-Mo"

Noah is growing so quickly. He already gets around the house anywhere he wants to go. He doesn't allow JJ & Eli to pick on him without putting up a fight. And he is beginning to pull-up on things.

His name is Noah Morris Greene. So sometimes people call him "No-Mo." I like the nickname.

Flashback... Eli

While I am at it... here is one of my favorites ever of Eli.

Flashback... JJ

Was looking through some old pictures and found this one. I love it.

NOAH

Our sweet little Noah is growing up quickly! He is definitely no longer our little baby who stays in our arms all the time. In the past couple months he has mastered the art of army crawling. :) He has gotten fast at this, and combined with his rolling skills, he can get anywhere now! We are adjusting again to the life of having a crawling baby in the house...the training is fully underway! His older brothers JJ and Eli love it and laugh and play with him all the time. Even as the youngest of 3 boys in our home, Noah definitely makes himself heard with his developing vocal skills, and his smile and laugh make everyone around him smile and laugh too! The Greene home would not be the same without this little bright blue-eyed boy!

Here are 3 videos of our Noah. The first is his sweet little laugh that is so contagious. The second is so you can see our army crawling baby, and the third is a fun one of Noah splashing in his bath. I think he is getting too big for that tub. We don't usually let our boys splash like crazy in the bath, but this was too cute and too funny that we let it slide this time. :)

the dad life

Father's Day has passed, and I am overwhelmed by God's goodness to me in giving me three sons. I really do not deserve to have Valeria for a wife and JJ, Eli & Noah for sons. I am thankful. I love being a Dad.

Yesterday it was really hot and humid here. So these videos are what the boys and I came up with to do.

Tim Keller posted on Father's Day the following quote:

"Once you become a parent you will never be happier than your unhappiest child. Your heart is tied up with them."

I really connected with that quote. My kids are very young, but I certainly understand my heart being tied up with them. Likewise when they are happy, I am so happy.

Fun times when Papaw and Mamaw are in town!

We often ponder on how blessed we, and especially our boys, are to have such wonderful grandparents...and yet the distance is difficult as we would love for our boys to be around them so much more! However, being apart makes times that we are together so sweet and important to us. We truly treasure those visits! Recently, during the Memorial Day weekend, we were delighted to have Papaw and Mamaw come up to visit. It was an eventful weekend, and even though JJ got sick and wasn't feeling quite like himself, we enjoyed every moment of the visit. Here are some pictures of our boys enjoying papaw/mamaw-time! :)

A trip to the zoo never grows old! Their slogan is so true- "every day is different!" Papaw and Eli looking on at the pretty African elephant.
Cool daddy and son :)
Glacier Run was new to Papaw and Mamaw. The grizzly bears are so much fun to watch! Mamaw and Eli looking at the grizzly cub playing around on the bed of the truck.
Mamaw and Eli
Papaw with his namesake grandson, Noah Morris
Laughter with Mamaw
Sweet Eli looking for the polar bear...
...and there she is!!
We hope the polar bear will soon adjust to her new home at Glacier Run. Everytime we've been there she has been at that same spot.
Noah got a new zoo hat from Papaw!
JJ and papaw hanging out
JJ loves the zoo maps! He always wants one and wants to show us the way. He is a good tour guide! :)
The Greene men looking for the seals and sea lions.
It was hot!
Mamaw and Eli looking at the turtle
A manly chat
Papaw and Mamaw also treated us to a yummy dinner at Cheddar's (first time for them). Here they are relaxing with Noah.
Mamaw and JJ and Eli (not really wanting to take a picture)
Papaw and Mamaw came with a mission-- to surprise us with a beautiful swing set for our boys! We were overwhelmed by their generosity and know that it is just a small indication of the big love they have for our boys! The weekend was largely devoted to this-- papaw and josh worked long and hard on this...
I think Papaw needed a real vacation after all this :)
Daddy focused on the task
This was really good father-son time! Josh greatly enjoyed tackling this task with his dad :)

We are thankful that Papaw was very detailed in making sure the swingset was built as sturdy and safe as possible for our boys!

THANK YOU SOOOO VERY MUCH, PAPAW AND MAMAW!!

JJ and Eli absolutely love their swingset! Every day they ask to go out to play in it. They have so much fun swinging, sliding, climbing up into their tree house, taking books up there to read, and having picnics on their picnic table! They can't wait for Noah to join in! :)
We love you Papaw and Mamaw! Thank you for giving our boys a fun swing set, taking the time and energy to make a trip up to visit us, and most importantly for your love! We cannot wait to see you again!!

Eli is TWO!!!

On April 30th, our sweet little Eli turned 2!! This little boy (who is quickly becoming a big boy!) brings SO much joy and happiness to our home! He is a rough, tough, strong boy, yet cuddly, sweet and oh so huggable! :) Not one day goes by without this little boy making us all laugh. What a blessing he is to our home and our lives! God is unfathomably good in giving us Eli Lucio and we praise Him for Eli's 2 years of life.

His actual birthday fell on a Saturday, so we were able to celebrate to the fullest. :) Eli woke up to a yummy pancake breakfast. He had two candles on his birthday pancake, which he blew out all on his own!

That afternoon, we had a birthday party for Eli at our church with our dear Fairdale family or as JJ and Eli like to call them, "all their friends" (the majority of whom are over 15 years older than them). Everyone that attended the party has played such a unique role in the life of our little boy that we just could not have a party to celebrate the life God has given Eli without them being invited. We had a nice crowd and we were humbled and overwhelmed at the love shown to our Eli.
Eli's 2nd birthday party theme-- race cars!! Here he is with a race car tattoo, which all the kids got when they arrived at the party.
Daddy and Eli decorating a race car with stickers, numbers, tires, etc...
Of course, the birthday boy had to get some "juicies" on his special day from Ms. Linda :)
The birthday boy's table.
Eli's race car birthday cake, with a track in the form of a number 2. JJ helped me design the cake, as I wanted to keep it a surprise for the birthday boy, and JJ insisted on having a car crashing off the track :)

Big 2 year old just waiting to blow out his candles!

Special prayer by daddy for the birthday boy.

...I guess it got a little long for Eli :)

Eli's new way of "closing his eyes and bowing for prayer" :) He starts off eyes closed and hands clasped, but it gradually develops into this.

Happy Birthday to Eli....Happy Birthday to Eli....Happy Birthday dear Eeeeliiiii....Happy Birthday to Eli!!
Eli tried really hard to blow out his candles, but unlike that morning with his birthday pancake, he was only blowing through his teeth and no air was getting anywhere close to the candles...but he tried hard! :) I probably should have let him try longer, but JJ was there to back up his little brother and help him out!

Here is a video of the prayer and Happy Birthday song:

Cutting the cake...
...and enjoying the chocolate vanilla with mini M&M's in the middle cake!
Our boys could eat cake for every meal of their day! :)

Josh did a great job of putting together a race track for the kids to race on at the party.

It had a cool, long tunnel, plastic streamers to ride straight through and everything! Here are the kids waiting for the flag...

Eli-- focused and in position...
"Go, go, go, go, goooooo!!!!"

Eli making it through the plastic streamers
JJ and Lainey having a little chat on the track :)

Eli took a break to keep flagging the drivers on by! It was pretty chaotic, but the kids had a lot of fun! Here is a short video clip to give you all an idea of what our race track looked like:

Noah was a good fan! :)

As part of our latino culture, we cannot leave the pinata out of a birthday party! Our boys looove hitting it and of course the candy that comes out of it! :)

Here is Eli's first shot at the pinata on video (at times we wonder if he is left-handed :)

Both Eli and JJ did a good job hitting the race car pinata, as did all their little friends...but this pinata seemed to be unbreakable! We went through so many rounds and then, finally went on to include some of Eli's older friends. I think it was Dalton who finally broke it! :)

Eli with his cool sunglasses, which make him look tough! :) He got so many fun toys!

Thanks to all!

Here is a funny short video of what opening presents at a kids birthday party looks like!

And our Chuck-E-Cheese birthday trip tradition continues... :)
Noah was somewhere having fun with Ms. Linda
Very telling of our boy's likes, Eli went first to the basketball game!
"Swish!"
Brave brothers-- "no hands" on the roller coaster ride!
Bowling was a game they went looking for. They always have fun with it! There is a lot of movement in this video (sorry!) but here it is for those who don't mind :)

Football pass
Mami loving any moment of having this active little boy sit on her lap!
Dalton and JJ racing Daddy and Eli

One last video of our boys racing:

More basketballBob the builder ride. Eli loves to sing the Bob the Builder song. He has the tune down, but the words is another issue...so cute to listen to him, though! :)
Skee ball fun with Ms. Linda and Michaela-- quite the competition!!!
Big brother JJ is awesome at this game of aiming the water gun to the target. Eli looks up to JJ so much! It really is a joy for us to see our boys so close in age, living life together, experiencing the same things, liking the same things, being challenged by each other and always having each other's back.
Getting ready for the KY Derby!
And of course, counting up his tickets at the end of the night to get some fun prizes!

It was an eventful day and weekend for Eli, who happily responds to the question, "how old are you?" with a loud "TWO!" His vocabulary is growing every day. We are constantly surprised by the things he says and does. He is wanting to do everything on his own now. The doctor, at his 2 year check up, found him to be very healthy and strong. Eli is our chubby little boy, but he is solid. When he was not even one, I remember Josh putting him up to a basketball rim and Eli holding on with both hands so tightly. Josh let go of him and he literally held himself there for 15 seconds! Just recently, he slipped and fell off a playground set, about 5 feet high, and caught himself with one hand, holding on long enough to be 'rescued.' :) We already see the strength in our little boy's sturdy frame. :) When we look at him, we see a growing little boy, who we pray will soon love Jesus with all his heart, soul, mind and body. Please join us in this prayer when you think of our Eli Lucio.

Te queremos, chiquito!