Jonah turns ONE

Today is Joe's first birthday! I can't believe it!
TWO days before my parents drove Scott and Jenny out to Georgia, My mom threw Joe a party.

She had asked me what she could get Jonah for his birthday and I said, "can you PLEASE give him a party!"

She is so good at that and it comes so natural... For me... I stress out over everything!! It was so nice to wake up the day of and simply just show up... Thanks mom!

Helen made her famous chocolate pudding cake that I love... Jonah requested it :) Thanks Helen!

My mom made Joe's little cake. He wasnt that interested in it... But Hunter and Haley were. REALLY Hunter... He kept saying, "I am showing Jonah how to eat it."


Present time came and it was pretty stuffy with all the bodies and it being August. My mom made Scott and Jenny promise to have children in cool months. :) As if you can totally plan it. :) Silly mom :)

Jonah loved his presents even though he took no interest in unwrapping them. He LOVES balls.

We kept the party to MOSTLY family. With it being two days before a BIG move... it was already a lot. Jonah doesnt care :) It was hard for me to limit like that because I normally would invite kid friends and all, but really, Jonah doesnt care and it was easier for my mom.
Below is people praying for dinner...


It was my favorite kid party of mine so far... Mostly because I really didnt do ANYTHING... THANKS to my mom and Shellie and Helen for helping out... Mostly my mom for throwing it all.

High School Buds

Me, Rachel, Erin and Megan (with Averie).

This was the beginning of August. Rachel came out from Colorado for a visit with family and we got to get to hang out a bit... I credit her for my newly found book interest... Twilight. I am currently on New Moon.

It was really nice to catch up and hang out without kids. It is also so nice that we are still in contact after high school... 12 years dude. We are OLD!

I know I will always be in contact with these ladies no matter where life takes us.

Hunter's favorite thing

This is the view from my dining table. I love this view. I love that I can open up my windows and look out at my kids.
Hunter loves to play out in the dirt!!!

Victoria Gardens Fountain Fun

Haley with her friend Grace
Caden, Haley and Morgan
"I think that chain is there for a reason... Hunt!"

A shower for Scarlet Rose

Friends... Me, Lindsay and Christine
Jenna and Lindsay

I am WAY behind because I was having difficulties with my downloads...

This shower was in the beginning on the month.

Oh, and in case you dont read my sister n laws blog... Vande Family... Jenna and Len brought home Scarlet yesterday!

Vomit is NASTY

This morning I woke up at 615 to Hunter screaming.... I run to his room just as he VOMITS.... Nice.
I gave him a bath and let him come to my bed.
BIG MISTAKE.
What was I thinking...
I dont know.
HE soon vomits all over my bed and me.
GREAT.
From then on, he was vomiting, no joke, every ten minutes. Now his vomit wasnt a lot... I mean, how could it if it was every ten minutes? But is was still nasty!!!

Jim took his lunch break early and took him to the Urgent Care. (Thanks Jim!)
He got a lovely shot in the booty and was told that if he gets worse, to bring him back for IV fluids...
The PA at Urgent Care thinks it is the Rota virus. Which the last time Hunt had it, we were in the hospital with him for three days. (Of course he was younger at the time too).

Please pray that this doesnt happen. Also keep in prayer that my other two (Jonah, who is almost one - especially) doesnt get this.

Good bye Scott and Jenny

Scott and Jenny leave tomorrow morning at 4am for their new home... Flowery Branch, Georgia. It is in Northern Georgia so they wont have to deal with Hurricanes... :) and from what we have been told from our family in Georgia already, it is above the "nat line" so the bugs aren't nearly like the southern part of the state.

This is Jenny and I taking pictures with her webcam on her new apple. The above picture looks like we are vampires :) Maybe we subconsciencely are supporting our new obsession - Twilight. We both are reading through the series. We kinda look creepy huh?
There we go... much more artsy and pretty. My teeth have never looked so white :).

Haley

My daughter is just blossoming into a beautiful girl... here are a few examples of the things she does that melts my heart...

1. Yesterday we celebrated Joe's first birthday with our family and she was upset because she hadn't gotten him a present from HER. She brings me her wallet and asks me to take her to target to get Joe something. Inside her wallet she has a dollar and eighty cents. She is so cute. She wanted to get him both a toy and clothes. I had to help her out with some money :) She even wrapped her own gift.

2. The past few days I have been slow to make my bed (something I do everyday out of habit). Haley has come into my room and has made my bed for me. She does a great job. I have learned early on not to fix it... it crushes her spirit if I do and really, does it matter all that much if it isnt exactly linear?

3. She will leave me sweet little notes under my pillow for me to find at night when I go to bed.

4. When I scrapbook or read or journal... she wants to do that with me.

5. When she knows someone is sick... ie... our neighbor or me... she will bring a stuffed animal to them and GLADLY give it to them.

There are more... but for now... I will stop there.

A GIRL ONLY POST

Ok... so I went to the movies last night to see Mamma Mia with my mom, THANKS MOM. Totally worth it. A good movie... :) Anyways... not why I am posting.
I took a shower before going to the movies and, for the first time in over a year, I wore an underwire bra.... (for those lurkers out there who read my blog that I dont know ... I have been nursing a baby, so I have only been wearing nursing friendly bras)... OMG it hurt. Why did it hurt? I wore the thing for TWO hours... by the time the movie was over I got in the car and took it off!!! (I am thankful I didnt have car issues because that wouldnt have been fun... plus I think I gave a show to the car next to me as I took it off at a red light). It hurt that BAD!!!

SO any recommendations for a good NON-nursing bra that ISNT underwire? Plus that will be flattering... I ALWAYS wore underwire BEFORE Jonah.... so this new style is going to be new to me.

Sorry... I had to share... I know TMI... but in case you havent met me, really I could do much worse.

Some computer problems

Ok... so I am experiencing some computer issues.... as far as getting photos on my blog. I know it could be user error, but I am going to blame the crappy computer we own.

On another note...

I have a recommendation for you all...
A book one....
Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer.
I couldnt put the book down. I seriously neglected my house for the two days it took to read it.
Now I will confess... when I heard what the story was about... I wasnt sure I was going to like it. My friend, Rachel, told me about it one night and the next MORNING my neighbor happened to give it to me (her son had the book and wasnt into it)... It is about a guy and girl falling in love - oh yeah, and one of them is a vampire and really wants to drink her blood. I am sure Rachel could describe it better....
I think it is a teenage book (like Harry Potter)... but I liked Harry Potter so there you go.

Thank you Rachel for telling me about this book. I am always up for a book that is easy and fun to escape in...

Coco Smith 1991 - 2008

Well, the time has come to say farewell to my child hood dog Coco.

Coco has lead a full life. :)
We got her when I was in junior high.

Here are a FEW memories I have with Coco.
- Mindi and I playing with her after walking home from Vineyard Junior High
- Friends in High School would joke that if you ever wanted to get a ransom from my parents, kidnap coco.
- Driving in the BIG RED truck with her in "her seat"
- she was our first indoor dog.
- going on trips with her
- her REALLY bad breath.
- her need to lick
- her skinny little, malnurished body
- her lack of teeth

This was a hard decision for my parents and I think they are doing the right thing!
This event happens today at 11am.

poll questions needed

Ok guys... I need some new poll questions..... any suggestions? Other wise I am going to result to more bodily fluids... I havent gotten to snot or pee....

Carebears 2

The day of the EARTHQUAKE :)...

Right before it...

We were at the free movie, Carebears 2.

Now let me tell you... it was AWESOME.... LY ... DUMB!

But I think the kids still had fun!

Mindi, Jane and I loved making fun of the plot which entertained us.

Day Trip To San Diego

After getting home from Big Bear... We decided to go hang with my mom down at Amos (our Church's youth camp). My mom and dad help out with the food down there .Wegot to play at the camp park (which has gotten better threw out the years but still stinks). Above is Jasen diggin'.Then we headed to "The Armpit" to catch creatures of some kind... Jen gave this place the lovely name "The Armpit" because it was just nasty!
Notice all the lovely "art work" that is down there!
The Reynold's just so happened to have come down for the day on the same day as us.At dinner time, Hunter was sneaking chips :)

Friends... :)

We had a nice time down there!!!

Our trip to big bear

Jim's parents gave us their time up at Snow Lake Lodge for a summer vacation. THANKS SO MUCH

We had so much fun! Unfortunately we didnt get to stay the entire time.... Jonah kinda had a hard time up there.

Joe wouldn't sleep! So what does that mean? mom and Dad dont sleep. Haley and Hunter slept! They had a GREAT time fully rested.

Naked Booty!

Jonathan and Christine came up with their daughter, Mikah, for the day! We had dinner out on the lake.

Thanks Jonathan for being the only one to look at me when I took the picture!

The kids set up!

Jonah loved to look at himself in the mirror. This picture was taken at midnight. Jonah is wide awake.... There is NO air conditioning... so we had to have the windows open... which meant if he cried, the rooms connected could hear him threw the opened windows... WHICH means.... we couldn't have him just cry it out.

This is Joe at 1230am. He would throw his ball up onto our bed and then LAUGH!
he thought it was funny...
We thought it was cute... but I think we would have prefered SLEEP

I have tried to upload more photos but blogger is being a stinker....

We went to the zoo... and the park... we REALLY had fun. We just were tired!