up and goin'

Joelle has started crawling this last week. And her two front teeth on the bottom have come through. She has also started saying "la la la" ..."blah blah blah"..."ruh ruh ruh". Dane will say, "Mom! Joelle is talking!" She does this funny thing where she poses and holds one leg up with her hand on her knee. She'll stay like that forever. It's really cute.

Popcorn night

At least once a week we have family night or popcorn night. A couple of years ago Tyler's parents gave us a Stir Crazy popcorn popper. The kids call it "Pop Pop!" and they love to watch the popcorn pop and then we watch a movie we rented or one we already have. Good times! Hope you're all having fun getting ready for Christmas.

Our sick baby

Joelle had some kind of respiratory virus and so I was having to give her breathing treatments every four hours. She seems to be better now...thank goodness! I was getting tired of not sleeping through the night. When I took her to the doctor they started talking about admitting her into the hospital but then after three breathing treatments and a chest x-ray they decided she could go home. Thank you again to the Webb family for coming to our rescue! The boys were terrible at the doctors office and we had all had it after two hours, so I dropped the boys of at the Webbs house and they feed them and played with them, so I could go back to the doctors office and get a chest x-ray and more tests done and then to the pharmacy without all the screaming and crying (me), and breaking things, gnashing of teeth, hitting, pushing, and running around like a couple of deranged chickens (them)! Thank you Webb family! What would we do with out you?!!!

Joelle's 6 month portraits

Our Happy Thanksgiving

Cody started Thanksgiving out right by eating Cool Whip right out of the carton!

Here is a picture of our whole family. We had dinner with the Webb family over at their house. They were so kind to invite us along with two other families. All we had to bring was a banana cream pie, some chips and dip, and our three crazy kids. Tyler and I actually got to eat and enjoy ourselves because there were plenty of older kids to keep an eye on our little maniacs. Thank you Bruce, Renee, Camille, Spencer, and Melanie. We sure love you guys and you have become more like family to us than just friends!

Here are some more pictures from thanksgiving. (If you click on the collage it will blow the pictures up so you can see them better.)

Joelle and her moose

Here are a few pictures of Joelle loving on the moose that her daddy won her at Ci Ci's pizza. Joelle will be 7 months old on December 9th. She has started doing a little scoot-crawl this week and she can sit up for a minute or two by herself. What a big girl!

Bathtime fun

For some reason I just can't get enough pictures of my kids in the tub. It's nice to have them clean...even if it only lasts for a few minutes! :>

Little Beast!!!

Before I could get Cody's pants back on after I helped him use the potty he got away from me. This is where I found him! If I survive Cody it will be a miracle!!! It's a good thing he is so dang cute...the little beast!!! He did not have a nap yesterday, purposely, so he would go to bed easier. Well, he went to bed fairly easily at 7:oo pm but then he woke up at 11:oo pm when Tyler got home from work...and we couldn't get him to go back to sleep until 2:30 am this morning!!! Aaaauuuuggghhhhhh!!!! I'm so tired! Cody, I love you little guy but you're killing me!!! Did I also mention he's a one man wrecking crew? There is so much more I could write on this subject but I'm freaking exhausted...I'm going to bed!!! :-}

Who needs a binkie?

I just love little babies in jeans! Joelle is such a sweet little thing. Tyler says I take way more pictures of Joelle then I do of the boys. Maybe I do, I don't know? But can you blame me? She does not care to use a pacifier like the boys have. Instead she sticks out her tongue and sucks on it or sucks on her bottom lip. I got this picture of her sucking on her tongue. What a funny little baby!

Our "Chili party"

I don't know how it got started but every so often Dane and I have what's called a "Chili party". I think one night I just felt like having chili, the kind out of a can, nothing special. I remember being really tired and didn't feel like fixing anything too involved. So because I didn't want any picky eater attitude, I said to Dane "Hey! What do you think we should have for dinner? I know! Let's have a chili party!!!" And my enthusiastic little boy replied, "Yeah! A party!" And now it's a special treat. How funny is that? Who knew chili out of a can with saltine crackers could be so wonderful? :-)

Silly rolly polly girl!

If only I were this flexible!

Out for a walk

Yesterday we went for a walk around the block with the whole family. The boys road their bikes and Tyler made sure they didn't ride in the street or stop their bikes on a fire-ant nest. Cody actually used his peddles yesterday instead of pushing the ground with his feet. I decided to put Joelle in the back pack to see how she liked it and she squealed and kicked her feet the whole time. She loved it! So I had to get a picture...of course.

Picking pecans

We have a pecan tree in the back yard and this is the first time since we have lived here that the pecans have been any good. So the other morning we picked up pecans for about 30 to 40 minutes. It would have taken up less time but we kept having to re-pick up the ones that Cody would take out of the bowl and throw back on the ground. Our dog Tori was also stealing them out of the bowl and eating them. I guess they taste better out of the bowl than off the ground. We ended up with about two gallon sized bags full. I asked Tyler if I should make a pecan pie for Thanksgiving, he said "No way! They're too fattening." So what?...the turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and apple pie aren't? :)

Happy girl!

I just love her smile! Don't you? Joelle is really starting to get a sense of humor. She is a very easy going baby. I hope that doesn't change anytime soon. I am so glad she is a part of our family. Life is a lot harder with three children but she sure is worth it! She had the croup last week and was having trouble breathing so I had to take her to the emergency room in the middle of the night. Even though I was sure she was going to be alright I still cried all the way to the hospital at just the thought of loosing her. I love you Joelle!

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, You make me happy
when skys are gray, you'll never know Dear how much I love you, Please don't take my sunshine away!"

6 Months already?

Joelle was 6 months old this past Sunday. Has it really been half a year since she joined our family?
She is rolling and scooting all over the place now. The other day I laid her on the floor and left the room for just a second, and when I came back she had rolled all the way across the room and around the couch. I couldn't see where she was and it really freaked me out.
Dane was laying on the floor watching TV and she rolled over to him and grabbed his head. It really startled him...he started laughing and calling out to me "Mom! She's got me! Joelle's got me...she's gonna eat me!!! Help!" I grabbed the camera and started shootin'.

Sit!...Stay!...Good boy!!!

When Dane was just over a year old we bought him this tricycle. This picture is from the day we put it together and showed it to him for the first time. This has always been one of our very favorite pictures of Dane. I've always wanted to get a similar picture of Cody on the trike when he was the about the same age. Cody has really been enjoying riding his trike lately and it got me thinking that he is two years old now, and if I ever wanted to get that picture of him on the trike, I better get it done soon. So the day after Halloween I set up the shot while Cody was taking his nap and I thought "Now all I have to do is sit Cody on the trike and take a few shots and it should turn out pretty good." Well.....about 50 shots later...a hoarce voice...frustrated...and wondering why I ever thought I could get Cody to sit still for more then 2 seconds...I finally got the picture I wanted.

Caterpillar mash

This is how you do the caterpillar mash...

Step #1
Locate one of the hundreds of fuzzy little black caterpillars currently invading the back yard. (Anybody ever hear the country song titled "God blessed Texas"? Yeah right...I don't think so!)

Step #2
Gently pet the caterpillar while saying " A baby...Oh! It cute!"

Step #3
Place your index finger firmly on the caterpillar and press down as hard as you can. When your mommy asks you "CODY! Did you just smash that caterpillar?" You reply in an adorable sweet angel voice "Yes Sir Mom...a caterpillar....MASH!!!...Yeeeaaaasssss....mash a caterpillar!"

Step #4
Move to another place in the yard and repeat steps #1 - 3.

Halloween 2008

Officer Dane

Joelle - Cute as a bug!!!

Quarterback Cody!