High heels

Here is Joelle in her first pair of high heels...she had a great time clip clopping around on the hard floor. I though for sure that she would fall over but she never did. What a pro!

St. Patrick's Day

Here are my boys on St. Patrick's day all in green. Cody sure was making a funny face in this picture and Dane looks like he's going to twist his dad's head off...good times! LOL!

Spring Break

We went to the park behind Dane's school, and had a picnic, during Spring Break. It was a little windy that day but we had a good time.

It's official...

Well, it's official...I am now a soccer mom! We traded in the truck for a minivan. And the next day I drove Cody to his first soccer class. It was very, very sad to have to give up our truck. We have had so many good memories in that truck. But unless we wanted to strap the new baby to the top of the truck there was just no way we were all going to fit. The boys call it the "rocket car" on acount of the "magic" sliding doors. The ride must feel a lot different to Joelle because as we drive around she says "weeeeeee!!!!" like we are on a roller coaster or something. This whole pregnancy has made me feel like I'm on a roller coster! At my last Dr's appointment I was informed that the hospital (not my doctor) has a new rule that they will not induce a pregnancy before 39 weeks, so only a week early! Hello! Joelle was born 15 days before her due date and Dane was born 12 days before his....and my last two babies were born so fast, there is just no way I can make it to the hospital from my house on time! By the time I feel any real pain or discomfort it is already too late! I AM FREAKING OUT!!! I was told they will make an exception for a medical condition...so maybe the fact that I will have a nervous breakdown or a stroke if I have to have this baby by myself again might do the trick! I do not want to have this baby in our nice new minivan! Even though it is a preowned van, the inside is in great shape and I want to keep it that way!!!

Rain rain go away!!!

Mom! Mom! Take our picture!!!
I'm ready for the rain to go away...or for us to finally get some grass planted in our back yard. The kids sure had a blast but it was a lot of work to get them, their clothes, shoes, and the bathtub cleaned up.

A tale of two Cody's

A tale of two Cody's

After I took this picture of Cody he completely freaked out. He yelled "Don't take my picture!" and he flipped himself off the couch and rolled around on the floor screaming. Then he cried about it for about 20 minutes. I still have no idea what that was all about...I guess he was just really tired and the picture wasn't his idea.

Right before this picture he said "Take my picture Mom!" Then he wanted to see how it turned out and wanted me to take another picture...unfortunately the camera battery died and this is the only one I got. And surprisingly he took it right in stride...thank you Lord for small miracles!

Too bad I'm already married!

Tonight, when I was tucking him into bed, Dane said to me: "Some day a girl is going to marry me. I wish we would have been born at the same time. A boy and a girl. And then I could have married you because you look so sweet." I just melted into a puddle of goo right then and there! What a wonderful sweet boy I have! I love you too Dane!

Little miss sunshine

It was 75* today! So nice after all the cold weather and rain we've been having. So I dressed Joelle in her new spring outfit and put her hair in two pigtails for the first time...isn't she just little miss sunshine?

Posing in her new outfit.

Joelle has never been one for using a binkie, but she found one in a drawer and walked around with it for quite awhile.

A future firefighter perhaps? She was so cute trying to walk around in her brother's boots.

Precious!

Joelle looked so precious on Sunday that I just had to take a few pictures. I had put her hair up in her first little ponytail and it turned out so cute. She was so good about getting her picture taken. She just sat there like a little angel. She even said "cheese". I feel so blessed to have a daughter! What a sweetheart!

Giant Cheese balls

One of the kids' favorite movies is Alvin and the Chipmunks. In it the chipmunk eat cheese balls (cheese puffs). On Friday night they wanted to watch the chipmunk movie and eat cheese balls. So being the fun mommy that I am (an since I had to go to Target anyway) I told them we could get cheese balls. Well, Target only had cheese puffs which are not round and Cody insisted that they would just not do. Finally, I spotted some Cheetos Giant Cheese balls. They were the size of large marshmallow's. Ridiculous! But as you can see from the pictures the kids had a blast eating them.

Valentine's Day

We had a very nice Valentine's Day. My parents watched the kids so Tyler and I could go out on a real date. We went to see the movie Avatar earlier in the day and then later that night we went to a fondue restaurant called the Melting Pot. I am about 20 weeks pregnant in this picture. Half way done! Happy Valentine's day Tyler! I love you! Happy Valentine's day my little ducklings! You are mommy's sweethearts...I couldn't love you more!

Kiddo update

Kiddo update:

Joelle has really started talking up a storm. I can understand a lot of what she says, although I doubt anyone outside our family could tell what she's saying yet.
A couple of days after my parents left it finally dawned on her that they were gone. We were in the parking lot at Target and she started looking around and then she raised her arms up and looked at me and said "Uh oh! Where Papa?" She calls the marshmallows in Lucky Charms cereal "Pretties". I just loved it the other day when she said "More pretties Mama! More pretties please!" How could I resist that? She's a darling little girl! Her one flaw? Her high pitched ear splitting scream. Dane always says "Mom! Make her stop, I can't even think about ANYTHING when she does that!"

Dane has been Mr. "Full of Questions" lately . Some of today's questions where "What if bombs were made out of gummy bears?" "Why does the dentist have those mouth suckers?" and on a more serious note "How many kids were killed in Haiti and how many lived?" and "Why does the earth have earth quakes? Are there earth quakes in Texas?" He also asked the other night "What if a girl married a girl Mom...wouldn't that be silly?" ......Oh geez! Let's just tackle the gummy bear question tonight!!! I can handle that one! :> He also told me that he wishes that all his teeth would start falling out so that the tooth fairy will come and leave him some money under his pillow. I wish someone would leave money under my pillow too! Tonight at bed time when I asked him our customary "What are three good things that happened to you today?" one of his things was "I gave you hugs and kisses." That was one of my three best things too. Definitely!!!

Now on to Mr. Cody...we have taken to calling him Contrary Cody, Cody the Contrarian, or Mr. Contrary. He loves to say "No" especially when he means yes. It's his new game. The only way to get him to say yes, or if he likes something, is if you ask him if he likes chocolate milk. He has a very keen and sarcastic sense of humor. I wonder where he gets THAT from......(Tyler)....? Ha ha! When I ask him if he just peed his pants he'll say..."Yes, but just a little bit." and hold up two finders with just a little space between them. When he sneezes he says "Bless me!" It's so cute. Cute and frustrating...that's our Cody. He loves doing puzzles and is always counting and asking "How you say that number?" if he sees a number written on anything...we are hoping this will translate into him being a future math whiz. He blows kisses at my belly every night to help our baby grow bigger...how cute is that?

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa Stevens

Grandma and Grandpa Stevens came to visit us this past week. They drove their new motor home out from northern California. The kids had a great time with them while they were here. Grandma always brings little presents for them. The boppy balloons were a big hit and provided hours of entertainment. The peez candy dispensers were also a big hit. They also took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese's on President's day. It was insane! It was so crowded we had to wait for a table. The kids had fun but the adults were ready to leave the minute we got there. They also took the kids to McDonald for several hours. Tyler went to visit his family in St. George, Utah last week, so it was nice to have my parents here to help out with the kids while he was gone.

The thing the boys were most excited about when the heard Grandma and Grandpa were coming to visit was the fact that they would be driving their new motor home. Grandma promised them that they could sleep in it while they were here and they held her to her word. They had popcorn and watched the movie Flushed Away, and then the next morning Grandma made them "hot cakes" on the little stove. When he found out they were leaving Dane asked if we could make a special calendar so we could count down until the next time we get to see them. Thanks for coming to visit Grandma and Grandpa! We love you. Hopefully the next time you come to visit the weather won't be so cold!

Once there was a snowman...

"Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman...once there was a snowman [and three beautiful kids]!!!"

Here is some video of the kids playing in the snow. There is a really funny part when Joelle had a little snow ball hanging off her nose by a long thread of snot.

Here is another video of the kids singing Frosty the snowman with their new snowman and making snow angels.

Snow day!

Yahoo...it's a snow day in Texas...no school...does life get any better?

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Happy Birthday Tyler!
We love you so much! Sorry you had to have a stomach virus on your birthday...what a bummer!

Christmas 2009

Here are some more pictures from Christmas 2009. (Click on the collage to see bigger pictures).